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World of Outlaws Late Model Series Adds May Dates At
Lincoln Speedway & Bluegrass Speedway
LINCOLN, ILL (Feb. 19, 2010) - A 2010 season that promises to be the biggest
in World of Outlaws Late Model Series history has grown even larger with the
announcement of a springtime doubleheader in the Midwest at Lincoln (Ill.)
Speedway and Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky.
The nation's premier dirt Late Model tour will visit Lincoln Speedway on
Fri., May 7, and move on to Bluegrass Speedway on Sat., May 8, pushing the
2010 schedule to 49 events at 42 tracks in 20 states and two Canadian
provinces.
"We're excited to add another big weekend of racing to the 2010 World of
Outlaws Late Model Series schedule," said series director Tim Christman.
"Illinois and Kentucky are hotbeds for the dirt Late Model division and we
look forward to bringing the best drivers in the country to perform in front
of the region's great fans."
The WoO LMS will stop at the quarter-mile Lincoln oval for the fourth
consecutive season, but this year's event will be unlike any held there in
the past. Promoter Don Hammer has upped the ante at Lincoln, increasing the
track's WoO LMS program to a 50-lap A-Main (from 40 laps in previous years)
and a $10,000 top prize (from $7,000).
With a total payoff of roughly $50,000 for the evening, this year's Land of
Lincoln 50 will boast the biggest purse for a dirt Late Model event in the
history of Lincoln Speedway.
"Thats what it's all about -- making everything bigger and better for the
fans and racers," said Hammer, who also oversees the fledgling Monster
Midwest Tour and plans to make the Land of Lincoln 50 a shootout between
drivers from his DIRTcar UMP-sanctioned series and the stars of the WoO LMS.
"We want to give everybody the kind of show they want to see."
This year's WoO LMS extravaganza at Lincoln will also move to a Friday-night
date, a change from the traditional Sunday that the event has occupied for
the last three years. The change puts the big show in line with the new
weekly format at Lincoln; Hammer recently announced he is switching the
track's regular race night to Friday in 2010, taking the track off the
central Illinois area's busier Saturday-night slot and allowing the headline
Pro Late Model and Modified classes to carry the sanction of DIRTcar's UMP
circuit.
Lincoln will now run head-to-head weekly with Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway,
the quarter-mile oval that Hammer has also promoted for several seasons. But
Hammer sees no conflict between the tracks; UMP-sanctioned Super Late Models
will be featured at Farmer City and the support divisions that will run
weekly at both tracks share only a handful of the same drivers. What's more,
Farmer City's weekly programs will be organized this season by Brian Stuart,
who has promoted events at Quad Cities Raceway in East Moline, Ill., and
other tracks; Hammer will continue to promote Farmer City's special events
(like the third annual WoO LMS Illini 100 on April 9-10) and work closely
with Stuart -- in fact, Hammer said Stuart will keep Farmer City closed on
May 7 in support of the WoO LMS show at Lincoln.
Three different drivers have won the previous WoO LMS events held at Lincoln
Speedway: Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. (2007), Chub Frank of Bear Lake,
Pa. (2008) and Rick Eckert of York, Pa. (2009).
Bluegrass Speedway, meanwhile, is set to host the WoO LMS for the first time
in its history on May 8. The 50-lap, $10,000-to-win event will serve as the
track's eighth annual 'My Old Kentucky Home Shootout.'
Anticipation figures to run high for the Bluegrass show, which brings the
WoO LMS to the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the first time since 2007 and
just the fourth time in the tour's seven-year run under the World Racing
Group banner. Building interest in the night even further, Bluegrass
Speedway's fans will be chomping at the bit to go racing on May 8 because
the track will be quiet the previous week in deference to the running of the
Kentucky Derby horse race less than an hour away.
"We're hoping to have a tremendous turnout for the first-ever World of
Outlaws race at Bluegrass Speedway," said David Ferrell, a veteran track
promoter who has operated the high-banked, half-mile oval with his wife
Anita for 11 years. "We have somewhere around 11-12,000 seats but we've
never filled all of them up, so maybe we can come close with this race.
"I know we're excited to have the Outlaws coming in, and I know the fans
will see a great show. We have one of the fastest tracks in the country and
it's plenty wide for three- and four-wide racing, so I'm sure there will be
lots of action."
By the time the WoO LMS reaches Bluegrass, Ferrell will have one of the
tour's biggest stars in his family. Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., the 2007
series champion and three-time runner-up, is marrying Ferrell's daughter,
Amanda, on Feb. 27.
"I told Steve, 'I hope you'll be there for the Outlaw show,'" Ferrell said
with a smile.
With the addition of Lincoln Speedway and Bluegrass Speedway to the 2010
schedule, the WoO LMS is well positioned to reach new heights this season.
The tour currently boasts single-season records of 44 A-Mains (2007) and
visits to 36 different tracks (2007 and 2008).
For more information on Lincoln Speedway, visit
www.lincolnspeedway.org or call 217-737-7134.
Additional info on Bluegrass Speedway is available by logging on to
www.bluegrass-speedway.com or calling 859-854-6922 or 859-854-6495.
For information on the WoO LMS, visit
www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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