Contact: Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series PR Director
kkovac@dirtcar.com | 704-254-7929

World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Elliott Breaks Through With Unique New Team & Other Memorable Moments From Northeast Swing

CONCORD, NC - Aug. 27, 2010 -

FINALLY: A unique new dirt Late Model team provided Ricky Elliott the magic he needed to end a long pursuit of victory on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.

While earning a reputation as one of the top regional threats to win a WoO LMS A-Main since he began entering selected events late in the 2004 season, Elliott had continually fallen short – sometimes just short – of an Outlaw checkered flag driving for car owners such as Lou Johnson, Butch Warrington, Charles Jarvis, Joe Beyea, the late Jack Starrette and, this year, himself. But on Tuesday night at Brewerton (N.Y.) Speedway, the former DIRTcar big-block Modified regular from Seaford, Del., broke through for his first career WoO LMS triumph in his third start behind the wheel of the Super Deuce Racing Rocket.

Who could have predicted such a quick ascension to Victory Lane for Elliott, 44, and the Super Deuce team, an operation fielded by a consortium of four friends from the Indianapolis area and Beyea, who operates Beyea’s Custom Headers in Genoa, N.Y.? After all, it consists of just one 2007-vintage car, one Custom engine and a modest enclosed trailer and truck – and Elliott is basically a place-setter for the team, which wanted an experienced hand to shake down the No. 2 machine before former IRL and USAC star Andy Michener assumed its controls as planned.

But at least one person had little doubt about the team’s prospects for success: Elliott, who landed the ride thanks to his previous relationship with Beyea and Super Deuce crew chief Randy Kisacky, a well-known DIRTcar big-block Modified mechanic from Johnson City, N.Y., who has dabbled with dirt Late Model racing in recent years. Elliott felt a special chemistry around the team as soon as they debuted together in a WoO LMS event on June 20 at Cornwall (Ont.) Motor Speedway and it only grew stronger last week, when he returned to the seat for the Outlaws’ Northeast swing after the team sat idle for a two-month span during which Michener’s expected late-July debut didn’t materialize because he was busy starting a new job.

“The more we race, the better this team gets,” said Elliott, whose outings prior to Brewerton included a 14th at Cornwall, a third on Aug. 19 at Rolling Wheels Raceway in Elbridge, N.Y., and a second-place heat finish on Aug. 20 at Mohawk International Raceway in Akwesasne, N.Y. (Mohawk’s 100 ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ was postponed by rain to Wed., Sept. 1). “Randy Kisacky and Mark Zekalowski (a mechanic who helps Elliott) are working so well together to get this car dialed in. I don’t have to worry about thinking about setting the car up – I’m just giving them the feedback and they’re making engineering moves on it. It takes a lot of pressure off me and lets me concentrate on driving.”

The primary figure behind Super Deuce Racing is team manager/principal owner Leo Milus, a 52-year-old health care IT who grew up near Binghamton, N.Y., but has lived in Indianapolis since 1984. Milus got his start in dirt-track racing as a teenager in the early ‘70s when he befriended Kisacky, who maintained his uncle’s dirt Late Model for competition at tracks around New York’s Southern Tier. Kisacky would go on to become a successful big-block Modified car owner for such standout Binghamton-area drivers as Chuck Akulis and Charlie Castle, and Milus spent many weekends traveling to events with Kisacky and Kisacky’s brother-in-law Tom Boyd.

After a short stint in 1983 working for DIRTcar Racing (then DIRT Motorsports) as the assistant general manager of Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, N.Y., Milus relocated to the Midwest. In the early ‘90s he became the VP and general manager of Gaerte Race Engines, where he developed a close relationship with Michener, who was rising through the USAC national Midget ranks on his way to opportunities with IndyCar and NASCAR teams. Michener’s career was short-circuited nine years ago, however, by serious injuries he suffered in a NASCAR Nationwide Series test crash at Homestead-Miami Speedway and he drifted away from the sport – until the past year, that is, when one of his periodic conversations with Milus got the racing fires burning in both men once again.

With support from his wife Spencer, Milus decided to bring together several talented individuals and friends – including, of course, his old Binghamton buddies Kisacky and Boyd – to go dirt Late Model racing in what he called “a shared passion.” He spearheaded the creation of an ownership group that includes Bryan Barnhill, Kevin Kirby and Pete Simpson – three Midwesterners who have worked with Leo on different information technology ventures nationally and internationally – and Beyea, enlisted the mechanical and organizational expertise of Kisacky and Boyd and purchased a dirt Late Model from Steve Nuttall of Eden, Md., to serve as the centerpiece of Super Deuce Racing.

In almost storybook fashion, just two months after the team first hit the track Elliott had them in Victory Lane. Milus and his Indianapolis-based partners weren’t there to witness the memorable night at Brewerton, however, because they had to fly home for work commitments after Mohawk’s rainout on Aug. 21.

“Leo was texting me all night long,” said Kisacky, who currently maintains the Super Deuce dirt Late Model at his shop outside Binghamton. “He was in a bar in Indianapolis with the other owners and they had a computer and were listening to the race on DIRTVision. After we won Leo said they started partying it up.”

Milus and his partners will be back on the scene in person on Wednesday night (Sept. 1) when the WoO LMS returns to Mohawk International for the rescheduled $20,000-to-win ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ event. And Elliott, who will redraw for one of the top-six starting spots in the A-Main, will roll into that race riding sky-high after experiencing the biggest moment of his dirt Late Model racing career.

“Late Models have done a lot for me,” said Elliott, whose previous best WoO LMS finish was a second, on July 8, 2005, at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway and Nov. 2, 2007, at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. “They’ve breathed new life into me. I mean, I’m 44 years old. I’m pretty old for a driver, but these cars make me want to come to the track. I love Modified racing, but it just got to be stale for me. I needed a change of pace and these cars have provided it.”

CHANGE AT THE TOP: Another superb week on the WoO LMS for Darrell Lanigan – wins at Rolling Wheels and Quebec’s Autodrome Drummond on Aug. 23 and a fourth-place finish at Brewerton – pushed the 2008 tour champion into the points lead for the first time this season.

Lanigan, 40, moved a scant two points ahead of defending champ Josh Richards, who saw his run of 25 straight races atop the standing come to an end after an incorrect tire-compound choice contributed to his 11th-place finish at Brewerton. Just eight events remain in the chase for the $100,000 points crown.

There was one moment at Brewerton, however, that nearly cost Lanigan his shot at the points lead. With seven laps remaining in the ‘Dirt Demon 50’ he tangled in turn three with Dan Stone of Thompson, Pa., while battling for fourth place; Lanigan survived the contact and continued, but Stone saw his impressive charge from the 24th starting spot (he used a provisional to get in the A-Main) end with right-front suspension damage that sent him sliding across the track.

The normally mild-mannered Stone was enraged by the incident, which he clearly blamed on Lanigan. Stone, who was making an inside move on Lanigan when the cars came together, climbed out of his machine after it came to rest, walked to the middle of the track and motioned angrily toward Lanigan when the field passed under caution. The next lap Stone got Lanigan to stop his car on the inside of turns three and four, leaned into Lanigan’s window and let his feelings be known.

“He said I took him out,” Lanigan said of Stone. “Trust me, I’m not taking a chance of wrecking myself. That would be stupid with everything I have on the line.

“I didn’t even see him (come up the inside of the track). If I did I would’ve given him the spot. We’re in a points race and I can’t afford to get myself in trouble.”

PLENTY OF MANPOWER: For large portions of the past two years, Clint Smith has had one of the smallest crews on the WoO LMS – just one employee, Darrell (‘Don Vito’) Cooper.

On Tuesday night at Brewerton, however, Smith found himself with arguably the largest group of helpers in the pit area. He had four experienced mechanics scurrying around his car, including his normal fulltimers Cooper and Brian Imler; Jay Cardy, the Australian dirt Late Model racer who recently arrived in the States to spend several weeks helping Smith for the third straight summer; and Brad Baum, the 2007 WoO LMS Crew Chief of the Year who returned for his second stint as a Smith crewman this season after splitting with Russell King’s team the previous night at Autodrome Drummond.

Smith put together one of his best runs of the season at Brewerton, vaulting from the 18th starting spot to sixth place by lap 21 before settling for a fifth-place finish. It was his second consecutive top-five performance – he registered his second runner-up finish of 2010 at Drummond – but he wasn’t totally satisfied. Smith felt he had a shot at preventing his WoO LMS winless streak from reaching 108 straight races if, during a lap-21 caution period, series officials hadn’t slightly moved out two uke tires in turn one to stop cars from ducking too low and throwing water back on the track. After the tires were repositioned in the interest of safety, Smith couldn’t quite run the inside groove as he had en route to the front.

OPEN-WHEELS ADDITIONS: DIRTcar big-block and 358-Modified star Dale Planck of Homer, N.Y., went to Mohawk International Raceway last Friday night to compete in the companion 358-Mod action and provide some help to his car owner and teammate Carey Terrance, who had arranged his first career dirt Late Model start in WoO LMS veteran Chub Frank’s backup car.

Planck ended up winning Friday’s 358-Modified feature at Mohawk – and after spending some time at Terrance’s nearby shop following Saturday’s rainout with Frank and Frank’s cousin Rick ‘Boom’ Briggs, he also landed a dirt Late Model ride for Drummond and Brewerton in Briggs’s backup machine.

An accomplished 39-year-old driver known for his smooth driving style, Planck admitted before taking his first-ever dirt Late Model laps at Drummond that he “wasn’t this nervous the first time I tried driving a Sprint Car.” But he adapted quickly to the full-fender cars, scoring admirable lead-lap finishes of 12th at Drummond and 13th at Brewerton.

Planck’s WoO LMS debut impressed Briggs. “He’s a helluva driver,” said Briggs, who experienced problems and did not finish both A-Mains. “I wish I could have him drive one of my cars all the time.”

The two drivers did discuss the possibility of having Planck tag the back of a B-Main in Briggs’s backup car when the WoO LMS returns to Mohawk on Sept. 1.

STUCK AT THE CASINO: Following the postponement of last Saturday night’s ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ at Mohawk, virtually every WoO LMS team as well as Northeast-swing travelers Stone and Briggs parked their rigs at the nearby Akwesasne Mohawk Casino to wait out the wet weather that inundated the region. (Tim Fuller headed back to his shop in Edwards, N.Y., with Clint Smith and Russell King.) No one wanted to cross the border until receiving confirmation that Monday’s show at Autodrome Drummond would happen. (That word came on Monday morning, sending a caravan of haulers toward Drummondville, Que., 145 miles to the Northeast.)

With rain falling non-stop from Saturday evening through Monday morning, the teams kept their race cars locked up and spent their time watching movies in their rigs, eating at the casino buffet and gambling. There was ample opportunity for Outlaws to drop money at the tables and slot machines.

“We’ve had too much time on our hands,” quipped former WoO LMS champion Steve Francis. “I just gave all my money to Amanda (his wife) so I can’t go lose any more.”

ETCETERA:

* Elliott’s voice cracked in Victory Lane at Brewerton when he dedicated his win to Jack Starrette, a prolific dirt Late Model owner and sponsor from Augusta, Ga., who died on Aug. 19 at the age of 78 from severe injuries suffered when he fell from a front-end loader at the Starrette Trucking sand pit. Elliott received sponsorship support from Starrette and drove a Starrette-owned car several times over the past three years.

“I race with a heavy heart,” said Elliott. “I lost one of my best friends, Jack Starrette. I met him about seven years ago when I first started in Late Models. He started helping me about three years ago and I drove some cars for him. He was just the nicest man I ever met in my entire life. He was a very inspirational type of person, a family guy, and he helped everybody and never asked for anything in return.”

* Perhaps the most unexpected occurrence during Mohawk’s qualifying night came when Dan Stone had his time-trial lap wiped out because he was disqualified for weighing in 18 pounds light. It was the first time the burly driver had ever been penalized for failing to make weight.

“He hasn’t had a problem with being light since the first grade,” joked Stone’s father Warren. “He was too big for Pee-Wee football when they weighed him.”

* The Northeast swing appeared to be Tim McCreadie’s opportunity to make up ground in the WoO LMS points chase, but he only treaded water during the week. He managed just one top-five finish (third at Drummond) and remained third in the points standings, cutting his deficit to the leader by just two markers (48 to 46 points).

* Rick Eckert enjoyed one of his most solid swings of the season, finishing second at both Rolling Wheels and Brewerton and sixth at Drummond. His runner-up placings came in different Team Zero by Bloomquist cars; he switched rides for Brewerton, entering a machine with a smaller powerplant that proved perfect for the slick late-race track conditions.

* Clint Smith put Aussie Jay Cardy in his backup car at Drummond, allowing the 23-year-old native of West Perth, Australia, to make history as the first driver from Down Under to start a WoO LMS A-Main. He was an early retiree and finished 21st.

* There was a JIR Motorsports sighting during the Northeast swing. The Pennellville, N.Y.-based team that fielded cars on the 2008 WoO LMS for three Isabell family members – Joey, Jeff Jr. and team owner Jeff Sr. – as well as Danny Johnson and Sean Beardsley made a low-key return at Rolling Wheels with Jeff Isabell Sr. behind the wheel of a No. 5 Rocket car that was Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream ride last year.

Isabell Sr., who finished 14th at the Rolling Wheels, also provided an engine to young central New York crate Late Model racer (and former JIR Motorsports crewman) Alan Fink, who recently purchased a car formerly driven by Ohio’s John Mason. The grandson of Brewerton Speedway general manager Harvey Fink finished 19th at Rolling Wheels and 18th at Brewerton.

NEXT UP: The WoO LMS returns to Mohawk International Raceway on Wednesday night (Sept. 1) to complete the ‘Battle At Eastern Door’ weekend. The richest dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of New York will draw to a close with a B-Main and 100-lap headliner.

The national tour then heads to Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa., for the sixth annual ‘Oil Region Labor Day Classic,’ a two-day extravaganza of speed set for Sept. 4-5. Complete shows topped by 50-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Mains will be contested on both Saturday and Sunday evenings.

For more information on the upcoming events, visit www.mohawkinternationalraceway.com and www.tricityspeedway.com.

Additional info on the WoO LMS is available by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com.