FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2011

Steve Francis Looks to Get Going in Georgia-Florida Speedweeks


Steve Francis and Barry Wright discuss strategy

By Kelley Carlton
Ashland, Kentucky - After capping his 2010 season off with a $30,000 victory in November’s National 100 at East Alabama Motor Speedway, Steve Francis is anxious to get back to racing at this year’s Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. Francis made a chassis change just weeks prior to his season-ending win. After 16 years of driving primarily Rockets Francis made the move to National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame car builder Barry Wright’s Cowpens, South Carolina-built cars. “The change to Barry’s stuff is definitely no reflection on Rocket and Mark Richards. He and I are still good friends and talk frequently. Mark still builds a great race car but we just feel like we needed a change. And it has been really good so far. The change just sort of recharged everybody’s batteries more than anything.” Francis remarked.

Francis and several of his fellow Barry Wright drivers spent a few days testing last week at Florida’s Volusia Speedway and most recently at Golden Isles Speedway in Georgia preparing for Speedweeks. “We had some rain at Volusia so that test wasn’t as good as we had hoped it would be. But we had a great test at Golden Isles. Jonathan (Davenport) and I have worked well together and really get along good. That might surprise some people but he has been a big help for me adjusting to these cars. He has probably taught me more about how to drive this car around the racetrack than any other person has ever taught me in the past. These cars just drive so different than what we were used to. He has shown me how to do some different things when we are having trouble. Jonathan is very good in these cars and I understand why.” added Francis.


Golden Isles Speedway

Francis is still yet unsure if he will make the Georgia opener at Screven but is confident he will make both Golden Isles events. “We are finishing up a new car and we are doing our best to be done and be at Screven. We have run really well there in the past. We won an Outlaw show there in 2009 and led a lot of that one last year. So I would really like to make that race. I’d say I’m about 95% sure that we will be there but it all boils down to finishing this car. We will definitely be at Golden Isles, no doubt. I give a lot of credit to Frankie and Grady (Lloyd). They have worked their butts off to make Golden Isles racy and make this Super Bowl deal a success so I want to support them for all of that hard work they have done. I know Redd is really sticking his neck out at Screven too and we really want to be there to support his show if there is any way possible. Most of all we really hope the fans turnout for all 3 races and make these event successful for these guys.” Francis commented.

For the Georgia races and East Bay events Francis will be driving Chad Stapleton’s Barry Wright machines. “Chad asked me if I would be interested in driving his new car the first few races and get it going for him. And that was a good deal for me. That kept me from having to carry open and UMP tires down with me so it was a big help. We ran Chad’s cars a couple of times last year. Once we drove from way back in the pack up to I think 7th and then we won one in his car. So he has great equipment and it just made good sense for us.” said Francis.

Francis is still not 100% committed to a 2011 tour as yet. “I don’t really know yet for sure what we will do. I would say that I am leaning towards the World of Outlaws deal again. If I had to make that decision right now that’s what I would do. Their schedule makes the most sense for me right now. I looked at it and I believe we could run the entire World of Outlaws schedule and still be able to race about 17 or 18 of the Lucas shows.” But Francis is quick to point out that his plans are not set in stone and could hinge on his Speedweeks performances. “If we were to leave Florida and be leading or close to leading the Lucas points and we were, say, 12th in the World of Outlaws points I would have to sit down with my folks and take a serious look at doing the Lucas deal. But we will make that decision when the time comes. For now we are just focused on winning races and running well for the next few weeks.” Francis said.

Francis will again have the support of long-time crew men Derrick Reece and Tim Logan. Francis also plans to drive Logan’s own cars around 27 times in 2011. “Tim is on board with us again this year. We will run his car several times in 2011. He has also bought some Barry Wright cars so we will be able to maintain consistency as we move between my stuff and his. We really haven’t made any changes to our program this year. You know we switched to Barry’s cars at the end of last year and we had started using Estes Racing Engines about halfway through 2010. We did change over to Keizer Wheels after Dura-lite went out of business but other that we will still be on Integra Shocks by GW Performance and Hoosier Race Tires. So we are ready just to get after it and go racing. I am pretty excited about our program and where we are going.”