Columbus Speedway has a well-deserved reputation in the dirt Late Model community for producing some of the division”s most fan-pleasing and driver-challenging racing.
Also known as “The Bullring,” competition at the facility can be likened to a rolling backyard brawl on a ribbon of Mississippi clay.
Fans will get a chance to see action like that March 18-19 at the inaugural World of Outlaws Late Model Series “Cash Cow 100.”
“It”s very wild,” said Johnny Stokes, a former racer who is beginning his 11th season at the helm of his hometown Columbus Speedway, about the action at the facility “It”s high-banked, intense, right-rear-up-against-the-wall, sparks-flying, hammer-down racing.”
WoO LMS star Shane Clanton, who in recent years has been one of the best big-race performers at Columbus, describes the track”s racing as “fierce.”
That unique, tough-to-tame aura will be on display when the WoO LMS returns to Columbus for the first time since March 2007. Time trials and qualifying heat races are scheduled for March 18, and the B-Mains and 100-lap A-Main, which will pay $20,000 to win, will headline the featured program March 19.
Stokes, 57, created the track surface that put Columbus on the map. He takes great pride in his work with blade and water.
“Shane Clanton told me I”m the hardest-working promoter on a race track he”s seen,” said Stokes, who, at the height of his racing career, won a WoO LMS A-Main on July 8, 1988, at Enid (Okla.) Speedway in the tour”s inaugural season organized by late WoO Sprint Car Series founder Ted Johnson. “Buy you gotta go out there and work on it if you want a good track. I don”t want to see a bad race, and neither do the fans and racers, so I”ll be out there from Monday until Saturday (of race week), from dawn to dusk at least, to do everything I can to make sure there”s a good track.”
Clanton, 35, has mastered the hard-charging style necessary for success at Columbus. The native of Fayetteville, Ga., has been the scourge of the track”s prestigious late-season event, the Magnolia State 100, for the past four years, winning it in 2007 and 2009, finishing second in 2010 (with a damaged car) and leading 86 laps of the 2008 edition before a flat tire with six circuits remaining relegated him to an eighth-place finish.
Clanton plans to enter his new Marshall Green-built Capital Race Cars machine in the ”Cash Cow 100” after making some front-end geometry changes to it following its abbreviated debut last month at the DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Florida”s Volusia Speedway Park. He said the key to winning in Columbus is “you gotta go all-out every lap.”
Clanton is tied for 11th in the WoO LMS points standings entering the weekend at Columbus.
The Cash Cow 100 will be the biggest early season event run at Columbus. The roster of Outlaw travelers will also include Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., a Columbus special-show veteran who won his first Southern All-Star Series event at the track in 1992; Rick Eckert, of York, Pa.; 2010 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year Austin Hubbard, of Seaford, Del.; Tim Fuller, of Watertown, N.Y.; Chub Frank, of Bear Lake, Pa.; Jill George, of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Vic Coffey of Caledonia, N.Y.; and 2011 Rookie of the Year contenders Ron Davies, of Warren, Pa.; Pat Doar, of New Richmond, Wis.; John Lobb, of Frewsburg, N.Y.; and Brian Reese, of Sharpsburg, Ga.
Dozens of talented drivers are making plans to challenge the Outlaws in the country”s richest dirt Late Model event this month. Among those expected to compete are Bobby Labonte Motorsports teammates Earl Pearson Jr., of Jacksonville, Fla., and Brad Neat of Dunnville, Ky.; Bub McCool, of Vicksburg; David Breazeale, of Four Corners; Leon Henderson, of Laurel; Chad Thrash, of Meridian; Scott Flurry, of Amory; Ross Camponovo, of Clarksdale; and Greg Fore, of Greenville.
General admission tickets — both multi- and single-day options — for the ”Cash Cow 100” can be purchased on-line at www.worldofoutlaws.com/tickets or by calling the event hotline at 877-395-8606. Fans who buy a two-day weekend pass in advance will receive special perks, including a discounted price and the opportunity to enter the grandstand area 15 minutes prior to the general front-gate opening time for a show that is expected to pack the track”s grandstand.
Advance two-day passes (Friday-Saturday) are $40 for ages 16 and over — a savings of $5 from the $45 weekend price at the track.
Single-day tickets are available in advance and on race day. Pit passes will be sold only at the track.
The Cash Cow 100 will kick off at 6 p.m. March 17, with an open practice session. Pit admission will be $20, and fans will be permitted to enter the grandstands free of charge.
On March 18, pit gates will open at noon and spectator gates will be unlocked at 4 p.m. for early-ticket buyers and 4:15 for race-day purchasers.
Other divisions on the weekend program are unsanctioned crate Late Models (running under NeSmith rules) and the Mississippi Street Stocks. The crate Late Models will compete in full programs for $600-to-win Friday and $1,000-to-win Saturday, while the Street Stocks will chase top prizes of $300 Friday and $500 Saturday.
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