Richards Taking Part in Paducah’s Resurgence
by Kevin Kovac
PADUCAH, Ky. — The resurgence of Paducah International Raceway will hit another milestone this Friday night when the World of Outlaws Late Model Series blows into town.
Already the host of a World of Outlaws Sprint Car event earlier this year, the three-eighths-mile oval co-owned by NASCAR stars Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ken Schrader and Tony Stewart and well-known promoter Bob Sargent will present its biggest national dirt Late Model show in nearly five years.
Friday night’s ‘Paducah 50’ will offer a $10,000 top prize from a total purse approaching $50,000, and it will mark the first-ever appearance of the WoO LMS at the high-banked track.
The last time a dirt Late Model tour with a national footprint approaching the WoO LMS’s visited PIR was on May 26, 2003, when Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., captured a UDTRA/Xtreme DirtCar Series event. The UDTRA/Xtreme Series also ran three other races at Paducah (1997-99), and from 1979-1983 the old National Dirt Racing Association (NDRA) competed at the track a total of five times.
PIR, which was built in 1972, closed down in the late ‘80s but reopened in 1996. The track has annually hosted a UMP DIRTcar Racing Summernationals event ever year since its reopening, but Friday’s WoO LMS spectacular figures to attract a field stocked with more talent than any other dirt Late Model race in PIR history.
The track has been on a steady upswing since its purchase in November 2005 by NASCAR personalities Earnhardt and Schrader and Sargent, a veteran event organizer who heads the Macon, Ill.-based Track Enterprises, Inc. Stewart joined the PIR team as a fourth partner in September 2006.
The new ownership group has made noticeable improvements to the facility, with more planned for the future.
And fans and racers alike have taken notice of the consistently well-prepared track surface, which has helped earn PIR a reputation for hosting some of the most competitive dirt-track racing in the country.
One WoO LMS driver who has already had a taste of competition at Paducah this season is Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. He finished fourth in the track’s ‘NASCAR Night’ feature on July 31 driving a Petroff Towing car. The 19-year-old Richards also served as Tony Stewart’s crew chief that evening, turning the wrenches on Stewart’s Tracker Boats/Bass Pro Shops dirt Late Model.
Paducah’s pit gates will open at 4 p.m. and the grandstands at 5 p.m. Hot laps are scheduled to start at approximately 6:30 p.m., with WoO LMS qualifying at 7 p.m. and racing commencing about 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for adults, with kids 12 and under $5. Pit passes will be $35.
PIR is located off Exit 11 of Interstate 24 in Paducah, Ky.
For more information about Paducah International Raceway, call the PIR hotline at 270-448-4PIR; the track at 270-898-SHOW (7469); or log on to www.paducahinternationalraceway.com or www.paducahracing.com.
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