Illinois Fall Nationals At La Salle Speedway On Sept. 16 Added To 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series Schedule
by: Kevin Kovac

La SALLE, ILL (Jan. 25, 2007) – A visit to La Salle (Ill.) Speedway on Sun., Sept. 16, has been added to the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule, setting up an attractive three-race weekend in the Midwest that will commence the tour’s autumn rush for the championship.

Bob Sargent’s Track Enterprises, Inc. is moving its prestigious Best Western Illinois Fall Nationals event, which has been run since 1992 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds one-mile oval in Springfield, Ill., to the quarter-mile, high-banked La Salle track.

With the announcement, La Salle becomes the anchor leg of a huge racing weekend for the 360 OTC WoO LMS. The nation’s premier dirt Late Model tour will visit the Sargent co-owned Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway on Fri., Sept. 14, and Kenny Schrader’s I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo., on Sat., Sept. 15.

“Grouping a weekend of World of Outlaws Late Model Series shows together is something we’ve been trying to do for a few years,” said Sargent, the Chief Operating Officer of Macon, Ill.-based Track Enterprises, Inc. and one of the country’s most well-known short-track promoters. “Now we’re giving teams three nights in a row to run in the same geographic area, and fans will have the opportunity to see three premier events in a short time period.

“It should be a great weekend for everyone.”

A fixture at the historic Springfield Mile for 15 years, Track Enterprises, Inc.’s Best Western Illinois Fall Nationals will obviously have a new look with its move to La Salle Speedway in 2007. Sargent expects to invigorate the event by running it at a true short track.

“Being a mile in length,” Sargent said of the Springfield facility, “the track came under some scrutiny (from dirt Late Model teams) for its wear-and-tear on equipment and the safety of the drivers. So we felt it was time to try running the Illinois Fall Nationals somewhere else. Maybe we’ll even look to rotate it to different tracks every few years.”

While noting that “dirt Late Model racing is not gone from Springfield forever,” Sargent said La Salle will serve as a great home for the Illinois Fall Nationals in ’07.

“It’s located in a good geographic area,” he said of La Salle, which sits in north-central Illinois, just under 100 miles southwest of Chicago. “It has grandstands that can hold a lot of people. And the track is conducive to good racing.”

The Sun., Sept. 16, date will mark the first-ever 360 OTC WoO LMS event at La Salle, which has hosted the WoO Sprint Car tour in the past. Paducah International Raceway, which Sargent co-owns with NASCAR stars Schrader, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart, will also be holding its first-ever 360 OTC WoO LMS program that same weekend.

I-55 Raceway, meanwhile, will return its Pepsi Nationals event to the 360 OTC WoO LMS for the first time since Sept. 17, 2005, when Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was victorious.

The 360 OTC WoO LMS has sanctioned Track Enterprises, Inc.’s Illinois Fall Nationals once before, on Sept. 18, 2005, when it was held at the Springfield Mile. Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., won that event.

Sargent, who co-owns Paducah and Macon (Ill.) Speedway and promotes special events at several tracks in the Midwest, will announce more details of the Best Western Illinois Fall Nationals at La Salle Speedway in the near future. He is planning a twilight start time for the event.

Sargent is also promoting a UMP DIRTcar Summernationals event at La Salle this season, on Thurs., July 12.

For more information on the Illinois Fall Nationals, visit www.trackenterprises.com  or call the Track Enterprises, Inc. office at 217-764-3200. Additional info on La Salle Speedway is available by visiting the track’s website at www.lasallespeedway.com .

The La Salle event brings this season’s 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule to an even 50 confirmed dates. The tour is set to visit 41 tracks in 23 states and one Canadian province, beginning on Feb. 15 and 17 with the 36th annual DIRTcar Nationals Presented by Mopar Speed Shop at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

Several events paying $20,000 or more to win highlight the 360 OTC WoO LMS slate, including the Circle K Colossal 100 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. (April 20-21); the Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. (June 29-30); the Freedom 100 at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss. (July 6-7); and the Scorcher 100 (Aug. 21-23) and Fall 100 (Oct. 12-13) at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn.

The tour culminates Nov. 1-3 with the ‘Outlaw World Finals’ at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway, featuring a historic doubleheader with the WoO Sprints.

For more information on the 360 OTC World of Outlaws Late Model Series, visit www.dirtmotorsports.com/LMS .