Ron Kantowski: Outlaws back in town for 2 nights of racing

Friday, Feb. 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The World of Outlaws and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, two entities trying to enter the upper pantheon of professional auto racing, join forces for the second time this weekend, during a three-day festival of short-track racing billed as the Silver State Shootout.

The powerful WoO sprint cars, which helped LVMS open its half-mile dirt track before an enthusiastic crowd of 12,000 spectators last November, will be featured tonight and Saturday. The Shootout concludes Sunday, when the Western States Supermodified Racing Association, USAC Western States Midgets and 360 non-winged sprint cars invade the 3/8ths-mile LVMS paved oval (formerly Las Vegas Speedway Park).

Like LVMS, the Outlaws seem well on their way to joining auto racing's major leagues. For the first time in its 20-year history, the WoO has a series title sponsor (Pennzoil), with The Nashville Network providing additional TV coverage.

"It's a multimillion-dollar contract over three years," said Outlaws founder Ted Johnson, who anticipates that Pennzoil's financial backing will lure even more competitors to the barnstorming (70 races, 100 dates) dirt-track series. "If we do our job, it will be there for a long time."

Meanwhile, TNN will carry 10 WoO races live this year. The cable network's expanded coverage began with last week's Outlaws season opener from Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, where Sammy Swindell held off reigning series champion Mark Kinser in front of a capacity crowd.

Those two finished in reverse order at LVMS last November, with Kinser overtaking Swindell in the closing laps. It was considered an oustanding show, despite the fact catch fencing wasn't put up and the racing surface not completed until the day of the event.

"It was amazing, the job they did," said Outlaws spokesman Richard Day. "There honestly is no better racing surface in the country and I've been to all of the major tracks -- Knoxville (Iowa), the Devil's Bowl in Mesquite near Dallas and the old Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif.

"After all the racing was done in Las Vegas, the track was as good as any I've seen. Usually the racing surface is as hard as rock, but that wasn't the case there. It was just incredible. I don't know where they got the clay, but it was some magic mud, that's for sure."

LVMS president Richie Clyne said the dirt track will be "99 percent" finished for this weekend's show, although the press box only is 75 percent complete -- three of its four sides are in place. But last November, there wasn't a press box.

In addition to Mark Kinser (who won 27 features last year) and Swindell, other top drivers expected to run here include Steve Kinser, Dave Blaney and Jac Haudenschild.

Backmarkers

All 30 NASCAR Busch Series races will air on television this season, spread among four outlets: CBS, ESPN, TNT and TBS. No word on which network will carry the March 16 Las Vegas 300 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Las Vegas is one of only three tracks yet to announce a corporate sponsor for its Busch event. ... Henderson resident Richie Hearn turned the fifth fastest lap (192.572) at last weekend's CART Spring Training at the 1.5-mile Homestead, Fla., oval, and car owner John Della Penna said winning last September's Indy Racing League event on the similarly-sized LVMS oval was a contributing factor. "The Las Vegas oval may have helped us because it is so fast (like Homestead) and we did a lot of oval laps in 1996," Della Penna said. ... Yamaha's Doug Henry became the first repeat winner in four AMA Supercross races this season, holding off perennial series champion Jeremy McGrath (who has switched from Honda to Suzuki) at Seattle last weekend. The Supercross riders tentatively are scheduled to compete at LVMS May 17. ... Off-road racing legend Walker Evans has reached an agreement to run Chevy trucks in the Midwest-based Short Course Off-Road Drivers Association (SODA) Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Walker Evans Racing actually will field two trucks in SODA, one for Evans and another for 21-year-old Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan, son of Barbary/Gold Coast owner Michael Gaughan. Butch Miller, who finished second in an Evans truck at the NCTS season opener at Walt Disney World, will continue in that role.