World of Outlaws Late Model Series News & Notes: Prestigious Nominations For Champion Darrell Lanigan; Southern Victories For Clanton & ‘Cat Daddy’

CONCORD, NC – Nov. 24, 2008 –

HONORS: Darrell Lanigan is earning some prestigious national recognition for his 2008 World of Outlaws Late Model Series points championship.

The 38-year-old driver from Union, Ky., is among a select group of nominees for the 2008 American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) Auto Racing All-America team and the 2008 Economaki Champion of Champions Award presented by Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

Lanigan is a first-time nominee for the AARWBA Auto Racing All-America team, which has been voted on annually since 1970 by 300-plus members of the motorsports press. He is the lone full-fender driver on the ballot in the ‘Short Track’ category, which also includes World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series stars Donny Schatz (the tour’s 2008 champion) and Jason Meyers as well USAC open-wheel racers Jerry Coons Jr., Tracy Hines and Cole Whitt.

Two nominees from each of seven categories – Open Wheel, Stock Car, Road Racing, Drag Racing, Short Track, Touring Series and At Large – will be named to the All-America first team at the completion of the voting. The balloting will also determine a second team (drivers placing third and fourth in each category), and honorable mentions will go to all other drivers receiving at least 5 percent of the vote.

The All-America team selections will be honored at the annual AARWBA banquet on Jan. 10 in Ontario, Calif. The winner of the Jerry Titus Award – given to the driver earning the most votes in the balloting, regardless of category – will also be announced at the banquet.

In addition, National Speed Sport News has announced that Lanigan is among an elite group of 23 drivers in contention for the 2008 Economaki Champion of Champions Award presented by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is given to the North American racing champion judged to have had the best season on-and-off the racetrack.

The names of the 10 finalists for the sixth Economaki Champion of Champions Award presented by SMI are scheduled to be released on Dec. 3 by NSSN. The winner will be announced on Dec. 11 during the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show in Orlando, Fla.

Lanigan is joined on the list of Economaki Champion of Champions Award contenders by fellow World Racing Group series champions Schatz (the 2007 winner of the award) and Billy Decker (Advance Auto Parts Super DIRTcar Series for big-block Modifieds).

TWO MORE: Shane Clanton is still adding to his 2008 victory total.

The 33-year-old WoO LMS star from Locust Grove, Ga., swept a pair of Super Late Model features on Saturday at Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway, adding a cool $11,000 to his bank account for the off-season ahead.

After a freezing racing surface forced the postponement of Friday night’s 27-lap Joe Lee Johnson Memorial to early Saturday afternoon, Clanton heated right up. Driving his backup RSD Enterprises Rocket car because he crashed during hot laps on Friday, the driver known as ‘Coconut’ led every circuit of the held-over A-Main and roared back later in the day to capture the regularly-scheduled 50-lap O’Reilly Southern All-Stars-sanctioned ‘Gobbler’ event.

Skip Arp of Georgetown, Tenn., and former WoO LMS regular Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., followed Clanton across the finish line in the first A-Main. The two drivers swapped spots behind Clanton in the 50-lapper, with McDowell placing second in the Warrior Chassis house car.

Clanton earned $2,700 for his first victory, $5,000 for the triumph in the nightcap and a $3,300 bonus for sweeping the program from track sponsor Car Smart Auto Sales.

The two wins pushed Clanton’s overall 2008 win total to 16 – a career-high for the seventh-year dirt Late Model driver. Four of his triumphs came in WoO LMS competition.

REASON TO SMILE: WoO LMS regular Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., also reached Victory Lane last weekend, rolling to a $2,500 checkered flag in Sunday’s Late Model Challenge at Green Valley Speedway in Glencoe, Ala.

The 43-year-old driver, who entered the second half of Green Valley’s two-day program after spending Saturday racing at Cleveland (he scored finishes of seventh and fifth in the doubleheader), grabbed the lead at the initial green flag from the outside pole and never looked back. He was declared the winner when the race was ended with 19 of 30 scheduled laps completed following a hard crash in turn three involving Southern Regional Racing Series champion Byron Michael of Florence, Ala., who was transported to a local hospital and held for observation but is expected to be released with no major injuries.

One of the nation’s busiest fulltime race car drivers, Smith emerged triumphant in what was his 110th overall start of the season. He steered his J.P. Drilling/Cliburn Tank Lines GRT to victory with just a brace on his right wrist, which he broke in a World 100 qualifying accident on Sept. 6 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, after recently having his elbow-length cast removed by doctors.

COMING UP: The stars of the 2008 WoO LMS will share nearly $400,000 in points-fund cash during the tour’s ‘Night of Champions’ Awards Banquet on Dec. 11 at the International Plaza Resort & Spa in Orlando, Fla.

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.