BEAR LAKE, PA – April 13, 2013 – After scoring a solid eighth-place finish in last Saturday night’s Illini 100 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, Chub Frank was certainly ready for more World of Outlaws Late Model Series competition this weekend.
But when the WoO LMS’s scheduled visit to Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, was called off – the April 12-13 Buckeye 100 was first condensed to a single 50-lapper on Saturday night due to unfavorable weather, and then on Thursday heavy rain forced officials to push the renamed Buckeye 50 to May 24 – Frank didn’t mind. The unexpected free weekend is providing the 51-year-old veteran an opportunity to spend some much-needed extra time in his Bear Lake, Pa., shop.
“We got a new (Rocket) car that we really want to run but we just haven’t had time to get it done yet,” said Frank. “We’re not running anywhere this weekend (after the Wayne County postponement) so we can get some work done. Hopefully we’ll be able to bring (the new car) out next week.”
Frank has four consecutive weekends of WoO LMS racing – all at tracks in the Southeast – beginning with next weekend’s doubleheader at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway on April 19 and 311 Motor Speedway in Pine Hall, N.C., on April 20.
The driver known as ‘Chubzilla’ got back in the racing groove last weekend at the quarter-mile Farmer City oval, which hosted the first WoO LMS event since the national tour’s season-opening eight-race swing through Georgia and Florida ended on Feb. 23. Frank had not raced since his southern excursion in February, during which he scored finishes of 14th and 17th on Feb. 8-9 at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.; 15th, eighth and fifth on Feb. 15-17 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.; and 14th, 21st and 18th on Feb. 21-23 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. (He also ran four DIRTcar UMP Late Model events, finishing ninth on Feb. 10 at North Florida Speedway and failing to qualify for three shows Feb. 18-20 at Volusia.)
Frank authored a respectable run in the Illini 100, surviving a rough opening circuit that damaged the quarter-panel of his Corry Rubber/Lake Shore Paving/Hino Toyota Rocket No. 1* to finish eighth. He started 11th in an event that saw him score his third top-10 WoO LMS finish of 2013 despite feeling under the weather throughout the weekend.
“We weren’t all that great, but we were better than we had been in February so I’m happy with it,” said Frank. “I feel fortunate that we were able to get what we got. The car got beat up at the start because I had a hard tire on the right-front and I couldn’t steer, so I came up across the racetrack in the dust and got pile-drove.
“And I still wasn’t feeling all that great. I definitely felt better than (during Friday’s qualifying night), but I was still feeling pretty crappy. I was glad to get the weekend over with.”
Frank currently sits ninth in the WoO LMS points standings, 170 points behind leader Josh Richards.
For more information on Chub Frank, visit his Web site at www.chubfrank.com.
Chub Frank Racing receives support from many valued sponsors, including Corry Rubber, Lake Shore Paving, Sorbera Family Chiropractic, Horton Equipment, Hino Toyota, Nystrom’s Auto Sales, Rocket Chassis, Roush-Yates Racing Engines, Slavic Corporation, All-Star Performance, GW Performance and Integra Shocks.