BEAR LAKE, PA – July 19, 2012 – The World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Wild West Tour’ didn’t go exactly as Chub Frank would have drawn it up, but the five-race swing through Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota was pretty good to the veteran from Bear Lake, Pa.
Frank, 50, fell short of his coveted first WoO LMS victory of the season, but he registered two top-five and four top-10 finishes over the busy stretch of action at tracks over 1,500 miles from his home. He ended the swing ranked fifth in the circuit’s points standings with eight top-five finishes to his credit – three more than he accumulated during the entire 2011 campaign.
“It was a pretty good trip – except for the last night,” said Frank, who closed the ‘Wild West Tour’ with his worst run, a 13th-place finish on July 14 at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn. “We struggled all night (at North Central) – and once you get behind with these guys, it’s not good – but we had a pretty good car in all the other shows.”
After the scheduled ‘Wild West Tour’ opener on July 6 at Amsoil Speedway in Superior, Wis., was rained out, Frank started the swing on July 7 at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., with his best outing. He moved up from the sixth starting spot to finish fourth in the 33rd annual NAPA Auto Parts ‘Gopher 50’ Charity Late Model Race.
“We were good (at Deer Creek),” said Frank, a former Gopher 50 winner, “but we just couldn’t maneuver quite as well as the top three guys. They had a little more traction off the corner than we did. It was a good start to the trip, though.”
Frank backed up his Deer Creek run with a solid fifth-place finish in the ‘Black Hills 50’ on July 10 at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, S.D. He fell back from the fourth starting spot but held on for another top-five run.
‘Chubzilla’ just missed two more top-fives with his Roush-Yates-powered Corry Rubber/Hino Toyota/Horton Equipment Rocket No. 1, finishing seventh on July 12 at Red River Co-op Speedway in Winnipega, Manitoba, and sixth on July 13 at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D.
Frank’s biggest frustration during the ‘Wild West Tour’ was his inability to capitalize on strong qualifying efforts. He timed eighth-fastest at Deer Creek, fourth at Black Hills and River Cities and 13th at Red River Co-op, and he made the A-Main redraw at Deer Creek, Black Hills and Red River Co-op.
“I haven’t figured it out yet,” said Frank. “We keep changing stuff, and it doesn’t seem like anything ends up exactly the way it needs to be. We’re qualifying way better than we did last year, but we’re not feature-racing as well as we were last year. We have to get better in the features so we can take advantage of the good starting spots we didn’t get very often last year.”
The ‘Wild West Tour’ finale at North Central also brought an end to Frank’s season-and-a-half run with Derek Gahring as his chief mechanic. Gahring has decided to return to his home state of Georgia to take another racing job.
Frank thanks Gahring for all his hard work since coming on board with Chub Frank Racing in February 2011 and wishes him well in his future endeavors.
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, Hino Toyota, Sorbera Family Chiropractic, Horton Equipment, All-Star Performance, Slavic Corporation, GW Performance, Integra Shocks, Hoosier Tire and Roush-Yates Racing Engines.