June 04 2007

Victory At Delaware International Continues Chub’s Surge On

World of Outlaws Late Model Series

Photo By Kevin Kovac

June 4, 2007

Chub Frank has gotten himself in a great groove at just the right time.

With the busy summer racing season ready to get rolling, ‘Chubzilla’ is suddenly one of the country’s hottest dirt Late Model drivers. He cemented that status over the past week with his performance on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, winning his second consecutive tour feature on May 31 at Delaware International Speedway and finishing a solid fourth in Saturday night’s A-Main at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway.

Coming off his first WoO LMS triumph of 2007 on May 18 at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich., Chub kept his momentum rolling with a $10,000 score at the half-mile Delaware International oval. It took a healthy dose of good luck, however, to get his Lester Buildings/Corry Rubber/All Star Performance/Corry Laser/Slavic Corporation/Farr MotorSports/Lake Shore Paving/Custom Race Engines Chevrolet Impala SS Rocket Chassis No. 1* across the finish line first in the ‘First State 50.’

Chub took the lead twice due to other drivers’ misfortune. First he inherited the top spot on lap 20 when Josh Richards tangled with a lapped car, and later, after Tim McCreadie grabbed the lead on lap 40, Chub regained command when McCreadie’s engine expired on lap 47.

The deciding three-lap dash to the checkered flag belonged to Chub, who registered his ninth career WoO LMS win by 1.179 seconds over Rick Eckert.

“Yeah, I was lucky,” said Chub, who started from the outside pole. “But if you’re lucky, you take it, no questions asked. I’ve been on the other side of that deal.

“We didn’t have a car good enough to win. We had a car good enough to run in the top three, but there were guys who were definitely better than us.

“Everything just fell into place and we won.”

Chub never challenged for the lead in Saturday night’s 26th annual ‘Conococheague 50’ at Hagerstown, but he was certainly no also-ran. After drawing the worst possible starting spot (eighth) for the feature following a heat-race victory, Chub moved quietly forward, reaching fourth on lap 23 and staying there to the finish.

Fourth place was a satisfying run for Chub, who battled a loose condition with his car for the entire distance.

“We’re happy,” he said. “Any time you can get a top-five, you’re happy.”

Chub’s three consecutive top-five finishes in WoO LMS competition helped him move to fourth in the tour point standings after 16 events, 34 points behind leader Clint Smith.

Chub would love to extend his hot streak to this weekend, when he competes on Friday and Saturday (June 8-9) in the annual UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The 100-lap A-Main pays a whopping $100,000 to win.

“If we can just pick off the Dream, I’d be real happy,” said Chub, a former winner of the World 100 at Eldora. “That $100,000 would go a long way for us.”

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Chub Frank Racing

Rt.1 Box 146

Lottsville Niobe Rd.

Bear Lake, PA 16402