Victory Lane: Adjusting to life on the road key to survival with Outlaws

Sunday, June 03, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

After Lernerville Speedway's Ouch Roenigk and his crew fixed the half-mile clay oval three times Friday night, persistent rain finally forced the World of Outlaws to postpone the Commonwealth Clash until Wednesday.

"Mother Nature has won this round," Outlaws President Ted Johnson said. "We'll come back here Wednesday and put a show on for the fans."

Wednesday? Why wait five days?

Because drivers in the World of Outlaws live a nomadic life. After waiting to see if the rain would end in time for the first televised race in Lernerville history Friday night, the teams were off to Ohio's Eldora Speedway, near the border with Indiana, for a race last night. From there, the series is to compete in central Illinois tomorrow before returning to Sarver for the Commonwealth Clash.

There is no break after making up the race at Lernerville, either. The Outlaws are off to Bristol, Tenn., for a two-day event beginning Friday night.

It's all part of a schedule that began Feb. 23 in California and will end Nov. 3 in Las Vegas. In between, the series competes in 26 states on 105 nights, and when the series is not racing its drivers are usually traveling to a race.

"You really got to be pretty much self contained and ready to go come the start of the season," said Craig Dollansky, who won at Lernerville last year in the inaugural World of Outlaws Gumout Series race. "When you get back home, there's certain things you take for granted you sure do learn an appreciation for, like having water every night and not having to find a Laundromat or having to get you mail overnighted somewhere before you've got to leave town again.

"It's those kind of things that make it very difficult to maintain somewhat of a normal life. We enjoy what we do and we don't mind it, but it's one of the tougher things."

Adjusting to life on the road was also difficult for Aliquippa's Tim Shaffer, who has raced with the Outlaws full-time since 1999.

"If you don't get used to it, you're in trouble, you're not going to be out there very long," said Shaffer, the 1993 Lernerville sprint-car champion who is 12th in the current Outlaws standings. "That's something I acquired when I ran with the All Stars, that helped me a lot but I still got home just about every weekend.

"This deal here, when you're gone four or five weeks in a row, you meet a lot of good people out there which you become friends with. Everyone thinks it so great, you get to do what you want to do and everything -- and I love it -- but it's a lot harder than most people could imagine."

All Star series veteran Ed Lynch Jr. of Apollo understands the rigors competing in a touring series.

"The travel is hard on you," Lynch said. "Anyone in their first year with the Outlaws has to be a trucker, a racer, a mechanic and a nutritionist all at once because if you don't eat right, you don't sleep right and as a result you don't race right. It gets to you."

Pit stops

Johnstown's Chris Gleason and his Genesis Racing team is preparing its BMWs for competition in the 24 Hours of Le Mans June 16-17. Gleason, 59, along with fellow drivers Bill Auberlen, Rick Fairbanks and Chris Miller, finished sixth out of 40 cars in the GT class at the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona. ... In NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Northeast Region standings, using points at Motordrome Bob Arsenberger is ranked seventh and Mark Cottone is 11th. Barry Awtey is fourth and Neil Brown is 12th based on their performances at Jennerstown Speedway.