Ricky Weiss runs his No. 7 Drydene Team Zero car at the Battle at the Border in Vado, New Mexico this season. Photo courtesy World of Outlaws // Adam Mollenkopf
Ricky Weiss held the lead crossing the start/finish line with six laps to go in last year’s Firecracker 100 at Lernerville Speedway.
He was going for his first World of Outlaws feature victory and had a tire go flat as he came around the turn, giving up the lead and the enormous prize money that’s on the line in a crown jewel event.
“You’ve got to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good,” Weiss said. “Like I’ve always said. We had bad luck (a year ago).”
Weiss wants that to flip the other way this year.
He thinks he’s got a good shot to, too, with his Scott Bloomquist Racing No. 7 car.
“Scott’s cars are usually great at long distances,” Weiss said. “We have a lot of confidence. I know Scott has been good. Chris (Madden) will be good there. Anyone in a Team Zero car will be good this year. We’ve just got to try to work as a team, qualify well, win a heat race and make it easier for us.”
The race will be the Outlaws Late Model tour’s first Crown Jewel event of the season, paying out $30,000 to the winner of Saturday’s main event.
That won’t change the way Weiss and his team approach the race, however it heightens the stakes.
“It does and it doesn’t,” Weiss said. “We try to look at – whether it’s a $100,000-to-win show or a $6,000-to-win show – we try to be as prepared as we can. Just like any racer out there everybody wants to win them all. It definitely puts some pressure on us, but as long as we can be as fast as we were last year I think that we’ll be good.”
On top of it, the race is being televised by CBS Sports Network. It’s the first time in over a decade that the World of Outlaws will be on live TV.
Weiss related it to the growth of the sport over the past two months.
“I think the sport really grew a lot,” Weiss said. “More people had time to go on social media. More people had time to watch online. All of that together really helped grow our sport and I believe that it got bigger through the hard times.”
That’s exactly what the World of Outlaws was wanting being one of the first series and sports overall to return to the track.
Its paid dividends for the tracks as well.
“We’re seeing bigger than normal crowds,” Weiss said. “Obviously, when you take something away, everybody wants it more. It’s pretty cool to see these tracks getting record number crowds.”
It will be anyone’s race this weekend, too.
Since 2013, the Firecracker 100 has never seen a repeat winner. Seven different drivers have taken home the champion’s trophy in the past seven years.
He’s certainly off to an alright start coming in, sitting in second place in the series point standings.
“I think we surprised a lot of people with what you’d call a fresh team,” Weiss said. “Last year, a lot of those tracks were new to us – and we’re still seeing some new tracks this year. It’s just we’re doing everything we can to run consistently. A top five every night is not a bad thing. Some nights you’ll fall back a little bit, but you’ve got to think to yourself that every car is worth points. You can’t give up.”
The favorite for Saturday might have to be Brandon Sheppard – who has accrued 13 top 5’s in the first 15 races of the year.
Weiss equated it to luck, too, and said that Sheppard may see a dip in performance or may continue to dominate. You just never know.
“Racing is just a big roller coaster,” Weiss said. “He could have a bad weekend or a bad (back) half of the season. He may continue to run as strong as he is (all year). Hats off to those guys, though. They show up prepared and it’s tough to beat a prepared team.”
Weiss and his team will give it their best shot on the DirtVision.com broadcast at 5:05 p.m. CT each night this week.
He’s shown how well he can do on this track as long as his tires can go the distance.
“As long as we stay consistent and stay on their back bumper, we’re bound to take a couple of wins this weekend and hopefully close the gap up,” Weiss said.
| World of Outlaws Late Models Standings | ||||
| Position | Driver | Points | Behind | |
| 1 | Brandon Sheppard | 2166 | -0 | |
| 2 | Ricky Weiss | 2062 | -104 | |
| 3 | Darrell Lanigan | 1978 | -188 | |
| 4 | Chris Madden | 1954 | -212 | |
| 5 | Chase Junghans | 1944 | -222 | |
| 6 | Cade Dillard | 1906 | -260 | |
| 7 | Dennis Erb Jr. | 1904 | -262 | |
| 8 | Scott Bloomquist | 1866 | -300 | |
| 9 | Ashton Winger® | 1820 | -346 | |
| 10 | Boom Briggs | 1690 | -476 | |