"The biggest thing in this game is preparation."

Chub Frank Racing
Photos © 2004 Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

Real dirt draws fans and racers across the country throughout the motorsports season. It could be the thrill of human and machine racing to be number one among others around graded earth. It might be the shared enthusiasm of fans or even the reasonable price and cost of dirt track racing compared to the more expensive admission and cost of asphalt track racing in sanctions like NASCAR. It may be as simple as the scent of raw earth and the aroma of concession food mixed with screams and smiles of the crowd. The World of Outlaw Dirt Late Model series is a number one dirt track sanction popular among hundreds of drivers and thousands of racing fans.

Running with the "Woo" (World of Outlaws) is an accomplishment for any driver and one such top producer is Lottsville, Pa., resident Chub Frank. Fan favorite 'Chubzilla' has had a top year in spite of a garage fire that displaced his operation and resulted in the need for new headquarters construction.

Zoomster.com was in dirt track country recently and discovered quickly that the words of Chub Frank are much like the surface he races on--real.

Dwight asked Chub Frank:

"It's something you can actually make a living at and something you enjoy. A lot of people work at jobs they don't enjoy. One thing about racing is-- it's a lot of fun."

"Coordination has a lot to do with it, but you have to think fast on your feet. If you talk to those guys that run well, you see them in commercials. They always play video games. I guess when I was younger we used to play a lot of pinball and I was really good at it. You've got to have good eye-hand coordination at that and in racing. The difference is soon as you get older you have to have a little more experience and experience will get you out of some things. Maybe the reaction time has slowed down a little bit, but now experience will get you out."

"Weeks ago I won the World 100, the biggest race of the year for World of Outlaws Late Models. The biggest race we have. It's basically like the Daytona 500. There were 30,000 people there for the 34th annual running and it's the last year that Earl Baltes is going to be at Eldora Speedway as far running the show. Eldora is the biggest dirt track in the country for Late Models and Sprint Cars too. Jeff Gordon and all those guys, they've all run there. It's in Rossburg, Ohio. The rumor right now is that Tony Stewart and Ken Schrader are buying the track. Earl is 84 years old and he's had enough. Fifty years."

"Ah no. If you really did that you'd really only make about two bucks an hour and that really wouldn't cut it."

"I don't know. I've been competitive all my life. I guess as long as you're competitive that feeling that makes you want to do good in anything you do. Racing is a competitive sport as it comes. I guess that's where it comes from."

"When not at the track, well, we don't get time to do anything else if that's what your saying. I'd like to do a little golfing and stuff like that, but we don't really get time to do it. This year has been hard year for us. My shop is being built. We had a fire and burnt down the old shop in March so we're rebuilding right now. So it's been a long year trying to keep up with the racing. When you're working in somebody's shop, not yours, it takes twice as long to do anything."

"We have preparation. The biggest thing in racing is preparation during the week. You get your stuff ready and we have setups when we go to racetracks. If we haven't been there before we have to rely on experience and know you need to change to a different setup or something like that. If it's racetracks that we have been to, we have notes to show what we ran there. If we need to make it a little better, we know what adjustments we need to make. The biggest thing in this game is preparation."

Actually we've got a new sponsor, Lester Buildings, since the fire. They were big into blacktop racing and we took them to dirt races and they couldn't believe the turnout in dirt racing. It was two or three times as many as they got for blacktop racing. They were impressed with all the people. They've been happy and they're talking about getting a dirt program together for the next four or five years. That's going to be a big deal for us."

"This the first year we're running the World of Outlaws Late Models which is owned by the same people that have the World of Outlaw Sprints, but it's been a great year for us. We're looking forward to next year right now because of all that has gone on. We've had a lot of fan support since the fire this spring. I just want to thank all the fans for all the support they have given us. "

I've been fortunate to interview hundreds of racers including many who race in top sanctions like NASCAR and NHRA and I'm always impressed with seeking and finding a common thread that sews the intricate fabric of driver fire. Most privileged drivers with national identities know that many racers in the USA have equivalent skills and are simply not as well known or as well funded.

Zoomster.com takes pride in bringing the words of those with the national names as well as those with the national fiber to be winners at their chosen tracks. Chub Frank is a winner. His choice of a winner's circle surrounded by dirt is just as important to his fan base as any asphalt circle surrounded by an abundance of video cameras feeding millions of hungry fans.

At Zoomster.com we believe that all of motorsports is all about fans and their drivers.