Two weeks ago, Timothy Culp collected the biggest victory of his young career.
Now he’s ready for more.
Culp, a native of West Monroe, La., who lives in Sheridan, enters tonight’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series national event at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway on a one-race winning streak. It was a triumph that turned heads throughout the dirt late model racing world.
“That’s what I’ve worked for forever, ever since I’ve been racing, to get a win like that against that caliber of competition,” he said.
It came March 14 in the fourth annual Pelican 100 at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La. Threatening weather conditions had forced promoters to shorten the event to one night and to reduce the feature race length to 50 laps. Still, many of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers were on hand.
Hall of Famer Billy Moyer of Batesville was the heavy favorite and started on the pole. But Culp, who started third, quickly closed the gap. The two raced side by side for more than 10 laps before Culp settled into the lead.
Culp was never fronted again. If the pressure of having to hold off one of the sport’s most successful drivers for another 30 laps or so affected Culp, he didn’t show it.
“There were three cautions, and I stretched out [the lead] after every caution,” Culp said. “We had a real good car.”
Culp, who collected $5,000, was elated in Victory Lane.
“This is the day I’ve lived for my whole life,” Culp, 23, told dirtondirt.com. “Y’all don’t understand. This is like Dale Jr. winning the [Daytona] 500. This is huge to me. Hopefully we can just build on it and have a great season.”
The competition will be even tougher tonight. In addition to Moyer, most of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers will be on hand. Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., the 2008 and 2012 WoO national champion, enters the weekend as the series points leader, 10 points ahead of Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., and 22 ahead of Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.
Tonight’s event is the seventh of 40 on the WoO schedule that will include stops in 21 states and Manitoba, Canada. The first five events were held in Februrary, with three at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., and two at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville. The series returned to action Friday night at Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas.
The Outlaws visited the quarter-mile oval at I-30 Speedway for the first time last year. Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., earned the victory when leader Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., ran into problems with lapped traffic late in the race.
Culp has had success at I-30 from the beginning of his career, when he would travel from Louisiana to race a modified at the track. Last April, he won a Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event at the track.
“I-30 fits my driving style, I think, and I’ve enjoyed racing there,” he said. “I’ve always ran well there when I was coming up in modifieds, and I ran some SUPR races there and always seemed to run pretty well.
“I’ve always enjoyed it, especially now with it being 30-45 minutes from the house.”
At a glance WORLD OF OUTLAWS
WHAT World of Outlaws Late Model Series national event WHERE I-30 Speedway, Little Rock WHEN Today. Gates open at 3 p.m. Time trials start at 7 p.m.
PURSE $10,000 to win, $700 to start TICKETS Grandstand admission is $28 for adults, $5 for children aged 6-12. Pit passes are $35.
Sports, Pages 26 on 03/29/2014