2009 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Rookie of the Year Looks To Shake Sophomore Struggles In Tour’s Annual Visit To Ohio Oval

HARTFORD, OH – July 25, 2010 – In a perfect world, Russell King would enter the seventh annual World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Sharon Speedway this Wednesday night (July 28) brimming with the confidence of a young driver enjoying a breakout season.

But as King, 21, of Bristolville, Ohio, knows all too well, the learning curve in professional dirt Late Model racing is a steep one. So it is that the 2009 WoO LMS Rookie of the Year will head out on his home track’s three-eighths-mile surface for Wednesday night’s 50-lap, $10,000-to-win Ohio-Pennsylvania Speedweek show hoping that some familiar surroundings will help him shake his sophomore struggles on the national tour.

“After you do the whole World of Outlaws schedule for a season you naturally think it’s going to get easier,” said King, the scion of a family with a rich dirt-track racing history in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. “But the reality is that it just gets harder. Just because you have a year of experience doesn’t mean a thing.” Read more »

Prepared by Joe Secka-JMS ProPhoto – www.jmsprophoto.com

BRISTOLVILLE, OH – May 20, 2010 – After a two week break to check over equipment and make necessary repairs, Russ King Racing headed back out on the road. Usually, there is a little more travel involved between races before the World of Outlaws Late Model Series enters into the meat of the summer schedule. This year is no different as the #56 team would travel to North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois and Kentucky over the course of nine days.

Fayetteville, NC – April 30 – The hauler pulled out on Thursday and the team planned to stop for a brief visit with Sis’s aunt and uncle, Tom and Judy, in North Carolina. They spent the night parked in a church parking lot across the street from his house before everyone headed to Fayetteville the next morning. Read more »

Barberville, FL — By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director

Russell King remembers the timid, uncertain feeling he took into last year’s DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park.

One flip of the calendar, however, has produced a dramatic change in the up-and-coming driver’s mental outlook.

Coming off a 2009 season that saw him obtain a serious full-fender education while marching to World of Outlaws Late Model Series Rookie of the Year honors, King is a new (young) man entering the 39th annual mid-winter racing extravaganza at the half-mile oval outside Daytona Beach.

King, 20, of Bristolville, Ohio, simply has a much better vibe about the dirt Late Model portion of the 2010 DIRTcar Nationals, which features the season-opening WoO LMS events on Feb. 11 and 13 as well as UMP DIRTcar-sanctioned programs on Feb. 8, 9, 10 and 12. Read more »

Shortly after returning home from The World of Outlaws World Finals, Russ and the crew began disassembling the cars for inspection and a complete rebuild. Most everything will stay the same as it was last year with Rocket Chassis and Custom Engines supplying the power. The bodies have been re-skinned and dressed in wraps created by Slavic Designs in Russ’ traditional red color.

Bobby Bachman will return to lead the team as crew chief and Craig “Snowman” McCrimmon has been brought in as a full-time mechanic. Russ’ mom, Sis, will return to handle the duties of driving the rig and feeding the crew while on tour. Of course Rex Sr., Russ’ dad, and brother Rex Jr. “Cooter” and girlfriend Ashley Jackson will again lend support at the shop and at select events closer to home. Read more »