World of Outlaws Late Model Series
at Eldora Speedway's World 100
By Kevin Kovac, WoO LMS P.R. Director

ROSSBURG, OH (September 8, 2008) - Shane Clanton is now a bona fide national dirt Late Model superstar.

One command performance in front of over 20,000 fans at Eldora Speedway thrust him squarely into the spotlight.

While the Locust Grove, Ga., driver has gained wide acclaim in recent years for his success on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, he needed a signature crown-jewel event victory to certify his status at the top of the division. He got it on Saturday night when he captured the 38th annual UMP DIRTcar Racing-sanctioned World 100, which stands as the sport’s most prestigious race.

Start printing up more t-shirts and putting his name in the pre-race headlines – at just 33 years of age, Clanton is going to be a prominent figure in dirt Late Model racing for a long time to come.

Clanton, of course, is a modest country boy and thus sidestepped post-race suggestions that he’s now reached the elite level in his line of work. But he did assert that, in his seventh year as a dirt Late Model driver, he’s found that elusive mix of elements necessary for serious success.

“It’s gotta be a combination of what we do to the race car and us gelling as three crew guys working together,” said Clanton, describing his emergence as a contender to win wherever he unloads with the help of mechanics Mark ‘Head’ Lloyd and Jonathan Owensby. “There’s just some little things that we’ve changed over the course of the last couple years and we’ve gotten better all over the country.

“And this month has been shining pretty good for us.”

Indeed, Clanton has been front-and-center on the WoO LMS in recent weeks. He’s won two of the last five A-Mains on the tour – visiting Victory Lane on Aug. 21 at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Aug. 31 at Tri-City Speedway in Franklin, Pa. – and has moved up to third in the points standings entering this weekend’s doubleheader at I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Mo. (Sat., Sept. 13) and La Salle (Ill.) Speedway (Sun., Sept. 14).

A WoO LMS regular since 2005, Clanton, who turned 33 on Aug. 29, credits his development to his extensive touring with the nation’s premier dirt Late Model series.

“There’s 10 good guys who can win this race and the Dream (Eldora’s $100,000-to-win spectacular in June), and I race against those guys them 10 guys every single week,” said Clanton, analyzing the caliber of competition on the WoO LMS. “Those guys (Outlaws regulars) have the most experience as far as Late Model drivers, and we race side-by-side, door-to-door.

“There’s nothing (better than the WoO LMS) that can give you the confidence and the ability (to win races). If you can outrun them guys every night, you can win this race.”

Clanton also hails his car owner Ronnie Dobbins, a low-key, 56-year-old Georgian who has been fielding dirt Late Models for nearly three decades. It’s Dobbins who has backed Clanton’s rise from a talented Southeastern Sportman racer to the upper echelon of dirt Late Model racing.

“I can’t say enough for him,” Clanton said of Dobbins, who decided on Saturday morning to not fly up for the World 100 but spoke by cell phone with Clanton during the Victory Lane ceremonies. “He gives me the best money can buy, without sparing a penny. Anything I ask him for, he says, ‘Go ahead and buy it.’ You can’t ask for no better than that.

“He stands behind me when we’re down. He says, ‘Hey, if you just work on your race car, you’ll get better.’”

Clanton said Dobbins has known him since he was “an itty-bitty thing” – a four-year-old hanging around his father Billy, a hard-nosed Southern driver who preceded Shane as a World 100 entrant. (Billy Clanton made one World 100 A-Main start, finishing 24th in 1978.) After Clanton began his own racing career by tearing up the Sportsman ranks and then entering the dirt Late Model division in 2002 with a self-funded effort, Dobbins offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse.

“In 2002 he came to me and said, ‘Hey, next year me and you are are gonna get together and go racing,’” recalled Clanton. “He said, ‘I’ll buy a trailer and buy some new cars and new motors and we’ll go back out on the road if you want to do it.’ I said, ‘Heck, I’m here to race. I’ll do whatever you want to do.’”

Clanton was victorious in his first two starts behind the wheel of Dobbins’s RSD Enterprises No. 25 in January 2003. Two years later he found himself following the WoO LMS, making his living as a race car driver after quitting his regular job.

“He gave me the opportunity to go fulltime racing,” Clanton said of Dobbins, “and here I am.”

Yes, Clanton is in a pretty good place. He’s on top of the ‘world.’