Outlaw Modified Racing Series



		*Florida's fastest four cylinder racing!*

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Full Moon Doesn't Phase Parrish at Desoto
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	Welcome to the Outlaw Modifieds Website. We thank you for your interest in our series and suggest you bookmark us. The Outlaws are the oldest continuously running traveling series in the state of Florida. Originally conceived in the early 1970’s as the first Modified Mini stocks at Hialeah Speedway it progressed to a modified body style and were called the Pro-4s of Florida. A change in management from Craig Scherar to Paul Petri of Ocala Racetrack fame saw the roofs come off and the name changed to the Outlaw Modifieds. Richard Huston picked up the reins in 1996 and car count began to climb. In 2000 Steve Brigham took over the series and incorporated it as the Outlaw Modified Racing Series. Car count continued to climb and the Outlaws are now a major touring series with 18 races scheduled at 4 different tracks for 2011. The OLM’s mission statement is simple “provide a family environment for the fastest four cylinders in Florida, and do it inexpensively.” To this end races are scheduled on the first and third Saturday of the month. If a race is missed due to a rain out it is not rescheduled as that would not be fair to a team that may not be able to make it up. This keeps every team on an equal footing for points. Consideration for Family Life is very important as most of the teams are made up of close knit Family units such as Team of Harry Campbell which fields 3 cars and has more clansmen at the track than at the last Highlands Clan reunion. The cars themselves are also unique as they are built on tube chassis with coil over shocks. Rolling on 10 wide tires and a 76” track, these cars are fast and nimble. Power plants run from Fords to Toyotas and even an odd Nissan, however the Ford 2300’s is the favored motor. Motor rules have stayed very stable over the last 10 years with the only rule change coming this year which allowed the Esslinger aluminum d-port head. This was done only to provide an alternative to hard to find iron heads. This head can only be run on a low compression motor, another way the Outlaws promote reliability as low compression motors enjoy a major weight break. Speeds of an Outlaw rival those of a limited late model on a quarter to 3/8 mile track. Visit our schedule page to find us at a track near you.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Parrish Dominates in Outlaw Feature at Desoto

Ask any short track race driver, or race fan for that matter, and they will tell you that strange (usually bad) things can happen when racing under a full moon. Tom Meyer said "we ignore it, avoid looking at it and don't even mentioning that its there until we come off the track". But, for the Outlaws last Saturday, the full moon proved to be an illuminating back drop for an exciting, caution free, 25 lap feature race won by John Parrish.

A fairly large crowd came to Desoto as the Outlaws shared the bill with a 100 lap late model race. Nine Outlaw cars were on hand. Dan Akard (14) brought the family out for his second appearance of the season and it was the first appearance for John Parrish who is racing on a limited schedule due to funding.

All nine cars ran in one heat race, won by Mike Endee (26). Mike then drew to invert the top eight cars for the feature line up.

The inversion put Ric Mills (22) on the pole with Melanie Braden (7) on the outside. When the green flag dropped, the outside line went but one car in the inside row didn't fire and a number of cars in the back of the field stacked up coming out of turn 4. The gap that opened on the inside allowed Hopper (15) to drop from the outside to get under Braden (7) and run up on the leader Mills (22). Parrish (9P), who started behind Hopper (15), followed.

With a hole left behind from Parrish's move from the outside, Raymond Jones (28) cut in front of Akard (14) on the outside and passed Richards (61) going into turn 1. Down the back stretch, Jones (28) crossed back low to the inside pulling along side Braden (7).

Mills (22), Hopper (15) and Parrish (9P) lead the rest of the pack that had formed three rows of two racing side by side. Jones (28) was on the inside and Braden (7) on the outside with Richards (61) and Meyer (04) behind them and then Endee (26) and Akard (14) tight behind them. The six cars stayed side by side until Jones (28) started pulling ahead of Braden (7).

While Jones (28) was pulling ahead of Braden, Dan Akard (14) started falling back. That left Richards (61) and Braden (7) side by side followed by Endee (26) and Meyer (04) racing side by side for the next two laps. Going into turn three on lap three, Mike Endee (26), running seventh at the time, dove down with all four wheels on the apron. Endee pulled along side the 61 of Richards in the middle of the turn before backing off to get back on the track. Once on the racing surface again, Endee stayed low on the yellow line to make it three wide coming out of turn four to make the pass on both Richard (61) and Braden (7) .

Up front, Hopper (15) was able to pass Mills (22) on the inside but Parrish (9P) wasn't far behind. John knew that he had to keep Hopper close if he was going to have any chance to challenge him. It didn't take long for Parrish to pass Mills (22) and focus on Hopper (15).

Endee (26) having gotten by the pack had a lot of ground to make up to catch the leaders. Endee caught and passed Jones (28) before setting his sights on Mills (22). Further back, Paul Richards (61) and Mel Braden (7), were putting on a great show racing side by side with neither driver giving in. Meyer (04) found himself trapped behind them not knowing which would win the hard fought battle. Finally, on lap 8, Richards (61) started pulling away from Braden (7) and Meyer (04) was quick to follow.

After settling in behind Hopper (15), Parrish (9P) showed his muscle by taking Hopper on the outside. Hopper made an effort to fight back with more bottom end power coming out of the turns, but Parrish had a stronger top end as he slowly distanced himself from Hopper.

On lap 10, Endee (26) chased down Mills (22) and passed him to take the third position. Jones (28) was running comfortably in the fifth position. Meyer (04) was able to work his way past Braden (7) and then Richards (61). That left Jones ahead of him. As Meyer (04) caught Jones (28) going into turn 3 of lap 12 and almost ran over Jones coming out of turn 4 as Jones slowed and pulled to the infield. On lap 16, Meyer (04) caught Mills (22). Mills was fast in the straightaways, but Meyer (04) was faster holding his car to the bottom through the turns. On lap 18, Meyer cleared Mills for fourth.

Endee (26) was fast on the out side as well. On lap 20, Endee caught Hopper (15) and drove around the outside of him to take the second spot. By then, however, Parrish (9P) had established a sizable lead over Hopper and by the time Endee passed Hopper, Parrish's lead was insurmountable.

Parrish (9P) took the win with Endee (26) in second and Hopper (15) third. Meyer (04) finished fourth ahead of Mills (22). Richard (61), Braden (7) and Akard (14) rounded out the field with Jones (28) in the infield.

The Outlaws next race is 19 May where they will be welcomed at Bronson Speedway.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

Meyer Runs (But Can't Hide) From Hopper

Eight Outlaw Modifieds visited Auburndale Speedway on the Saturday before Easter. Tom Meyer summed up the night's feature race from the winner's circle saying, "I just lived through the Outlaw's worst nightmare: leading with Doug Hopper in your mirror when the caution comes out with two to go."

It was a nice evening for racing; kind of relaxing for the Holiday weekend. Eight Outlaws were on hand with Austin Kirkpatrick back behind the wheel of the 08 car.

Former Outlaw driver and Race Director Steve Brigham came from the East coast with his son Phillip. Phillip also drove in the series for nearly a decade. Steve and Phillip spent quite some time looking over their old #11 car, now the #7 of Mel Braden. Were they possibly looking to make a purchase?

The night's first heat race was won by Paul Richards in the #61. Kirkpatrick's night ended half way through the heat with an expired motor. Doug Hopper (15) won the second heat race with Mike Endee (26) losing a motor during that race.

The random inversion for the feature line up was "0" putting Richards (61) on the pole. Hopper (15) elected to go to the rear moving Meyer (04) to the outside front row. Endee (26) managed to make the start, salvaging any points he could muster.

Meyer took full advantage of his front row start pulling to a four car length lead coming out of turn two on the first lap. Ric Mills (22) pulled along side Richards (61) with Braden (7) and Hopper (15) side by side. Coming out of turn two, Jones (28) drove below Braden (7) making it three wide with Hopper (15) on the outside. Jones (28) completed the pass on Braden (7) in turn three. By the time they crossed the finish line, Hopper (15) also made it past Braden (7) falling in behind Jones (28).

Meyer (04) ran from the rest of the field with a half straight away lead on lap three. Second (Richards) through sixth (Braden) raced in a line, bumper to bumper, as Endee pulled his broken car to the infield. Going into turn three, Ric Mills (22) dove below Richards (61). Mills completed the pass out of turn four and, with Richards rooted up from the bottom, Jones (28)and Hopper (15) followed Mills past Richards (61). Mills, however, appeared to be fighting a push. So, just as the previous lap, Jones (28) made a move under Mills (22) in turn three. This time, Hopper (15) followed Jones (28) past Mills (22) coming out of turn two on the fifth lap.

On lap six, Meyer's lead stretched to nearly a full straight away. Second through sixth were again nose to tail as they were on lap two except that the order had changed with Jones (28)second, Hopper (15) third, Mills (22) fourth, Richards (61) fifth and Braden (7) sixth.

Hopper (15) started working Jones (28) on lap seven. Hopper took to the outside of Jones. Hopper couldn't make the pass around the outside of Jones and fell back behind him down the backstretch of lap eight. Hopper (15) followed Jones for the next two laps. Jones (28) also seemed to be fighting a push. Coming out of the turns, Jones had to slow the car allowing Hopper to get right up to Jones bumper. Hopper almost had Jones going into turn four of lap ten, but Jones closed the door, forcing Hopper to back off.

Finally, on lap thirteen, Hopper (15) pulled along the inside of Jones (28) down the backstretch and was able to establish his position through turns three and four. Mills (22) had a good view of the battle in front of him, Richards (61) was several car lengths behind with Braden (7) several car lengths behind him.

Having worked his way past the rest of the field Hopper was now faced with a lot of clear track between him and Meyer (04) in the lead. Hopper, always up to the challenge, hunted Meyer down, gaining lap by lap. As Hopper narrowed the lead, Meyer seemed to slow a bit. After the race Meyer said he was preparing for a real fight. "Hopper's run hard lap after lap heating up his tires. So, I had two choices: either try running away and get my tires hotter or cool my tires a bit so that I can take advantage of him when he catches me." Meyer's strategy backfired when Mills (22) spun in turn two of lap 18. The caution erased all of the lead Meyer had left over Hopper and allowed Hopper to cool his tires too.

On the restart, Meyer (04) got a great jump on Hopper coming out high of turn four. Meyer held a two car length advantage over Hopper (15) through the next four laps. Meyer carried plenty of speed through the turns about a half groove up the track. Hopper was looking for an opening to get under Meyer but there was none to be had. On lap 22, Meyer slipped up just enough coming out of turn two that Hopper was able to stick his front bumper under Meyer's rear tire going into turn three. Too low on the track, though, Hopper had to back off to make it through the turn. That allowed Meyer to carry more speed through turn four and pull back ahead. It also allowed Jones (28) to close in on Hopper.

Completing lap 24, Meyer regained a two car length lead and was expecting to see the white flag. Instead, the flag was yellow due to the 61 of Richards spun in turn two. Imagine what Meyer was thinking after holding off Hopper and pulling a little ahead expecting to just have to hang on for one more lap when, in fact, he had to restart and run ahead of Hopper for two more laps.

Meyer (04) got another great restart on lap 23 with Hopper looking inside and outside for a way by. Hopper (15) was trying to set Meyer up, but Meyer didn't give any ground on the inside. Hopper made one last dash down the backstretch but Meyer's car was working well low. Coming out of turn four for the checkers, Meyer opened it up a bit, but by then it was too late for Hopper as he could only draw up to Meyer's rear bumper.

Following Hopper across the line for third was Mills (22), Braden (7) fourth and Richards (61) fifth. Jones (28) hung in until the final lap when a radiator hose let go and he had to settle for sixth.

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