CONCORD, N.C. — During his dirt late model career, World of Outlaws Late Model Series Director Steve Francis picked up plenty of tips and tricks about living on the road.
These include a list of fuel stops that have dump stations and water access, where good car washes are located or which Walmart’s won’t run you out of their parking lot in the middle of the night.
Now that Francis is two years deep in his leadership position with one of the country’s leading dirt late model series, he often imparts those tidbits of wisdom on the tour’s rookie teams.
“Been on the road for, I don’t know, 40 years,” Francis explained. “Those are the things you try to help them with, is logistics, for the young rookie teams who haven’t traveled a lot.”
He also knows where to point racers seeking replacement parts.
With a grueling, 53-race schedule, having a way to get in touch with the right people is bound to come in handy for the tour’s six-driver rookie crop. Francis, the 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion, has a stockpile of advice to unload on the new class of young guns.
“The biggest thing they have to learn is the highs and the lows. Don’t let ‘em get too good either way. The highs are great and the lows are horrible, but you’re going to have a lot of those in a year — especially a rookie year,” Francis said.
Aside from his makeshift job as a mentor, Francis is a race fan at heart.
That’s why the talent level of this year’s bunch of drivers excites him.
“There are 22 guys signed up. I hope 15 to 17 of them get a feature win this year. And I see many of them being very capable,” Francis said.
He then went one-by-one, evaluating a few of the top names in the sport.
“Bobby (Pierce) started off with one of the worst Sunshine Nationals you could ever have. I think he blew up two motors and was 25th in points or something like that, then he came back and won the championship,” Francis started.
“Chris Madden, the ultimate professional, I think he’s finished second (in points) three times. He has to be your sentimental favorite to get his championship. But then, you wanna see Cade (Dillard) win one, you wanna see Brandon (Sheppard) get his fifth (title) — you want to see all those things happen.”
Francis’ heartfelt passion and love for dirt late model racing was the lead reason he took the job as series director last year, and it remains his motive for continuing in that capacity.
“Dirt late model racing has been great to me, and anything I can do to help advance it in the future, I want to do,” Francis declared.
During his short time as director, he has strived to keep communication channels open between himself and the race teams, as collecting their honest feedback has been a crucial part of his decision-making.
When he makes his rounds, Francis will venture everywhere — from the well-financed teams to the owner-driver operations to ensure he’s keeping an appropriate balance.
Last year, a big topic of conversation among team owners was the purse structure. The critique was that the format didn’t provide a way for more than a couple guys to make enough money to continue racing week-in and week-out.
In response, Francis revamped the way the purse was laid out by cutting a small portion of the winner’s check and adding more of an emphasis on the take-home money for drivers who finish throughout the top 10.
“We’ve tried to give the owners and race teams what they ask for and support more teams further down and deeper,” Francis said.
“It’s maybe not as glorious to win, but I don’t think anybody could be disappointed to win $35,000 if the guy that runs 10th gets $5,000. At least that guy paid his bills that week too, right?”
With 22 drivers committing to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series this year, the resounding support for Francis’ re-direction was clear. His rookie season as series director wasn’t without a few bumps in the road, however, and Francis admitted one of the constructive criticisms he received was: “Read a road map better.”
He explained, “Last year, I made some dates that were — I just glanced at it and thought, ‘Well, that ain’t too bad. That’s only a four-hour drive.’ Well, then you get to factor in traffic and all of a sudden it’s a five-and-a-half hour drive night to night.”
As a result, Francis made a promise to the teams this year that he wouldn’t assign over a four-hour drive for back-to-back race night. And for the most part, he’s stayed true to that.
“I think the furthest one we have is one that’s like three hours and 40 minutes,” Francis said. “So, we were able to accomplish that.”
Making the travel make sense for race teams has been his goal since day one, and slowly but surely, Francis is making it happen.