Randy Weaver debuted a new Longhorn Chassis this weekend in Mississippi.
Randy Weaver and his Outlaw Racing team began the 2014 season with the intention of running the full Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule. However, some less-than-successful runs combined with a need to stay closer to home due to a family issue caused him to pull off the tour several weeks ago. But on Friday night in the preliminary events leading up to the $20,000-to-win ‘Clash at the Mag’ at the Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., the Crossville, Tenn. native showed that he is plenty capable of setting the pace in LOLMDS events.
Weaver posted the overall fast time in qualifying among the 44 cars signed in for competition with a lap of 14.109 seconds. He then went on to win his heat race after battling with Earl Pearson, Jr. throughout much of that event. Other heat race winners included Mooresburg’s Scott Bloomquist, Eddie Carrier, Jr. and Don O’Neal. Carrier will start Saturday night’s 100-lap feature from the pole with Weaver and Bloomquist firing from the second and third spots respectively.
Perhaps the real story involving Weaver was not so much that he set quick time and won his heat, but rather that he and his team debuted a new Longhorn Chassis for this weekend. The familiar #116 has adorned other chassis brands in the past, most notably GRT. The change was made after consultation with Pearson, who runs the chassis built by his Bobby Labonte Racing team, and Kevin Rumley, who has done extensive work with the Labonte team on the Longhorn.
After Friday’s action at Magnolia, Weaver did an interview with DirtonDirt.com’s Ben Shelton to talk about how his evening had played out and the chassis switch.
“It couldn’t have went much better for us,” Weaver declared in front of the DirtonDirt camera. “Hats off to my crew. They really busted their tails to get this thing put together in time to get here so we could practice last night and fix a couple of those (new car) blues. It all worked out.”
Weaver pointed out that he and his team have received a great deal of help in making the move.
“Kevin Rumley and everybody back at Longhorn have really helped me a lot,” he pointed out. “Earl(Pearson, Jr.) just opened notebooks and it’s really sped our learning curve up. Hopefully we can make the right adjustments and just go out there and have a shot at it tomorrow.”
