Eric McCray is no stranger to dirt or pavement. But he’s never raced dirt late models on pavement like what’s going to happen this Saturday with the Save A Lot American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products at Lake Erie Speedway.
McCray won two championships at Lake Erie, in sport compacts (2006) and in IMCA-style modifieds (2009). That doesn’t mean he has knows exactly what it will take to conquer the 3/8-mile oval in a dirt late model.
“I really don’t know what to expect,” McCray, Corry, Pennsylvania, said. “How will the tires hold up? I don’t know any of these drivers [that run the series] and their driving habits. My mind has played a lot of scenarios of what I think is going to happen, but I really don’t know until we get there.”
McCray hopes dirt racers understand how cars react differently on pavement than on dirt.
“It’s a different driving style on dirt than it is on asphalt,” McCray said. “If you’re used to driving on dirt, you’re used to driving sideways. Asphalt’s different when you get loose. You’ve got to be careful how you let off the throttle on pavement, because the car will snap back around on you real quick.”
Fortunately, everyone will be facing the same challenges, on the same American Racer M-130s (lefts) and M-32s (rights) for a 40-lap feature. And they’ll be enjoying one of the nicest oval tracks in North America.
“I remember going to NASCAR races and saying our facility was nicer,” McCray said. “I used to say it was the nicest short tracks east of the Mississippi.”
Lake Erie Speedway was state of the art when it was built in 2002–and that still holds true today, nearly 25 years later.
Another feature unlike many paved ovals is the progressive banking of Lake Erie. The banking starts at 6° at the bottom and increases to 12° at the top, helping facilitate side-by-side racing.
Regardless of the unknowns, Eric McCray feels he’ll have an enjoyable night at Lake Erie Speedway. He believes many others will, too, when the Save A Lot American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products visits on Saturday, July 11.
“It’s a bucket list thing to run a late model there,” McCray said. “I never thought it would be a dirt late model, though.”
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Outside Groove is a sponsor of the American All-Star Series. The American All-Star Series paid for the production of this article. The content is not subject to the approval of the American All-Star Series.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
