ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605200020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRUCE STANTON STAFF WRITER
Tonight's Late Model Stock race at Franklin County Speedway could be referred to as the ``Shootout at the Callaway Corral.''
Whitey Taylor, the Callaway track's owner, has placed a $1,000 bounty on Dudley Lawhorn, who has won three of four Late Model races at FCS this season.
With New River Speedway taking tonight off, Roanoke brothers Tim and Tony McGuire, a couple of NRVS regulars, will be among those aiming to reel in Lawhorn and collect the bounty and the $1,200 first prize.
``We're coming bounty hunting, you might say,'' said Tony McGuire, one of the top Late Model drivers in the region. McGuire has finished first and second in the past two Late Model races at Martinsville Speedway and is a top competitor at NRVS.
``Tony is at the top of his game right now,'' Tim McGuire said. ``So if you beat him, you beat one of the best this class has to offer.''
The McGuire brothers have a long history at FCS, which used to be owned by their dad, Squeek McGuire. They haven't raced at FCS since the last race of the 1994 season, but in that event, Tim beat Tony at the wire.
``The last time we came over here, I edged Tony at the finish, and I hope to do it again,'' Tim McGuire said. ``I'm looking forward to coming back here and racing. It's a chance to come back and renew some old rivalries.''
Taylor said he expects 30 to 35 drivers to attempt to qualify for the Ropho Sales 300. Out of that number, 24 will be allowed to compete in the main event.
With several drivers competing for points and others out for the bounty on Lawhorn, Taylor said he expects quite a show at the high-banked, 3/8-mile track.
``We're coming over here to see if we can knock [Lawhorn] off the throne,'' Tony McGuire said. ``Plus, this track is a lot of fun to run on. I guess you'd have to be a racer and raced on several tracks to understand what I'm saying. Some tracks are not fun at all, and some are downright boring, but Franklin County Speedway is exciting.''
For the race winner to collect the bounty on Lawhorn, the Rustburg driver must be running when the winner takes the checkered flag.
``They can't knock him out of the race,'' Taylor said. ``Lawhorn's got to finish the race, so if they wreck him to get it, they don't get the bounty. But Dudley's not going to be a cakewalk. He's won two track championships here.''
For those race fans who might choose to sit at home and watch the Winston Select - NASCAR's All-Star race - on television, Taylor said he will have a big-screen TV at the track so they can watch both events.
``We're going head-to-head with Humpy Wheeler [the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway],'' Taylor said. ``We'll have the best race for $7 and their race for free.''
Qualifying begins at 6 p.m., and admission is $7.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB