World of Outlaws Late Model Series Director Steve Francis shared the one thing, well actually three, he would like to see changed in dirt late model racing.

During an appearance on The Dirt Parlor Podcast, Francis was asked by co-host Gordy Gundaker, “Is there something you’re passionate about that you want to see changed right now in our sport or to our cars, or any of those things? I know we’ve got some rule packages being changed a little bit going into ’27, but is there something you want to get changed or that you want to kind of put your finger on, or is it just kind of rolling with the punches?”

Francis pointed to bringing in new car owners to the sport and the marketing and financial benefits that would allow that to happen.

He said, “The biggest thing is how do you get to new people to continue to come into the sport to give—. Right now, if Gordy Gundaker wanted to get a ride, where is a good ride that Gordy Gundaker can get? Just like you said $3, $4, $5 million to start a new race team up. Okay, how do we make that number less, or is it possible? If you would ask me the challenges, is it possible?”

As for one way to do that, he suggested looking at the cost of engines and the type of engines that are being run.

“Is that by somehow making a 525 crate motor be competitive? It’s not going to be competitive at Eldora or some of those tracks, but is there a way to make that motor where a team now owns, instead of owning seven Vic Hill, Clements, Cornett, whatever, is there a way to make that worth five?”

“Because let’s look at that,” he continued. “Vic and Bill Schlieper may be the two youngest of the engine builders that are out there. I know Jay Dickens is up there. Jack Cornett is up there. The Clements boys are aging. Andy Durham is still pretty young, I believe. Mark Richards is getting older. Barry Wright has gotten older. How do we keep the pot filled?”

“Now, you look at the age of our drivers that seems to still be young,” he noted. “Devin, Bobby, Trey Mills, Daulton Wilson, go on down that list. Tim McCreadie is a senior racer now. Tim McCreadie and Dennis Erb are the senior group of racers now with the exception of probably a Dale McDowell. So we still have a lot of young racers coming in, but how do we keep turning new car owners in? How do we keep getting new car owners into the sport?”

Another thought he had is on the marketing side and bringing in sponsors who see opportunities based on the crowds that the series is able to bring at the track as well as on their live streaming services.

“Maybe it is these people that have these businesses that now you can go to them and say, ‘Hey man, we can get you in front of this many people for a season with the World of Outlaws.’ Maybe that’s where this is the next plus. I think some marketing and some things like that are the parts that we’ve still got to get figured out without getting so polished and so controlled that you can’t have your personality. We don’t need a handler there smacking your hand every time you say something wrong. That’s not where Dirt Late Model needs to be.”

“We are— I don’t want to use the word redneck — but we are NASCAR 25 years ago. Our crowds are that comparison in size now. 25 maybe 30 years ago before the Earnhardt thing. Probably 30 years ago when Dale Earnhardt, and Bill Elliott, and Harry Gant, those group of guys built NASCAR. I still say that to this day. Scott Bloomquist, and Billy Moyer, and Dale McDowell, and myself, and Rick Eckert, we were the group behind what was the Earnhardt/Elliott type group. We were more the Harry Gant/Richard Petty group back there. How do we get to the point where we don’t have leashes on everybody and you can still be yourself, but yet keep corporate America involved and get corporate America more involved?”

Francis then shared his desire to be like Earl Baltes and pay drivers $500 to fight on the front stretch, but would charge them $500 if they do it in the pits. Additionally, he shared a story about Kevin Gundaker and how they pulled into a motel after a race, but were told there were no rooms available. Without a room they were unable to clean up and get a shower. Nevertheless, they got in the motel’s pool at 3 in the morning and were subsequently confronted by the manager who told them to leave the premises. Gundaker was not having any of it and drug the manager into the pool with them. After that they skedaddled down the road in their haulers and never heard from the hotel or its manager again.

“That’s the type of world I wish we could still live in, but we don’t,” he said.

Furthermore, he pointed to drivers retaliating against each other and being punished for it, “This was not even one of my races, but there was a guy last year got out of the car and said, ‘I was tired of it and crashed him.’ Well, that guy winds up in a suspension because he said he crashed him intentionally. So how do we balance that part? Again, back to where if I run off in there and crashed your dad, I knew it was coming the next week, the next corner, the next something. I knew it was coming. And we can’t do it anymore because of all those things.”

“So you asked what I would love to have back or be able to figure out a way to be able to do is just what you said, ‘Keep it real,’ where if you do something dumb, you might get your ass whipped after awhile. And I don’t know how to do that in this day and time. I don’t even think it’s possible in this day and time.”

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