When Davey Johnson of Greensburg beat the "Dirty Dozen" drivers of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series Monday at Challenger Raceway, it marked only the second race day this season for late models on that dirt oval. There won't be another until the 10th annual Fall Fest in October, although there is a motocross event Sunday.

Challenger, in Jacksonville, Indiana County, used to have a regular weekly program like most of the other speedways in Western Pennsylvania, but owner Jack Lentz opted a couple of years ago to take a little more time for himself and stage only a few special events rather than to continue the grind of promoting a weekly show.

Lentz might have continued to race weekly if there were fewer tracks in the region, but with at least 10 different speedways affecting his facility, he gambled on staging only big events. It paid off Monday with 56 cars in the pits and a good crowd in the grandstand.

Despite Lentz's success, don't look for other tracks in the region to follow suit.

"My love is the weekly show," Jennerstown Speedway owner Dave Wheeler said. "What a touring show can do at a place like Jennerstown is it gets us that big flash bang show. My idea is once a month in June, July and August. If you promote those shows properly and get them done well, they can carry the track for the short-track weekend racer. As long as I'm involved in Jennerstown Speedway, we're going to have a weekly show."

Red Miley, who owns Motordrome Speedway and runs Pittsburgh's Pennsylvania Motor Speedway with his family, believes in occasional specials mixed with his regular programs. In fact, PPMS will run the Penn National 50 for late models Saturday along with all of the track's other regular divisions.

"I think a strong weekly show is where it's at," said Miley, who will welcome the IPOWER Dash Series July 24 to Motordrome for a 150-lap race. "I think you sprinkle that with one special a month. In essence, you get the best of both worlds. The problem on asphalt in Western Pennsylvania is that we can't have legitimate specials each month because of the car counts. At the Penn National 50 we'll probably have 30 or 40 cars, in the twin 50s at Motordrome [in June] there were no more cars than we would normally have had. Yet those specials once a month, even twin 50s with no additional cars, draw bigger crowds. I think that developing a strong weekly show like we did at Pittsburgh on the dirt is exactly what our game plan is for Motordrome."

Late model driver David Scott can understand why Challenger went to only special events, but doesn't see that as a trend at other tracks.

"There might be some places that do that, but you've got to put on a big show," said Scott, who won a Mid-Atlantic Championship Series race in April and finished 22nd Monday after running with the leaders midway through the feature. "It's got to be at least a MACS show or up in order to bring in enough people. When Jack does that at Challenger, he packs the pits and packs the stands. It's hard to go from making that money three times a year to beating your head against the wall for a couple thousand dollars a week and listening to all the complaining. When there's a big show, there's usually no complaining. That weekly stuff, there's a fight every night somewhere."

Mark Cottone, a veteran racer at Motordrome and Jennerstown, believes many drivers, as well as tracks, will eventually focus on special events.

"Time and finding the resources to race is very difficult," he said. "We've done a limited schedule and I know other people are doing a limited schedule."

Lugnuts

Apollo native Ryan Hemphill returns to Kentucky Speedway tomorrow for the ARCA Re/Max Series Kentucky 150. The first of Hemphill's three wins this year came in May at Kentucky. ... Cranberry native Travis Geisler will race Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. ... Lernerville Speedway will feature twin 20-lap features for modifieds tomorrow as it gears up for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup race July 20. ... Garry Wiltrout tightened the points race at Motordrome when he beat Neil Brown and Rick Miller to earn his first late model win of the year at the Smithton track. Miller is second in the NASCAR Northeast Region standings. ... Saturday is fan appreciation night at Jennerstown Speedway, where Barry Awtey earned his first win of the season last week.