KERENS, W.Va. (May 2) — As a new dirt track promoter, you've gotta crawl before you can walk, and walk before you can run. "You can't get too greedy starting out," said Wayne Feathers, who has taken over Elkins (W.Va.) Speedway for 2008. | Shaver wins at Elkins | Slideshow

In Feathers' case, he's hobbling before he can walk. The owner of Feathers Roofing and General Contracting broke his left foot when he fell from a roof six weeks ago, and the healing process is taking longer than he expected. That hasn't slowed the Winchester, Va., resident too much though in making improvements at Elkins as he hopes to make the Friday night track into a solid racing venue. Feathers, who has been in racing for years as a driver and car owner (he's the father of standout Winchester driver Bo Feathers), pulled off his first special event with success as the Independent Racing Series event won by Steve Shaver drew 38 cars and a healthy crowd for the $5,000-to-win race.

Feathers first signed a two-year lease to operate the oval, but after adding new clay, a new five-position scoreboard and other improvements at the 3/8-mile track, he decided to extend the lease to five years with an option to buy. "If I can pull these deals off and make some money," Feathers said, "we're going to buy."

Like most promoters, Feathers has plans to make even more improvements in hopes of carving a niche in the rich West Virginia racing soil. "You never get done doing everything," he said, but he's been happy with weekly Late Model car counts in the high teens and hopes to make it 20 in the coming weeks.

Count Paul Wilmoth Jr. of Clarksburg, a two-time winner at Elkins this year, among those pleased with Feathers. "He's definitely improved the place up here," Wilmoth said. "Elkins, the last two or three of years, you couldn't even pass up here. Last week we can and I started sixth and I passed everybody on the bottom. There was a bottom to run. He's definitely made it a two-groove racetrack. I talked to him last week and he said he was going to keep working with it. He said he was going to have it where you could race side-by-side no problem."

Elkins has no shortage of Late Model specials scheduled. IRS competitors return June 20, July 25 and for the Sept. 19-20 season finale weekend with $5,000 and $7,000 winning purses. The track's unsanctioned Chuck Gear Memorial, a tribute to one of the track's past co-owners, is scheduled for July 5, and the R.H. Armstrong Memorial is set for Aug. 15. Both pay $5,000 to the winner.

Dohm heading in right direction

After finishing third to Steve Shaver and Robbie Blair in the 50-lap IRS feature at Elkins, Tim Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va., wasn't sure what changes he would make if given the chance to race again. He said he'd have to think about it for a while to figure it out. "They're good," he said. "Those guys are just good. I'm getting there, but I'm not there yet. I can't beat 'em."

But Dohm, the former motocross racer who has struggled to find consistency in Dirt Late Models over a nine-year career, is glad to be making progress. He's trying to beat the rap that he's only fast on the heavy, hooked-up tracks. The third-place finish on a drying, dusty Elkins oval was a step in the right direction.

"Running right through the slick, I kept my car a lot straighter," the 47-year-old Dohm said. "I had to think about it all the time: don't spin it, don't spin it. I had the same right rear tire on Shaver did, but Blair had a little bit harder tire and I think he was just kind of riding there. I don't know what I'd change to make it better right now. I need to think about it a little bit."

He's winless in 2008, but he's happy with some solid runs in special events through the early stages of the season. "Going to different tracks and running good, that's the main thing," he said. "That's something I never could do before. I could go to one or two places and be good, and go somewhere else and just be terrible. About everywhere we've gone this year — Georgia, Florida, Ohio, you know, here, Tyler County last week — we've been almost good enough to win every one of 'em. That's all you can hope for I guess. Maybe we can keep plugging along and maybe I can win one."

Loudin turns in solid performance

Joe Loudin makes clear that he and Josh Loudin aren't related, despite their last name. But the Buckhannon, W.Va., driver and his crew chief both have the similar interest in trying to make his No. 5 go as fast as possible, and they're making strides in the right direction. Loudin's fifth-place finish in the IRS event at Elkins marked his best-ever in a big-purse event as he outran standout drivers like Rick Aukland, Booper Bare and Eddie Carrier Jr. in the $5,000-to-win event.

"We started becoming pretty competitive last year, and we got a new car," said Loudin, who is entering his third full year of Super Late Model racing. "The guy that helps me (Josh), he works more on the car than I do. It's an obsession for him."

Loudin ran fourth most of the 50-lapper, but fellow West Virginian and two-time STARS champion Mike Balzano slipped by on the last lap. "You'll have that," Loudin said with a shrug. "That's 30 years of experience. I'm very happy, very happy with the way we finished."

Loudin, who finished 11th in last year's Hillbilly 100, said the team's new Rocket Chassis has just been dialed in so far this year. "I guess we're just hitting the nail on the head right now," said the 34-year-old building contractor." "We're going to hit all the races at Elkins. It's 15 minutes from home so it's senseless to spend gas money to go somewhere else. Run Tyler (County), the Hillbilly. We'd like to run a couple of shows. We talked about going to the World 100, just give it a try. We've never been there before. This is a little confidence booster considering the field of cars that was here tonight. We might. It just depends on the funding."

Wilmoth's win streak ends

As a few raindrops fell a half-hour after the checkered flag, Paul Wilmoth Jr. of Clarksburg, W.Va., stood in the Elkins Speedway pits as haulers pulled out left and right. Team supporters and well-wishers headed home, including retired driver Ivan "Red" Frederick, who waved good-bye to Wilmoth. "He had like 500 victories," Wilmoth says with admiration. Is that something Wilmoth might shoot for? "We're going to try."

The 37-year-old Rocket Chassis employee might have a crack at it if he keeps rolling in 2008. Wilmoth was victorious in his first four feature feature starts, winning at pair of features at Elkins and Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., including the $4,000-to-win Topless 50. Only a hot-laps accident at the World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., had marred his season until his disappointing run in the IRS event at Elkins. Wilmoth never got on track and ended up being sent to the tail in the feature for his part in a lap-three melee that saw Chuck Harper's spin trigger a pileup.

"Just wasn't a good night, that's all. You'll have nights like that. We'll go tomorrow night and we'll try it again," Wilmoth said. "We got to the back and just got in a bunch of traffic and wasn't going anywhere, and I just figured instead of tearing the car up or wasting equipment, we'd just pull in and wait for tomorrow night. I bumped (Harper). Everybody was sideways and I got in there and it was just a chain-reaction type deal. It was just one of those things."

Wilmoth, who has dedicated his season to his grandfather Carl, who died in the off-season at age 83, will racing mostly close to home this season with occasional trips to special events sprinkled in. "With the fuel places and everything, you don't want to go too far unless they're paying decent money. That's the biggest thing. We're going to try and put a little money in the bank and hit some decent races."

Odds and ends

Scattered raindrops began falling about 10 minutes after the checkered flag. ... Steve Shaver's previous victory at Elkins came years ago at the track's season-ending Forest Festival event. ... Mike Knight of Ripley, N.Y., who flipped his car in his previous IRS start at Hilltop Speedway in Millersburg, Ohio, had a better experience at Elkins by setting fast time and finishing sixth. "I'm going to keep it on all four wheels tonight," he predicted before the feature. ... Dave Hess Jr. lost his power steering in the final laps of a consolation race but was able to hang on to his transfer spot. ... Dusty Hamrick of Clarksburg, W.Va., scratched after time trials because of a broken fuel pump. "That's an expensive night," a crew member lamented as they loaded up. "Tow here, pay the entry fee and get to time trial."