World of Outlaws

Series Edmonton spotlight - Paul McMahan

Paul McMahan Looks to Chase Down Checkers at Castrol Raceway Edmonton, AB-- August 21, 2008-- Paul McMahan had one of the fastest cars last season in the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series inaugural events at Castrol Raceway ...

Edited: Aug 26, 2008, 1:06 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Paul McMahan Looks to Chase Down Checkers at Castrol Raceway

Edmonton, AB-- August 21, 2008-- Paul McMahan had one of the fastest cars last season in the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series inaugural events at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He put his name in the records books as the first driver to stop the clocks first in time trials on the opening night of the event and was second quick in the finale.

If not for a flat tire in with just two laps to go in the second heat race on the second night of the inaugural Oil City Cup, while running in a transfer position that would have earned him a spot in the Crane Cams Dash. McMahan would have probably started toward the front of the A-Feature event and been in contention for a victory.

The veteran driver will have a chance to make up for that bad luck this weekend as the Advance Auto Parts World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series returns to Castrol Raceway on Friday, August 22 and Saturday, August 23 for the second annual Oil City Cup Presented by Boston Pizza. Each night will consist of a full racing program, beginning with hot laps, followed by time trials, heat races, the Crane Cams Dash, the Last Chance Showdown and the A-Feature.

"Last year was everyone's first time there and we kind of hit on something pretty good at the beginning of the night," noted McMahan of what made him fast at Castrol Raceway last season. "We were pretty good all weekend. Unfortunately we got a flat tire the second night which dropped us back. I'm excited to go back up there this year."

McMahan finished eighth in the opener of the Oil City Cup last season and has two Top-10 finishes in his career in Canada in just three starts. Having competed in Australia as well a number of times in his career, the California native who now calls the Nashville, Tennessee area home, enjoys competing at tracks where the fans do not get to see the World of Outlaws very often.

"Any time you got to new places and meet new fans and introduce people to sprint car racing is great, especially introducing people to World of Outlaws sprint car racing," shared the veteran driver. "The fans in Canada really get behind it, whether it's Edmonton or Ohsweken. I always enjoy going there to race. It's a lot of fun."

As the 2008 edition of the Gold Rush Tour continues for the World of Outlaws, McMahan will get a chance to visit a number of tracks on the West Coast that he has been competing at since he began racing sprint cars as a teenager in the later 1980's. Among those stop will be Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California for the famed Gold Cup Race of Champions.

"I enjoy the season no matter when it is," he shared. "It is nice to go back home to Chico (Silver Dollar Speedway) and get to see family and friends and they get to come and see some races. It's always enjoyable, but there's also a lot of stress, because you have family pulling you in many directions wanting you to go and do things. It's a lot easier when you are alone and can go racing."

After starting the season behind wheel for Rick Ferkel, one of the original World of Outlaws drivers, McMahan joined forces with longtime car owner Lonnie Parsons to drive his familiar No. 6 Casey's General Store Maxim. The team quickly got up to speed, picking up a Top-10 finish in just their second race together at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin. McMahan picked up Top-10 finishes in five of his first six races with the team and followed that up with a very solid ninth-place run in the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway. He has seven Top-10 finishes since joining the team and nine overall on the season in World of Outlaws competition.

"We are not where we want to be by any means," he admitted. "We want to be running in the Top-Five every night. We started out really good and then had some problems where we got crashed by some other people and junked a few race cars. That put us behind on our equipment. The way the schedule was heading into the (Knoxville) Nationals, we had three cars ready and thought we were ok and the race before Knoxville we junked a race car and then we lost a motor the other night, so that put us behind the eight-ball. The schedule is really hectic right now and we don't have a lot of time off. We are just trying to drive down the highway every night and get organized as we go."

With a busy month of September on the horizon for the World of Outlaws, McMahan has one main goal as the season hits the stretch run. He enters the second annual Oil City Cup at Castrol Raceway with seven career A-Feature wins with the series. He has won at least one A-Feature event with the series in three of the last five seasons.

"We want to win some races," McMahan said. "We have to get the Casey's General Store car in Victory Lane. We had a good shot at Gillette (Thunder Speedway) and the rains came. We have not had too many of those nights, and when we go have them, we need to take advantage of them."

McMahan is quick to point out that starting at the front of A-Feature events with the World of Outlaws is a vital part of finishing the night up front. Since joining the Parsons Motorsports team, he has raced his way into Crane Cams Dash 11 times to earn Top-10 starting spots in main events. He earned his second pole position of the season last week at Gillette Thunder Speedway in Wyoming, and was leading the A-Feature on the opening lap when an accident led to a red flag with rain following, that ultimately forced the postponement of the event.

"It definitely is the key to winning," he explained of starting up front. "When you look at it, 80 or 90 percent of the races out here have been won from the first two rows. You need to make the (Crane Cams) Dash and put yourself in the right position and we haven't done that a lot yet. When we have, the rains came or we didn't capitalize on it. We just need to keep working away. Race teams aren't made overnight. The best teams out here have been out here for a long time and been together for a long time. You need stability in your race team to win races and championships."

On Friday, August 22 at Castrol Raceway, adult general admission tickets will be $40 Canadian, with general admission tickets for children ages 6-12 $15 Canadian, with kids 5-under admitted free of charge. Adult reserved tickets will be $50 Canadian, with reserved tickets for children ages 6-12 $25 Canadian, and reserved tickets for kids 5-under will be $10 Canadian.

Two-day adult general admission tickets will be available for $65 Canadian, with two-day general admission tickets for children ages 6-12 $25 Canadian. Two-day adult reserved tickets will be $85 Canadian for adults and $45 for children ages 6-12. For ticket information visit: www.castrolraceway.com or call 1-877-331-RACE (7223).

On Saturday, August 23 at Castrol Raceway, adult general admission tickets will be $40 Canadian, with general admission tickets for children ages 6-12 $15 Canadian, with kids 5-under admitted free of charge. Adult reserved tickets will be $50 Canadian, with reserved tickets for children ages 6-12 $25 Canadian, and reserved tickets for kids 5-under will be $10 Canadian.

-credit: woo

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Sears Point: Justin Wilson preview

Next article Mosport: K-PAX/3R Racing preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

FIA enforces new rule to close F1 cost cap loophole

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

51 min

FIA enforces new rule to close F1 cost cap loophole

Marc Marquez praises MotoGP title rival Jorge Martín: “He is an incredible talent”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 1 h

Marc Marquez praises MotoGP title rival Jorge Martín: “He is an incredible talent”

McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"

2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

4 h

2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts