FOUR of America’s best speedway drivers will drive in Collie in round three of the UltraTune Morley Late Model USA Invasion tour on Friday night.
The race will also coincide with the Collie speedway's 40th anniversary.
Gates will open at 3pm, and racing will start at 5pm.
Steve Francis, Jeremy Payne, Steve Shaver and Doug Drown will be the highlight of the event to be held at the Collie speedway complex.
Francis is one of the top late model drivers in America and has raced in Australia four times.
This will be his first visit to Western Australia and he will race in his own late model.
Francis was born and raised in Ashland, Kentucky and began racing cars at age 15.
He scored his first dirt late model feature event in 1984, which began a streak of victories that would continue to more than 200 feature wins.
In 1997, Francis was awarded one of the highest honours in the state of Kentucky USA – he was made an official and honorary Kentucky Colonel.
Francis earned the award because of his achievements in the auto racing arena and for being a long time member of Team USA Racing which represented the best drivers on dirt in Australia in the late 90s.
Francis won the Late Model World Championship race in 1999 and the World 100.
He has a combined total of 40 wins in the Xtreme Dirt Car Series, World of Outlaws Late Model Series, Renegade Dirt Car Series, and the World Dirt Racing League.
He also has had many other achievements.
Jeremy Payne was born in Tucson, Arizona but lives in Springfield, Missouri.
At age eight, Payne raced Go-Karts and became known as the “Cactus Kid”.
When he was 16, he made the jump to the dirt modified division.
Eventually Payne teamed up with Terry Phillips Racing (TPR) and with the backing of Andy’s Frozen Custard, he became a full-time driver.
Under TPR, Payne got 19 MARS and MLRA late model wins, as well as at least one modified crown jewel event each year.
During this time, he also tried his hand at asphalt racing.
In 2009 he was invited to test a Mittler Bros Nascar Camping World Truck. He was offered the ride but unfortunately sponsorship could not be found. Instead, he was selected as one of 12 drivers to compete in the Richard Petty's Driver Search in North Carolina.
He has been awarded many victories including series “Rookie of the Year” and been a top contender of MLRA, MARS and DLRA points.
In recent months, Payne decided to leave Terry Phillips Racing to venture on his own.
Steve Shaver is a professional top-running American late model driver with many years experience.
This will be Shavers first time racing in Australia and the late model he will be driving will his own Rocket chassis.
Shaver’s most memorable wins include 2011 Commonwealth 100, Virginia Motor Speedway
2004 North/South 100, Florence, KY 1999/2001 WinterNationals UDTRA, East Bay, FL 1998 Hillbilly 100, Tyler Co, WV five time Harvest 50 winner at Skyline Speedway, Athens, OH
1994 Mark Balzano Memorial, WVMS, WV.
Doug Drown first raced in a Limited Late Model at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, in 1999 when he was 17 years old.
In 2000 he moved into the Super Late Model division.
The 18-year-old high school senior began his career as a dirt Late Model racer winning the coveted Wayne County Speedway Rookie of the Year title.
Drown also scored his career-first feature win on at Lakeville Speedway and was the Co-Rookie of the Year.
Drown has an advantage over the other American drivers in the Ultra Tune Morley Invasion Tour as he has raced against the Australian Pro Dirt Drivers many times over the years during previous visits to Western Australia in 2007 and 2009.
The fourth round of the invasion tour will be in Bunbury on Saturday.
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