Racing against tough competition night in and night out will be nothing new for Cody Darrah this coming season as he contends for the World of Outlaws Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year Award, beginning at the 39th Annual Florida DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park, February 5-7. For each of the last four seasons he has raced in Central Pennsylvania against stout competition wherever he went and won his fair share of races, while continuing to hone his skills behind the wheel.
Darrah, who will pilot the No. 91 Great Clips Maxim for Kasey Kahne Racing this coming season, scored his first career World of Outlaws A-Feature win last year in the finale of the Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway, earning $20,000 for that triumph.
“I’m very excited for the season,” said Darrah. “It’s going to be a very big year for me as a driver and a very big year for our team Kasey Kahne Racing. “
Darrah has always been fast at Volusia Speedway Park and looks to use his experience at the half-mile to open the 2010 campaign on a strong note. The native of Red Lion, Pennsylvania finished seventh in the opener of the three-day event last season and has taken part in the DIRTcar Nationals in each of the last three years, setting fast time in his debut at the track in 2007 as well as again in 2008. He has qualified fourth or better in six of his nine career starts at Volusia.
“It’s a big race track and a place I really like to race at,” noted the 20-year old. “I’m really excited to start the year off at Volusia. For one, it’s a track that I am familiar with. It is super fast and a place where you have to keep your arms straight and make a good lap. Volusia is a track that I am very excited for, because that will set the tone for the whole year.”
With one of the strongest fields in the 30-plus year history of the World of Outlaws currently being assembled, along with the drivers from the All Star Circuit of Champions, as well as Pennsylvania, Ohio and across the country, the DIRTcar Nationals are shaping up to feature some of the most fierce competition of the season. Darrah is looking forward to this challenge as he begins his first full season on the road with the World of Outlaws.
“You’re going against the best of the best there,” shared Darrah when asked about Volusia. “You don’t race in an event like that again until probably August. It is super competitive with all of those good guys there all at once. There are a lot of cars there and it only takes a little mistake to miss the show. It’s tough to make all the races there, but that’s our goal going in this year.”
While he will be taking on the best winged sprint car drivers in the world, Darrah will also have to contend with the blazing fast half-mile at Volusia Speedway Park, which received some new clay in the off-season. Having cut his teeth on the bigger tracks in his home state of Pennsylvania, Darrah always looks forward to the season opening trip to the Sunshine State.
“It’s a fast race track as well and when you have been off and not racing for the last two months and take your first lap there, it puts you back in the seat,” he explained. “It’s good though, because it gets your speed set for the year and gets you back in the car and you get that feel.”
Darrah competed with the World of Outlaws at eight different tracks last season of which seven will be among the facilities he visits again in 2010. Among those tracks he raced at in 2009, was his first trek to the famed Eldora Speedway where he finished seventh in the his debut at the half-mile in the spring and he followed that up by setting fast time at the Kings Royal in July, with 47 cars in attendance. He picked up seven Top-10 finishes in World of Outlaws competition in 2009, with three of those being Top-Fives in a limited number of starts mainly in the East Coast events.
| 
|