Erb, WoO stunned by $100,000 payday
A prominent business-owning family and community philanthropists on Friday stunned World of Outlaws Late Model Series drivers at Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway with the 11th-hour revelation of a $100,000 winner’s purse in a race originally scheduled to pay $12,000.
Mansfield’s Niss family, who have made extensive real estate investments in the Mansfield area with a variety of development projects benefitting the community, added the $88,000 to the winner’s purse of Friday’s Blaster 57 Special preliminary event.
Drivers, including winner Tyler Erb, were told of the unexpected six-figure payday by officials via one-way radio when sitting in the starting grid on the backstretch. Dan and Brenda Niss joined Erb in victory lane with a check where the $12,000 was crossed out and "$100k" was scribbled in alongside Erb's name. (Dan Niss is pictured embracing Erb.)
The announcement meant that Saturday’s winner of $57,000 won’t be the weekend’s biggest winner, but the weekend finale carries one of WoO's richest total purses of the season, paying $5,700 to the last-place finisher.
