By James Essex - NARA PR
BARDSTOWN, KY--Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, IL held off John Gill in the final laps to capture the Lucas Oil 4th Annual "Bluegrass Classic" on Saturday Night at the Bluegrass Speedway. The North American Racing Association (NARA) DirtCar Series sanctioned event was taped by ESPN2 and will be shown at a date and time to be announced. With the lights, camera and great racing action in full force, Babb drove the Arkansas Motors, Car City, J&J Steel, Watters Auto Land, Platinum Motors and RV, Hoosier Racing Tires, Jay Dickens Racing Engines, C.J. Rayburn Pontiac Grand Prix #18 to the $10,000 win over Gill, who was piloting the Jeff and Eddie Harrod/Harrod Farms/Rocket Grand Prix. Finishing in third was Scott James of Lawrenceburg, IN driving the Powell Motorsports/AFCO Racing Products/Rocket Grand Prix. Fourth place was Don O'Neal of Martinsville, IN the A-1 Auto Salvage/Jay Dickens Racing Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo and finishing out the top five was Brandon Kinzer of Allen, KY in the MOPAR Performance/Barry Wright House Car/Gaerte Engines Dodge Intrepid. Babb becomes the third different winner in three NARA DirtCar Series races in 2004 as this is the inaugural season for the series as 50 cars were on hand trying to make the show before a large crowd of spectators.
At the start of the Lucas Oil 60 lap A-Main it was Babb, who started on the outside of the front row grabbing the lead right from the start with Scott James, Brandon Kinzer and John Gill trailing him in the early going. By lap four Gill had moved by Kinzer for third with Babb still holding the lead over James. The race would settle down quickly among the frontrunners, but behind them change in positions seemingly occurred every lap with side by side racing. Babb opened up a five car length lead over James by the 15th circuit with Gill hounding him as he was right on his rear bumper. The first five racing around the high banked 1/2 mile track were Babb, James, Gill, Kinzer with Tim Tungate running in fifth. The race was going along smoothly with no mishaps until Tim Hitt blew a tire on the 17th lap resulting in Aaron Hatton and Whitney McQueary having no where to go as they crashed on the backstretch as they were headed into the third turn corner. All three cars were eliminated for the rest of the night.
With double file restarts in order Babb would be on the point with James and Gill side by side on the restart. Gill would take advantage of the double file and scoot by James for second taking Tungate with him to third. James then would have to fight back around Tungate getting to third on the 23rd lap. With 25 laps complete it was still Babb in front with Gill holding down second followed by James, now Don O'Neal and Tungate in fifth. For the next several laps they would remain in that same running order. With traffic rapidly approaching by the 32nd lap Babb would see his lead shrink over Gill with James and O'Neal now trying to make it a four car race for the lead. Lapped traffic would allow Gill to close the margin down on Babb closing right up on him at one point, but Babb would get by traffic using any groove possible and that allowed him to keep Gill at bay. With 12 laps remaining Tungate would call it a night with overheating issues and that would allow Kinzer to rejoin the top five runners. Up front all eyes were on Babb and Gill as they have distanced themselves away from James and O'Neal with ten to go. Gill would follow in Babb's tire tracks lap after lap waiting on a pass either in track or have Babb make a mistake and float out of the groove. Neither happened and Gill would have to chase Babb across the checkers in second place as Babb would take his first career NARA DirtCar Series win. Third across the line was James followed closely by O'Neal and Kinzer.
Completing the top ten were 12th starting, Mike Marlar, 17th starter Greg Johnson, Bryan Barber, Dennis Erb, Jr. and Steve Barnett.
In preliminary events the Racing Optics/Russell Baker Racing Engines Fast Timer was Babb with a lap of 16.470 seconds among the 50 entrants on hand. The Crown Spray Power Heat Race Winners were Babb, Tim Tungate, Gill, Kinzer and James. The O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Mains went to R.J. Conley and Greg Johnson. The PPM Racing Products Hard Charger of the Race was Greg Johnson, who started 17th and finished in 7th.
The next NARA DirtCar Series event will be the 23rd Annual "Kentucky Klassic" on Friday Night, August 27th at the Barren County Speedway in Glasgow, KY paying $7000 to win.
RealPower Race Summary
Bluegrass Speedway
Bardstown, KY
Saturday Night, August 7, 2004
NARA DirtCar Series
Racing Optics/Russell Baker Racing Engines Fast Time: Shannon Babb 16.470
Crown Spray Power Heat #1: Shannon Babb, Timmy Yeager, Johnny Wheeler, Billy Dever
Crown Spray Power Heat #2: Tim Tungate, Joey Daniel, Mike Marlar, Aaron Hatton
Crown Spray Power Heat #3: John Gill, Dennis Erb, Jr., Bryan Barber, Benji Lee
Crown Spray Power Heat #4: Brandon Kinzer, Brad Neat, Steve Barnett, Tim Hitt
Crown Spray Power Heat #5: Scott James, Don O'Neal, Tyrel Todd, R.J. Conley
O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Main #1: R.J. Conley, Mike Jewell, Joey Kramer, Michael England
O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Main #2: Greg Johnson, Tim Hitt, Benji Lee, Chad Smith
Lucas Oil A-Main 4th Annual "Bluegrass Classic" (60 Laps): Shannon Babb, John Gill, Scott James, Don O'Neal, Brandon Kinzer, Mike Marlar, Greg Johnson, Bryan Barber, Dennis Erb, Jr., Steve Barnett, Freddy Smith, R.J. Conley, Brad Neat, Johnny Wheeler, Jeff Watson, Tim Tungate, Joey Daniel, Mike Jewell, Timmy Yeager, Tyrel Todd, Aaron Hatton, Whitney McQueary, Tim Hitt
PPM Racing Products
BARDSTOWN, KY--Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, IL held off John Gill in the final laps to capture the Lucas Oil 4th Annual "Bluegrass Classic" on Saturday Night at the Bluegrass Speedway. The North American Racing Association (NARA) DirtCar Series sanctioned event was taped by ESPN2 and will be shown at a date and time to be announced. With the lights, camera and great racing action in full force, Babb drove the Arkansas Motors, Car City, J&J Steel, Watters Auto Land, Platinum Motors and RV, Hoosier Racing Tires, Jay Dickens Racing Engines, C.J. Rayburn Pontiac Grand Prix #18 to the $10,000 win over Gill, who was piloting the Jeff and Eddie Harrod/Harrod Farms/Rocket Grand Prix. Finishing in third was Scott James of Lawrenceburg, IN driving the Powell Motorsports/AFCO Racing Products/Rocket Grand Prix. Fourth place was Don O'Neal of Martinsville, IN the A-1 Auto Salvage/Jay Dickens Racing Engines/C.J. Rayburn Monte Carlo and finishing out the top five was Brandon Kinzer of Allen, KY in the MOPAR Performance/Barry Wright House Car/Gaerte Engines Dodge Intrepid. Babb becomes the third different winner in three NARA DirtCar Series races in 2004 as this is the inaugural season for the series as 50 cars were on hand trying to make the show before a large crowd of spectators.
At the start of the Lucas Oil 60 lap A-Main it was Babb, who started on the outside of the front row grabbing the lead right from the start with Scott James, Brandon Kinzer and John Gill trailing him in the early going. By lap four Gill had moved by Kinzer for third with Babb still holding the lead over James. The race would settle down quickly among the frontrunners, but behind them change in positions seemingly occurred every lap with side by side racing. Babb opened up a five car length lead over James by the 15th circuit with Gill hounding him as he was right on his rear bumper. The first five racing around the high banked 1/2 mile track were Babb, James, Gill, Kinzer with Tim Tungate running in fifth. The race was going along smoothly with no mishaps until Tim Hitt blew a tire on the 17th lap resulting in Aaron Hatton and Whitney McQueary having no where to go as they crashed on the backstretch as they were headed into the third turn corner. All three cars were eliminated for the rest of the night.
With double file restarts in order Babb would be on the point with James and Gill side by side on the restart. Gill would take advantage of the double file and scoot by James for second taking Tungate with him to third. James then would have to fight back around Tungate getting to third on the 23rd lap. With 25 laps complete it was still Babb in front with Gill holding down second followed by James, now Don O'Neal and Tungate in fifth. For the next several laps they would remain in that same running order. With traffic rapidly approaching by the 32nd lap Babb would see his lead shrink over Gill with James and O'Neal now trying to make it a four car race for the lead. Lapped traffic would allow Gill to close the margin down on Babb closing right up on him at one point, but Babb would get by traffic using any groove possible and that allowed him to keep Gill at bay. With 12 laps remaining Tungate would call it a night with overheating issues and that would allow Kinzer to rejoin the top five runners. Up front all eyes were on Babb and Gill as they have distanced themselves away from James and O'Neal with ten to go. Gill would follow in Babb's tire tracks lap after lap waiting on a pass either in track or have Babb make a mistake and float out of the groove. Neither happened and Gill would have to chase Babb across the checkers in second place as Babb would take his first career NARA DirtCar Series win. Third across the line was James followed closely by O'Neal and Kinzer.
Completing the top ten were 12th starting, Mike Marlar, 17th starter Greg Johnson, Bryan Barber, Dennis Erb, Jr. and Steve Barnett.
In preliminary events the Racing Optics/Russell Baker Racing Engines Fast Timer was Babb with a lap of 16.470 seconds among the 50 entrants on hand. The Crown Spray Power Heat Race Winners were Babb, Tim Tungate, Gill, Kinzer and James. The O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Mains went to R.J. Conley and Greg Johnson. The PPM Racing Products Hard Charger of the Race was Greg Johnson, who started 17th and finished in 7th.
The next NARA DirtCar Series event will be the 23rd Annual "Kentucky Klassic" on Friday Night, August 27th at the Barren County Speedway in Glasgow, KY paying $7000 to win.
RealPower Race Summary
Bluegrass Speedway
Bardstown, KY
Saturday Night, August 7, 2004
NARA DirtCar Series
Racing Optics/Russell Baker Racing Engines Fast Time: Shannon Babb 16.470
Crown Spray Power Heat #1: Shannon Babb, Timmy Yeager, Johnny Wheeler, Billy Dever
Crown Spray Power Heat #2: Tim Tungate, Joey Daniel, Mike Marlar, Aaron Hatton
Crown Spray Power Heat #3: John Gill, Dennis Erb, Jr., Bryan Barber, Benji Lee
Crown Spray Power Heat #4: Brandon Kinzer, Brad Neat, Steve Barnett, Tim Hitt
Crown Spray Power Heat #5: Scott James, Don O'Neal, Tyrel Todd, R.J. Conley
O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Main #1: R.J. Conley, Mike Jewell, Joey Kramer, Michael England
O'Reilly Auto Parts B-Main #2: Greg Johnson, Tim Hitt, Benji Lee, Chad Smith
Lucas Oil A-Main 4th Annual "Bluegrass Classic" (60 Laps): Shannon Babb, John Gill, Scott James, Don O'Neal, Brandon Kinzer, Mike Marlar, Greg Johnson, Bryan Barber, Dennis Erb, Jr., Steve Barnett, Freddy Smith, R.J. Conley, Brad Neat, Johnny Wheeler, Jeff Watson, Tim Tungate, Joey Daniel, Mike Jewell, Timmy Yeager, Tyrel Todd, Aaron Hatton, Whitney McQueary, Tim Hitt
PPM Racing Products
