By Kevin Kovac
ALMA , OH – Oct. 23, 2006 – Shannon Babb just keeps expanding his already-impressive dirt Late Model resume.
The 32-year-old driver from Moweaqua , Ill. – a small town in the heart of United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) racing country – made his latest addition on Saturday night, winning the 26th annual Dirt Track World Championship at K-C Raceway.
It was Babb’s second career victory in the 100-lap DTWC, a prestigious event he previously captured in 2002 when it was held at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown , Ky. He’s won several other major dirt Late Model events during his young career, including the 2002 Gopher 50 in Owatonna , Minn. , the 2003 Topless 100 in West Plains, Mo., and the 2004 and ’05 Dixie Shootout in Woodstock , Ga.
Babb has become best known in dirt Late Model circles for his domination of the annual UMP Summernationals, a grueling series that visits more than two dozen Midwestern tracks in a single month. He has won two consecutive tour titles, scoring 15 wins in 2005 and 13 in 2006 and pocketing over $150,000 in cash and points-fund awards each year.
After Saturday night’s $50,000 DTWC triumph cemented his stature as one of the division’s brightest stars, the laid-back Babb lost none of his modesty.
“We’ve had super help behind us and great equipment,” bottom-lined Babb, who drives Dickens-powered Rayburn cars owned by Billy Moyer Sr. with sponsorship from such firms as Car City , J&J Steel and Petroff Towing. “There’s probably a lot better guys than me, guys who have probably worked a helluva lot harder at it, who don’t have equipment as good as I have.
“You still gotta drive these cars, though,” he continued, “and we always feel like if we got the stuff together right, we can wheel with the best of ‘em. But any day these (dirt Late Model) guys can put you in your place, so we don’t wanna get a big head.”
Babb dealt with two of dirt Late Model racing’s most accomplished drivers to become a repeat DTWC winner.
First was World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular Steve Francis of Ashland , Ky. , who won the DTWC in 1999 at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells. Babb slipped by Francis to take the lead on lap 16, then spent the next 53 circuits repelling Francis’s challenges.
“He knows his way around this track real well,” Babb said of Francis, “and he was setting the pace (early) so I kinda thought, I gotta follow this guy to see how he’s entering and exiting the corners.
“When we got to (lapped) traffic he moved down, and that’s how I got around him. Then I started running the same groove he was and it worked well for me. I just maintained it from then on out.”
After Francis fell back on a lap-69 restart and a lap-87 caution flag effectively dive-bombed a bid for the lead that WoO LMS standout Clint Smith of Senoia , Ga. , was preparing to throw at Babb, defending DTWC winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg , Tenn. , made a furious charge to steal Babb’s thunder.
Bloomquist, one of the country’s hottest drivers in ’06, raced side-by-side with Babb for most of the race’s final 10 laps but couldn’t pull off a low-side pass. His last-lap bid fell short by less than a car length, forcing him to settle for second place.
“I really had the preferred line,” said Babb. “The top was super-good for me, and probably other guys. I was just trying to keep momentum up – go through the corners, slide up, and catch (the cushion) coming off to get a good run.
“(The outside) was kind of choppy and rough, but my style of car kinda goes through those holes real well so I knew I had the advantage on those guys if I could keep it pointed in the right direction. All we had to do was keep it up front and not mess up – and sometimes that’s really hard to do.”
The key moment of the event for Babb came on lap 95. Bloomquist pulled more than a car length ahead of Babb’s No. 18 on the inside of turns three and four, but Babb tossed his machine hard around the top and squeezed between Bloomquist and the wall off turn four to maintain command.
“At that particular moment he probably could’ve come up into my lane and it would’ve been done,” Babb said of Bloomquist. “But he didn’t. He’s a helluva racer.”
Babb felt a sense of accomplishment to finally down the mighty Bloomer on a big stage in ‘06.
“About every race I’ve run this year he’d let me lead about 40 and then clean me out in the last 10,” smiled Babb. “I’m just happy to be able to run with him like that and win this thing.”
The victory culminated a long three days in southern Ohio for Babb and his crew, who arrived in the area on Thursday morning but didn’t drive into the three-eighths-mile track’s pit area until Saturday afternoon. They hadn’t yet signed in when rain washed out Thursday night’s scheduled program of hot laps and UMP-type Modified qualifying, and they stayed away from the speedway on Friday when the slow drying-out process forced the event promoters to run only the Modified show and push all Late Model activities to Saturday.
“We were at (a nearby) Wal-Mart (parking lot) on Thursday,” said Babb. “Then we went up to a mall and hung out with a bunch of guys until we could get in the track (on Saturday). It made for a long weekend, but it paid off.”
Only, of course, after Babb and Co. made an emergency engine swap before Saturday night’s heat races and hit on a winning tire combination.
“We started out the night pretty shaky in hot laps and I broke a valve in the motor,” said Babb. “I was gonna load up and give up, but (fellow driver) Greg Johnson and these guys around here (in the pit area) said, ‘Hell, let’s change it.’
“I qualified (34th-fastest) on seven cylinders (using the damaged engine), and then I came in and changed it. These guys all pitched in and we got it done.”
Picking the right tires for the 100-lapper was no easier for Babb, who stuck with the tried-and-true to get the job done.
“I just went with my standard old 100-lap tires – just ran (hard-compound Hoosier) UMP 40s,” said Babb, who finished seventh in the 2006 UMP Late Model national point standings. “I’m not really familiar with this track – I’ve only been here a few times – so we just went with what we knew.”
The rubber helped Babb to the checkered flag first.
Then he made sure there would be no heart-breaking post-race disappointment like he experienced after crossing the finish line first in the 2005 UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. That ’05 night, Babb had a victory in the sport’s most prestigious event taken from him because his car weighed in light.
Babb had made a pre-race engine change before the ’05 World 100, just like he did on Saturday night. Remembering that, he headed for the mud on the inside of the track following the DTWC’s finish to get a little extra insurance weight on his race car, which passed the post-race scaling with flying colors.
“I ran it through there like a pig!” quipped Babb, flashing a winner’s smile in the K-C Raceway pit area.
ALMA , OH – Oct. 23, 2006 – Shannon Babb just keeps expanding his already-impressive dirt Late Model resume.
The 32-year-old driver from Moweaqua , Ill. – a small town in the heart of United Midwestern Promoters (UMP) racing country – made his latest addition on Saturday night, winning the 26th annual Dirt Track World Championship at K-C Raceway.
It was Babb’s second career victory in the 100-lap DTWC, a prestigious event he previously captured in 2002 when it was held at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown , Ky. He’s won several other major dirt Late Model events during his young career, including the 2002 Gopher 50 in Owatonna , Minn. , the 2003 Topless 100 in West Plains, Mo., and the 2004 and ’05 Dixie Shootout in Woodstock , Ga.
Babb has become best known in dirt Late Model circles for his domination of the annual UMP Summernationals, a grueling series that visits more than two dozen Midwestern tracks in a single month. He has won two consecutive tour titles, scoring 15 wins in 2005 and 13 in 2006 and pocketing over $150,000 in cash and points-fund awards each year.
After Saturday night’s $50,000 DTWC triumph cemented his stature as one of the division’s brightest stars, the laid-back Babb lost none of his modesty.
“We’ve had super help behind us and great equipment,” bottom-lined Babb, who drives Dickens-powered Rayburn cars owned by Billy Moyer Sr. with sponsorship from such firms as Car City , J&J Steel and Petroff Towing. “There’s probably a lot better guys than me, guys who have probably worked a helluva lot harder at it, who don’t have equipment as good as I have.
“You still gotta drive these cars, though,” he continued, “and we always feel like if we got the stuff together right, we can wheel with the best of ‘em. But any day these (dirt Late Model) guys can put you in your place, so we don’t wanna get a big head.”
Babb dealt with two of dirt Late Model racing’s most accomplished drivers to become a repeat DTWC winner.
First was World of Outlaws Late Model Series regular Steve Francis of Ashland , Ky. , who won the DTWC in 1999 at West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells. Babb slipped by Francis to take the lead on lap 16, then spent the next 53 circuits repelling Francis’s challenges.
“He knows his way around this track real well,” Babb said of Francis, “and he was setting the pace (early) so I kinda thought, I gotta follow this guy to see how he’s entering and exiting the corners.
“When we got to (lapped) traffic he moved down, and that’s how I got around him. Then I started running the same groove he was and it worked well for me. I just maintained it from then on out.”
After Francis fell back on a lap-69 restart and a lap-87 caution flag effectively dive-bombed a bid for the lead that WoO LMS standout Clint Smith of Senoia , Ga. , was preparing to throw at Babb, defending DTWC winner Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg , Tenn. , made a furious charge to steal Babb’s thunder.
Bloomquist, one of the country’s hottest drivers in ’06, raced side-by-side with Babb for most of the race’s final 10 laps but couldn’t pull off a low-side pass. His last-lap bid fell short by less than a car length, forcing him to settle for second place.
“I really had the preferred line,” said Babb. “The top was super-good for me, and probably other guys. I was just trying to keep momentum up – go through the corners, slide up, and catch (the cushion) coming off to get a good run.
“(The outside) was kind of choppy and rough, but my style of car kinda goes through those holes real well so I knew I had the advantage on those guys if I could keep it pointed in the right direction. All we had to do was keep it up front and not mess up – and sometimes that’s really hard to do.”
The key moment of the event for Babb came on lap 95. Bloomquist pulled more than a car length ahead of Babb’s No. 18 on the inside of turns three and four, but Babb tossed his machine hard around the top and squeezed between Bloomquist and the wall off turn four to maintain command.
“At that particular moment he probably could’ve come up into my lane and it would’ve been done,” Babb said of Bloomquist. “But he didn’t. He’s a helluva racer.”
Babb felt a sense of accomplishment to finally down the mighty Bloomer on a big stage in ‘06.
“About every race I’ve run this year he’d let me lead about 40 and then clean me out in the last 10,” smiled Babb. “I’m just happy to be able to run with him like that and win this thing.”
The victory culminated a long three days in southern Ohio for Babb and his crew, who arrived in the area on Thursday morning but didn’t drive into the three-eighths-mile track’s pit area until Saturday afternoon. They hadn’t yet signed in when rain washed out Thursday night’s scheduled program of hot laps and UMP-type Modified qualifying, and they stayed away from the speedway on Friday when the slow drying-out process forced the event promoters to run only the Modified show and push all Late Model activities to Saturday.
“We were at (a nearby) Wal-Mart (parking lot) on Thursday,” said Babb. “Then we went up to a mall and hung out with a bunch of guys until we could get in the track (on Saturday). It made for a long weekend, but it paid off.”
Only, of course, after Babb and Co. made an emergency engine swap before Saturday night’s heat races and hit on a winning tire combination.
“We started out the night pretty shaky in hot laps and I broke a valve in the motor,” said Babb. “I was gonna load up and give up, but (fellow driver) Greg Johnson and these guys around here (in the pit area) said, ‘Hell, let’s change it.’
“I qualified (34th-fastest) on seven cylinders (using the damaged engine), and then I came in and changed it. These guys all pitched in and we got it done.”
Picking the right tires for the 100-lapper was no easier for Babb, who stuck with the tried-and-true to get the job done.
“I just went with my standard old 100-lap tires – just ran (hard-compound Hoosier) UMP 40s,” said Babb, who finished seventh in the 2006 UMP Late Model national point standings. “I’m not really familiar with this track – I’ve only been here a few times – so we just went with what we knew.”
The rubber helped Babb to the checkered flag first.
Then he made sure there would be no heart-breaking post-race disappointment like he experienced after crossing the finish line first in the 2005 UMP-sanctioned World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. That ’05 night, Babb had a victory in the sport’s most prestigious event taken from him because his car weighed in light.
Babb had made a pre-race engine change before the ’05 World 100, just like he did on Saturday night. Remembering that, he headed for the mud on the inside of the track following the DTWC’s finish to get a little extra insurance weight on his race car, which passed the post-race scaling with flying colors.
“I ran it through there like a pig!” quipped Babb, flashing a winner’s smile in the K-C Raceway pit area.
