FAIRBURY, IL – July 11, 2020 – In one of the most exciting runs to the front seen all year in a DIRTcar Late Model, Gordy Gundaker dazzled the crowd Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway, coming all the way from 14th to score his fourth career Summer Nationals victory.

Defending tour champion Brian Shirley jetted out to a commanding lead in the early going, but company was coming fast behind him. Shannon Babb found the fast groove right through the middle and had taken second by Lap 13.

A caution on Lap 32 re-stacked the field and gave Babb the shot he needed to grab the lead, which he did, hammering the cushion in Turns 3-4 to Shirley’s outside.

By this time, Gundaker had just made the pass for sixth. With one of the smoothest lines of anyone on the very bottom of the track, G-Man advanced to fourth on Lap 40, third on Lap 42, second on Lap 44 and finally underneath Babb for the lead on Lap 46.

From seemingly out of nowhere, Gundaker had shocked the field and picked up the $10,000 payday from his 14th starting spot.

“We were so good, I was just kinda biding my time,” a pumped-up Gundaker said in Victory Lane. “I know last year, I felt like we gave this race away. We just got rolling and the yellow came out at a perfect time. It was awesome!”

Punctuated by an epic display of fence-climbing after his backwards parade lap around the track, the St. Charles, MO-pilot soon arrived in FALS Victory Lane to a sea of applause and gave this memorable quote to his fans and those watching on DIRTVision presented by Drydene.

“You fans are badass, I love every single one of you! Let’s party, let’s drink beer, we won, baby!”

Pennsylvanian Rick Eckert climbed from ninth to finish second – his second consecutive podium finish after a third-place result on Friday night. Shannon Babb was able to hold on for third while Shirley and Ryan Unzicker rounded out the top-five.

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals action continues Sunday night with Round #5 from The Bullring at RICO Fairgrounds in East Moline, IL. Tune into DIRTVision presented by Drydene to watch all the action.

Qualifying Flight-A

1. 3S-Brian Shirley, 12.525; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 12.55; 3. 25-Jason Feger, 12.603; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker, 12.654; 5. 18-Shannon Babb, 12.672; 6. B12-Kevin Weaver, 12.719; 7. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 12.722; 8. 21-Billy Moyer, 12.759; 9. 84-Myles Moos, 12.792; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce, 12.855; 11. 77M-Jay Morris, 12.889; 12. 9-Eric Smith, 12.976; 13. 25W-Allen Weisser, 12.996; 14. 11T-Trevor Gundaker, 13.147; 15. M27-Mike Provenzano, 13.215; 16. 76-Titus Sneed, 13.277; 17. 73-Ryan Weistart, 13.547; 18. 5-John Provenzano, 13.734; 19. 48L-Tim Lance,, 14.431

Qualifying Flight-B
1. 89-Mike Spatola, 12.599; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr., 12.633; 3. 6-Daryn Klein, 12.778; 4. 4G-Bob Gardner, 12.837; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 12.862; 6. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford, 13.027; 7. 35-Derek Chandler, 13.038; 8. 28-Tyler Carpenter, 13.04; 9. O-Rick Eckert, 13.073; 10. T4-Adam Tischhauser, 13.118; 11. 30-Mike Glasscock, 13.159; 12. 12-Jeff Curl, 13.246; 13. 10S-Scott Schmitt, 13.269; 14. 111L-Matt Lux, 13.29; 15. 48-Tim Lance, 13.41; 16. 42-McKay Wenger, 13.453; 17. 33H-Billy Hough, 13.622; 18. 18M-Jimmy Miller, 14.206

Heat #1 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 3S-Brian Shirley [1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb [3]; 3. 25-Jason Feger [2]; 4. 24-Ryan Unzicker [4]; 5. 84-Myles Moos [5]; 6. 25W-Allen Weisser [7]; 7. 77M-Jay Morris [6]; 8. M27-Mike Provenzano [8]; 9. 73-Ryan Weistart [9]; 10. 48L-Tim Lance, [10]

Heat #2 – Flight (A) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 19R-Ryan Gustin [1]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer [4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce [5]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker [2]; 5. 9-Eric Smith [6]; 6. 5-John Provenzano [9]; 7. B12-Kevin Weaver [3]; 8. 11T-Trevor Gundaker [7]; 9. 76-Titus Sneed [8]

Heat #3 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 89-Mike Spatola [1]; 2. O-Rick Eckert [5]; 3. 1ST-Johnny Scott [3]; 4. 30-Mike Glasscock [6]; 5. 35-Derek Chandler [4]; 6. 6-Daryn Klein [2]; 7. 33H-Billy Hough [9]; 8. 48-Tim Lance [8]; 9. 10S-Scott Schmitt [7]

Heat #4 – Flight (B) (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr. [1]; 2. 28-Tyler Carpenter [4]; 3. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford [3]; 4. 111L-Matt Lux [7]; 5. 42-McKay Wenger [8]; 6. 4G-Bob Gardner [2]; 7. T4-Adam Tischhauser [5]; 8. 12-Jeff Curl [6]; 9. 18M-Jimmy Miller [9]

Last Chance Showdown #1 (12 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer
1. 25W-Allen Weisser [3][-]; 2. 9-Eric Smith [2][-]; 3. M27-Mike Provenzano [7][-]; 4. 5-John Provenzano [4][-]; 5. 76-Titus Sneed [10]; 6. 73-Ryan Weistart [9]; 7. 48L-Tim Lance, [11]; 8. 11T-Trevor Gundaker [8]; 9. 84-Myles Moos [1]; 10. 77M-Jay Morris [5]; 11. B12-Kevin Weaver [6]

Last Chance Showdown #2 ( Laps)
1. 42-McKay Wenger [2][-]; 2. 6-Daryn Klein [3][-]; 3. 4G-Bob Gardner [4][-]; 4. 33H-Billy Hough [5][-]; 5. 12-Jeff Curl [8]; 6. 10S-Scott Schmitt [9]; 7. T4-Adam Tischhauser [6]; 8. 18M-Jimmy Miller [10]; 9. 48-Tim Lance [7]; 10. 35-Derek Chandler [1]

Feature (50 Laps)
1. 11-Gordy Gundaker [14]; 2. O-Rick Eckert [7]; 3. 18-Shannon Babb [5]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley [2]; 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker [13]; 6. 25-Jason Feger [9]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr. [1]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce [10]; 9. 28-Tyler Carpenter [8]; 10. 1ST-Johnny Scott [11]; 11. 25W-Allen Weisser [17]; 12. 4G-Bob Gardner [21]; 13. 48-Tim Lance [24]; 14. 30-Mike Glasscock [15]; 15. 6-Daryn Klein [20]; 16. 89-Mike Spatola [3]; 17. 10S-Scott Schmitt [23]; 18. 18L-Jeffrey Ledford [12]; 19. 19R-Ryan Gustin [4]; 20. 42-McKay Wenger [18]; 21. 21-Billy Moyer [6]; 22. 111L-Matt Lux [16]; 23. T4-Adam Tischhauser [22]; 24. 9-Eric Smith [19]

KSE Hard Charger Award: 11-Gordy Gundaker[+13]