101 REASONS: Babb Wins Fayette County, Becomes All-Time Winningest Driver
Four-time champ passes Billy Moyer on all-time wins list with 101st Hell Tour victory
BROWNSTOWN, IL – June 30, 2022 – Shannon Babb won his first DIRTcar Summer Nationals Feature in 1999 at the dawn of his legendary racing career. Fast forward 23 years later, he now stands alone atop the mountain as the winningest driver in Hell Tour history.
It couldn’t have been more fitting for the four-time champion, breaking through for his 101st career Summer Nationals Feature win in front of his legion of fans, friends and family at Fayette County Speedway – the same place he won his first-ever Feature as a young up-and-comer.
Last year’s celebration of a milestone 100 Summer Nationals wins was sweet, but 101 means even more.
“It knocks it out of the park, really,” said Babb, of Moweaqua, IL. “It means a ton also because we’re right here at a favorite racetrack of mine. My wife and my girls are here tonight, my in-laws and everybody was here.”
A multi-decade veteran of the sport, Babb recalls the days of battling tooth-and-nail for every spot on the track, every win, and every championship against another on of Dirt Late Model racing’s all-time greats, Billy Moyer. With the win Thursday night, he now surpasses the six-time champ for most wins in tour history.
“It blows my mind thinking about all these races,” Babb said. “We might’ve won 101, but there’s probably been 500 of them that we didn’t win that we just got our asses beat at.”
To do it, Babb first had to go through Moyer’s son, Billy Moyer Jr., sneaking past the Batesville, AR-native on the bottom as he got caught-up in lapped traffic on Lap 14 of the 50-lap main event.
From there, Babb played strong defense the rest of the race, holding off players like Moyer, Tanner English and Brian Shirley through multiple restarts and lapped traffic.
“When I got to the lapped cars, the bottom of Turns 1-2 was really good and 3-4 was a little iffy,” Babb said. “You really just don’t know where to go, and I resorted to just staying on the gas, trying to bounce off the cushion and go forward as much as I could. Use the bank a little bit.”
His biggest challenge came on the final restart with three-to-go, when English got a great launch out of Turn 4 and nearly pulled even with Babb into Turn 1. But the Moweaqua Missile held strong on the top, ripping the lip around the quarter-mile to stay ahead of English’s Riggs Motorsports #81E and secure the victory.
“I thought it was a fantastic race,” Babb said. “Tanner, little Billy [Moyer Jr.] and them guys were all over me. We were just fortunate to get to the front early and be able to hold them off.”
English finished second, less than a second behind Babb at the line, while Bobby Pierce completed a remarkable drive from the tail after blowing a tire early to finish third. Trevor Gundaker matched his season-best finish with the Hell Tour in fourth; Moyer Jr. held onto fifth.
UP NEXT
The Summer Nationals returns to action Friday night at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY, for another $10,000-to-win showdown. If you can’t be at the track, stream it live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature 50 Laps | 00:23:17.752
1. 18-Shannon Babb[5]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[4]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[11]; 4. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[3]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 7. 17X-Michael Kloos[10]; 8. 25-Jason Feger[19]; 9. 14G-Joe Godsey[12]; 10. F1-Payton Freeman[6]; 11. 15-Christian Hanger[21]; 12. 26M-Brent McKinnon[9]; 13. T4-Adam Tischauser[14]; 14. 30-Mark Voigt[15]; 15. 16-Rusty Griffaw[13]; 16. 23NZ-Mick Quin[17]; 17. 14R-Jeff Roth[22]; 18. 10-Daryn Klein[1]; 19. 14-Paul Kuper[16]; 20. 4D-Doug Tye[18]; 21. 10J-Jordan Bauer[8]; 22. 15F-Richard Frost[20]
HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT: Hoffman Tops Harrison at Fayette County for Ninth Win of Season
They met once already this season in DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature action, and Thursday night’s clash of Nick Hoffman and Mike Harrison at Fayette County Speedway was another one for the record books.
The two multi-time champions won their Heat Races and rolled to the track for the Feature on the front row. At the drop of the green, Hoffman got the jump into the lead and began playing defense against Harrison’s big run on the top.
Hoffman stuck mostly to the bottom lane in the 25-lap event, taking heed from the Late Model race before the Modified Feature.
“Just watching that Late Model Feature, I judge a lot of what I do off of what those guys end up doing,” Hoffman, of Mooresville, NC, said. “The Late Model race was won on the bottom, so I did the same.”
Though Harrison gave it everything the car had on the top, he was unable to catch Hoffman in the end. Hoffman cruised across the stripe for his 66th career Summit Modified victory and ninth of the season in 11 starts.
“I was more worried about Kelly Kovski and those Elite [Chassis] guys that could roll around the infield pretty well,” Hoffman said. “Kelly ended up third, Kyle [Steffens] ended up fourth, so it was a good night for us.”
UP NEXT
The Summit Modifieds return to action Friday night at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY. If you can’t be at the track, stream all the action live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature 25 Laps | 00:11:09.356
1. 2-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 24H-Mike Harrison[1]; 3. 10K-Kelly Kovski[4]; 4. 8-Kyle Steffens[3]; 5. 87Z-Zeb Moake[9]; 6. 63-Bret Eilerman[11]; 7. 33S-Steve Stevenson[6]; 8. 7-Willie Gammill[7]; 9. 88-Chris Bolyard[10]; 10. 4M-Clint Martin[12]; 11. 26- Anthony Carter[13]; 12. 27-Keith Harre[14]; 13. 71-Rayce Baker[16]; 14. 51-Phil Bible[17]; 15. 36-Kenny Wallace[5]; 16. 0- Damian Kiefer[15]; 17. 21M-Willy Myers[8]
DIRTcar Summer Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Summit Racing Equipment, and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, MSD, Quarter Master, Summit Racing Equipment, VP Racing Fuels, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum).
Summit Modified Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including : Summit Racing Equipment, Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne.
Sources: Jordan DeLucia, DIRTcar Racing PR