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Kevin Kovac
CONCORD, N.C. (May 12) - The Show-Me State has been very good to Shannon Babb in the month of May.
After scoring his first World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory of 2008 - and his initial triumph since becoming the driver of NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer's dirt Late Model team - on May 3 at Missouri's Lebanon I-44 Speedway, Babb added more Missouri money to his bank account with a win in Sunday night's SuperClean Diamond Nationals 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland.
With no WoO LMS events scheduled for the past weekend, Babb and his Traeger Grills/Chevy teammates spent the week following the May 3-4 WoO LMS doubleheader in Missouri preparing their equipment for the Diamond Nationals at the home of Bowyer's parents in Emporia, Kans. They also made a side trip on Wednesday night (May 7) to compete in a special event at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kans., where Bowyer returned to his former hometrack to enjoy an evening of dirt Late Model racing. (Bowyer finished fifth and Babb settled for 20th at Lakeside.)
Babb, 34, of Moweaqua, Ill., dominated the Diamond Nationals, which was postponed to Sunday by heavy storms. He led the 100-lap distance from flag-to-flag and pocketed a cool $40,000 top prize.
"This is the kind of (result) we've been working hard for," Babb said after his win, which came behind the wheel of the Rocket car he debuted the previous week at Lebanon I-44. "Clint's been really pushing us hard, and we want to make him proud."
The Diamond Nationals was the second big-money dirt Late Model event in a row that was won by a WoO LMS regular, following up a $50,000 victory by Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., in the WoO LMS-sanctioned Circle K Colossal 100 on April 19 at The Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.
Babb, who is tied for sixth in the current WoO LMS points standings, will try to continue his May success this weekend when the tour visits Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park on Friday night (May 16) and Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway on Sunday night (May 18). The Lincoln Speedway event, of course, will provide Babb a chance to race in front of his family, friends and fans from his native central Illinois.
DOUBLING UP: Rather than join the majority of his traveling WoO LMS brethren at the Diamond Nationals, Shane Clanton of Locust Grove, Ga., opted to head home after the tour's Show-Me State swing and race in his native Southeast over the weekend.
The decision paid off for the 32-year-old standout - to the tune of $6,500, the combined cash he accumulated for winning an O'Reilly Southern All-Stars Series event on Friday night at North Alabama Speedway in Tuscumbia, Ala., and a weekly 25-lapper on Saturday night at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga.
Clanton's richest victory came at North Alabama, where he passed David Breazeale of Four Corners, Miss., for the lead heading to the white flag to snare the win. He earned $5,000 for his first-ever score at NAS, which is scheduled to host a WoO LMS event on Sun., Oct. 12.
But Clanton's most satisfying triumph might have been his success at Dixie, a three-eighths-mile oval located just an hour's drive from his shop. The $1,500 first prize wasn't head-turning, but he did enjoy a rare opportunity to race in front of his car owner Ronnie Dobbins.
"He doesn't get to see us race too often because we're on the road so much, so if there's an opportunity for us to run close to home we try to take advantage of it," Clanton said of Dobbins. "It nice that he could come watch us race - and getting a win for him made the night even better."
DIAMOND CUTTERS: The top-three and five of the top-10 finishers in Sunday's Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway were drivers ranked among the top-six in the current WoO LMS points standings.
Finishing behind Babb was WoO LMS points leader Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark. (second place); Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky. (third after rallying from a lap-11 pit stop to change a flat left-rear tire); Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va. (seventh); and Rick Eckert of York, Pa. (10th).
Other WoO LMS followers in the Diamond Nationals field included Steve Francis, who quickly advanced from the 20th starting to sixth place before bringing out a lap-37 caution flag and finishing 12th; John Blankenship of Williamson, W.Va. (finished 13th); and Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa. (21st).
WoO LMS regulars Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., and Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., failed to qualify for the 100-lap A-Main. Smith missed transferring by one spot and Shirley by five in the first B-Main.
MOD MEN: WoO LMS Rookie of the Year contender Danny Johnson of Phelps, N.Y., made a very profitable return to the big-block Modified division in which he's carved out his legend in the Northeast.
Driving a Modified for the same JIR Motorsports team that fields his dirt Late Model, the 48-year-old Johnson rolled to a $10,000 victory in Sunday's Victoria 200 at Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, N.Y. His triumph came 24 hours after engine problems had sidelined him as he was bidding for the lead in a DIRTcar big-block Modified event at Fulton (N.Y.) Speedway.
Other WoO LMS travelers who competed in the Utica-Rome event were 2007 Rookie of the Year Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., who finished fourth in his John Lazore-backed Modified, and Johnson's JIR Motorsports teammate and fellow Rookie of the Year contender Joe Isabell of Pennellville, N.Y., who failed to qualify for the A-Main.
In addition, 2006 WoO LMS champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., entered the event in a Sweeteners Plus Modified, but he experienced problems in his heat race and failed to gain a transfer spot in a B-Main.
GET WELL SOON: World of Outlaws Late Model Series officials and teams send their best wishes to popular Gulf Coast dirt Late Model star Chris Wall of Holden, La., who was injured after flipping wildly during hot laps for Friday night's Southern All-Stars event at North Alabama Speedway.
A 39-year-old standout known as the 'Intimagator' who has finished as high as second in a WoO LMS event, Wall suffered three fractured vertebra in his neck and a mild concussion in the accident. Doctors do not expect that surgery will be necessary, but they will require Wall to wear a neck brace for a minimum of six weeks - keeping the alligator farmer out of the cockpit of his familiar No. 71 for at least that long.
Words of cheer can reach Wall at 26192 Hwy 42, Holden, La., 70744, or through his website at www.intimagatorracing.net.
INFO: To learn more about the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com.
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