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Two World of Outlaws Late Model Series Stars From Central Illinois Eye This Weekend’s $20,000 ‘Illini 100’ Prize At Farmer City Raceway Local Heroes Babb & Shirley Primed For Biggest Dirt Late Model Race Ever Run In Illinois FARMER CITY, IL (April 1) – Racing in front of family and friends at Farmer City Raceway has always meant a lot to local heroes Shannon Babb and Brian Shirley. But now, with both central Illinois natives touring nationally as World of Outlaws Late Model Series regulars, coming ‘home’ to compete on familiar turf takes on some extra significance. During this weekend’s inaugural ‘Illini 100’ at the venerable quarter-mile fairgrounds oval, Babb and Shirley will be showered with attention. They are, after all, local boys who have made good, two drivers who cut their teeth racing at Farmer City and now return as fulltime professional dirt-track stars traveling the country in search of a coveted World of Outlaws championship. Both Babb, 34, of Moweaqua, Ill., and Chatham, Ill.’s Shirley, who turns 27 on April 2, are eyeing a victory in Saturday night’s ‘Illini 100’ – not only because it would give them a chance to celebrate with people they know and love, but also because the race’s $20,000 first-place prize makes it the biggest dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of Illinois. “It would be so cool to win that race,” Babb said of the ‘Illini 100,’ which includes time trials and heat races on Friday night (April 4) and last-chance events and the A-Main on Saturday night (April 5). “It’s gonna be a killer show – the biggest race ever in Illinois, no doubt. Considering Farmer City is a track we grew up racing at, it would be so special to win it.” “I think it would be great to see somebody from Illinois win the biggest dirt Late Model race we’ve ever had here,” added Shirley, one of the division’s top talents under the age of 30. “I’d love it to be me.” Babb is especially anxious for the ‘Illini 100’ to arrive. The Farmer City event will provide him a rare opportunity to check in at his residence in Moweaqua, where his mail is still delivered but he hasn’t spent much time this year. Babb’s home-away-from-home has been Welcome, N.C., where he’s been working alongside mechanics Jay Hunt and Tommy Grecco to effectively build a new dirt Late Model team for NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer. A dirt racer in his native Kansas before breaking into NASCAR, Bowyer decided to field a full-fledged dirt Late Model effort this season and hired Babb to be his driver. “I’ve been home four days since we started this deal (with Bowyer in late-December),” said Babb, who currently works on Bowyer’s equipment in a shop at the Richard Childress Racing headquarters but will soon move into a separate facility a quarter-mile away. “I wasn’t expecting to spend as much time in North Carolina as I have, but I’m doing everything I can to help get this going. “Last year (driving for Billy Moyer Sr.) we weren’t prepared to do this whole (WoO LMS) deal, so we’re working hard to be ready this year.” A five-time winner and 10th-place finisher in the points standings on the 2007 WoO LMS despite dropping off the tour as a regular midway through the season, Babb has committed to following the entire 47-date, 23-state schedule this year with his Traeger Grills No. 18. He enters this weekend’s action ranked eighth in the WoO LMS points standings following a third-place finish in the tour’s third event of 2008, the ‘March Through Dixie 100’ on March 29 at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss. Babb is simply thrilled that a big-money, two-day show is finally taking place in the ‘Land of Lincoln’ – and that it’s at Farmer City, a track that he’s “gone around a million times” and won dozens of features at during his career. “I’m telling you, it’s long overdue for Illinois to have a race like this,” said Babb, who won last year’s 50-lap WoO LMS A-Main at Farmer City. “I’m glad to see (Farmer City promoter Don) Hammer doing it. He’s a racer and he knows what people want. A big race (in Illinois) can be done, but nobody has ever put their foot forward and tried something this big. “Illinois has a bigger fan base than most places. We’re in the heartland of the country, with so many racers, so many fans. I know this can work, and maybe it’ll be a good start for an on-going race.” The ‘Illini 100’ loot won’t be earned easily, however. “Farmer City is no easy place to get around, and the local guys run real good there,” said Babb. “A heat race there is pretty grueling sometimes, so you’re gonna have to play it cool. It’s gonna be tough on you to finish 100 laps there, but it’ll go faster than you think.” Shirley, meanwhile, will be shooting to give himself a slightly-belated birthday present when the ‘Illini 100’ takes the green flag on Saturday night. A victory would bring back memories of his first career win at Farmer City, which he earned in 2004 when the track’s season opener was held on his birthday. “The first two years I ran at Farmer City (2002 and 2003), we’d go there and get our asses handed to us,” said Shirley, a former flat-track motorcycle star who began racing dirt Late Models in 2002. “The competition there on Friday nights has always been the best of any track in the area, so running there kind of let you know where you were at competition-wise. We knew we had to get better. “Well, that winter (before the ’04 season) I kept telling people that I was gonna win on opening night because it was on my birthday, and I did that,” added Shirley, who led Babb under the checkered in the 2004 lidlifter. “It would be cool to do the same thing again (in the ‘Illini 100’).” Coming off a 2007 season that saw him win his first career WoO LMS A-Main (at Illinois’s Lincoln Speedway) and finish eighth in the tour points standings (he entered 37 of 45 events and placed second in the Rookie of the Year race), Shirley has committed to running the entire WoO LMS schedule this season with longtime St. Louis-area team owner Ed Petroff. Luck hasn’t been on his side in the first three events of ’08 (he’s 12th in the points standings), but he’s focused on giving his local supporters something to cheer about at Farmer City, where he’s won a half-dozen times in his short dirt Late Model career. “I have a lot of appreciation for my fans back home,” said Shirley. “They don’t get to see me race much anymore because we’re on the road so much, but they all support me and what I’m trying to accomplish so I want to do good for them when I come home to race.” Making an hour-and-a-half drive from his home in Chatham to race for big bucks at Farmer City puts a smile on the face of Shirley, who is happy to see a major event being held in his backyard. “I don’t know what’s stopped us from having a big race in Illinois,” said Shirley, whose nickname is ‘Squirrel.’ “We have great racetracks here and the fans come out, so I think Illinois deserves a big show like other states have. “I hope this race takes off so we can have another big race to look forward to every year.” What will it take to win the first ‘Illini 100’ trophy? Shirley has a pretty good idea. “One-hundred laps at Farmer City is gonna be tough,” said Shirley. “It’s gonna come down to whose car is prepared the best – and who ate their Wheaties!” ***** The ‘Illini 100’ weekend kicks off on Thursday (April 3) with an open practice session from 5-9 p.m. Free admission to the grandstand will give early-arriving fans and intrigued locals a chance to check out the star-studded group of drivers expected to participate in the event. The WoO LMS ‘Illini 100’ competition will be spread over two nights, beginning on Fri., April 4, with time trials, qualifying heats and a special $1,000-to-win Douglas Pontiac-GMC-Dodge Dash for heat winners and two fast-timers. Sat., April 5, is reserved for B-Mains, a 25-lap Non-Qualifiers Race offering Farmer City’s regular weekly UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model purse ($1,000 to win/$150 to start) as well as UMP DIRTcar points, and the 100-lap headliner. Farmer City’s other weekly UMP DIRTcar Racing divisions will get a chance to perform in the spotlight during the weekend as well. With Friday night being Farmer City’s regular evening of racing, the track’s UMP DIRTcar Modifieds, Sportsman and Street Stocks will race a weekly show on the Fri., April 4, undercard, and then the UMP DIRTcar Modifieds will return on Saturday night for a $1,000-to-win special. Fans will enjoy a host of auxiliary activities during the weekend, including a chance to experience Farmer City’s fast quarter-mile layout alongside a WoO LMS driver with the debut of the track’s new two-seater dirt Late Model and an autograph session with the ‘Illini 100’ entrants in the grandstand area before Saturday night’s program. Hot laps are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday, with competition to follow. Sun., April 6, is reserved as a raindate. Farmer City Raceway is conveniently located on Route 150 just off Exit 159 of Interstate 74, at the Farmer City/Dewitt County Fairgrounds. For more information on the ‘Illini 100,’ visit www.farmercityraceway.net or call 217-737-7134 or 217-828-0078. Additional info on the WoO LMS can be obtained by logging on to www.worldofoutlaws.com . |