Wendell Wallace Masters Slick I-55 Raceway Surface For UMP-Sanctioned Pepsi Nationals Victory

PEVELY, MO (Sept. 16, 2006) – When a racetrack turns slick, Wendell Wallace turns it on.

The latest example was Wallace’s convincing victory on Saturday night in the UMP-sanctioned Pepsi Nationals 50 at I-55 Raceway.

“Wendell’s hard to beat in that slick stuff,” second-place finisher Randy Korte conceded after being unable to stop Wallace on the one-third-mile oval’s smooth, shiny surface. “That’s his kind of deal.”

“Wally is awful good when the track’s like that,” added Shannon Babb, who placed third. “He has a really good setup for slick tracks, so I’m not surprised to see him win the thing.”

Wallace, 40, of Batesville, Ark., didn’t downplay his slick-track expertise after earning $10,000 for his first career win in I-55’s traditional season-ending dirt Late Model event.

“We just geared up for it to be as slick as it could get,” said Wallace. “The slick tracks are where our program is a little bit better.”

After capturing a heat and the dash, Wallace took the feature green flag from the pole position in his Gaerte-powered GRT No. 88. He was initially outgunned for the lead by Highland, Ill.’s Korte, who started second, but he surged by Korte to assume command for good on lap 18.

Korte settled for second place, several car lengths ahead of Moweaqua, Ill.’s Babb. Sixth-starter Jimmy Mars of Menominie, Wis., and eighth-starter Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., completed the top five.

“Randy was awful good early on, but I just got through the lapped cars better than he did,” described the modest Wallace, who recorded his ninth overall triumph of the 2006 season. “I caught a break.”

Korte, 41, didn’t see Wallace’s deciding pass quite the same way. Korte, who is on the verge of clinching the 2006 UMP Late Model national championship, simply wasn’t strong enough to race with Wallace, who beat him to the finish line by nearly a full straightaway margin.

“We’ve been wondering what we could’ve done to the car to make it better, but Wendell’s just hard to beat on that kind of track,” said Korte, who drove his familiar Rocket No. 00. “I was kinda surprised I kept him at bay as long as I did.”

“Our car would just come and go. It seemed like it would be good for a few laps, then it would just be junk for a few. I don’t know if that was me using the tires up too much or something else, but we couldn’t run with Wendell because of it.”

Wallace maintained full control after the race was slowed, on lap 21, for a second and final caution flag. Even lapped traffic gave him little trouble.

“I just moved around in different grooves the whole race,” said Wallace, whose biggest triumph of ’06 came in late May when he topped the Show-Me 100 at West Plains (Mo.) Motor Speedway for the second time in his career. “One time I’d be good in a certain spot for five laps, then it seemed like that groove would slow down so I’d have to change my line and do something different.

“That’s the raciest I think I’ve ever seen this place.”

It was also the first time Wallace had ever visited Victory Lane at the high-banked track owned by NASCAR Nextel Cup veteran Kenny Schrader.

“We’ve had a couple good runs here over the years, but we were never able to seal the deal,” he said. “If feels good to finally get it done.”

Babb, who won I-55’s UMP Summernationals event earlier this year en route to capturing his second straight tour championship, was unable to tame a decidedly different track surface this time around.

“We won the Summernationals show here, but it was wet and sticky that night,” said the 32-year-old Babb, who drove Billy Moyer Sr.’s Rayburn No. 18. “It was super-slick tonight, but the track was excellent. It couldn’t be any better.

“I just needed to be better down the straightaway. I could roll around the corner pretty good, but they’d leave me down the straightaway because I was just spinning (wheels).”

Shirley, 25, entered the Pepsi Nationals with plenty of confidence, thanks to five wins in six starts this season at I-55 and a $6,000 victory in the previous night’s MARS/UMP ‘USA World 50’ at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway.

But the rising star was searching for answers after finishing a quiet fifth in Ed Petroff’s Rocket No. 3s on a surface that was slicker than he’s been accustomed.

“When you don’t win, you just want to figure out what could’ve been better,” said Shirley. “I know my car wasn’t good enough to win, and that’s why I came over to talk to (Babb after the race) to see how he felt about his car.”

Rounding out the top 10 was four-time UMP Late Model national champion Rodney Melvin of Benton, Ill.; Jack Sullivan of Greenbriar, Ark.; 22-year-old Michael Kloos of Trenton, Ill.; MARS regular Jeff Taylor of Cave City, Ark.; and defending World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., who won last year’s Pepsi Nationals headliner.

The race’s only significant crash occurred on lap six after Ed Dixon got sideways in turn three and was hit by Matt Taylor. Mark Oller was also involved.

Thirty-five cars entered the event.

The original format called for the passing points system to be used for qualifying, but group time trials were run instead.

MARS tour points leader Bill Frye of Greenbriar, Ark., set fast time with a lap of 12.945 seconds, but he had a short night. His car’s motor exploded in a cloud of smoke as he set the pace two laps in the first heat, and he promptly loaded up and left the track.

Heat winners were Kloos, Babb, Wallace and Korte. Tim Manville and Joe Ross Jr. captured the B-Mains.

UMP Late Model Pepsi Nationals Feature Finish (50 laps): 1. Wendall Wallace, 2. Randy Korte, 3. Shannon Babb, 4. Jimmy Mars, 5. Brian Shirley, 6. Rodney Melvin, 7. Jack Sullivan, 8. Michael Kloos, 9. Jeff Taylor, 10. Billy Moyer, 11. Billy Faust, 12. Chad Zobrist, 13. Ryan Dauber, 14. Bryan Collins, 15. Jeff Johns, 16. Tim Manville, 17. Dave Jumper, 18. Kevin Cole, 19. Joe Ross Jr., 20. Tim Ratajczyk, 21. Joe Morris, 22. Ed Dixon, 23. Mark Oller, 24. Matt Taylor

DNQ: Rich Whaley, Ron Sensel, Jeremy Conaway, Ron McQuerry, Rich Lawson, Bill Frye, Steve Shive, Billy Moyer Jr., Dick Taylor, Chip Morgan, Tracy Wampler.