BROWNSTOWN, Ill. — Some people are happy with their legacy. Others strive to add to it.
That’s exactly what Shannon Babb did Tuesday night in the DIRTcar Summer Nationals’ 40th anniversary season opener at Brownstown Bullring.
Babb, the four-time Summer Nationals champion, wired the cushion and led all 30 laps to pick up his 103rd Hell Tour victory, extending his margin as the series’ all-time winningest driver.
“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? We’ve been racing for a long time, and I guess that’s how we racked up so many,” Babb said. “Hell, we’ve lost twice as many, you know. I’m glad we can say we’ve learned a few things along the way. These little tracks like this, I just always loved them. It’s kind of like a Saturday night race.”
The green flag flew on the kickoff for the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, and early on, it was Babb who found the cushion first and used the outside lane to propel him to the lead before a Lap 1 caution for a pileup in turn two stopped the field.
On the restart, Babb found his groove on the top line as Frank Heckenast Jr. and Tanner English battled for second behind him.
As Babb entered lap traffic, a Lap 13 caution for a slowing Adam Tischauser stacked the field together.
The restart gave English an opportunity to pounce, as he found speed on the cushion and tracked down Babb over the next several laps. English pulled even with Babb’s No. 18 with a deep dive down low through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 23, but Babb wasn’t going to be denied, using the high-side momentum to his advantage off Turn 4 to maintain the top spot.
Babb then did what he had done all race long, working the cushion en route to his third Summer Nationals win at Brownstown.
“Tonight, we were good enough to be on the front row of the heat, to get that job done, and luckily I drew the front row outside, and that makes my job easier,” Babb said. “It wasn’t rough; the first guy to the cushion wins. Luckily, tonight, I was there.”
English held strong behind Babb to bag a runner-up finish, and Heckenast crossed the line in third. Michael Leach drove from sixth to a fourth-place finish while Daryn Klein completed the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 2. 96-Tanner English[4]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 4. 09-Michael Leach[6]; 5. 10K-Daryn Klein[7]; 6. 25F-Jason Feger[19]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[15]; 8. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 9. 38J-Jake Little[17]; 10. 10J-Jordan Bauer[12]; 11. 17SR-Brody Smith[22]; 12. 20B-Todd Brennan[16]; 13. 21B-Rich Bell[20]; 14. 75A-Daniel Adam[9]; 15. 15-Clay Stuckey[11]; 16. 74-Mitch McGrath[18]; 17. T4-Adam Tischhauser[14]; 18. 32M-Cody Maguire[21]; 19. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[5]; 20. 50K-Kayden Clatt[13]; 21. 05-Tyler Leach[3]; 22. 33-Mike Harrison[10]
