All Babb At Tri-City, Agan In Fall Haul Opener At 34

Before I share some news and notes from my last two nights of racing I want to make sure that you all know that the final night of 34 Raceway's inaugural Fall Haul has been postponed from tonight (Saturday) to Sunday September 30th west of Burlington. The weather is supposed to be much warmer on Sunday and we hope that you will join us for another great night of Sprint Car racing with the Lee County rules Late Models in action as well.

For the second year in a row I was able to make my way down to suburban St. Louis Thursday night for the opener of the Summit Modified Nationals at Kevin and Tammy Gundaker's Tri-City Speedway. A stout field of 64 UMP Modifieds were on hand along with a nice mix of 24 UMP Late Models on a late September night that was absolutely perfect for racing. A big thumbs up from this fan as the format for the Modifieds was changed this year from the old "qualify and start the fast guys in front format" to an interesting system of using passing points from six heat races, then taking the top forty in points to one of four qualifying races where the top sixteen in total points were then locked into the feature. The remainder of the field was then split into four last chance races with the top two advancing from each to set the twenty-four car field for the main event. For fans of racing this was simply spectacular although I am sure that the fans of a driver or two who are used to starting up front all of the time might have disagreed.

Late Model star Shannon Babb races a Modified one weekend a year driving a car owned by his brother-in-law Aaron Draege and in the first heat race of the night he would charge from deep in the pack up to second at the finish behind Mike McKinney. With the four qualifiers inverted by six thanks to the draw by the final heat race winner Nick Hoffman, Babb would start the third qualifier from the third row and again he moved to the front, this time winning ahead of two of the division's best Michael Long and Allen Weisser.

Shannon's point total landed him on the inside of the second row behind McKinney and Kenny Wallace and it would be Wallace who would lead the opening lap. Before the second lap was scored the caution would wave when Trey Harris clipped the track tire on the inside of turn three and spun up the track causing several cars to stack up at the back of the field. On the restart Tyler Nicely had a big run off of turn two and tried to squeeze under Babb and McKinney who were wheel-to-wheel entering three, but he too clipped the same track tire with the resulting damage ending his evening.

When the green flag waved again there would be no more cautions and Babb drove under Wallace to secure the lead when lap number two was finally scored. With Babb driving away the focus was now on the racing mid-pack with track champion Kyle Steffens making the biggest charge. Kentucky driver Tait Davenport had a top five finish in the bag until late in the race when his right rear tire went down and at the checkers Babb had more than a straightaway over the runner-up Wallace. Nick Hoffman started fourth and finished third, Steffens came from twelfth to fourth and McKinney held on to complete the top five.

The Late Models on the other hand used the traditional UMP format with group qualifying to set the heat races straight up and the first heat race winner starting from the pole of the thirty lap feature. That would be Jason Feger with Babb starting to his outside, two of the most vocal cheerleaders for this format. Shannon would take the lead at the drop of the green and the chase was on until lap fourteen when Collin Alexander spun in turn four. On the restart Kent Robinson would take second away from Feger and he would be able to keep pace with the leader until lap twenty-three when Jeremy Sneed spun in turn three in front of the leaders forcing both Babb and Robinson to make some contact with the wall as they tried to avoid to stopped car.

That contact might have been what later forced Robinson out of the race with mechanical issues and while Babb again walked away from the field the battle for positions two through five got a little wild in the closing laps. Dane Dacus looked like he would snare a top five finish until he got trapped behind a slowing Tim Manville after his tire went flat while running fourth. Ricky Frankel was on the move as well passing Feger for second with a handful of laps remaining, but when the two made contact in turn four with two laps to go it was a mad scramble with Brian Birkhofer and Brian Shirley also involved. Babb would take his second checkered flag of the night well ahead of that foursome with Feger, Frankel, Birkhofer and Shirley filling out the top five.

It was a full night of racing that wrapped up shortly after 11:30 and after an overnight stay in Wentzville I returned to a full day of work before heading down to 34 Raceway on Friday evening for the first of two nights for the inaugural Fall Haul. With light rain falling throughout most of Iowa, but not at the race track, and temperatures barely above fifty degrees it was not a good night to be a race promoter as while the car count for the Sprint Invaders was solid at 28, it was about seven fewer than I had expected. Even worse though was the fact that it was weather that was more conducive for high school football rather than racing and that definitely had an impact on the crowd, but those who did attend witnessed an entertaining night of action on a near perfectly prepared race track.

Jon Agan was fast from the first lap of his hot lap session and he would give the fans an early thrill racing hard for the win in the second heat challenging Ryan Leavitt for the lead. The young Leavitt was very, very impressive though warding off the challenge from Agan to post the win and put the Steve Wares Motorsports #10 into the Budweiser Shake Up Dash.

Terry McCarl is this weekend's driver in the Midland Performance #50 and he would win the Dash having Layla, the young trophy presenter draw the #1 starting spot for him in the 25-lap main event touching off a brief rendition of the Eric Clapton song. McCarl would pace the field through the early laps with Agan and Brayden Gaylord in hot pursuit while Paul Nienheiser would put on a show charging from eighth to fourth. Nienheiser would drop Gaylord to fourth just before Brayden slowed to a stop with mechanical issues in turn two.

Agan had just passed McCarl for the lead, but the caution would wipe that out and shortly after the restart Agan would again complete the pass bringing Nienheiser with him into second. Those two would set a blistering pace even through lapped traffic and each time that it looked like Nienheiser had an opportunity to make a run, Agan would work traffic to perfection and again pull away. McCarl would rally back in the closing laps, but there would be no catching Agan who was elated with his race car in victory lane. Nienheiser was a stout runner-up with the Hall of Famer McCarl in third while ASCS National Series regular Seth Bergman nipped Josh Schneiderman by a nose at the checkers for fourth.

I have to say that I was not looking forward to another cool and damp night at the track on Saturday, so with a more favorable forecast I was happy to see the final night of the Fall Haul moved to Sunday. With some big money on the line, don't be surprised if the Sprint Car count swells a bit, plus the Lee County rules Late Models will be in action on Sunday night as well. Hope to see you there!