Month of Money Continues as WoO Late Models visit Farmer City
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Farmers City, IL - The World of Outlaws Late Model Series ‘Month of Money’ continues this weekend (April 4-5) at Farmer City Raceway, where teams will compete in the inaugural ‘Illini 100.’ A $20,000 top prize from a purse of nearly $100,000 will be on the line in the blockbuster 100-lap A-Main, which is billed as the biggest dirt Late Model event ever run in the state of Illinois. With the venerable Farmer City facility sitting in the heart of UMP DIRTcar Racing country, the ‘Illini 100’ will be co-sanctioned by UMP DIRTcar and pit the expansive weekly sanctioning body’s best drivers against the touring stars of the WoO LMS.
A two-day WoO LMS format will be in effect for the ‘Illini 100,’ with time trials and heat races taking place on Friday night and the B-Mains and 100-lap headliner set for Saturday night. Added attractions for the dirt Late Model racers include a special $1,000-to-win Douglas Pontiac-GMC-Dodge Dash for heat winners and two fast-timers on Friday night, and a 25-lap Non-Qualifiers Race on Saturday night that offers Farmer City’s regular weekly UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model purse ($1,000 to win/$150 to start) as well as UMP DIRTcar points.
Farmer City Raceway is a high-banked, quarter-mile oval located on Route 150 just off Exit 159 of Interstate 74, at the Farmer City/Dewitt County Fairgrounds.
Fans will want to arrive early on Saturday because they’ll have an opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the drivers during a special one-hour autograph session in the grandstand area before the start of racing. In addition, several lucky fans will have a chance to race around the quarter-mile oval alongside a WoO LMS driver with the debut of the track’s new two-seater dirt Late Model. Details about rides in the two-seater will be available at the speedway.
Leading the WoO LMS charge to Farmer City will be the tour’s pair of regulars from central Illinois: Shannon Babb of Moweaqua and Brian Shirley of Chatham.
Babb will make his first appearance before his home crowd since making an off-season move to the new dirt Late Model team owned by NASCAR Sprint Cup star Clint Bowyer. The 34-year-old standout, whose car still carries his familiar No. 18, won last year’s WoO LMS event at Farmer City.
Shirley, who will enter the race after celebrating his 27th birthday on Wednesday, traveled most of the WoO LMS for the first time in 2007 and scored his first career tour victory along the way. One of two series regulars this season under the age of 30, the driver known as ‘Squirrel’ is focused on following the entire schedule in search of the championship.
Babb enters the ‘Illini 100’ as the hotter central Illinois driver, coming off a third-place finish in the WoO LMS ‘March Through Dixie 100’ on March 29 at Pike County Speedway in Magnolia, Miss. Shirley experienced bad luck in that event, finishing 24th after dropping out early with an overheating engine.
Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., the youngest WoO LMS regular (he turned 20 on March 22), admittedly is more comfortable racing on big tracks than small ovals. But he’s confident about his chances at Farmer City, where he finished third in last year’s WoO LMS A-Main.
Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., who finished fourth in the 2006 WoO LMS 50 at Farmer City, is off to a solid start on this year’s tour. After a sixth-place run last week in Mississippi (he moved from 10th to the top-five early before fading slightly), the ‘Bluegrass Bandit’ is tied for third with Eckert in the points standings.
Fans who can’t make it to the track can listen to the action live thanks to the DIRT Radio Network. To listen to the free audio broadcasts of WoO LMS events, log on to www.dirtvision.com and click on the DIRT Radio Network logo.
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