Highlights | 2026 MARS Illinois Dirt Shootout at Fairbury Speedway
The MARS Late Model Championship heads back to FALS with $15,000 up for grabs in the Illinois Dirt Shootout.
Video Transcript
The Illinois Dirt Shootout, presented by C&A 40 and Calcium Products.
We're green, on four.
Ashton Winger, you know where he's gonna go, to the falls cushion.
Down the back straightaway, Jason Fager down to his inside.
Shannon Babb looking to make it three wide into turns three and four for the first time.
Ashton Winger, Shannon Babb, Jason Fager, one, two, three.
Winger to the outside, Babb through the middle, Fager down to the inside.
Winger, Babb, Fager, Spatola, and Shepherd.
Babb's starting to pressure him.
He may have the best hot rod of the bunch.
Babb down to the inside of Winger, looking to go side to side for the race lead again.
Babb with the restarts, good.
Man, he looks so good on the bottom side of the speedway.
Shannon Babb for the race lead.
Ashton Winger says, "Not yet, buddy."
10 and 40 to go, 15 grand on the line.
Babb has got the race lead.
Will it be official when they come back by a slide job?
What's up, Rick and Anita?
It's first time tonight.
Oh, man.
Oh, my grandmother, Maude Stevens, would always say, "Fiddlesticks."
10 and 40 to go, 15,000 awaits your winner.
Who's going to O'Reilly Auto Parts Victory Lane?
Ashton Winger, man, he snookered 'em there on the restart, so did Jason Fager.
Fager down the back straightaway, looking to go side by side with Shannon Babb.
Man, Babb looks good on the bottom.
Winger through the middle.
Fager gonna float all the way to the cushion.
Does he have second down the front straightaway?
Not yet.
Still Shannon Babb in second.
Fager again, gonna run all the way to cushion.
How about Bob Gardner?
Gardner looks for a top five here tonight.
Him and Brandon Shepherd going at it behind this trio for the lead.
It's the 12 of Ashton Winger.
You better be careful up on that falls cushion, she'll bite back.
Here comes Babb for the lead.
Shannon Babb again down to the inside.
Ashton Winger gonna rock it off the falls cushion up in turn number four, down the front straightaway.
New race leader's gonna be Shannon Babb.
Babb to the race lead.
Here comes Ashton Winger, and that answer back down the back straightaway.
Here comes the B5 of Brandon Shepherd.
Shepherd getting it wound up in the falls cushion as well.
For the race lead, Shannon Babb.
Good racing action.
It's still Ashton Winger in a photo finish that time.
36 to go.
Things heating up.
14 and 36 to go.
Now Winger gonna dive down to the inside right in front of the High Side Hustler.
Oh, big problems right in front of your race leader.
I believe that's the 38J of Jake Little spinning to a stop here in the front straightaway.
31 to go.
Long ways.
$15,000 to your winner.
Who's it gonna be here tonight?
Jason Fager get a restart on that falls cushion.
Here he comes.
He's got second down the back straightaway.
Falls cushion, does it have something in it?
Here we go.
Fager for the race lead.
Babb, Fager, Winger.
Dadgumit, we got a race here at Falls.
28 to go.
Fager looking good.
He diamonds off the corner.
He's got a run on Shannon Babb down the front straightaway.
Looking to go side by side.
Fager looking to be our next leader here at the Illinois Dirt Shootout.
Can Babb hold him back?
Here comes Fager for the lead.
Babb gonna hold him back.
27 to go.
Good racing action at the Fairbury Speedway.
Crowd comes to its feet as we near the halfway point.
Jason Fager, oh, and he jumps the cushion.
Babb gonna hold him off.
Fager gonna hold him off, now gonna look for the race lead.
Here comes the High Side Hustler for the lead in the Illinois Dirt Shootout.
Shannon Babb gonna hold him off.
24 to go.
Good racing action at the front of the field.
Shannon Babb down to the inside, but Jason Fager with the momentum down the back straightaway.
Looking to go side by side.
Gonna use that Brandon Shepherd line.
Slides all the way up to the cushion.
Babb's there, but here comes Fager.
Good run for the Moweaqua Missile down to the inside, but he's got company now.
The green and black 25, Tumbling Dice, High Side Hustler for the lead down the front straightaway.
They're still side by side.
Boy, is Fager a little bit better in one and two.
Obviously, Shannon Babb, Babb a little bit better down here in three and four.
There they are.
Fager gonna throw it all the way into Rick and Anita's.
Babb down to the inside.
Fager to the cushion, down the front straightaway.
Still Shannon Babb with the lead.
21 to go.
A barn burner at Falls.
A Labor Day classic.
Unzicker tearing through the field.
Here comes Ryan Unzicker, point leader as Fager goes to the bottom.
Opens the door back up for, for Jason Fager.
Babb back to the lead.
Fager behind him.
Then we got chaos for third.
Ashton Winger and Ryan Unzicker, Brandon Shepherd.
Ryan Unzicker trying to work his way through the field.
We go back up front.
Shannon Babb down to the inside, Fager to the outside for the race lead again.
Babb back to the lead.
19 to go.
Oh, man, Ashton Winger, Ryan Unzicker, and Brandon Shepherd door to door for the race lead here at Falls.
Another Labor Day classic at America's Dirt Track.
18 laps to go.
This is good stuff at the front of the field.
Once again, digging his C&A 40 Calcium Products, Jason Fager for the lead.
Babb is there.
17 to go.
What a race at the Fairbury Speedway.
Thanks for tuning in on Flo.
Fager for the lead, officially got it.
Once again, Fager back to the race lead around the outside of Shannon Babb.
Now will he stay on the outside?
Shannon Babb again digging down to the inside.
He'll look for the lead up in turn number four.
Down the front straightaway, Jason Fager, by just a hair, has still got the lead.
Digging Babb, perfect in one and two down the back straightaway.
Jason Fager a little bit better in three and four.
Shannon Babb a little bit better in one and two.
Fager still holds the lead.
Gotta be perfect on the falls cushion, the final 15.
Cheer him on at home.
Cheer him on at Falls.
Down the back straightaway.
Winger, Unzicker, Shepherd, your top five.
On four, Jason Fager still with the lead.
Shannon Babb right there with him.
14 to go.
Do they get in the lap traffic?
If they do, it's on the bottom.
Jason Fager again for the lead.
Shannon Babb, a good run down to the inside.
Do we have a new race leader once again off turn four?
The answer is no.
Fager still holding him off, barely.
Again, it's tough to run that false cushion.
He's gonna use the momentum down the back straightaway.
He's been running the bottom as of late, but tonight he looks to put $15,000 in his bank account.
Does he have the lead?
Yes.
Fager and Babb, a classic here at America's Dirt Track.
Down the back straightaway, hop the cushion a little bit.
Babb pulls even with him.
11 to go.
These two have ran side by side in a Labor Day classic here at the Fairbury Speedway.
Jason Fager trying to reel him back in now.
11 to go.
Babb looks good on the bottom.
He slipped up that time, and it allows Jason Fager to gather him in.
Once again, lap traffic is gonna play a huge part in the outcome of this one.
Babb back to the lead.
10 to go in the Illinois Dirt Shootout.
Cheer him on, race fans.
Can Jason Fager win it on the outside, or is it Shannon Babb's night down on the inside?
What a show it falls down the front straightaway.
Nine to go.
Shannon Babb back to the race lead.
Jason Fager to the outside, now gonna work to the bottom.
Shannon Babb with two to go.
Fager, and here comes Shepherd.
Shepherd throwing all caution to the wind.
He's gonna work right through the middle of the speedway, but Shannon Babb has the lead down the back straightaway.
Wave of the white flag, one to go.
Here comes Shepherd, trying to take second away.
Wave of the white flag.
The battle's gonna be for second, but down the back straightaway, and pocketing $15,000 for the Illinois Dirt Shootout, how about it for the Mahwah Missile, Shannon Babb.
Look at the battle for second.
Brandon Shepherd got it over Jason Fager.
