Top-3 Recap | 2026 MARS Illinois Dirt Shootout at Fairbury Speedway
Top-3 Recap after Saturday's 2026 MARS Late Model Championship Series Illinois Dirt Shootout at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway.
Video Transcript
All right, backstretch, let him hear you.
The Moweaqua Missile, Shannon Babb.
Well, what a run here tonight.
Up on the high side, through the middle, on the bottom.
He had his car set up just enough.
On the bottom, saved the tires, and out-ran 'em here tonight for $15,000.
The Illinois Dirt Shootout, presented by C&A Calcium 40.
Race fans, how about it, for the Moweaqua Missile, Shannon Babb.
Whoo.
Thanks.
Shannon, congratulations.
What an exciting feature event here tonight.
Yeah.
Man, a hot, sultry Saturday night.
Down there on the bottom, just digging through the middle, wherever you needed to be.
They pressured you, they threw everything they could at you, but in the end, you get a big win.
Congratulations.
Several times here in 2026, you do it again.
Yeah, I tell you what, I, just told Matt, you know, I can't thank Fairbairn enough, you know, for providing us with an excellent racetrack.
Man, we got a great racetrack and got some great racers.
Jason and Ashton and Bishop, that was a hella fun race.
You know, I enjoyed, I enjoyed the outcome of that.
I'm like, "How is this gonna turn out?"
I had no idea.
But, you know, most of all, I, man, I just, I gotta thank the good Lord.
This is, this is amazing, you know?
It's, He's been very good to me this year.
And Longhorn Chassis, Vick Hill, David Noonan at Dyna Gro Seed, Todd Donley, CJI, Jeremie Hopson, Ed and Deb Petroff.
The Getty boys are here.
Tony Douglas, I hope he's home watching.
Especially my wife and my girls.
They, they're trying to stay on school schedule right now, and I'm like, "Go to bed."
But, hopefully JD and them guys are home watching.
He's helped me a ton this year, and I can't say thanks to him enough, him and Matt.
And just, even Mason, he's my deer hunting buddy, and he, he shoots me texts all night long.
"You're," you know, "You're turning to the right too far.
You're pushing."
I mean, he tells, tells me.
I got a lot of coaches out there and it But listen, it helps a lot.
You know, mainly Jerry Johnson.
He's been with me, through the thick and the thin all week long, just working on this thing.
And we, you know, it's, it's, it's rewarding when you finally get a, get a win.
Pevely was good to us last weekend, but the last two days, they've been so good.
So, so yeah, this makes up for it.
Well, I tell you what, you gonna put on a show out at Eldora next week?
You know, I, I want to.
My, my ring gear broke off on, on my brand-new bell housing, so I put two starters on this thing tonight.
My other car's sitting home.
It's got its tongue hanging out.
It needs some attention.
So I, I'm sure we're probably going to end up taking this thing.
I'll just, you know, I have to do a lot of work to it.
But, you know, that's just, that's part of racing, you know?
Well, as good as you've been running, man, we'd love to see you out there.
Just an awesome race here tonight.
Can't wait to watch it back.
And I tell you what, 2026, you've been, you've had a balanced race car, and it seems like you're back on top.
Confidence.
Great job here tonight.
I appreciate it very much.
Thank you very much.
All right, race fans, the Moweaqua Missile, Shannon Babb, wins a thriller here tonight.
Falls.
Coming home in second.
Man, I tell you what, Brandon.
We'll make sure we get that thing to flow way up there.
Congratulations on coming home second.
I tell you what, man, you put it up on the cushion.
Do you think maybe a little too late?
If you'd have done it earlier, or just how that thing played out, and you raced hard for second?
Yeah, I don't know.
If, you know, ol' Babb, he did a good job, man.
We've, we've been back and forth over the years quite a bit, so it's, good to see him win, for sure.
Congratulations to him.
And it was a great race, and, the track was really awesome like, like we knew it was gonna be.
Typical Falls.
It was really good.
And, I just started off the race way too free, like, into the center, and I couldn't carry any speed at all.
So I really just tried to I, I knew I was hurting myself in the top, so I was trying to run the bottom.
And, Winger and, and, Unzinger were by me there in the top, just I could hear their motors, and they were beating everything they had up.
And I knew if I, I just needed to move around and try to figure out how to gain some speed.
And, and I kinda stopped worrying about parking in the bottom so bad and just ran more of a momentum line late in the race and really got going.
And, and, yeah, that's what got me back by them guys, and then past Fager too, was, you know, it just I, I felt like my right rear tire was too hard, honestly.
I, because I was so free getting in, and I didn't have any tire to, my tire wasn't sticking anyway, 'cause it was too hard, and I was free.
So it was just, like, just took me way too long to get going.
But, you know, to end this- It feels like the worst weekend of my life, honestly.
We've been working our tails off, and, my guys been working their tails off.
We, messed everything we had up on, on, Thursday at LaSalle, and then yesterday we, we broke in the, in the heat race and had to come from the back, and it was just It's just been an awful weekend.
I'm ready to go home.
But, to end it with a second, on Saturday here at Falls, it, it feels pretty good.
My car was pretty good there at the end of the race.
So, just thanks to Mark and all my great sponsors, my dad and my grandpa.
I wouldn't be standing here without them guys, of course.
Dad and Grandpa sacrificed everything for me throughout my career, and I'm That's why we keep the B5 going and, and come race on our off weekends for Dad and Grandpa.
So, thanks to them.
And of course, my beautiful wife and kids, appreciate them and all their support.
And thanks to all the Fairbury fans for coming out tonight on this hot day, and, yeah.
Well, I tell you what, there's a lot of us from Illinois are gonna be rooting for you next week.
Good luck at Eldora, and great job here tonight.
Appreciate it.
We're looking forward to it.
All right, race fans, put on a show.
He comes home second.
How about it for Brandon Shepherd?
And man, Jason Feger, one of the best races we've seen in a while here at the Fairbury Speedway.
Slicing and dicing with the veteran Shannon Babb.
Come up a little short, third.
Probably had a good enough car for second.
High and low.
Man, just a heck of a race.
Yeah, congrats to Shannon.
It's great to see him running again.
You know, he had a rough couple years, but he's been awfully fast here lately, and, he's always good here at Fairbury.
So, man, we had a heck of a race.
I don't know how many laps we ran side by side there, but it was a lot.
And, I'm usually really good on the bottom here, and tonight we were pretty good on the top.
But, I, I probably should've been more p- patient early.
I felt like I just got my tires so hot on my right rear, and then I was just married to the top.
So, I was just felt like I was really holding on at the end, and it just kept getting dirtier and dirtier.
And it was pretty, hairy coming off of four there.
And I mean, you can make really good speed in one and two, but coming off of four it was really sketchy.
And, just a really tricky cushion tonight to run.
And, but a lot of fun, and just came up a little short.
Like I say, Babb's been really fast, and obviously Sheppy's been on a roll, too.
So, we just, keep making gains and, put ourselves in position.
We just came up a little short.
Well, I tell you what, he comes home third tonight.
How about it for the highside hustler, Jason Feger.
Brandon Shepherd second.
And how about it, race fans, one more time for your winner, the Moweaqua Missile, Shannon Babb.
