Bristol Motor Speedway
After split with Bowyer, Babb plans own team
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Shannon Babb
Clint Bowyer Racing and two-time Dirt Track World Champion Shannon Babb have agreed to part ways following a single season of Dirt Late Model racing, according to Babb and a team press release. The 34-year-old Babb, who finished sixth in World of Outlaws Late Model Series points in 2008, plans to field his own race team out of his hometown Moweaqua, Ill., for the 2009 season after a year racing out of the NASCAR driver's Welcome, N.C., race shop.
"Shannon was an important part in making our first season in Dirt Late Models a success," the 29-year-old Bowyer was quoted in a team release. "I wish Shannon nothing but success in his future endeavors." Babb was on a hunting trip in Mexico and unavailable for comment.
Babb, making his first full-time run on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, won two series races en route to finishing sixth in points. His first victory on May 3 at I-44 Speedway in Lebanon, Mo., came the same night Bowyer grabbed a NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Babb won four special events overall in 2008, including a flag-to-flag $40,000 victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Diamond Nationals in Wheatland, Mo., and a $15,000 Lucas Oil victory at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., his second career Dixie Shootout victory.
Bowyer plans to field a full-time Dirt Late Model team in 2009, according to the team release, but a driver hasn't been named for the car sponsored by Traeger Wood Pellet Grills and Chevrolet.
Babb ran most of the World of Outlaws races over the past two seasons, winning seven races on the national tour overall, but a return to Illinois puts the driver of the No. 18 closer to the bullrings where he excelled as a teen, eventually developing into one of the winningest drivers in UMP DIRTcar Summernationals history. He won a staggering 28 Summernationals races overall en route to championships on the grueling month-long tour in 2005-06.
Owning his team will be new for Babb, however, who has driven for varioius car owners the past 10 seasons. Babb's longest stint came from 2001-07 for Iowa-based Bill Moyer (the father of Hall of Fame driver Billy Moyer) while he previously drove for Louisiana-based GVS Racing and, briefly, North Carolina-based Dunn-Benson Motorsports.
While 2008 didn't bring as many checkered flags as recent years — Babb won a series-record 15 Summernationals races alone in 2005 — the $40,000 Diamond Nationals victories ranks among his richest along with his DTWC victories (in 2002 at Bluegrass Speedway in Bardstown, Ky., and in 2006 at K-C Raceway near Chillicothe, Ohio) and Topless 100 victory at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway in 2003.
