ROSSBURG, OH – Earl Pearson
Jr. knew he was part of something special on Friday night at Eldora Speedway.
He made the record books,
of course, winning the first-ever World of Outlaws Late Model Series event at the famed high-banked, half-mile oval.
But Pearson also came
out on top of a scintillating feature that was arguably one of the most memorable in the history of both the WoO LMS and Eldora
Speedway.
“I’ll tell you what –
that was a heck of a race,” Pearson said after capturing the ‘Subway 50’ to record his second WoO LMS win of the 2007 season.
“The fans should’ve enjoyed that.”
Pearson, 35, of Jacksonville, Fla.,
inherited the lead when Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., and Eldora Speedway owner Tony Stewart tangled on lap 40 while battling
for the top spot. But he had to fight down to the final turn to stay in front, fending off a furious charge by Shannon Babb
of Moweaqua, Ill., to pocket a $10,225 first prize for
bagging the second event of National Interstate Speedweek.
Babb, 33, actually slid
in front of Pearson in turn four with the checkered flag flying ahead, but he hopped the cushion and watched Pearson cross
underneath him to reach the finish line 0.352 of a second ahead. The bridesmaid run was still satisfying for Babb, who started
24th after using a WoO LMS provisional to get in the field.
Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg,
Tenn., settled for third place after losing second to Babb on lap 47. He started 14th in
his self-built ‘Team Zero’ machine but had his hopes of victory thwarted by the lap-40 caution flag, which hurt him because
he opted to use hard-compound tires.
Tim Fuller of Watertown,
N.Y., finished fourth in his first-ever dirt Late Model start at Eldora, and Scott James
of Greendale, Ind., took fifth.
Pearson, whose first
career Eldora triumph came in last year’s World 100, took advantage of other drivers’ misfortune to position himself for a
shot at the win.
First, Pearson, who started
ninth in NASCAR star Bobby Labonte’s Life Long Locks MasterSbilt car, moved to third place when Josh Richards of Shinnston,
W.Va., relinquished the runner-up spot during a lap-26 caution period. Richards, who started
from the pole position, led laps 3-16 and was fixing to turn up the heat on Frank when his Rocket No. 1 was sidelined by a
broken jackshaft on its rearend.
The race’s most critical
moment came on lap 40. Stewart, driving a Tracker Boats/Bass Pro Shops-sponsored Rocket after rushing over from his Nextel
Cup commitments at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, drew close to Frank’s Lester Buildings Rocket after beginning to mirror the
leader’s high line and decided it was time to make a bid for the top spot.
Stewart dived hard to
the inside entering turn three and attempted a ‘slider’ on Frank. He nosed ahead of Frank, but when he slid up the track in
turn four contact with Frank’s left-front sent Stewart spinning into the outside wall.
Frank also went spinning
down the homestretch, backing into the wall before coming to rest on the inside of turn one. He was able to continue after
a quick pit stop and charged back to a seventh-place finish, but Stewart’s bid was done due to a heavily damaged front end.
Frank, who started second
and led laps 1-2 and 17-40, was very upset about the tangle.
“He tried to do a slide
job from the back (straightaway) and he wasn’t anywhere near clear of me coming off of (turn) four,” said Frank. “He come
across and got into my left side, and then he spun into the wall. When he hit the wall, he come back off it and spun me around
into the wall backwards.
“It knocked the freakin’
clip off my car, but it was behind the four-bars so it didn’t matter that much and I was able to keep going. And trust me
– if there had been a yellow (over the final 10 laps), we’d have still won. My car was that good.”
Frank paused, and then
added, “If (Stewart) had shown me a nose, I’d have driven away from him because I’d have gotten up on the wheel and been wide-open.
So he probably figured that (slide-job) was his only shot and he took it, but he probably shouldn’t have.”
In an interview with
SPEED pit reporter Mark Kenyon after emerging from his wrecked car, Stewart conceded that his ‘slider’ didn’t work as he had
hoped. He said he thought he had cleared Frank, but that was obviously contradicted by the contact.
Pearson gladly accepted
the free pass to the lead.
“I don’t know what happened
between Tony and Chub,” said Pearson. “I was too far back to see that, but I know the track was in great shape for slide jobs.
That’s what Tony must have tried, and I figure Tony probably thought he had Chub cleared.”
Pearson had a ‘slider’
thrown at him on the final lap by Babb, who authored a stirring come-from-behind in Billy Moyer Sr.’s Rayburn car.
Babb went to a backup
machine after his newer mount was sidelined by the significant right-rear suspension damage it sustained because of a blown
tire during heat action. He steadily worked his way forward from the 24th starting spot, finally cracking the top five after
the Frank/Stewart tangle.
Then Babb found a second
wind, sweeping between Fuller and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis.,
to grab fourth on lap 43 and overtaking Bloomquist four circuits later. His bonsai charge to steal the race from Pearson rounding
the last corner fell short, however.
“We just camped out on
the bottom in the mud for a long time and got up through there,” said Babb. “We wouldn’t have been there if we didn’t have
all those cautions (a total of seven slowed the race) and the wrecks, so we definitely got lucky.
“At the end the middle
got really good and we were able to find it,” he added. “Right before that last caution, Scott James got underneath me and
moved me up off the bottom to the middle, and hell, it took off real good, so I stayed there. I was able to see I was gaining
through the center of the corner.”
But Babb couldn’t make
his last-lap move stick.
“I over-shot it and lost
all my momentum,” said Babb. “When I had (Pearson) cleared, I needed to back off a little bit and let the car come back down
rather than let the momentum carry me out. But when you’re trying to go forward and clear a guy without taking his nose off
at the same time, it’s tough.”
“I didn’t really know
that was Shannon Babb there until two to go,” said Pearson, who ran mostly around the top of the track throughout the A-Main
because he used the harder 40-compound tires under the night’s UMP DIRTcar Racing Hoosier 20/40 tire rule. “I thought it was
Scott (Bloomquist) running in the middle of the racetrack.
“Once (Babb) got up beside
me, I knew exactly what he was gonna do down here in the last corner. Luckily he slid a little high, and we just turned left
and drove back by him to beat him to the line.”
And with that, Pearson
had his third career WoO LMS victory.
“We weren’t the fastest
car here by any means,” said Pearson. “We passed some good cars, but some good cars fell out. It was just our turn I guess.
“We’ll take it, though.
Anytime you come here and win a race, and outrun some of the guys we outran, it’s huge.”
Finishing in positions
6-10 was Brady Smith, who pitted to change a blown right-rear tire on lap 10 and survived a scrape of the outside wall between
turns three and four on lap 26 that pulled off a piece of his car’s bodywork; Frank; Jerry Rice of Verona, Ky.; WoO LMS points
leader Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who started 22nd and drove a conservative race; and Clint Smith of Senoia, Ga., who
rallied after bringing out a caution flag on lap 27 when a broken left-rear wheel caused him to slide into the wall between
turns one and two.
Forty-nine cars were
signed in for the event, which appeared to be in jeopardy of being postponed when a thunderstorm struck the track minutes
before 5 o’clock.
Heavy rain fell for nearly
a half-hour, but the skies proceeded to clear and track crews had the surface ready for hot laps to begin by 7 p.m.
Stewart arrived too late
for practice, but he nonetheless went out and won the $100 National Interstate Insurance Fast Time Award with a blistering
lap of 15.254 seconds. It was the second-fastest dirt Late Model circuit in Eldora history.
Heat winners were Stewart,
Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., Frank and Clint Smith, and the B-Mains were captured by Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., and
Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark.
The event was taped for
broadcast on the SPEED cable network on Sun., Aug. 19, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET.
The WoO LMS National
Interstate Speedweek closes on Saturday night (July 28) at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio.
For more info, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com or www.nationalinterstateracing.com.
Results of WoO
Late Model Series (Finishing Position/Start/Driver/Laps Completed/Money Won):
1. (9) Earl Pearson Jr./50
$10,225
2. (24) Shannon Babb/50
$5,125
3. (14) Scott Bloomquist/50
$3,000
4. (11) Tim Fuller/50
$2,750
5. (15) Scott James/50
$2,500
6. (7) Brady Smith/50
$1,700
7. (2) Chub Frank/50
$1,400
8. (10) Jerry Rice/50
$1,300
9. (22) Steve Francis/50
$1,200
10. (6) Clint Smith/50
$1,100
11. (12) Rick Eckert/50
$1,050
12. (17) Brian Shirley/50
$1,000
13. (19) Donnie Moran/50
$1,450
14. (20) Dennis Erb Jr./50
$900
15. (18) Billy Moyer/44
$850
16. (4) Tony Stewart/40
$900
17. (21) Brad Neat/28
$770
18. (13) Jeep VanWormer/27
$750
19. (1) Josh Richards/26
$730
20. (3) Darrell Lanigan/22
$700
21. (16) Mike Balzano/19
$700
22. (8) Steve Shaver/6
$700
23. (5) Shawn Toczek/4
$700
24. (23) Shane Clanton/3
$750 SCR
