Federated Raceway at I-55
Clint Smith's I-55 victory continues Midwest mastery
By Kevin Kovac
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
Clint Smith earned more than $10,000 at I-55. (Jimmy Dearing)
PEVELY, Mo. (Sept. 15) — Clint Smith has turned the Midwest into his second home this season.
With a dramatic victory in the 25th annual Pepsi Nationals at I-55 Raceway, Smith put himself squarely in the headlines of another World of Outlaws Late Model Series trip to middle America.
Smith, 42, of Senoia, Ga., earned $10,225 for his fourth WoO triumph of 2007 — all of which have come in the Midwest. He has won twice in Missouri (I-55 and Lebanon I-44 Speedway) and once in Indiana (Kamp Motor Speedway) and Kansas (Belleville High Banks).
“It’s fun to win in some new territory,” said Smith, whose road victories this season have helped increase his popularity away from his native Southeast. “We’ve won in three different states for the first time this year, and we’re proud of that.”
Smith’s latest victory was easily his most difficult. He had to outduel a pair of 2006 UMP DIRTcar Racing champions — Summernationals titlist Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., and national champ Randy Korte of Highland, Ill. — in a rousing shootout over the race’s final three laps to preserve his 10th career WoO win.
Smith never relinquished the lead after driving his J&J Steel-Cliburn Tank Lines GRT car by Korte for the position on lap 23, but both Babb and Korte made aggressive bids to overtake Smith following the second and final caution flag of the main event on lap 47.
Babb, 33, used the extreme high side of the one-third-mile to slide from fourth to second after the final restart, but he fell short in his attempt to steal the win from Smith. Babb crossed the finish line 0.702 of a second behind Smith.
The 42-year-old Korte, who led the first circuit and laps 9-22 after starting from the pole position, settled for third. Completing the top five was Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., in his Lester Buildings Rocket and WoO points leader Steve Francis of Ashland, Ky., who started from the outside pole and led laps 2-8 in his Valvoline Rocket.
Smith, who started third, used one of the slight imperfections he discovered in the surface of NASCAR star Ken Schrader’s track to assert control over the field.
“There was a little hole in (turns) three and four where I was able to get my biggest advantage,” said Smith, whose only previous start at I-55 Raceway was a 16th in 2005. “If I could charge it hard and catch it just right with the right-side tires, it would scotch my car.
“Korte and a couple other guys were missing that hole — or they just weren’t seeing it — so they’d drift all the way to the top (of the turns) and lose momentum. But I could hit it and turn to the bottom off of four and just cook the front straightaway.
“That was probably the difference all night — I could get my car to turn in the center of the corner and come off in the wet really full throttle. Even off turn two I was really good; that’s where I could set ‘em up to make a pass in three and four.”
Smith wasn’t happy to see the caution flag fly on lap 47, however.
“I knew a couple of guys behind me, like Babb (who restarted fourth), had (softer tires) on,” said Smith. “I knew they were gonna fire pretty good — and they did.”
Smith, who ran the harder 40-compound rubber, saw Korte duck underneath him a couple times following the restart. And on the final circuit he repelled a bonsai charge by Babb, who charged around the outside of Korte for second off turn two on the final lap and then attempted to slip by Smith at the other end of the high-banked oval.
“I was running the middle the whole time, but I probably went in a little too high for (Babb) the last lap so he didn’t know where I was going,” Smith said when asked how he preserved his victory. “Then I cut to the bottom and got my full gas off the corner (to the checkered flag) — and ain’t nobody gonna pull you when you leave at full throttle with the motors we have today.
“That RaceTek in the car, it’s one of his 441s, and it’s a killer. We knew if we could get it hooked up, ain’t nobody gonna pass us at full throttle.”
The victory broke Smith out of a modest slump on the WoO. He had been winless on the tour since July 3 at Lebanon I-44 Speedway — a stretch of nine races during which his points deficit to Francis ballooned from 34 to 96.
“We got back a little in the points, so we tried some different setups and kinda got off our program,” said Smith, who sits third in the WoO points standings. “Tonight we pretty much got back to square one.
“Tonight we raced to win, because the points are kinda getting out of hand. Unless Francis and Chub have the same trouble I had — I fell out of three key races and it cost me over a hundre points — they pretty much have the top two spots (in the standings) locked up. I’m just trying to get third-place locked down, that way I can race free towards the first two spots.
“I’d like to work it down to within 50 points for the last two races,” Smith added when asked about his title hopes. “Then we’d have a mathematical chance to win the points."
Babb, who started eighth, nearly pulled off a memorable high-side run to victory after the final caution flag.
“The caution just fell at the right time for me,” said Babb. “I was on soft tires, so my car fired real good. I thought I might have a shot (at winning) by running the top.
“The top was there all along, but it was like messing with fire. You can’t run more than two or three laps in a row real good, but when you’ve got a chance (late in the race) you just give it all you got.”
Babb was virtually on Smith’s rear bumper heading down the backstretch for the final time, but his momentum was slowed by Smith’s race-savvy move.
“I didn’t know what he was gonna do on that last corner,” Babb said of Smith. “I followed him down the backstraightaway and he was all the way out against the fence, so I thought he was gonna stay up there. But then he dove all the way down to the bottom, and I couldn’t go under him.
“I think I should’ve just stayed up there (in the top groove) and followed him around (three and four). If I stayed behind him, I might’ve had a better shot at it.”
Korte, who won four of his six features this season at I-55 during the month of August, ran the same tire combination (hard right-rear, three softs) as Smith but didn’t quite match Smith’s setup.
“Clint was just a little better than us,” said Korte. “I was kinda frustrated because I should’ve run second, but Shannon pulled that off there on the outside at the end to get by us.
“It would’ve been awesome to win tonight. I’ve won this deal before, and it’s always real nice to win at home — but it would have been unbelievable to win against these (WoO) guys.
“They knew I was here, though, and that’s the main thing.”
