Motor SportsFriday, August 31, 2007 3:06 AM CDT

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Junior Shickel gearing up for area's big racing weekend

By Douglas Hamm
dhamm@pantagraph.com

Junior Shickel hasn’t shown any signs he’s slowing down as he nears the end of his 31st year of dirt track racing.

The 47-year-old Bloomington late model driver is enjoying one of his best seasons, and the timing couldn’t be better entering the biggest weekend of racing at his home tracks: tonight’s Farmer City 50 at Farmer City Raceway and Saturday’s 18th annual Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury American Legion Speedway.

“I’m one of the oldest guys out there, but it’s OK,” Shickel said. “I’m still competitive. Sometimes the experience helps, too. You still make mistakes, but I used to make a lot more when I was younger. I’ve just been through so much. Sometimes you might get an extra spot or two just from experience.”

Shickel has been more than competitive.

He stands third in the points standings at Farmer City behind leader Scott Bull of Fairbury and Eric Smith of Shirley after just missing out on the track title at Fairbury where he finished eight points behind champion Daren Friedman of Forrest.

Although he’s winless at Farmer City, Shickel captured two feature wins and posted five seconds at Fairbury. His bid for the Fairbury championship was derailed when he failed to finish three times.

“I’ve been real happy with our finishes,” Shickel said. “We had the same type of car as last year, but we made a couple of little changes on it and it worked out pretty good. There are so many more good cars and more new guys coming in now. A lot of young guys are doing really good, too.”

Shickel and the other weekly regulars at Farmer City and Fairbury will be facing an all-star contingent of national touring drivers including UMP Summernationals champion Dennis Erb Jr., defending Prairie Dirt Classic champion Shannon Babb, Billy Moyer, Jimmy Mars, Brian Birkhofer and Gibson City’s Kevin Weaver.

Everyone will be gunning for the $5,000 first prize at Farmer City and the $10,000 payoff at Fairbury. Shickel knows the area drivers will face an uphill battle against the Erbs, Babbs and Moyers.

“It will be a tough weekend, but I won’t approach it any different,” Shickel said. “You have to get qualified good. That’s what it all boils down to. If we’re right and the conditions are right, we can run with them, especially on a local track. They’re tough, though.

“I think we have a good shot. It’s got to help some racing here every weekend, but then again sometimes the track is never the same anyway. I just hope we have good track conditions to race on.”

Area drivers at Du Quoin

Mitch Wissmiller of Saybrook and Kenny Adams of El Paso will be competing on the one-mile dirt track at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds this weekend.

Wissmiller will drive a car for Easton-based Onken Racing in Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown race. Adams will compete in Sunday’s ARCA race in a car owned by Hendren Motorsports of Gridley.

Saturday at Lincoln

Lincoln Speedway will host a regular program Saturday with racing in the modified, sportsman, street stock and hornet divisions. The Midwest All-Star Sprint Series event, which was listed on some Lincoln schedules, has been canceled.

See Scoreboard for points standings

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