Motor SportsThursday, August 2, 2007 11:52 PM CDT

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Perserverance pays off for Summernationals champ Erb

By Douglas Hamm
dhamm@pantagraph.com

The newest “King of the Dirt” assures the caller that success hasn’t gone to the head of Dennis Erb Jr. “Nothing has changed. I’m still the same person,” Erb said. Actually, things have changed for the unassuming 34-year-old late model owner/driver from Carpentersville since he realized a long-time goal with his recent UMP Summernationals series championship.

“It means a lot to me because I’ve been doing this for such a long time,” said Erb, a 17-year veteran. “Even when I first stated racing I’d go to a couple of Summernationals here and there. The last few years I’ve been able to run them all and be competitive.

“To finally get out there and win the points deal is something I’ve always wanted to do. To get out there and race 25 nights with these guys is a big accomplishment.”

Erb, a familiar face to fans at Fairbury American Legion Speedway and Farmer City Raceway, drives self-owned Rayburn cars and is known as the “One Man Band.” This was his fourth straight season running the grueling, month-long series full time after posting finishes of fourth (2004), third (2005) and fifth (2006).

“Each year you pick up and learn a little bit more,” Erb said. “You try to make it easier on yourself each year. This year we had real good equipment. We started with a couple of fresh cars and good motors so things were rolling pretty good.

“We had a real good couple of weeks before the Summernationals. The car was working good and everything was holding up. We really tried to get the job done this year and it paid off.”

Erb entered the Summernationals as one of the favorites to unseat two-time defending series champion Shannon Babb, who didn’t follow the entire tour. After winning two World of Outlaws Late Model Series features in the spring, Erb opened the Sumernationals with back-to-back victories and never looked back.

He went on to post four wins, 14 top-five and 23 top-10 finishes in 25 events, with a 14th-place finish on June 18 at Jefferson County Raceway in Mount Vernon being his worst outing of the tour. Erb and Summernationals runner-up Don O’Neal, the only driver with a chance of catching Erb in the point standings, both pulled out of the series finale at Oakshade Raceway after a nearly five-hour rain delay.

“The big thing in winning any championship is being consistent and not having any DNFs,” Erb said. “Everything went real well for us. We didn’t have any breakdowns and we finished all the races and were able to be up there near the front every night.

“You go out there and you want to win races, but then you also have to remember not to press the issue too much, either. You have to have some good finishes and stay up at the top. Luckily it all worked out and we were able to pull it off.”

Erb’s Summernationals earnings totaled $77,400, including the $25,000 first prize.

“Everything comes out of my pocket to go racing with the help of some sponsors, so that $25,000 will be put to good use,” Erb said.

More Summernationals

Erb finished with 1,639 points and was followed in the top 10 by O’Neal (1,607), Fairbury’s Wes Steidinger (1,605), Jeep VanWormer (1,505), Mike Marlar and Steve Sheppard Jr. (1,499), Eddie Kirchoff (1,165), Gibson City’s Kevin Weaver (1,065), Bloomington’s Jason Feger (1,047) and A.J. Diemel (995).

Babb finished 13th after winning four straight races late in the series, while six-time Summernationals champion Billy Moyer was 14th. Fairbury’s Scott Bull was 19th.

Weekend schedule

Farmer City will host the $2,000-to-win, $200-to-start Topless Late Model 40 tonight. There will also be racing in the modified, sportsman, street stock and hornet divisions.

Fairbury’s Saturday program will be highlighted by the Curt Piercy Memorial Sportsman Special. The winner of the 40-lap feature will earn $500. Late models and modifieds will also be in action at Fairbury.

See Scoreboard for points standings

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