Brian Shirley showed that he had a ton of speed this past week, but suffered a mechanical issue during his heat race at Brownstown after setting the fastest lap in his qualifying group and then a flat tire took him out of what looked to be a surefire win at Peoria. However, when he wasn’t having issues he put together a strong third place finish at Kankakee. He delivered on that speed last night at Fairbury American Legion Speedway with his first Hell Tour victory of the year and his 43rd overall.
Shirley started his night off strong with a 3rd place qualifying run in Group B. That put him on the pole for Heat 6, which he dominated. He then aced the redraw by starting on the pole for the feature. However, the feature was anything but easy for Shirley. He had to fend off both Drake Troutman and Ryan Unzicker in multiple restarts due to a bevy of cautions early in the race. Once things finally got sorted and the race had its first long green flag lap, Shirley paced the field until he got into lap traffic.
Upon arriving in lap traffic, Shirley struggled to work his way through it as they were racing two and sometimes three-wide in front of him. That allowed second place running Jason Feger, who was doing the opposite of high side hustling to close the gap and eventually overtake Shirley on Lap 29 by patiently and methodically working his way past the lap traffic. Shirley would eventually follow suit, but it was apparent his car was not as good as Feger’s on the bottom and appeared to be extraordinarily tight, struggling to turn. In fact, Feger had pulled out to a 1.7 second lead by simply being more maneuverable in traffic than Shirley was. Fortunately for Shirley, he was able to clear the traffic and immediately went back to the top where he began closing on Feger albeit he stymied himself a couple of times when he missed his marks through turns 1 and 2 and got over the cushion significantly slowing his momentum.
A caution on lap 38 would bring Feger back to Shirley and he went right to the lip, hit his marks, and worked his way past Feger, who stayed committed to the bottom. Feger had a last chance at making a move on Shirley when a caution came out on Lap 46 due to Mark Whitener getting up and over the cushion. But Shirley would not be denied tonight. He stayed committed to the cushion and took it home to victory lane.
In victory lane, Shirley was asked about the difference between being in lap traffic and having clean, “It was huge. Feger was just really good on that hub again. And then I just didn’t realize I needed to slow down and just try and get by them guys. Like he had just a little better patience being behind him and not seeing where everybody was. Once we went down there I felt like we were fairly good. We wasn’t as good as him on the bottom. But, boy, when we got on top that old right foot f***ing went.”
“It feels good to get the win,” he added. “We’ve had a tough week. Had speed. … All in all with the support of Bob and Lisa [Cullen] we just keep going.”
Shirley was then asked about the mental challenge of knowing he had a fast car, but was unable to capitalize due to the flat tire and the mechanical issue. He answered, “I read a quote that said — I was sitting in bed last night and it just popped up — it said don’t be disappointed in what wasn’t given to you because God has a better plan for something better. So just thank the Good Lord.”
While Shirley took home the win after outdueling Feger, a number of the top contenders suffered attrition. Brandon Sheppard suffered a flat right rear on lap 6, but rallied for a 10th place finish. Drake Troutman, who was running in second and looked to challenge Shirley early, broke with a mechanical failure on lap 7.
On Lap 10, Ryan Unzicker, who inherited the second position from Troutman, jumped the cushion in turn 2 and drew a caution. Unzicker would work his way back up into the top 5, but would find himself caught up in a spinning Mike Spatola, who jumped the cushion in the middle of turn 3 and 4 on lap 38. Tyler Erb, who was running fourth, was also caught up in the accident, but he was able to continue while Unzicker retired.
Shannon Babb found himself the victim of another heat race wreck. While running in second he got caught up when the lapped car of Harrison Oliver spun outside of him. The wreck also collected third place running Mckay Wenger. Both Babb and Wenger took provisionals. It’s the second out of four races that Babb had to take a provisional after getting caught up in a wreck in a heat race. Babb got caught up in Brenden Smith’s wreck at Peoria and was forced to take a provisional there. However, just like at Peoria he charged through the field to get a top 10 finish. At Peoria he finished 6h and last night he finished 7th.
Shannon Babb’s bad luck continues as he gets caught up in a wreck while lapping Oliver. He was in second in Heat 5.
McKay Wenger also involved who was running 3rd. pic.twitter.com/atZgHx2sJ3
— John Trent Racing (@JFTrentRacing) June 15, 2025
Official Finishing Order
- Brian Shirley
- Jason Feger
- Dennis Erb Jr.
- Joseph Joiner
- Frank Heckenast Jr.
- Tanner English
- Shannon Babb
- Brandon Sheppard
- Brayton Wallace
- Trevor Gundaker
- Tyler Erb
- Mckay Wenger
- Billy Moyer Sr.
- Kyle Bronson
- Clay Stuckey
- Jeffrey Ledford
- Oakley Johns
- Mark Whitener
- Ryan Unzicker
- Mike Spatola
- Dillon McCowan
- Jake Little
- Trey Mills
- Drake Troutman
- Christian Hanger
- Mike Harrison
With Feger’s second place finish the top of the points have changed for the first time since Billy Moyer Sr. won the opening night of the tour at the Brownstown Bullring. Feger now sits atop the points with a 25 point advantage over Moyer.
The Hell Tour will be at Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Illinois tonight. to close out Week 1. Week 2 begins on Monday at Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, Wisconsin. It then heads to Davenport Speedway on Tuesday. It continues at Quincy Raceways on Wednesday and Lee County Speedway on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday it combines with the World of Outlaws for the two-night St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park in Pevely, Missouri. It closes out Week 2 at Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Illinois on Sunday, June 22nd.