Lane Automotive

Photo Courtesy Of Tony Hammett

Article courtesy of UMP DIRTcar Racing Public Relations
EVANSVILLE, IN - July 18, 2008 - HAIL TO THE CHAMP: The path Dennis Erb Jr. took this year was slightly different, but the result was the same. After one month of hardscrabble racing and living on the road, the dirt Late Model veteran from Carpentersville, Ill., clinched his second consecutive UMP DIRTcar Summer Nationals points championship.

"It feels really good to win it back-to-back," said the 35-year-old Erb, who realized his longtime goal of capturing the Summer Nationals title in 2007 after finishes of fourth (2004), third (2005) and fifth (2006). "We had to battle right down to the end a little more this time and we won a few less races this year, but our consistency was probably a little better and that's what wins championships."

Indeed, Erb was steady as a rock on the 2008 tour. He compiled an amazing performance record, rolling up two wins, 15 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in 20 events. His only hiccup was a 12th-place finish on July 5 at Fairbury (Ill.) American Legion - the result of a broken oil cooler on the final lap that caused him to tumble out of the top 10. What's more, Erb accomplished the remarkable achievement of completing every feature lap run during the grueling Summer Nationals, proving the impeccable preparation program that he and chief mechanic Heather Lyne manage to keep up throughout the grueling month of Super Late Model action across the Midwest.

Erb wrapped up the $25,000 championship with a typically-solid third-place finish in the 60-lap "Birthday Race" at Oakshade Raceway in Wauseon, Ohio, that ended the Summer Nationals points on July 12. He entered the event clinging to a four-point lead over Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill., but Shirley had to use a provisional to start the A-Main and then dropped out on lap 45 because his car's fan blade busted the radiator.

The final championship margin for Erb? It totaled 37 points over Shirley - nearly identical to Erb's 32-point besting of Martinsville, Ind.'s Don O'Neal for last year's Summer Nationals title, but with much more drama involved. Last year Erb secured the points crown in anti-climactic fashion. Rather than celebrating his title on the homestretch following the series points finale at Oakshade, he was halfway home because both Erb and O'Neal mutually agreed to pull out of the event after an evening thunderstorm pushed the start of the program to nearly midnight. That wasn't the case this time. Erb was brought to Oakshade's Victory Lane after his third-place finish last Saturday night to receive the adulation of the capacity crowd.

"It was pretty cool to actually come out on the track and get our picture taken this year," said Erb. "Last year was one of those bad racing deals with the rain, but we got to run this year and finish it off the right way. Erb, who drives self-owned Rayburn cars that are powered by Rhyne engines and carry sponsorship from Thomason Express, Petroff Towing and J&J Steel, asserted that the tight points race with Shirley put no extra pressure on him.

"You just have to go out there and race, whether (the lead is) four points, 20 points or whatever," said Erb. "I knew that I just had to finish in front of Brian (at Oakshade). It was pretty simple and straightforward." After swapping the points lead several times with Shirley, Erb gained command for good with a second-place finish in the 17th race of the tour, on July 6 at Quad City Raceway in East Moline, Ill. Erb looks back on that evening as being the most critical event of his championship drive.

"The night before we had our first mechanical problem of the Summer Nationals at Fairbury," said Erb, whose five-position fall on the final lap of Fairbury's A-Main allowed Shirley to grab the points lead. "At Quad City we won our heat, ran up front the whole feature, finished second and got the points lead back. We really rebounded well." Erb became the fifth driver to win consecutive Summer Nationals titles, joining Rick Aukland, Shannon Babb, Scott Bloomquist and Billy Moyer. He didn't register as many triumphs as he would have liked, but that doesn't diminish his satisfaction. "We only won two races this year after winning four last year, but we did lose a bunch of races to rain," said Erb, whose victories came on June 15 at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind., and June 27 at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. "I also had five seconds (runner-up finishes) and more top-fives this year, so we were consistently running up front. Every year we put our focus on the Summer Nationals, and to win the championship makes everything we do really worthwhile."

Next up for Erb? He'll try to complete a sweep of the Summer Nationals and UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model national titles for the second consecutive season. Erb is well-positioned to repeat his history-making double-dip of a year ago. He ended the 2008 Summer Nationals leading the UMP DIRTcar national points standings - a stark contrast from '07, when he had to rally from over 200 points behind Wes Steidinger of Fairbury, Ill., over the final two-and-a-half months of the campaign to snare the $20,000 national crown.