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Brian Brown – Homecoming! 

(Bill W) April 19, 2010 – Friday was a good day for Brian Brown.  The racetrack closest to his hometown reopened for weekly racing when the State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Missouri conducted its season opener.  A second place finish, followed by a top ten run with the Outlaws in Pevely highlighted the weekend.  This week, the Grain Valley driver heads south to the “Rock and Roll 50” at the Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas. 

Brian drew well for the event on Sedalia’s half-mile and took the first checkers of the season.  “I’m just excited that Reid Millard and Jason Bodenhamer stepped up to the plate and reopened Sedalia,” he says.  “We’re going to get there as much as we can.  We have a lot of great partners in the area, and it was good to get the heat win right out of the box.” 

In the end, the feature would surrender five laps to curfew, but Brian worked his way from row three up to second in the end.  “Unfortunately, things moved slow all night long, and the feature was cut short five laps,” he says.  ‘We were able to get to second fairly quickly.  Randy (Martin) was able to get out there about a straightaway.  Towards the end, we closed the gap, but we were not going to get those last five laps.  He did a good job.  I’ve won shortened races too, and you’ll take it every time.” 

Saturday, at the I-55 Raceway in Pevely, the Brian Brown Racing FVP #21 team was able to meet and greet with some partners.  “Factory Motor Parts, FVP, Splash and SuperClean had some customers and employees out to the race,” says Brian.  “We were able to interact with them, and thank them for what they do for Factory Motor Parts and in turn, what they do for our team.  It was nice to go out and perform well for them too.” 

Despite drawing a late pill, Brian qualified 14^th out of the 37 cars assembled.  “We went out late to qualify, so it was very satisfying to end up where we did,” he says.  “The majority of the drivers quicker than us came out very early in the order.  Just watching the Outlaw guys qualify is something.  They’re putting their car right up there on the fence, above the cushion on entry.  They show why they are the best in the world.” 

A second place finish in his heat put Brian in the dash.  “We had a good race with (Craig) Dollansky there and we nearly pulled it off,” he says of the heat.  “We were second by about a car length.  We started seventh and finished seventh in the dash.  We had a pretty good race with Paul McMahan and Steve (Kinser).” 

The Maxim #21 was running well on the high-banked 1/3 mile oval.  “We were maintaining about sixth through eighth for most of the race,” says Brian.  “We had the yellow later on.  We had a right rear tire go down to 4 ½ pounds.  We were pretty much a sitting duck at that point, for anyone that wanted to slide in front of us.  I was kind of a roadblock until the tire pressure got back up.  We were back to 13^th and came back to tenth, so overall, it was a step in the right direction.  We want to be competitive when we run with the Outlaws.  So far, so good.  Two shows, and we’ve made the dash twice.” 

Brian looks forward to his first race ever this weekend at the ¼ mile in West Memphis, known affectionately as “The Ditch”.  The event will be sanctioned by the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series.  “We’re really looking forward to it,” he says.  “Tony Bruce Jr. is a good friend of mine.  I haven’t been there, but I’ve heard it’s a tight little bullring and we’re going good on them.  Next to the Nationals trophy, that guitar trophy would look pretty good on our wall.  We wouldn’t break it like Kyle Busch!”