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(Bill W) April 26, 2011 – It will be back to two half-mile tracks that sprint car driver Brian Brian loves this weekend. Weather pending, he’s planning on the Spring Nationals in Jackson, Minnesota on Friday night, and the season opener at the Knoxville Raceway, where he is the defending track champion, on Saturday. Last Saturday night, Brian finished sixth in the opener for the Monster Energy™ Sprint Series at the 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa.
With several heavy hitters again planning to take to Knoxville on Saturday night, Brian realizes the challenge to get to victory lane. “Every year at Knoxville, it’s tough,” he says. “Especially with guys like Terry (McCarl), Danny (Lasoski) and Don Droud Jr. around, and (Kerry) Madsen will be there from time to time. It’s definitely going to be tough, and that’s great for the fans.”
Brown had a great battle with Droud for the championship last season, and the addition of fourteen track titles in the form of McCarl and Lasoski will only spice things up for the fans. “The fans deserve to see good racing, and they’re going to see it this year,” he says. “We have a lot of guys who can win on any given night and they are the ones who will benefit from that. If you don’t know where you’re going on Saturdays this year, you aren’t really a sprint car fan.”
It will be Brian’s first appearance at Jackson since he won the Jackson Nationals last August based on his strong finishes two nights in a row. “We’ve done well there,” he says. “I don’t think we’ve won there, but every time we’ve run to the end, we’ve been towards the front. We won the Jackson Nationals last year for being consistent both nights, but Friday, we’d like to win the race.”
There are always fans of the FVP #21 at Jackson. “We have some great fans up there, and I’m looking forward to seeing them,” says Brian. “I have to thank Folkens Brothers Trucking for putting this on, and Van Wyhe Livestock will be an associate sponsor on our car this week. I’m really looking forward to getting up there. Hopefully, we can get it in.”
The first event for the Midwest Open Wheel Organization went well at 34 Raceway. “The Monster Energy group and the 34 Raceway both need to be commended for that event,” says Brian. “The way the track stuck with things to get it in was great. The series has only been at it for a couple of months and I don’t think they could have had a better start to the season.”
With a constant drizzle the last half of time trials, Brian’s qualifying effort (eighth) was affected. “I think the rain hurt us a bit,” he says. “I think the mist cost us some of the traction we needed to cut two good laps. I think we could have had a top two or three time at least. I don’t know that we would have out-timed Danny (Lasoski), but we could have been up there.”
Starting fifth in his heat, Brian would surge to second at the finish. “We were able to pick our way through to second,” he says. “I was obviously hoping to get in the top six redraw, but we ended up one spot short.”
He would start inside row four for the main event. “The first few laps we kind of found our own,” he says. “We lost our brakes a ways in there, and after that, we were just cruising along. If you are a hired gun with nothing to lose, you may be able to rip it in there, but being an owner/driver, you know there are better days ahead.”
Brian maintained to finish sixth. “Anytime you run sixth and don’t really have a shot to win, it’s not a good night,” he says. “We didn’t have any brakes either, and the way the track was…that was not a good thing. You need them to turn the car and keep it loaded.”
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