(Bill W) August 13, 2012 – Brian Brown had 25,000 fans on their feet in the grandstands Saturday night at the Knoxville Nationals!
Brian Brown – Electrifying Nationals!
(Bill W) August 13, 2012 – Brian Brown had 25,000 fans on their feet in the grandstands Saturday night at the Knoxville Nationals! The Grain Valley, Missouri driver gave it all he had, coming up a half a car length short of winning sprint car racing’s biggest prize! The Casey’s General Stores/FVP #21 was fast all week long, and a second place finish at the Nationals proved that hard work pays off. The $75,000 check that comes with it wasn’t bad either!
Brian qualified for a starting spot outside of row two on Saturday night. “We talked about the first half of the race all day,” he says. “You can’t win it, but you can definitely lose it. I felt like in years past, I had gone too hard and used the tires up. I told myself to get settled in there, and run a pace to stay right there at the front.”
Before a mandatory fuel stop at the halfway point of the 50-lapper, Brian worked his way into third. “I got a feel for the car,” he says. “I was able to cruise for a while. I think my tires were in a little better shape than most of the others. The last eight or ten laps before the stop, I felt like the field was coming back to us. We were able to get by (Jonathan) Allard and got away from (Jason) Meyers into third.”
At the break, there wasn’t much to change on the Maxim chassis. (Crew chief) Chad Morgan and the rest of the team asked what I thought we needed,” says Brian. “Honestly, we didn’t change too much. I told Chad that I really hadn’t gone 100% yet, just because of the way the cushion was. If you get in there too hard, you can get in a bad spot.”
The race went green again, with 24 laps remaining. “Once we got going, I was content to ride with (Craig) Dollansky,” says Brian. “The last yellow came out (with 16 laps to go), and Dollansky made a move on (Donny) Schatz. He kind of hung himself in the middle, and gave me a chance to slide him in three and four.”
The pursuit of Schatz began, as the crowd rose to their feet on several occasions. “We fell in behind Donny at that point,” says Brian. “I looked up at the board with 15 or 16 laps to go. I really felt like that was the time that I needed to get going. I was able to run him down, and I felt like I was in striking distance to make a move. I decided to wait another corner, and when I did, I got balled up in turn two. I felt like ‘there went an opportunity to win the Knoxville Nationals’.”
But he would reel Schatz back in one more time coming to the checkers! “I kind of had to settle back in,” says Brian. “Once we got to traffic, I was just hoping he would make a mistake. He ended up making all the right moves, as someone who has won it six times should. Coming to the white flag, I wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He was pretty close to Cody Darrah, and I thought I may still have a shot. He rolled through the rubber in one and two just as well as I did. In three and four, he went through the center and that gave us an opportunity to make a big run. We drove just as hard as we could, and came up just a couple feet short.”
There are many to thank for the second place run, including the fans. “I’m just really proud of our team,” says Brian. “To go where it has in four or five years is great. Casey’s General Stores, FVP and Searsboro Telephone Company…my crew: Chad Morgan, Chad Ely, Keke Falland, Mark Clemons, Greg King, Glen Wignall, Grandpa George (Lasoski), Scott Ritchhart, every single person that works for this team deserved to run second in the Knoxville Nationals. One of the coolest things for me as a driver is getting out of the car and hearing the crowd cheering for you and being behind you 100%.”
Brian was on the Midway daily. As a fan himself, it is his favorite part of the Knoxville Nationals. “I had a great time with the fans all week long,” he says. “The cool thing for me is spending the time with the fans, and having their support behind me. It means a lot to me as a person and as a driver. I can’t thank them enough for coming out and supporting not only me, but the Knoxville Nationals.”
Brian set up his run on Saturday in part with a second quick time trial on Thursday. “Charlie Garrett Racing Engines has turned our program around,” he says. “It showed on Thursday with our qualifying effort. It sets the tone for the week really. We were able to go out and lay a good lap down.”
The heat did not go smoothly, but the misfortune of others played into Brian’s hands and he would grab the fourth and final transfer spot. “We didn’t get going at the start as good as we’d like,” he says. “We kind of got bottled up there behind (Terry) McCarl. We almost put it in the fence a couple of times, and we just weren’t that great. Once we got going and got stretched out, we ran McCarl back down. We came to the white, and Terry cheated the middle and I got a good run off of two. I was going to give him a big slider. Going down the back straightaway, Geoff Ensign, who was running third, blew up. He went across the track and caught Terry. I don’t think I missed him by more than two or three inches. That corner made our Nationals.”
The feature ended with a lackluster ninth place run, but enough points to lock into row two for Saturday. “We struggled,” says Brian. “We found some things that were bent on the car from being up in the rough stuff. We definitely had our hands full. I’ve never been so glad to see the checkers at Knoxville. I just wanted to get through it and be done with it. We knew we were in good shape points-wise.”
Category: Brian Brown, Driver Updates, News
