Blake Brown didn’t have to win the feature race to clinch his first Mid-American championship.
But putting an exclamation point on it during the annual Labor Day Night of Features at Grundy County Speedway made it just a little bit sweeter.
Brown caught a break just past the halfway point when John Ventrello and David Einhaus tangled while battling for the lead. He went on to beat Kevin Murphy by 0.719 seconds.
“Yeah, it was pretty awesome,” Brown said. “I don’t know if on any of my other championships we went into the final points night with it clinched already, so it’ll be nice.
“We been focusing on trying to win races, but it’ll be nice not having that extra pressure.”
The final points night is Sept. 11.
The story behind Brown’s run to the championship is a simple one.
The Wisconsin native was on top for most of the season. The victory Sept. 5 was his eighth.
But more importantly, on the nights when he didn’t win, Brown ran with the lead pack.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about throughout the season,” Brown said. “You win championships by not taking yourself out of it. Even on our bad nights we finished fifth or sixth.
“If those are kind of your bad nights, you’re usually in pretty good shape in the points.”
The story behind the No. 71 Brown drove to the title is a fun one.
Car owner Jeff Olson drove the same chassis to the Mid-Am title in 2008 at Grundy.
“I built this in 2005,” Olson said. “This was the first Mid-Am I ever had. I sold it in 2009, bought it back in 2015 and redid the entire thing.”
It even has a name.
“When I started dating my wife 17 years ago, her little sister was 5 years old,” Olson said. “Her name was Selena and she wanted me to name the car after her. So we did. It’s been a pretty good car.”
With a consistent driver behind the wheel.
The Brown-Olson team came together in spring 2020. Brown hadn’t raced regularly in Chicagoland since winning a late model title in 2011 at age 18 at Illiana Speedway.
“At the start of last season, I was just going to run a rental program,” Olson said. “I didn’t care who drove as long as they paid. But Blake reached out to me, and obviously right off the bat I knew what a good driver he was.
“The original agreement was a one-race deal. He bought a set of tires for it. After that, I said, ‘What do you think about driving full-time? I’ll pay for everything. You just show up and drive.’ The rest is kind of history.”
Early bird: The biggest move by Wes Griffith Jr. in the annual 61-lap Lee Schuler Memorial happened on the first one.
Griffith needed to outrun front row partner Dave Gentile or risk having a train of cars on the bottom go by.
He chose to run.
“The outside was there, right?” Griffith said. “I mean, you’re up beside him, you might as well try. If he gets clear of you, you fall back in line. But as long as you’re beside him, you’ve got to go for it.”
After getting by Gentile, Griffith dropped to the bottom and took off. With no yellow flags, it was pretty much clear sailing. It wasn’t until the final lap that Ricky Baker was able to get within a car-length.
“I didn’t see him because I didn’t look up,” Griffith said. “But my spotter told me he was coming. All I was thinking those last couple of laps was, ‘Don’t overdrive the corner.’ That was it.
“Winning this race means a ton. I just couldn’t be happier. Besides Winchester, this is the biggest race I’ve ever won. Fantastic.”
Griffith beat Baker to the finish line by 0.189 seconds. Anthony Danta was third, ahead of Stan Zolodz, D.J. Weltmeyer and Eddie Hoffman.
Free for all: The 4-cylinder division race is a hot one going down to the final night. Still in solid contention are Zach Legner (1,137 points), Cameron Preisler (1,135), Danielle Dobczyk (1,130) and Dan Schmeissing (1,118). Defending champion Jeremiah Senko is fifth with 1,077.
