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(Bill W) July 12, 2011 – Brian Brown and the FVP #21 had things dialed up well in a pair of competitions with the World of Outlaws last weekend. They mixed in a show at the Huset’s Speedway on Sunday as well. This weekend, they will focus on the ELKO Speedway as the track crew is putting dirt on the paved oval to host the IRA sprint cars Friday and Saturday.
Things started on Friday at Cedar Lake Speedway near New Richmond, Wisconsin. Brian timed in well. “Obviously, going to run with the Outlaws you never know what to expect, especially on a track you haven’t been to,” he says of the 3/8-mile oval. “We rolled out and the FVP #21 was really quick there. We were able to grab fourth quick, and run third in the heat.”
The fourth quick time of the night and the heat transfer put the Grain Valley, Missouri driver in the dash. “The dash was probably the worst part of the night,” says Brian. “We ran ninth after starting sixth and that put us behind the 8-ball a bit.”
Starting ninth in the feature, Brian was running well until he got tangled in someone else’s mess. “We got the car really good,” he says. “We were running eighth with about ten to go, and Craig (Dollansky) got sideways and we had nowhere to go. Then three or four other cars hit us. That wasn’t the way we wanted to end the night, but we had a fast car going into Beaver Dam.”
Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin was next Saturday, and the qualifying effort was disappointing (19th). “We ran the wrong part of the track in qualifying,” says Brian. “Steve Kinser went out before us and we were comparable, but the cars that came out later went high and that was the fast way around.”
Starting from outside the heat invert, Brian was able to charge from row four to the fifth and final transfer. “We were able to hustle up through the heat so that was good,” he says. “We started 19th in the feature, and we got up there up to sixth. With about four to go, we lost our brakes, or I thought we may have had a shot at the top three.”
Brian was proud of the FVP crew. “Andy (Anderson) and Chaddy (Cypert) had the car working great,” he says. “When you go 19th to 6th with the Outlaws, you’ve done something right. We had great cars both nights.”
Huset’s Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota was paying $5,000 to the winner on Sunday, and the team made the long trip. “I’ve only been there about two times in my life, and it’s a place we haven’t been great at,” says Brian. “I would like to run it more, but it is a long way, and some of the rules are different. We made the decision after Saturday night to go. It was about a seven and a half hour trip.”
After qualifying third and finishing fifth in his heat, Brian lined up outside row two for the feature. “We just didn’t make the best decisions come feature time,” he says. “We fell back to fifth, and we had a restart. They have a different rule than the rest of the country that when the leader goes, everyone goes. There is no cone. They said I got out of line when the leader went, so they put me to the back.”
Brian would race back to seventh. “It was good to get up there and race in front of some fans that we don’t get to see very often,” he says. “Maybe one of these days, we’ll go back up and have some better luck.”
There is much enthusiasm surrounding this weekend’s races at ELKO Speedway near New Market, Minnesota. “We’re really excited about going there,” says Brian. “It’s the closest track to our FVP headquarters (Eagan, Minnesota), and we’re doing some open houses this week at some of their locations. It’s exciting to get in front of those folks. It takes a huge effort from every single one of our marketing partners to be able to race up in Minnesota, and we appreciate every single one.”
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