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12/22/2013 |
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A SOUTHERN STYLE CELEBRATION
FOR THE 2013 NASCAR CHAMPIONS
Southern Traditions Continue As Race Families Grow NASCAR
With The New Generation
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by
Denise DuPont
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It was a week of celebration with a variety of events leading to the NASCAR
Night of Champions Touring Awards at the Hall of Fame convention center
ballroom in Charlotte, NC. Throughout the week of celebrations, 2013 NASCAR
Whelen Southern Modified Tour (NWSMT) champion, George Brunnhoelzl., III,
from West Babylon, NY, participated in special functions and received
several awards for his accomplishment. This was the fourth overall NWSMT
championship for Brunnhoelzl and the second out of the four in the family
owned modified. The NWSMT series was established in 2005 as the cousin to
the northeastern-based NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT). Brunnhoelzl now
holds the record for the most NWSMT championships. “Both teams that I have
won my four NWSMT championships have provide me with great equipment. Both
are great teams all around. It is a little more special though to drive in
your own family car for my dad and his partner.”
 Brunnhoelzl
held off hard charger Kyle Ebersole to capture this year’s highest honors by
a margin of thirty-one points. Unlike his previous NSWMT titles where he led
the point chase from the first race, Brunnhoelzl was not in the point lead
as the 2013 race season started. This year the Myer’s brothers each captured
a win to start their year pushing Brunnhoelzl out of the top spot. “It was
really a great year but it was challenging. This year just was more
competitive then it has been in the past years. Which just goes to show how
much the southern tour is expanding their competition. And the car count has
also increased. In the one show that we had a mechanical issue the tour had
a good field of cars which is great. We all want that but when you have an
issue it puts you that much further back. It is really great that the series
is growing and I hope it continues to grow. It makes it harder but in the
same respect it makes you better.”
The Brunnhoelzl family has been involved in racing for several years.
Getting behind a modified in the southern tour, George Brunnhoelzl, III has
continued the family’s strong race tradition. “Going forward, I hope that I
can continue what we have been able to do and just keep going for
championships. In a family car and with my dad’s partner backing us, it is
an awesome team.”
 Luke
Fleming of Mt. Airy, N.C. captured the tour’s ‘Sunoco Rookie of the Year’
honors after returning to the tour full-time in 2013. Fleming had five
top-tens in the 12 events and ranked eighth in the final standings. “We are
really excited about getting this award tonight. There are a lot of people
here that are going to see us receive this award and it is going to look
good on my resume for a long time. The way that NASCAR sets the rookie point
system up, it is very tough to be able to lead or loose a lead. It keeps it
interesting is what they have done. It was a tough year. We had to point’s
race a lot but we are just happy to lock it up. This coming year we are
going to race for wins instead of points.”
Coming from another family of racers, Fleming was born to race and is proud
to bring the family tradition forward. “Racing is just something that is in
my blood. I was born and raised at the race track and it is the only thing
that I know to do. We take a lot of pride in our racing and in our family it
is just something that we continue to pass on from generation to generation.
It is something that is very special to my family.”
 “It
is really cool.” Andy Seuss of Salisbury, N.C., said about receiving the
“Most Popular Driver” award for the NSWMT. “Anytime that anybody ever
notices that you are at a race, let alone if somebody is pulling for you as
their favorite driver takes me back to when I was a little kid hanging
around Star Speedway and I had my favorite driver. And I voted weekly for
the most popular driver. So to think that there are a bunch of little race
fans out there pulling for me is really neat. Of course the support from our
team, my family and all the pouring in of votes on line is impressive. It is
both really neat and very humbling. And as I said it is really cool to think
that I was that little kid that was cheering for my favorite driver and now
I am getting those cheers.”
Growing up, one of Seuss’s heroes on the track was Mike Stefanik. So it was
kind of special to him to receive the popular driver award along with one of
the drivers he cheered from the sidelines as a kid. “Anytime you can have
you name in the same sentence as Mike Stefanik's is really neat. So this is
one of the cooler moments and I will definitely cherish it.”
Going into the last race Seuss was third in the point’s chase, only one pint
out of second spot and was looking to clinch a runner up finish in the
series. But an incident at Charlotte left him with an eleventh place finish
and dropped him to fourth in the championship standings. “We had bad luck at
the beginning of the season with motor issues. We had bad luck in the middle
of the season and ended up on our roof and a bad last race where we could
have ended up runner up in points. But we actually fell to fourth which was
heartbreaking. Overall though the last thing on our mind was points but
wins. We got three wins in a row which was important. Hopefully we learnt a
lot this year and we can take it all into next year.”
Once again, the lights are off, the cameras put away, the stage
disassembled- the celebration is complete. The trip home was one of
reflection and also a time to formulate a plan on what it will take to be
back on that stage a year from now. Less than 65 days to the ‘UNOH Battle of
Beach’ at Daytona on February 18th, the kick off to the 2014 season will be
here before we know it.
See you next race season!
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 21013 Banquet
Notes:
Reflecting on 2013 race season, what was your major
highlight of the year?
George Brunnhoelzl, III
“It is hard to put a pinpoint on any major highlight this year. It was just
a great year all around. There were highs and lows but it was pretty much
all around great.”
What gives you the zest and energy to go out on
the track and drive your heart out for a race win?
George Brunnhoelzl, III
“Determination, really determination and competitiveness just makes you want
to go.”
Luke Fleming
“It is linked to my family tradition – I do it for my family and it is just
what we do. That is what drives me and that is my passion.”
Andy Seuss
“It is just fun. Anytime that you get to run wide open – You know saving the
tires shows your patience but the drive to the front whether you decide to
do it at the beginning or race middle or save your tires to th end, that s
the most fun that you are going to have in a race car. Place like Bristol
Speedway where you are going to get a change tire or where the tires do not
wear out, you get to run 150 qualifying laps and that is about the most fun
that you will have all year. It is just pure ecstasy inside and that is what
drives us. Also the thrill of victory. Showing off what the crew did with
the car. Showing off that it is better than anybody else’s so you can make
the move around somebody. I think all of that is what drives us. “
What has moving down south done to your race
career?
Andy Seuss
“It is a completely different style of racing than the northern tour. I have
had better opportunities in the south. When David Riggs and Eddie Harvey
call you to drive their race cars that is what you do. I just never had
opportunities or winning ride offers like that in the north tour. But it is
more about patience and saving your tires in the southern tour. We did get
the half-way breaks to swap tires that allows you to be a little more
aggressive. But overall it is a totally different kind of racing and it has
shown that I am more committed. Moving down south has put me in contact with
more people and I am trying to further my racing career by just a little
bit. So we will see. This off season may be big. I am working a lot of deals
on different cars and hopefully in the next few months something big will
happen for me before Daytona.” |
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Source: Denise DuPont / TheChromeHorn.com
Posted: December
22, 2013 |
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