Flint Creek Driver Nets First NASCAR Championship
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| Steve Holzkamper won the Division I championship at Oklahoma's Flint Creek Speedway in the track's first year as past of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series. |
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With a slogan of “Fast and Furious Friday Nights,” it’s fitting that Flint Creek Speedway’s track champion is a self-proclaimed speed enthusiast.
“It’s all about the thrill of the speed and the competition for me,” said Steve Holzkamper, the 2015 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champion at the Oklahoma dirt track.
Holzkamper secured his first NASCAR track championship with one win, five top fives and seven top 10s in 13 starts in the Modified Division to out-distance national runner-up Thomas Tillison Jr. by 131 points (1107-976).
A Gentry, Arkansas native, Holzkamper said the small three-eighths clay oval located just five miles west of the Oklahoma/Arkansas state line is a “real competitive short track.”
In its first season with NASCAR’s Whelen All-American Series, Flint Creek Speedway joins Salina Highbanks Speedway in Pryor as the second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series facility in The Sooner State – with NASCAR-sanctioned racing every Friday night. Holzkamper also made 15 starts at Salinas and recorded five more top fives to finish third overall behind Tillison and Tyler Wolff in the Oklahoma championship standings.
Plagued by motor issues earlier in the season in his No. 5 dirt modified, Holzkamper said the year ended well, with his stiffest competition being Tillison, who placed second behind Lee Pulliam for the national championship.
Holzkamper said he looks forward to another racing season in 2016 – with hopefully more nearby NASCAR-sanctioned tracks.
“We’ll be working on upgrading our motor program this winter and trying to do the same thing next year,” he said. “We’re hoping to get more NASCAR tracks in Oklahoma … we’re doing this full-time again next season.”
Holzkamper said days and nights are spent at the track and he expects his time off to be no different.
“We have to be at the race track – it’s what we do for a living.”
Flint Creek will hold a 2015 Banquet of Champions to recognize Holzkamper's accomplishments on a date to be determined in Colcord, Okla.
He will also be honored for his Flint Creek Speedway crown along with other track and state/province champions from across North America as part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards on Dec. 11 at the Charlotte Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.
Established in 1982, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. Competitors at 58 paved and dirt tracks throughout North America vied for track, state and province, and overall series championships in Divisions I-V throughout the 2015 season.
Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering is the series’ title sponsor. Whelen Engineering is a leading manufacturer of automotive, aviation, industrial and emergency vehicle lighting. NASCAR tracks and pace cars are among the many showcases for Whelen products.
- Credit to NASCAR Home Tracks for this article.
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