Crowned Kalamazoo Champ For Third Time
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| Mike Brooks won his third consecutive Kalamazoo Speedway championship title and his second Michigan title. |
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A season filled with bad luck couldn’t stop Mike “Bubba” Brooks from winning his third Speedway Outlaw Super Late Model Division championship at Kalamazoo Speedway, and his second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Michigan title.
“This season was a rollercoaster ride,” Brooks said. “We had many ups and downs and we had more bad luck than other season. In 15 years of racing, I’ve clipped only one car until this year when I clipped three. It was a year of survival.”
En route to his third consecutive track title, Brooks collected three victories, seven top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. He won the track championship by just one point over Jeff Bozell.
“It’s surreal,” Brooks said. “Growing up seeing the different talent at the track, I never thought I’d win a title, let alone three.”
The 32-year-old, Kalamazoo, Michigan, native was nine points back headed into the season finale. Luck was on his side when points leader Mark Shook was involved in a wreck early on, which delivered Brooks the title.
Brooks is just the seventh driver in the storied history of Kalamazoo to win multiple track titles in the Outlaw Super Late Model Division and the first driver since Andy Bozell to win three consecutive championships in the track’s premier division history. Bozell, won eight consecutive titles from 1998-2005.
Despite winning the track title in 2013, Brooks came up a few points short of the Michigan title. He's swept the honors the last two seasons.
NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Division I drivers are ranked by their best 18 NASCAR points finishes in series-sanctioned events. Drivers receive two points for every car they finish ahead of – up to 18 cars – and three points for a win, with an addition two points available if the driver starts 10th or lower. Brooks finished 188th in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national standings.
U.S. state and Canadian province titles are determined by the drivers best 18 finishes within the state or province.
It’s Brooks’ perseverance on and off the track also led to his back-to-back Michigan championship title this year.
“My mind was set on winning the Kalamazoo championship this season,” said Brooks. “But that goes hand-in-hand with winning the state and NASCAR titles. We had different expectations this year and we had to work a little harder.
“As a driver and owner, I also had another car competing. So it was double the work each week. But everything worked out for the best.”
Brooks started racing in pure stocks in 1998. He took 1999 of to fund and build his own factory stock and drove it from 2000-2003. He moved to limited late models from 2004-06. He then made his first venture into the Outlaw Super Late Model Division in 2007-08, and moved to modifieds in 2009-11. He won the modified division track championship in 2010. He returned to the Outlaw Super Late Model division in 2012.
“I grew up around racing, my dad got me into it,” Brooks said. “He raced for a bit and when he stopped racing, he began to work on cars.”
Because his primary sponsor has two main products, Brooks’ race car is typically painted blue on one side and red on the other and has been nicknamed “The Flying Blueberry.” Leduc Farms of Paw Paw, Michigan, has two top brands: Leduc Blueberries and Leduc Strawberries, hence the differing colors and product sponsorship. The 59-year-old, 400 acre family farm is operated by second-generation owners Joe and Chantal Leduc. Most of the farm’s harvest goes to commercial clients. A retail store operates on site in season. Other sponsors include Spike’s Service and J.D. Byrider.
“I couldn’t have done any of this without my sponsors and crew,” said Brooks. “And of course my family, I can’t thank them enough for putting up with it.”
Established in 1982, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. In all, 58 paved and dirt tracks throughout the United States and Canada participate.
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 across North American are among many showcases for Whelen products.
- Credit to NASCAR Home Tracks for this article.
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