Braun wins race, dedicates it to sister, niece

Date: July 16, 2013

AUTO RACING: PEPSI CHALLENGE 60

Braun wins race, dedicates it to sister, niece

Driver takes over points lead

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

SLINGER — Whether it was fate or not, Rob Braun had to win.
He had to because he was on a cold streak and because his sister, Shelley Feig, was visiting from San Diego.
He won in dominating fashion. Braun led 59 of the 60 laps in Sunday’s super late model feature at Slinger Superspeedway.
Lowell Bennett bounced back from a disappointing Slinger Nationals performance with a runnerup finish Sunday. Veteran Fred Winn finished third, his first top-five finish since July 15, 2007 — almost six years to the day — where he took third. Michael Bilderback was fourth and Mike Egan was a season-best fifth, his first top-five finish since Sept. 2 — a span of 10 races.
Hartford’s Nick Wagner, the 2011 Slinger Bees champion, finished a career-best sixth.
“I wanted to win this race for her daughter, who’s going through some issues,” said Braun, trying to fight back some emotions in victory lane. “It means a lot to me.”
Points leader Steve Apel struggled, finishing 13th. Braun took over the points lead with the victory and now leads Apel by 17 points.
In victory lane, Braun promptly handed the tall trophy to his sister, prompting a problem that will be discussed over the next couple of days: how to get the trophy in the suitcase to take back to California?
“I’ll be sending it out to California,” Braun said.
“It was cool that she came,” he added. “It was pretty inspirational for me. In the last 10 laps I was thinking, ‘It’d be so cool if I could win and I could dedicate this win to her daughter.’ “I thought it’d be really cool to do and when you’re able to do that kind of stuff it means a lot to you.”
Back home in California, Feig’s 7year-old daughter, Emma, has cerebral palsy. And it was the first time Feig has seen her baby brother win a race.
“I had a feeling he could win; I could tell,” she said. “He looked strong.”
Feig isn’t a race fan, but only a Rob Braun fan.
She’s only watched Braun a few times, estimating the number to be about five. In 1999, about 10 years after graduating from college, Feig moved to California and stayed there about seven years. At that time, Braun was getting into racing.
She lived in Michigan for a couple of years before moving back to California three years ago.
“It’s been years,” she said when asked the last time she watched Braun race. “So it’s real special to come and watch.”
While in California, Feig keeps tabs on her brother through social media and the Internet.
“I had a feeling he’d win,” Feig said.
At the beginning of the season, Braun was on a hot streak. He had four straight top-five finishes, seven top-five finishes in a row dating back to last season. In the six races following his hot start, Braun, the 2010 limited late model track champion, had just two top-five finishes.
He finished 15th at the Slinger Nationals. He was due for a better result and it came at the right time.
As a car owner, Braun has five victories in the super late model division. James Swan, who didn’t compete Sunday, has won three features at Slinger this season, his first full year in the division. Swan didn’t compete because he was working on his ARCA Midwest Tour car after a big crash at last week’s Howie Lettow 150 Memorial.
“I wish it was the other way around where I had three wins and Swany had two,” Braun said. “But I’ll take it any way I can get it.”
Braun was in control as soon as the green flag dropped.
Starting outside the front row, Braun surged past Wagner, the pole sitter and led up until Egan took the lead for one lap (lap 28). Braun retook the lead and wasn’t challenged the rest of the race. He won by 1.402 seconds.
“It’s special to win on any night,” Braun said. “But when you can do it and make it mean something, it makes it even more special.”
Braun was also ready for bed as he and the family went camping over the weekend, not arriving to the track until after the first practice session.
“It’s been a long weekend,” he said. “I had a lot of fun. This a cherry on top with the way the weekend went.”
“I’m going to relax (Monday); do it when go to work can rest at work,” he joked.
After finishing 21st at the Slinger Nationals, Bennett got back into the top five, his fourth such result this season, but first in three weeks.
“We did our best,” Bennett said.
Bennett’s biggest thrill came early in the race when he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw his son, Braison.
Braison Bennett made his first career super late model start on the same night he won his fifth career limited late model feature, his second of the season.
“It was a really cool experience for me to look in the mirror and see my kid right there,” Lowell Bennett said. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me as a dad.”
Braison Bennett is on a hot streak. He has seven top-five finishes in a row after having just one through the first four races of the season.
Kenny Joosten won the midwest sportsman feature, and Kody Hubred won the area sportsman feature. Slinger’s Ron Schmitt won his third Figure 8 feature of the season as well. The Slinger Bees race was stopped for more than 15 minutes when Nicole Mueller, who won a heat race earlier in the evening, made heavy contact with the Turn 4 wall. No further information was available.

RESULTS
Feature winners
Super late model — Rob Braun
Limited late model — Braison Bennett
Midwest sportsman — Ken Joosten
Area sportsman — Kody Hubred
Slinger Bees — Brandon Tackes
Figure 8 — Ron Schmitt
Fast qualifiers
Super late model — Steve Apel (11.521 seconds)
Limited late model — Alex Prunty (12.735)
Midwest sportsman — Jay Shambeau (12.965)
Area sportsman — Kyle Chwala (13.330)
Slinger Bees — Steve Dickson (15.112)
POINTS STANDINGS
Super late model — 1, Rob Braun 864; 2, Steve Apel 847; 3, Lowell Bennett 758; 4, Michael Bilderback 726; 5, James Swan 691.
Limited late model — 1, Alex Prunty 996; 2, Ryan DeStefano 974; 3, Mike Lichtfeld 945; 4, Braison Bennett 893; 5, Danny Church 853.
Midwest sportsman — 1, Kenny Joosten 565; 2, Ryan Gutkneckt 502; 3, Brian Holtz 490; 4, Jay Shambeau 483; 5, Jack Stern 457.
Area sportsman — 1, Kyle Chwala 1,093; 2, Kody Hubred 1,023; 3, Joe Shelby 796; 4, Nick Egan 741; 5, John Daley 609.
Slinger Bees — 1, Nick Schmidt 1,103; 2, Stephen Dickson 981; 3, Brandon Tackes 873; 4, Grant Griesbach 742; 5 (tie), Marty Tackes and Dale Kiley-Schaefer 729.
Figure 8 — 1, Willy Van Camp 1,105; 2, Scott Goetzke 1,085; 3, Ron Schmitt 1,045; 4, Joe Mueller 1,025; 5, Shane Becker 1,020.