MID-AMERICAN STOCK CAR SERIES 2010 REWIND

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
December 31, 2010

FORT ATKINSON, Wis. (December 31, 2010) – Lyle Nowak is no stranger to accepting accolades at the Mid-American Stock Car Series banquet. A perennial top-five finisher, Nowak is also a three-time winner of the Sportsmanship Award. In 2010, however, Nowak will accept new accolades – this time as MASCS champion.

With 16 track championships in late models and legend cars to his name, the Wausau, Wis., veteran secured the first traveling series championship of his 30-plus year career. Nowak said there were many factors that made title number 17 something to remember.

“When you look at the list of champions that we raced with this year, I’m just happy we can run at the level those guys did,” Nowak said. “When you race at a local track you race against four or five good cars. In this series we have 12 to 15 good cars and we have a lot of good cars that don’t run the whole series, but you have the best from other places.”

Prior to the season, Nowak had keyed on what he thought would keep him in title contention.

“I wanted to improve my qualifying. I thought that if we could be a little faster that we could have better race finishes all at the same time,” Nowak said. “The way the series is run, it’s imperative to be in the top ten in qualifying. I knew I needed to improve on that.”

And improve upon it he did. Aside from Oktoberfest, Nowak did not qualify outside of the top ten in any 2010 MASCS race that awarded points for qualifying. The solid qualifying efforts kept Nowak in the invert and allowed him to keep in position with other top drivers.

Consistent top-ten finishes kept Nowak in the title hunt early. At the mid-season point Nowak was in contention, but still was chasing the likes of Brian Back, Mark Pluer and Bill Prietzel. He propelled himself into title contention with his second consecutive win at Norway (Mich.) Speedway on July 16.

Once in title contention, Nowak refused to let go. With less than 50 points separating the top four in points for the bulk of the 2010 schedule, Nowak could have been fazed. Being a savvy veteran, Nowak knew how to take care of his business.

Nowak said he wouldn’t allow the title chase to change his approach. “We were happy to be where we were throughout the year,” he recalled. “We would joke with people back in Wausau that one week we might be fourth in points, the next week we might be second in points and everyone was separated by 20. It didn’t influence me one way or another.”

Battling with Nowak to the 2010 crown was fellow central Wisconsin racer Brian Back of Rudolph. Back set a MASCS record with nine fast times, missing out on being the quickest qualifier at only one event that awarded points for time trials.

“I don’t know why, but I’ve always been a good qualifier,” Back said.

Finishing no better than ninth in four of the first five events, Back was searching for ways to gain points through feature races. His break came at his home track, Marshfield Speedway on Aug. 28.

Carrying the number 61 in honor of his grandfather Jim Back, Brian grabbed an emotional win in front of family, friends and fans. He also vaulted back into title contention.

“Any Mid-American win is special,” Back said. “But to do that in front of my family and friends and honoring my grandpa, that’s a win I’ll never forget.”

As Back and Nowak continued their respective surges they were unable to distance themselves from two drivers who had strong starts to the season. Bill Prietzel had won two exhibition events and Mark Pluer had won two of the first three in 2010 to stay relevant in the title chase.

Pluer, who had come on strong at the end of 2009, carried some momentum into the season. Without a nose or fenders from a heat-race incident, the Brookfield, Wis., veteran dominated the season opening event at Rockford Speedway in April.

“We just kind of changed things on the car,” Pluer said of the offseason. “I always do well at Rockford anyway. We did some improvements on the car from the year before; it was better.”

After grabbing a win in the third event at Dells Raceway Park, Pluer faced his struggles at tracks like Marshfield and La Crosse to end the season.

“I think we tried to tweak on the car too much at Oktoberfest and I think it was in the wrong direction,” Pluer said. “We started out well, but we sent ourselves in the wrong direction. I don’t think we realized that until the end of the year after too many poor weekends.”

However, the 1996 champion grabbed another top-five finish in series standings. “We were happy with what we did but it was a little disappointing,” Pluer said. “You have to give it to the other guys because they had their game on. If they’re going to take it away from you, they have to earn it, and they did.”

With Prietzel absent from the third and final trip to Dells Raceway Park a new title contender started to emerge with just three races remaining – rookie Tyler Bauknecht.

Bauknecht, from Reedsville, Wis., burst on the MASCS scene with a third-place finish on his 19th birthday to start the year at Rockford. Recording top ten finishes in two of the next three races Bauknecht put himself head and shoulders above the other rookies, all but sealing the Rookie of the Year title with his first career MASCS win at DRP on July 24.

“To win against guys who have championships was just an awesome feeling,” Bauknecht recalled. “To win against guys like that takes a lot. The last time I won was actually five years ago before that. I felt like I was due for another win.”

With Nowak, Back, Bauknecht and Pluer still in a scrum for the top spot, Mid-American headed to Madison for the Capitol Classic, an event that proved to be the turning point in the 2010 season.

A wild first lap wreck claimed the likes of Back, Nowak and Bauknecht. Of the three, Back was unable to continue and had his title hopes dashed by a 25th place finish.

Although Nowak’s racer was damaged badly, his crew, Troy Shear Sr., and Chuck Decker came to his aid in an attempt to get the Monte Carlo back on track and in the title race. “To keep from having a DNF at Madison was probably the key to our championship run,” Nowak said. “When I was sitting in the car in the pits I thought to myself that I probably just let it all go away.”

Nowak recovered for a seventh place finish to keep him at the top of the standings. The event was captured by Jeremy Spoonmore, who found himself closing in on the top spot heading into the National Short Track Championships at Rockford Speedway, where he was a two-time and defending winner.

Grabbing the top spot in qualifying, Spoonmore, of Somonauk, Ill., set the tone early. However, he was unable to rush through traffic in the 75-lap main event. Nowak, with a second-place finish, did just enough to widen the gap heading into Oktoberfest.

“Rockford is a wild card,” Nowak said. “You can have a good car, but that doesn’t guarantee you a good finish because of the things that can happen. It kind of put the nail in the coffin where we got enough of a gap that no one could catch us.”

Nowak needed only to start the feature event at Oktoberfest to claim the title. Once the green flag fell, the title was wrapped. However, second through fifth were still well up for grabs.

To cap off one of the most incredible rookie seasons in MASCS history, Bauknecht led wire-to-wire at Oktoberfest, fulfilling a life-long dream and grabbing runner up honors in series standings.

“My dad said he didn’t expect to finish second in points at all,” Bauknecht said. “He didn’t want to push me too hard this season. We were going for a top five and we did a lot better than we expected.”

After being honored on stage for his Oktoberfest win, Nowak made his first appearance as a MASCS champion. Nowak said he found it an honor to be in the same company as four-time champion James Swan, three-time champion Bill Prietzel and Pluer and now knows the hard work and lucky breaks it takes to grab top honors.

Mid-American’s 18th season also marked the ending of a mainstay’s career. Prior to 2010 Bobby Gutknecht pegged his 16th MASCS season to be his final one. Gutknecht finished ninth in standings with one top five and seven top tens.

“We had a few engine problems that got us behind, but for the most part it was good,” Gutknecht said of his final season.

“When I was a rookie I came in and didn’t know a lot about the cars and didn’t know any of the people,” he recalled. “I got to know a lot of the people, learn about the cars and get pretty good throughout the years. It was a fun road.”

The Mid-American Stock Car Series will host an informative meeting as part of the Midwest Racers Expo at the Alliant Energy Center's Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison, Wis. Saturday, Jan. 8. For more information visit www.midwestracersauction.com.

On Jan. 15 Mid-American officially ends its 2010 campaign with the awards banquet at Wintergreen Resort and Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. Among giveaways to eligible drivers will be an engine prepared by B&B Race Engines. For more information visit www.wintergreen-resort.com