Third-Generation Driver Hopes for 'Back-to-Back' Wins at Marshfield

Topics:  Brian Back

Matt Panure
Mid American Stock Car Series
September 8, 2008

(Fort Atkinson, WI) September 8, 2008 – Some fans may look at the headline from the Mid-American Stock Car Series last race at Marshfield and ask who is Brian Back? Fans from the Central Wisconsin racing circle look at the headline and smile, knowing that Brian is carrying on the tradition of one of the most famous racing names from the area.

The third-generation driver grew up at the short tracks where he watched his grandfather Jim and his father Gary amass checkered flags and trophies. Although he was too young to witness most of his grandfather’s successful runs, Brian has fond memories of aiding his father on the way to a Wisconsin Challenge Series championship in 2002.

“There is a lot of pride. There aren’t a lot of people who have accomplished what those two have,” said Back.

“They have been a huge influence. Being part of the family gives you a pretty intense desire to be up front. I don’t want to be the one that isn’t successful.”

Brian will not have to worry about being the unsuccessful Back. He has already engineered a very respectable resume that includes his first Super Late Model win at the Marshfield Super Speedway in 1998 and championships in Super Stocks at both Marshfield and the Golden Sands Speedway in Plover.

Yet Back felt he needed to truly reach out and find the extent of his short track racing prowess by joining Mid-American this season.

“You can’t just get in [a Mid-American] car and run up front everywhere unless you’re an exceptional driver,” he remarked. “I have no doubt that the guys that run up front all the time could race in any Super Late Model division and be competitive. That’s something I wanted to see if I could do.”

Back is still withholding a verdict on this season’s experiment. “I’m mildly happy. I would like to have done better at a few tracks,” he commented. “There is still a learning curve and I’m still learning the car.”

There have been several bright spots this season for Back. In the second race of this 2008 season, Back set fast time at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in the Over the Hill 40. With a great deal of success and experience at La Crosse at Oktoberfest in the Sportsman divisions, Back charged to the front of the field only to have an incident between himself and Rod Brewe halt his charge.

The brightest spot, however, was Back’s near clean sweep at Marshfield on July 5th in the Freedom 40. “To win at home in front of all the fans is great because they are all the people that supported you through all the years. It was definitely my biggest win ever.”

Back set fast time, placed second in his heat, and pulled out a last lap pass in what is touted as one of the greatest Mid-American features of all time. Tom Wagner, who filled in for an absent Mid-American announcer who shall remain nameless, recalled the event. “If stock car features were like homework, I'd say the teacher would have to give that last Marshfield feature an ‘A.’ [It] pretty much had everything you want to see in a feature,” he recalled.

“First you thought Prietzel would win, and then maybe Nowak, but when all is said and done, here comes one of the local favorites to pull it out on a last corner pass. That race was a show, no question about it. Not sure you could have written a better script for it if you tried,” he added.

A good amount of excitement is buzzing around Mid-American’s Return to Marshfield this Saturday, September 13th. Back is one of those who are anxious to get the festivities under way. “It’s always been my best track. It has always been the place that I look forward going to more than any other place.”

Mid-American’s Return to Marshfield will mark the beginning of a four-race scamper to the end of the 2008 season. Three-time MASCS champion Bill Prietzel trails fellow three-time and defending champion James Swan by a margin of fifteen points going into the final stretch with Kyle Shear lurking 63 points back in third.

The Marshfield Super Speedway is located three miles west of Marshfield on County Trunk H. For more information please visit www.marshfieldsuperspeedway.com

For more information about the Mid-American Series including results, current 2008 standings, the remaining 2008 schedule and driver info please visit www.midamericanracing.com.