CASCAR: Brown set for opener

Brantford’s Doug Brown has both his car and his adrenalin rushing to start the 2005 CASCAR Super Series season at London’s Delaware Speedway this coming Victoria Day Weekend.

Even though this will mark his ninth season in CASCAR and second full season in Super Series competition, “It’s still an exciting time (despite the experience) to get the first real test of the season underway competing bumper to bumper and fender to fender with the best short track drivers in the country,” Doug remarked in reviewing his schedule for this weekend at the popular paved, half-mile oval.

In earlier practice sessions on both the road and oval tracks at Mosport Speedway, the team was satisfied with their results. “We had some great runs in the testing we did and feel we definitely have a good chance to be in the title chase this season”, the confident driver responded when questioned on how he felt the season will go.

Last year Brown finished sixteenth in the season points’ championship running only 10 races in the 12-event (13 race) schedule.

This year he hopes to improve on that record.

Last year he and his team didn’t go west for events in Vancouver and Calgary and that cost them dearly in the title chase. ”We lost in the area of 400 points by not going west and at this time we are uncertain as to whether we can make the trip this year”, Doug stated when asked what his chances are for running the entire schedule. “A lot will depend on how our season goes up to the time we get through the Molson Indy weekend in July and what we can come up with in extra sponsorship funding”’, he added rather optimistically when recounting how much the western schedule will add to his team’s modest racing budget.

The cost of such a two-week trip amounts to about $20,000 when travel expenses are added to actual competition costs.

As for this weekend’s race itself, the driver of the NAPA Autopro–sponsored Chevrolet is very optimistic.

“We’ve won some feature events here as part of the CASCAR Sportsman Series and Delaware weekly shows and finished seventh in the season opener of the Super Series last year”, Brown continued, the enthusiasm reflecting in his remarks. “This year, we’ve got some new crew members on board and we’ve made some subtle chassis set-up changes, which hopefully will bring a new approach and some real improvements to our programs.”

CASCAR’s show in the Delaware weekend special begins Saturday afternoon with practice, followed by time trial qualifying at 6:00 p.m. Gates open for the MOPAR 250 on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. followed by a special on-track autograph session with the green flag start scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

During the Memorial Cup playoffs hosted by the London Knights (May 21st –29th), the Brown Auto Racing NAPA /AUTOPRO Chevrolet show car will be on display at the downtown John Labatt Centre as part of the event’s special attractions.

Prepared By: Ken Spencer // Marketing and Media Relations // Brown Auto Racing