Brennen Chipp completed the hat trick Saturday night at Independence Motor Speedway.
The IMCA Northern SportMod driver wrapped up his first career track championship after piloting his #21 to victory lane in the 20-lap feature during Budweiser Season Championships. He was also the winner during Budweiser Mid-Season Championships in late June.
Saturday night's championship program included only features, which were lined up straight-up based on season point totals. The format allowed top points earners through the first 15 weeks of the season the rare opportunity to start at the front of their respective feature fields.
Points leader Chipp took the lead at the drop of the green and held off pressure from Alex Zwanziger early, then late charges from Kip Siems and Joel Rust to take the victory. It was Chipp's fifth win of the season in Independence and his fourth in weekly points racing at the speedway. Rust, in only his fourth start this season, raced from 22nd to finish second ahead of Zwanziger, who finished second in the standings, five points behind Chipp.
With four wins in weekly racing history at the speedway, Chipp finished the season tied with Siems for seventh on the all-time list. He is the fifth different SportMod champion in the division's six-year history in Independence.
Chipp's sweep of mid-season, season and track title honors was the 25th such accomplishment in the last 25 years at the speedway. Others to pull off the hat trick since 1989 include:
Late Model: Curt Martin (1990, 1991), Gary Crawford (1993), Darren Ackerman (2007);
Modified: Tom Bartholomew (1990, 1991), Darin Duffy (2009);
Stock Car: Dan Trimble (1994, 1999, 2000), Larry Portis (1995), Brian Irvine (2009), Sean Johnson (2012);
SportMod: Danny Dvorak (2012);
Hobby Stock: Forrest Frost (1992), Chris Wessner (1995), Doug Otto (1999), Josh Irvine (1997, 1999), Justin Stander (2012);
Pro Stock: Alan Wessels (1989), Vern Jackson (1990, 1992, 1993).
Sean Johnson made history of his own in the IMCA Stock Car division. The two-time defending champion dominated that 23-lapper to earn his third win of the season, his third straight win on championship night and his third straight track championship. Johnson became the first driver to win three straight points titles in Indee since Dan Trimble won seven straight stock car championships from 1998-2004. Prior to Johnson, only eight drivers had ever won three straight points championships in Indee. They include:
Late Model: Gary Crawford (1976-1979), Curt Martin (1984-1986, 2004-2006), Greg Kastli (2001-2003);
Modified: Tom Bartholomew (1989-1992), Steve Droste (1994-1996), Jerry Luloff (1999-2001);
Stock Car: Dan Trimble (1998-2004);
Pro Stock: Vern Jackson (1991-1996).
With 28 Stock Car wins in weekly racing history in Independence, Johnson sits third on the all-time list - and that is likely where he will stay. He plans to move to the IMCA Late Model division next season. His 28 career wins place Johnson 14th on the track's all-time list.
Darren Ackerman led all 30 laps on his way to a dominant win in the IMCA Late Model feature. The win was Ackerman's second of the season and the third of his career on championship night (2007, 2009).
With the victory, Ackerman has 18 Late Model wins in weekly racing history at the speedway. That places him alone in ninth on the all-time list.
Tyler Bruening earned his third Late Model points title in the last four years after finishing fifth in Saturday night's feature. Bruening joined Ed Sanger, Gary Crawford, Curt Martin and Greg Kastli as the only drivers to win at least three Late Model titles in a four-year span.
Ronn Lauritzen drove to his fifth Performance Bodies IMCA Modified win of the season and the first of his career on championship night in Independence. After a thrilling battle for the lead with defending track champion Mark Schulte and newly crowned titlist Tyler Droste, Lauritzen pulled away to score the victory. It was the 17th time in track history a Modified driver won at least five features in a single season.
With eight career Modified wins in Independence, Lauritzen ended the season tied with Greg Kastli, Joey Schaefer and Kevin Pittman for 13th on the all-time list. Lauritzen joined Mark Noble (1987), Tom Bartholomew (1990, 1991), Troy Cordes (2000) and Darin Duffy (2009, 2010) as the only Modified drivers in track history to sweep mid-season and season championship feature wins in the same year.
Droste, a first-year IMCA Modified driver, became the fifth straight different track champion in the division at the speedway and the 17th different titlist in the division's 31-year history in Independence.
Chris Luloff earned his 30th, and perhaps final, win in the Hobby Stock division. Luloff took control on the second lap, then held off a furious late charge from Quinton Miller to score the victory, his seventh win of the season.
Luloff's 30 career Hobby Stock wins in weekly racing history in Independence ranks as the best all-time. He plans to move to the Stock Car division in 2014.
When also considering his three SportMod wins from 2009, Luloff's 33 career wins at the speedway place him alone in 10th on the all-time list.
Luloff, also the mid-season winner in late June, joined Ken Irvine (1989), Forrest Frost (1992), Rick Johnson (1993), Chris Wessner (1995), Tim Bartholomew (1997), Doug Otto (1998), Josh Irvine (2007, 2009) and Justin Stander (2012) on the list of drivers to sweep the events in the same season.
Benji Irvine, who entered the night with no finish worse than fourth in Hobby Stock competition this year, was scored 18th Saturday night after experiencing engine problems early in the 20-lap feature. Despite his struggles Saturday night, Irvine's consistency through the season lifted him to his first track championship. He became the sixth straight different Hobby Stock points champion and the 22nd different titlist in the division's 25-year history at the speedway.
Merv Chandler wrapped up his second straight IMCA Sport Compact track title a week ago, but he put the icing on the cake by also winning Saturday night's championship feature. Chandler took command from A.J. Witten on the second of 12 laps to drive to the win, his fourth of the year. With six career wins in the division in Independence, Chandler sits second to Adam Gates on the all-time list.
While the 2013 weekly racing season has come to a close in Independence, one event remains on this year's schedule. The Deery Brothers Summer Series for IMCA Late Models makes its second appearance of the year on Friday, September 20. Increased prize money for a special non-qualifiers feature that night for the Late Models should make it an even greater show. Add to that $2,000-to-win Stock Cars and the season finale should be huge.
Since the weekly points season is over in Independence, that means one final Stats Blitz is in store to recap all things numbers-wise for the 16-week season. This week will be busy preparing for next week's IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey's at Boone Speedway so, although I'll try to get it done, the final Stats Blitz may have to wait until the week after Super Nationals. I won't be able to talk after returning home from Boone anyway, so what else is there to do aside from crunching a few numbers?
Tonight, weekly racing continues at Benton County Speedway in Vinton. Although the temps are hot, the points battles in all five divisions are even hotter so make plans to come to Vinton tonight! I hope to see you there!
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