Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]
South Concord, NC(January 27, 2013) — Winning championships is never a bad thing. It’s what every racer strives for. Winning races is great but a championship shows you were the best while you were winning those races. In 2012, Kenny Brooks finally completed a goal he had been striving to attain for many years, to become a Late Model champion. While it was a monumental occasion, we just hope he isn’t the last Late Model champion for a track that is rich in history.
The tricky triangle at the Concord Motorsports Park is the track we are talking about and the 2012 season for Brooks was one to go down in the history books. Driving for legendary car owner Shorty Baucom, Brooks simply destroyed the competition this past season. In the 15 race schedule, he managed to win only 11 of the races leaving four other events to other drivers. Yes folks, that was sarcasm. Kenny had a storybook year to say the least.
The year started out rough for Brooks while another former ace of Concord made his return in grand fashion. At the season opening event in March, former Concord regular and UARA STARS champion Ross Furr made a rare appearance and took the checkers, in his only showing there, over Bobby Measmer. Brooks would limp home eighth after numerous problems but would bounce back the very next week to start his monumental run.
While Brooks was the dominant car he did have a close pursuer right on his heels each week. Andrew Thomas, who splits his time racing between Concord and Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA, was able to pick up two wins himself while picking up nine second place finishes. Only bad thing about that though was that those nine second places were to Brooks, killing his championship hopes.
Once the season was complete, Brooks set his sights on Martinsville Speedway for the “Virginia Is for Racing Lovers 300” but had his feelings hurt right out of the box. The team barely made it there at all and when they did come to test they brought the same setup that was on the car from Concord. That didn’t work at all. While well off the pace, the team made the biggest gains of the day as they worked and worked and, by the end of practice,e had a car that was in the top ten on the speed chart.
When race day arrived, Brooks and his team led by his brother, former Super Late Model driver at Concord, Matt Brooks, put the car in the field in the top 20, a great feat by any Late model driver as over 70 cars attempted to get in the event. While running with the big dogs early, Brooks was involved in one of the many incidents of the day and forced to retire, yet they all knew his team was there.
Kenny Brooks showed, this season, that a little team that works hard can overcome as he added his name to a list of champions on a banner outside the track that includes the likes of Query, Sprague, Mangum and Mike Herman Jr. Let’s just hope he isn’t famous for another reason as Concord looks to not be running any races at the half mile track this season. We would all like to see Brooks get another championship there and not be the final champion at Concord.
