Champion Profile: George Brunnhoelzl III
Continues To Chase History With 4th Southern Modified Title
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Another year and another addendum to the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour record book by George Brunnhoelzl III. Who will slow down first – Jimmie Johnson or Brunnhoelzl?
Brunnhoelzl, from West Babylon, N.Y., captured his third straight tour championship in 2013, and fourth in the last five years. Both the streak and the total extended the records he already shared or owned. This one, though, had a little different flavor in a couple of respects.
In a broader historical perspective, Brunnhoelzl became the first NASCAR touring series driver to earn three straight titles since Andy Santerre won four in a row from 2002-05 in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. The true target is Mike Stefanik’s mark of seven NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships.
“I really would like to get close to Stefanik’s record of seven championships, but it’s easier said than done,” Brunnhoelzl said. “Each year, the competition has gotten stiffer and stiffer and we have had to improve our performance and step up our game to stay on top. We are looking to develop some new ideas over the offseason and hopefully, step it up another notch for next year.”
Unlike his two previous titles in the streak in which he led in points from the first race of the season all the way through, Brunnhoelzl was in the unfamiliar position of not holding the lead after the opener at Caraway Speedway, near Asheboro, N.C., this season. Jason Myers was able to outduel Brunnhoelzl in the closing laps to notch the victory and the early lead in the standings.
CHAMPION CAR OWNER AND CREW CHIEF: GEORGE BRUNNHOELZL JR.
“The competition on this tour is stiff,” said the driver of the No. 28 Epox-Z/Oval Speed Chevrolet. “And it just keeps getting better and better. It was never easy, but it’s definitely more difficult now.”
The departure from the top spot was brief as Brunnhoelzl quickly ascended to the lead following the second event at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., the next week with a fourth-place effort and never looked back.
The 2011 and 2012 titles were won with Ideal Racing, but the two parties decided to part ways which sent Brunnhoelzl back to his family-owned team and equipment that produced his first championship in 2009.
“We struggled a bit at the start of the year, just the first couple races,” Brunnhoelzl said. “We went back to our own family team (Brunnhoelzl Racing) from where we were the past two years at Ideal Racing and hadn’t really been using our equipment, so the first couple races we kind of had a little struggle to just re-learn our own equipment.”
Brunnhoelzl, who turned 31 shortly after the season, recorded all three of his 2013 wins in consecutive fashion, and all from the pole. He led wire-to-wire on April 13 at South Boston (Va.) Speedway, made a last-lap pass for the victory at Caraway on April 20 and then led green-to-checkered again on July 6 at Caraway.
The final two-thirds of the season including the July 6 Caraway win was competed in a new car after a post-race tangle with Tim Brown in the April Caraway date sent the team back to the shop to build a new car.
“The new car set us back a little,” he said. “It took a little bit to get the bugs worked out.”
Although that third, and final win, came with half of the season left to be contested, Brunnhoelzl exhibited the form of a championship veteran down the stretch as he finished on the podium in the last five events.
“The consistency was good down the stretch, but we’d much rather win races to let the points work out on their own,” said the four-time champ. “We fell off a little there at the end when Andy (Seuss) got hot. Really glad it worked out in our favor.”
Sources: Shon Sbarra/NASCAR WSMT PR