His brother, Dave, and father, Addison, had raced for many years so Brogan turned to them and a local automotive shop for help in rigging a race car with special controls.
When Mike wants to pour on the power, he operates a Quadrunner-style, twist-grip throttle control mounted to the top of a Hurst shifter. When it's time to put on the binders, Brogan simply pushes the Hurst shifter forward for the desired braking.
It all works quite well for the Fincastle, Virginia, driver. In his first season of racing some three years ago, he finished 10th in points. Since then, he can be found in the Top 10 at a Saturday night Pure Stock feature at Natural Bridge Speedway in Virginia.
-Russell Schmidt
Weekly Racing Series Winners
The eight Weekly Racing Series presented by Dodge regional champions for 2002 produced a combined 92 wins. That included a stellar performance by Atlantic Region champion Wade Day, who won 17 of the 18 Late Model Stock events he entered at Lonesome Pine International Raceway in Coeburn, Virginia.
Meanwhile, 14 Modified victories at Claremont (New Hampshire) Raceway helped earn Peter Daniels the New England Region title and the Weekly Racing Series national championship. Daniels, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, finished in the Top 5 in each of his 18 starts to claim the $166,000 awarded the national champ.
"I feel like this will be the biggest accomplishment of my career," said the 44-year-old Daniels. He became the second consecutive national champion from the New England Region, following Ted Christopher's 2001 championship.
Other regional champions, who picked up $43,000 each, are:
Roger Avants, Littleton, Colorado, Northwest Region; Clint Bowyer, Emporia, Kansas, Midwest Region; Buck Catalano, Ontario, New York, Northeast Region; Jamey Caudill, Four Oaks, North Carolina, Southeastern Coastal Region; Billy Tuckwell, Metamora, Illinois, Heartland Region; and Scott Winters, Tracy, California, Sunbelt Region.
Dream Season
They used to call him "Loopy" because of his tendency to spin out so often when he first started racing a Pro Stock at West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway in 1988 at the age of 16. But Brian Birkhofer sped away from that nickname a long time ago.
In fact, 2002 was a dream season for the dirt Late Model driver from Muscatine, Iowa. Almost every track his tires touched turned to gold, and he capped the year with prestigious first-time wins in the World 100 in Ohio and the Yankee Dirt Track Classic in his home state.
Birkhofer's rise to the top of the dirt Late Model world included time behind the wheel of a Billy Moyer team car in 1999, but that arrangement didn't last. Birkhofer wasn't running well and didn't feel comfortable. "I think we had the wrong type of cars, and when I got back on my own I was a lot more comfortable," he says.
Since 1999, Birkhofer has partnered with Mike Seubert, a Wisconsin cattle rancher. The team competes at Budweiser Open Late Model shootouts -Birkhofer won six of 10 held this season-and Mr. Goodcents Super Series, UDTRA, Renegade, and Northern All-Stars events.
Shortly after his Yankee win, Birkhofer said he hadn't yet added up his season's winnings, but believed the total could be as much as $250,000. "It's by far my best money year for sure," he says.-Phil Roberts