Sprint Car Return Equals Top Ten for Patrick Bruns
By Jessica Jenkins

With a decent mid-August day to greet him, Patrick Bruns drove into Lincoln Speedway on Sunday for his first sprint car appearance in several years. It was a big family affair as Bruns was entered in a third entry for his family's team alongside brothers AJ and Cory.

Pulling onto the 1/4 mile track in the first heat race, Bruns took the green flag from the pole and clung to the inside line to keep the lead for the first couple laps. After a good battle, the lead was taken away and he paced the majority of the race in the second position before ultimately finishing third.

Continuing to become re-acquainted with the 410 non-wing sprint car, Bruns and his bright yellow ride lined up on the inside of row 5 for the Feature. The father of three drove his #44P up into a battle for seventh with his family sitting in the stands cheering him on. He spent the next five laps running in eighth and fought hard alongside the full-time sprint car competitors for every position. With eight laps remaining, he had found a bit of open track to race in while chasing down ninth spot. As three laps remaining flashed up on the board, he took to the outside lane and began to wage a strong battle, claiming the ninth spot out of turn two on the final lap. When the caution-free race came to a close, the Champaign, IL native was credited with ninth, a solid top ten for his sprint car return.

Bruns shared afterwards, "It was really fun to be back in a sprint car and I had a great opportunity. I'm glad AJ called and asked me to come drive this car tonight. We had quite a few bugs to work out and we've still got a ways to go, but all in all it was fun to be back in the sprint car. It was really fun to race with both of my brothers, all three of the Bruns boys were here. Unfortunately my youngest brother had a little mishap in hot laps, but you have to drive the non-wing car a little different than a winged car and I think he learned a valuable lesson tonight. This was a really good, strong motor and if we work on getting the fueling right, I think it could be a really, really fast car. It brought back a lot of memories; I spent a lot of nights at the racetrack driving sprint cars for a number of years. I kind of got side tracked with the midget program for the last 4-6 years now, so it's really good to be back in a sprint car." He also wanted to thank his team, sharing "I have my same Full Throttle Racing crew here. Scott, Andrew, Paul and Danny were helping us tonight. That's the constant. We work really, really well together. No matter which car we run, we are all together this year and that makes a difference for me."

With support from Bruns Service Center, Pluth Tin Shop and Bob Devine, two of the AJ Racing teams finished top ten with AJ Bruns picking up fifth place. He reflected on his race, saying: "It's pretty good. It's been 6 or 7 years since I've run non-wing and early on I was getting into the corner a little gingerly, but after a few laps, I kind of got the hang of it again. The first feature win I ever won was in a non-wing sprint car years and years ago. But it came back, it was like riding a bicycle." And about competing with his brother, he stated, "It's fun racing with Pat. We use to race against each other every weekend. I actually kinda wish it'd gotten to a point where we'd be racing with each other [tonight]."

When and if Patrick Bruns returns to race the #44P is unknown, but he will be on track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds this Saturday, August 19th with USAC's Silver Crown Series. Keep an eye out for updates, as well as pictures from the Lincoln race on his Facebook fan page @FullThrottleRacing95. To catch up on all Bruns has accomplished in his career, check out BrunsRacing.com.