ILLINI MIDGET CHAMPION BRUNS LOOKS TO CARRY MOMENTUM TO FORT WAYNE
By Zach Tasker
Three-time and current Illini Racing Series midget champion Patrick Bruns looks to carry the big momentum of his 2014 crown to the indoor Rumble in Fort Wayne midget races. The Champaign, Illinois driver is coming off a highly successful 2014 campaign that saw him win six features in the IRS and sweep the slate of races in the USAC HPD Midwest Dirt Series.

The veteran driver has an extremely busy “off season” ahead if you can even call it that. Between now and the traditional Midwest season opener of short track, open wheel races, Bruns and his Mike Wallace Racing team will compete in no fewer five indoor or off season events. They include a Powri and a sportsman midget race in Duquoin, Illinois, the Tulsa Shootout for Ecotec midgets and the Southern States Midget Series winter nationals in Florida. Bruns is still looking for an opportunity to run the Chili Bowl midget nationals with any team.

While most drivers use the winter months to relax, Bruns is doing the exact opposite, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “We have been at it full bore ever since the season ended. Mike Wallace and the MWR technology team do nothing but a whole ton of homework. They never stop, and they are always looking for more. I think it challenges you to stay on top of your game just switching cars, switching tracks and different surfaces with different types of cars. I love running the sprint car, looking forward to next summer when we will have a full time 410 sprint car ride again, so I am really looking forward to that. We have a diverse schedule here in the off season for the next couple 2-3 weeks. We think we are going to run ten nights in the next 14 days or something like that.”

The former USAC Silver Crown series competitor knows that a great team that stays busy with a diverse schedule of races after a championship season is paramount to success. “There is a lot of preparation, a lot of mental preparation and having a good group of guys behind me. I could not do it without the support of MWR. Brad Zgymunt has been my crew chief for a number of years; Scott Carter has been with me for a number of years and all the guys at MWR. If you look at our schedule in the next couple of weeks, we leave one track, drop and unload that car and load up the other car and take off for the next racetrack. Everything is pretty well laid out. We have three different cars running the next three weekends, and they are all ready to go and we will just do them one at a time and hope for the best.”

The driver of the #22 MWR/Paintwork by Z/Acro-Bat Classic Auto Beast/Brayton Buick knows the Rumble in Fort Wayne is one of the toughest midget races there is to win. “I think you are going to have to have a lot of luck and a lot of patience on your side for that place. I have a great car owner in Kenny G; his car is being prepped by MWR Technology. The biggest key for us is that I have the same team and the same crew working on the car that we have at all the other shows that we are doing so there is definitely some chemistry and a bond we have created that we are going to continue with at Fort Wayne.”

The driver who has won three straight Illini Midget championships is no stranger to victory lane and hopes to put his name in the Rumble record books. “I'm honored to have a chance to participate in this event and represent a great car owner in Kenny G. He has been under the weather a little bit so hopefully we can run to lift his spirits up.”

The Champaign, Illinois driver had a chance to wheel the #22 midget earlier this year in STARS competition at Grundy County Speedway. “When Kenny G first approached me about running the car he told me he had an old, slow car and just wanted to know if I would be interested in running it. I told him if the car is square and straight and Mike Wallace had a chance to set it up we would give it a run. The first couple of practice sessions in the car we were the fastest car out so I think that is just a testament to what my guys are able to do when we get behind them and give them a chance.”

The Rumble in Fort Wayne will have three full days of midget racing this year with a $1,000 bonus to the overall champion after Sunday’s matinee. Visit rumbleseries.com for more info and to buy tickets. Follow MWR Technology/Lightning Chassis for live updates throughout the weekend as Patrick Bruns and the team chase Fort Wayne glory.



Photo credit: Phil Rider