Bryan Clauson Has Wings!

Bryan Clauson at 2013 Knoxville Nationals
Studio 92 Photo Credit

Bryan Clauson, the 2-time USAC National Sprint Car champion, 2-time USAC National Midget champion, and 2014 Chili Bowl winner is adding a wing to his sprint car full-time in 2015. The decorated non-wing sprint car driver has tinkered with winged cars the past few seasons, racing a part-time schedule in 2013 and 2014, including an A-Main start in the 2014 FVP Knoxville Nationals in only his second entry at the Nationals. Now Clauson will tackle winged sprints full-time in the Midwest with a focus on the newly formed National Sprint League and at KnoxvilleRaceway in the Lucas Oil Knoxville Championship Cup Series aboard the Cole Wood Racing 17w car.

Clauson started the 2012 Indianapolis 500 and plans to attempt to qualify for 2015 Indy 500 this May. He also has some seat time in NASCAR on his resume. There is no doubt this guy has talent. Clauson was left without a full-time ride this fall when it was announced that Tony Stewart Racing was closing up their USAC operations, presumably to focus more on Schatz, Kinser, and now the All-Star Series

Cole Wood appears to be changing his path of being a driver to focus on college and the family car dealership business. But his team wants to continue racing and hiring Clauson is a great choice. 

How cool is it going to be to have a driver competing at Knoxville every Saturday night knowing he is going to try to get into the Indy 500 the same year! 

Looking forward I anticipate this being a learning year for Clauson. He might win a race or two, but he will be going up against some stout competition in the Midwest in 2015 who have a lot more experience with a wing, and on the tracks he will be competing on. It will be interesting to see how quickly he adapts and performs this year.

Non-wing drivers are starting to cross over more into winged sprint cars. This was common in the 1980’s and other than Jack Hewitt and Jac Haudenschild you didn’t see it much at all for a long time until Jesse Hockett re-started that trend back in 2009 when he won the Ultimate Challenge. Kyle Larson continued that trend and now we have drivers like Clauson, Brady Bacon, Rico Abreu, and Christpher Bell, doing this regularly. It is a fun time in the sprint car universe to see these drivers compete in both, and most impressive is that they are all performing well and winning in both types of cars.

2015 just keeps looking better and better! I can’t wait for April in Iowa.