KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Brian Brown has had this weekend marked on his calendar for many months, as he targets a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series doubleheader close to home.
Brown will join The Greatest Show on Dirt for two nights at I-70 Motorsports Park Friday and Saturday, marking the first race at the facility since 2008 and the first World of Outlaws event there since 1986.
For the Grain Valley, Mo., native, it marks his debut at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval in Odessa, Mo., located 14 miles west of his home across Interstate 70.
“I’m looking forward to I-70,” Brown said. “It’s 15 minutes from home. The place hasn’t been opened since the late ‘80s with the dirt track. What Chris Payne (track owner) and Tommie Estes (general manager) have done with the facility is unbelievable. It’s crazy that we have a facility that nice 15 minutes from my house. A lot of friends and family are coming this weekend and it will be a big deal.”
The two-night affair is also a big weekend for FVP, one of Brown’s longest-running corporate partners.
“It’s the FVP Platinum Battery Showdown this weekend, so I’m looking forward to having some FVP customers and employees back at the races,” Brown tipped. “I’m just looking forward to having a huge crowd, seeing a lot of friends and family, and contending for, hopefully, a couple of wins.”
Brown is coming off a DNF during a race he was leading last Saturday at Knoxville Raceway and is eager to race in front of a hometown crowd at the newly reopened I-70 dirt track.
“We were able to set quick time by three and a half tenths,” Brown said of his Knoxville outing last Saturday. “There’s a lot of quality cars there. Ian (Madsen) was there Saturday, and he has been quick anywhere he’s been. We had another great car in our heat race, and I was able to move anywhere I wanted to go on the race track. We have had phenomenal cars, especially in the heat races.
“In the feature we got out there and were cruising. I think we were up by like three seconds after five laps. We were biding our time and weaving through traffic,” Brown added. “I felt like we had a really solid chance to win that one and we had a mechanical issue with an engine six laps in. You can’t really control that. Sometimes things like that happen. We’re moving forward to this weekend’s races.”
Despite his misfortune last time out at Knoxville, Brown believes his speed bodes well for his race team, not just this weekend at I-70 but going forward into the summer months.
“I’m excited we have a fast race car, especially at Knoxville,” Brown noted. “I feel like we’re back in our groove there and look forward to the rest of the season.”