Photo Courtesy Brian Nolte/4th Turn Photos
by Kari Shear-Carlson / July 9, 2015 – When the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment returns to Grundy County Speedway for the Wayne Carter Classic 100 on Friday, July 17th, the Stars and Cars of the series will be joined by some of the strongest local competition on the circuit.
Brett “The Jet” Sontag started racing in 1988 at Grundy County Speedway. He won the championship in the street stock division that year and it set the stage for his future. In 1991, Sontag was the Grundy County Speedway Late Model Rookie of the Year and his success continued from there. He is credited with five Super Late Model track championships, is a three-time winner of the Lee Schuler Memorial, and a two-time winner of the Frank Welch Memorial. Sontag was also the winner of the 2010 Rockford National Short Track Championship.
Sontag is a simple racer who says his success comes from, “a lot of hard work, sweat, time in the shop, my crew, and experience.”
When the Tour invades the 1/3-mile oval next Friday night, it won’t be the first time Sontag has gone up against the series at the track.
“In 2008, I ran Reuvers (Donny) down for the lead and we raced bumper-to-bumper for about 20 laps. It was a lot of fun. I ended up third behind him and Dan Fredrickson,” said Sontag.
“It’s a good group of racers. I like running with them. They definitely have their stuff right. This car is new for me and the set-up is new, but it’s still pretty darn fast,” he added.
Every track is unique in its own right and Grundy County Speedway is no different. Ask anyone who has raced there and they will tell you that it is a tough track. Brett believes that if drivers can run good at Grundy, they can usually go anywhere.
“For drivers in our area, you have to kick butt at Grundy before you can expect to be competitive anywhere else,” Sontag said.
Brett “The Jet” Sontag has definitely proven that he has the track figured out and is looking forward to the challenge of the ARCA Midwest Tour next Friday night.
Gates open at 5:30pm with qualifying beginning at 6:30pm. Open ceremonies will be at 7:15 with racing at 7:30pm. The ARCA Midwest Tour will be joined by the Mid-American Series as well as the Pure Stocks.
For complete event details, log on to arcamidwesttour.com
Be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour on Facebook (/midwesttour) and Twitter (@midwesttour).
To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on to arcamidwesttour.com. The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedway.
