Nashville, TN – Small teams have to work hard to be successful and Brian Demland with One Five Motorsports knows that perhaps better than anyone else. Between himself and his daughter Avery, the two have fielded a car with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance for the last four seasons. Add in a run with the Vore’s Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman in 2019, and Demland has five years of hard work within the CRA sanction and template late model racing.In 2024, Demland is ready to continue to be part of a team that works hard and earns the results they deserve.
In four seasons with the JEGS Tour, Demland has credit for 16 starts in 19 attempts posting four top 10s and a top-five finish along the way. His best career finish of fifth came during the second race of the season at Salem Speedway in 2023. Demland says up until this season, he’d been content with where his program finished and how they conducted themselves at the track. But now, in 2024 with the increased support from VanDoorn Racing Development, Demland says he feels like he owes it to them and himself to show improvement.
“The car was completely redone by VanDoorn at the end of last year,” explained Demland. Just about every piece on this car is brand new; we’ve got a Day Racing Engine in it now – I can’t think of anything subpar compared to what we used to have. We have better craftsmanship – like things I knew how to do but never had the time to do them as a one man team. The time [VanDoorn] put into one guy, I could tell what they didn’t like and so I put the time in to make them proud to be helping us,” Demland admitted.
Pair Demland’s increased effort in the shop and VanDoorn’s guidance behind the scenes with the exposure and anticipation surrounding the JEGS Tour in 2024, and Demland says they can’t afford to be the team that “lucks” their way into top 10 finishes. They need to do everything on track intentionally.
“We have the resources; our equipment is better so now we have to put those resources to use and be more competitive,” said Demland. “The goal for us is to qualify into shows on speed and be up front – not just there and hoping that cars fall out giving us a good finish. I’m realistic, I’m not gonna go out there and win a race right off the bat – I want to, but you have to crawl before you can walk,” he continued.
Mixed in with the increased focus on the equipment is the start of a changing of the guard at One Five Motorsports. Brian Demland is starting the process of moving out of the driver’s seat for his biggest supporter, spotter, and technically team owner – his 26 year old daughter, Avery Demland. A recent graduate of Ohio Northern Pettit College of Law, the Juris Doctorate holder is also ready to hold a steering wheel again.
“About two years ago when we were transitioning to different people on the crew, she started helping on the car and she made a comment about wanting to race again,” Brian explained. “And then I heard it again, and again. After thinking through the winter, I asked her what she wanted to do and she said ‘I want to drive’. She’s very passionate about it,” he said.
That put Brian in a difficult spot with all the improvements made during the off-season. He says he knows his daughter can drive the car and will do well once she’s comfortable, but he wants a few more races to try and prove to himself that he’s capable of being in contention with the proper equipment. So, Avery will get her feet wet on the local scene, while Brian handles most of the JEGS Tour commitments.
“We’d like to get her to some of the local stuff at Owosso Speedway in the template to help transition over,” Demland thought. “We’re thinking around the Corrigan Oil Speedway mark [in the schedule]”, he said when asked when Avery could make her first JEGS Tour attempt.
The Hicksville, Ohio native will get the chance to see what his No.15 Jason Dietsch Custom Coach, Allied Molded Products, Metal Manipulation sponsored Ford Mustang is made of during the JEGS Tour season-opening West Michigan 100 at Berlin Raceway on Saturday, April 27th. Advanced tickets are available now at BerlinRaceway.com. Fans who can’t make the trip can catch the action live on RacingAmerica.TV, TrackTv.com and FloRacing.
For more information on the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance log onto CRA-Racing.com. Find CRA: Champion Racing Association on Facebook and follow @CRARacing on X.
