(4-26-10) - At only 20-years of age, Bryan Clauson is no rookie in the world of motorsports. Whether he is behind the wheel of a Quarter Midget, ARCA Car or USAC Midget, Clauson has always found his way to victory lane.
Racing has always been a way of life for Bryan. He grew up watching his dad, Tim, race Sprint Cars and wanted nothing more than to follow in those footsteps and get behind the steering wheel himself.
"Racing is something I have been around pretty much since the day I was born," explained Clauson. "I always enjoyed being around racing and going to the races watching my dad race. When I got old enough, I wanted to give it a try, so when I turned 5-years old, I kept bugging my dad to race something and I got started in Quarter Midgets."
Early Career
In 1994, Clauson began a six-year run in quarter midgets, where winning came early and often for the young driver. In 2000, by the age of 10, Clauson had already amassed a national championship, two state championships and over 200 quarter midget victories.
From there, Clauson began to work his way up the open-wheel ranks; he won rookie of the year honors in 2001, while competing in 600 Micros. The winning didn't stop there as Clauson again won rookie of the year honors and a national championship in 2002, after progressing to Kenyon Midgets.
By the end of 2003, Clauson had progressed to running Sprint Cars, where, at the age of 13, he was twice as young as most of his competitors, but he still continued his winning ways, earning rookie of the year honors yet again.
The end of 2005 brought a huge turning point to Clauson's career when champion car owner Chip Ganassi recognized Clauson's incredible talent. Clauson signed on with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) as a development driver and spent 2006 running both Sprint Car and United States Auto Club (USAC) races with Ganassi's support.clausenvlgateway2007.jpg
ARCA Career
In 2007, Chip Ganassi made the decision to start phasing Clauson into his stock car program, thus he began his stock car career as a 17-year old high school student.
"Once Chip decided to get me involved with the stock car program, I started running some ASA Late Model races and some ARCA races," said Clauson. "My career kind of just progressed from there."
Clauson has a total of six ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards races to his name, but to say he was a quick-study in stock cars is an understatement. While running in only those six races in 2007, Clauson racked up some impressive stats, including a win at Gateway International Raceway and four top-5 finishes.
"I really enjoyed racing in the ARCA Series. It was a lot of fun," said Clauson. "My best ARCA memory would have to be winning at Gateway. It was a lot of fun. That place is such a unique race track. It is so different on each end, so you really have to be on top of it. You have to be able to handle driving the car when it isn't handling perfect, and we were just better than any other car in the field that day."
Moving On
After turning 18, Chip Ganassi wasted no time in moving Clauson up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS). Clauson competed in his first NNS race at Richmond International Raceway in the fall of 2007.
"Running in the ARCA Series was a lot of fun, and it really helped with my progress into the Nationwide Series, although there was still quite a learning curve," explained Clauson. "The NNS cars are a little bit different from the ARCA cars, and some of the tracks were a lot different too."clausencrewchief.jpg
In 2008, Clauson had the opportunity to run a 21-race NNS schedule with CGRFS, while sharing a ride with teammate Dario Franchitti. He continued to impress during the '08 season, earning two top-10 finishes, one top-five and a pole while finishing runner-up in the NNS rookie of the year race - pretty impressive stats for a part-time rookie.
Clauson's racing luck ran out in 2009 when CGRFS had sponsorship troubles and had to drop their Nationwide Series program, forcing the 19-year old driver to lose his ride.
"I definitely went through a big learning curve coming from the ARCA series to the NNS, but it was a lot of fun. We had some good times and some bad ones but it was definitely a lot of fun and it made me a much better race car driver for going through it."
What is Bryan Clauson Doing Now?
After losing his NNS ride, Clauson was forced with the decision of what should I do now? The answer to that question was simple - go racing.
"Going back to the USAC Series was a little bit of a forced hand," explained Clauson. "We were planning on continuing with the NNS stuff in 2009. In December of '08, I was sitting with nothing going on and decided that rather than sitting and waiting for something to fall in my lap, I would go back to what got me here in the first place, obviously that was to go racing. With all my open wheel stuff in the past, that was my most viable option and the best way to get something put together in a short amount of time and here we are, trying to win races."
Win races he did, Clauson became the most prolific driver in both the USAC National Sprint Car Series and the USAC National Midget Series in 2009, bringing home over 20 victories while being named HARF Driver of the Year and the National Midget Driver of the Year.
In 2010, Clauson looks to continue with his success in the USAC Series, hoping that he will capture more attention and put together a NASCAR ride for 2011. "My goal is definitely to get back to NASCAR," said Clauson. "It was a short-lived career down there and I don't feel like I had the chance to accomplish everything I wanted to. Right now racing in the USAC Series is what I have available. Last year, we were fortunate enough to have a great year and keep our name on the map. We are going to try and do the same thing this year and hopefully get something put together for 2011."
At only 20-years old, Clausen has a bright future ahead of him. He will continue to write his name in the record books for years to come.
"The biggest thing is that you have to do this because you love it," offered Clausen. "You can't do it to get to NASCAR or whatever stage of racing. That will come if you do it because you love it and you do your job in the race car. It's a crazy world and a crazy business and you put a lot of time and effort into this stuff. To do it just to be a NASCAR driver is silly. You have to do it because you love it. It has got to be fun."
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