BRP CanAm 2004 Series Review

St. Catharines, ONT… More events, new venues, more competitors, more prize money, new race winners, and outstanding racing which produced an incredible battle for the Series championship highlight the BRP CanAm Super Stock Series 2004 season review.  By all metrics the second year of the BRP CanAm Super Stock Series was a success.

The 2004 Series included 12 events, four more than the inaugural year.  New venues were Freedom Raceway, Merrittville Speedway, and Woodhull Raceway.  New events for 2004 included the Annual Thursday Night Stock Car Race during the McKean County Fair [previously an unlimited late model show] and the Labor Day Race Weekend at Genesee Speedway in addition to those at the new venues.  A total of 83 drivers competed including 26 drivers who did not race with the Series in 2003.  The event average car count was 37 with a high of 48 for the August event at Genesee.  The Series point fund grew from $10,000 to $18,000.  Total purse and point fund paid to the drivers for the 2004 Series was $78,422.  New race winners were Ed Carley [three times], Dustin Croft, Jack Harrington, Andy Miller [twice], and Jeremy Wonderling.  The Series point championship was not determined until the final race when three drivers were separated by only 28 points when the race started and by only 36 points when the race ended.  The champion, Bob Dixon, edged the runner-up, Andy Miller, by three points for his repeat title.

More and new are not always good, but all of those that understand the BRP CanAm Super Stock Series believe that these more and new statistics bode well for the 2005 Series.  If there are any doubters, they should check with the race shops that build these cars and / or the garages where the cars are loved and maintained.  Off-season activity is at an all time high.

Champion:  Bob Dixon of Smethport, PA – 840 points. Dixon took the 2004 point lead for the first time after the next to last event [Woodhull] then held on by a mere three points after the season finale at Little Valley.  Dixon’s only win came in the Fair race at McKean County.  He recorded six top five finishes and was top ten in nine events.

Runner-up:  Andy Miller of Wellsville, NY – 837 points. The Series runner-up topped the points tally most of the season.  Miller won the season opener at Little Valley and the inaugural Series event at Merrittville.  He was second three times and top ten in two other events.  His undoing was a spectacular flight out of the park at Ransomville which not only cost him the point lead, but destroyed his car.  Miller borrowed his dad’s car for the final two events in which he recorded top ten finishes, but the Ransomville DNF could not be overcome.

Third:  Todd Rice of Eldred, PA – 804 points.  Rice finished third in Series points for the second time.  He was winless, but very consistent with five top five and three more top ten finishes.  Rice was the Series point leader for about 24 hours!  Todd lead after Ransomville and was on his way to a top five finish and perhaps a race win and the championship when he tangled with Tim Dunham late in the Woodhull main as the two battled for third position.  That tangle resulted in a 16th place finish and with that a point spread which was more than the 36 points Rice fell short in the final tally.

Fourth:  Jeremy Wonderling of Scio, NY – 750 points.  This second generation race car driver won his first ever Super Stock race and overall had his best season ever in Motorsports.  His first and only win could not have happened at a better time.  It was a BRP CanAm Series event and it was a race that honors the memory of Brock Young, a racing friend and lifelong neighbor.  The fact that the race paid a record $1422 was a nice bonus.  Aiding in Wonderling’s run to fourth in Series points were six additional top ten finishes.

Fifth:  Tim Rockwell of Salamanca, NY – 741 points. Rockwell showed surprising strength with a runner-up finish in the Series opener at Little Valley and never fell out of the top five after that.  Eight top ten finishes in 12 events were a high water mark for the owner / operator who maintains his race car after customer hours at his Tim’s Auto Service in Salamanca.

Race results [top five]:

Merrittville #1 – Darren Kish, Andy Miller, Tim Rockwell, Bruce Miller, Kyle Bradigan
Little Valley #1 – Andy Miller, Tim Rockwell, Todd Rice, Bill Holmes, Jeremy Wonderling
Freedom – Bruce Miller, Andy Miller, Todd Rice, Bill Holmes, Jim Mazur
Merrittville #2 – Andy Miller, Dave Miller, Kyle Bradigan, Jeremy Wonderling, Tim Rockwell
McKean #1 – Jeremy Wonderling, TJ Shaw, Todd Rice, Bob Dixon, Dustin Croft
Genesee #1 – Dustin Croft, Andy Miller, Jim Johnson, Jerry Bentley, Tim Rockwell
Bradford – Jack Harrington, Ron Baker, Wayne Adamczak, Jeremy Wonderling, Bob Dixon
McKean #2 – Bob Dixon, AJ Young, Andy Miller, Jr. Peters, Todd Rice
Genesee #2 – Ed Carley, Jon Rivers, Bob Dixon, Dave Miller, Neil Patterson
Ransomville – Darren Kish, Bruce Miller, Tim Rockwell, Todd Rice, Doug Ricotta
Woodhull – Ed Carley, Bob Dixon, Bob Babbitt, Bruce Miller, Jim Johnson
Little Valley #2 – Ed Carley, Andy Miller, Bob Dixon, Bill Holmes, Bruce Miller

2004 BRP CanAm Super Stock Series Final Point Standings [top 35]:

1. Bob Dixon – 840, 2. Andy Miller – 837, 3. Todd Rice – 804, 4. Jeremy Wonderling – 750, 5. Tim Rockwell – 741, 6. Bruce Miller – 687, 7. A.J. Young – 647, 8. Jr. Peters – 637, 9. Jim Johnson – 623, 10. Jason Dupont – 614, 11. Bill Holmes – 595, 12. Ron Baker – 580, 13. Bob Babbitt – 556, 14. Tim Schram – 525, 15. Dustin Croft – 472, 16. Wayne Adamczak – 445, 17. Darren Kish – 431, 18. Ed Carley – 405, 19. Neil Patterson – 402, 20. [tie] Bo Clark & Chad Arnold – 391, 22. Mike Wonderling, Jr. – 385, 23. T.J. Shaw – 381, 24. Jack Harrington – 357, 25. Alan Wais – 354, 26. Tim Dunham – 320, 27. Jason Tingue – 319, 28. Matt Cobb – 309, 29. [tie] Tom Schnars & Jon Rivers – 306, 31. Jon Lichy – 298, 32. Rick Tingue – 261, 33. Justin Chaddock – 259, 34. Scott Beherns – 245, 35. Paul Grigsby - 227

The Series, designed to promote the very competitive 360 dirt late model [Super Stock] programs which are staged weekly at Bradford [PA] Speedway, Freedom [NY] Raceway, Genesee [NY] Speedway, and McKean County [PA] Raceway, met the objectives of Series organizers Gary Montgomery and Bruce Thompson.  Plans for an even better 2005 Series are underway.