BURLESON, Texas – Fast all season long, Jack Bransom found the momentum he was looking for with his first feature victory.
The Burleson, Texas, driver and Centennial High School freshman went on to win five more times in his last 10 starts and earn both IMCA Mach-1 Sport Compact national rookie of the year and the Boyd Raceway track championship.
He’s just the second 14-year-old, and the fourth Texan in as many seasons, to earn the rookie of the year award in the class.
“I wanted to learn, have fun and get some seat time,” said Bransom, son of 2008 IMCA Crate Model national champion Jay Bransom and younger brother of Jerrett Bransom, who was rookie of the year in the EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars three years ago, at 15. “We didn’t start the season with any goals. We just wanted to do the best we could and have fun.”
He’d raced a mini stock a couple times and thought about getting into a Stock Car. Bransom agreed with his dad that the Sport Compact division would be the best place to get invaluable seat time, promptly turning in a baker’s dozen of top five finishes before getting career win number one on Aug. 1 at Kennedale Speedway Park.
“The biggest things I learned this season were to be patient, how to get through lapped traffic, how to look ahead and how to set up the car,” said Bransom, who did most of the work on his car himself. “There’s really not much you can do with them but I learned what I could do for different track conditions.”
Four of his last five wins came at Kennedale, where he was runner-up in the points race.
“I knew I had to drive harder and be more aggressive. Getting my first win was exciting,” Bransom said. “It boosted my momentum for the rest of the year. I knew I could get some more wins.”