DUQUOIN, Ill. — Imagine you were 15 years old, a race winner in national competition and you were in line for a payday of $34,000 on Labor Day weekend.
At 15, what would you do if you won $34,000? What could you do?
Those are the questions facing North Carolina race car driver Brent Crews as he and the ARCA Menards Series head for the Southern Illinois 100 on Sunday at DuQuoin. Crews’ record-breaking win at Springfield captured the first leg of the Performance Seed Dirt Double — a bonus that pays him an added $20,000 if he can sweep the Illinois dirt miles.
At age 15, Crews’ Springfield win made him the youngest major race winner in the 100-plus year history of racing at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. It was just his second ARCA start, with the other a few days prior on the road course at Watkins Glen.
Crews has experience sliding sideways on both pavement and dirt and he is the youngest winner in Trans Am Series history with victories this year at Detroit and Road America. In addition, he has five 2021 dirt track wins in the POWRi Midget Series for Keith Kunz Motorsports and has competed in ASCS and IRA outlaw sprint cars.
Crews rejoins the potent Venturini Motorsports team for the upcoming race at DuQuoin.
Venturini currently employs ARCA point leader Jesse Love, who ran second at DuQuoin last year.
Crews finished third last year in the Trans Am Series at the age of 14, winning three races in 12 starts. He currently has three wins in nine Trans Am starts with two pole positions. He also leads the point standings. He won five of 30 POWRi midget events in 2021 and finished second in the POWRi championship.
The 15-year-old could become the youngest winner ever at DuQuoin as well.
When Landen Lewis scored an upset win in 2021, he was 15 years, 6 months and 9 days old. Crews’ birthday makes him about a month younger when the Southern Illinois 100 rolls around this year.
The ARCA Southern Illinois 100 is slated for Sunday night, Sept. 3.
