Chris Windom is a two-time USAC national midget winner this season with CMR, but he pointed out that “no win on the schedule would be quite as big as the BC39 for this team.
“We’ve had great cars all year long, and I think we’ve had somewhere between 12 and 15 wins between the three of us (Courtney, Wise and Windom),” he added. “I know we’re going to be one of the top contenders, and they brought good cars here last year, so I know I just have to go out and do my job.”
“Hopefully one of us can bring that trophy back to the shop on Thursday night in honor of BC.”
Even series rookie Andrew Layser, who competed in the inaugural running last year driving for Alex Bright, recognizes full well the added importance that competing this time for CMR carries with it.
“It’s the pinnacle of the season. Not just for USAC as a series, but especially for the Clauson Marshall team, racing inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” noted Layser. “There’s not too many people that get to say that they do it, and even fewer who get to run up front here. It’s really special, for so many reasons … just the meaning of it with Bryan and the whole Clauson family. It’s beyond words.
“Bryan was one of the best race car drivers of our generation, and just a great person as well,” Layser added. “He was someone that you never heard anything bad about, just because of how great of a person he was, and someone that I looked up to growing up. You see all those qualities through his family; it’s a great family, and they really open their arms to everybody.
“It’s neat to be able to have a race in honor of him like this.”
NASCAR star Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will join the full-time CMR quartet to give the team a five-man assault on the Indianapolis dirt bullring this week.
For all 90 drivers in attendance at The Dirt Track at IMS, winning is the goal, but for the Clauson-Marshall Racing squadron that goal takes on a far greater importance.
“I think if you’re any drivers, there’s really no other goal,” said Wise of winning the BC39. “But I do think we want to win more than anybody else, and we have a lot of extra motivation going into it, for sure.”
The second annual Driven2SaveLives BC39 powered by NOS Energy Drink returns to The Dirt Track at IMS Sept. 4-5, with 90 cars and drivers set to do battle on the quarter-mile dirt oval set inside The World’s Greatest Race Course.
Wednesday night’s program will feature hot laps, 12 heat races and the 25-lap Stoops Pursuit event, while Thursday’s action will include qualifying races and the alphabet soup leading up to the 39-lap, $15,000-to-win grand finale.
For event-specific information, visit www.thebc39.com.