Greg Johnson scored a very emotional win last season at Brownstown Speedway, winning the Hoosier Dirt Classic in September.
On Saturday night, emotions ran high again as the racing veteran returned to victory, picking up his first career Paul Crockett Memorial as part of the Grand Champion Fair Race.
“It’s been a long year. We’ve fought and fought, and I wanted to give up, but after tonight I can’t,” Johnson said in victory lane.
Jared Bailey and Steve Godsey started on the front row of the main event for the Super Late Models.
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Bailey jumped to the early lead followed by Shelby Miles and Godsey.
The caution flag flew early for Devin Gilpin, who slipped off the racing surface on the backstretch.
On the restart, Johnson battled with Godsey for the second spot behind Bailey. Johnson steered his white No. 17 to the bottom groove, as Bailey ran the high side of the track.
Bailey’s momentum wasn’t enough to hold off Johnson, who took command of the race on lap five.
Chad Stapleton threw his name into the mix on lap 13, as he muscled his way to second and set his sights on Johnson for the race lead.
Johnson was blocked by a lapped car, allowing Stapleton to pull alongside to battle for the lead.
The Edinburgh driver briefly took the lead from Johnson before jumping the cushion in turn two.
Johnson then cruised to victory over Shelby Miles, Gilpin, Stapleton, and Bailey.
“The racetrack was in great shape tonight. I just got caught behind that lapped car then Chad (Stapleton) blew around me up on the top, so I said it’s time to get up on the wheel,” Johnson said.
Aubrey Mounce scored her second career feature win at Brownstown Speedway in the Super Stock division, besting Tucker Chastain for the win.
Chastain stole the win from Mounce with a last lap pass on July 13, and Mounce had flashbacks of the upset on Saturday night.
“I knew Tucker was right behind me,” Mounce said. “We went into three and I was blocking. I felt him get into me a little bit, but yea I worked for that one.”
Jamey Wilson, Tim Schumpe, and Matt Boknecht rounded out the top five finishers behind Mounce and Chastain.
Ryan Thomas returned to victory lane in the Modified division, picking up his first win of the season at Brownstown.
Thomas is the owner of Diamond Chassis, located in Brownstown.
He battled with customer Jacoby Hines for the win.
“It always stinks racing your customers, but we had a good race there,” Thomas said. “He left me plenty of room, and I left him plenty of room, and we ran one two and you can’t beat that.
“The racetrack was really good, you had two or three different grooves on it. I knew if we would get some long green flag runs there, I would be really good.”
Rick Gumm recorded his 21st straight feature win in the Pure Stock division.
The Crothersville driver hasn’t lost at Brownstown since July 14, 2018.
“It was slick out there tonight, that was challenging but a lot of fun to drive on,” Gumm said.
Tory Routier, Jeremy Huebner, Zachary Stalker, and Jim Ruddick rounded out the top five.
Bill Grant picked up the win in the Hornet division over A.J. Hobbs, Ryan Hannah, Shannon Walp, and Trent Adams.
Racing action returns to Brownstown Speedway on August 3 with the 15th annual Hall of Fame Classic, which features the MARS Super Late Model Series that pays out $10,000 to the winner.
Johnson looks to carry momentum from Saturday night’s win to next weekend.
“I want to come back and win that 10 grand next week,” Johnson said.
Modifieds, Super Stocks, and Pure Stocks are on the undercard for the event, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with hot laps.