By Craig Revelle – Finish Line Web Design
With the 2012 racing season on the horizon, Brent Kelsey and the Kelsey Racing team have been hard at work in their shop getting the car ready for a new season. They have also been busy trying to gather sponsorship so they can continue to seek their racing goals, and bring their program to a higher level.
Kelsey Racing, like all other teams in the area have spent their off-season looking for sponsorship. As the economy has fallen on tough times recently, the hard work and determination that carries a team from race to race has to have that same intensity when seeking sponsors.
“It has been tough this year finding sponsors”, admits Kelsey. “We feel that we have a great package to offer any potential sponsors, and we have had several interviews over the winter but have not been able to secure anything yet. We may have to cut our schedule back for 2012, and possibly even look at taking the summer off from racing”.
The personable driver from Plantagenet, Ontario has come along way in his two previous years in the Sportsman division. In 2010 he captured DIRTcar Sportsman Rookie of the year to cap off a season where he finished 3rd in track points at Mohawk International Raceway. In 2011, he again finished 3rd at Mohawk Raceway, and finished an impressive seventh place in the overall Mr. DIRTcar Sportsman Championship tour. Kelsey also ended last year in fourth place in the special Frenchie’s Built Ford Tough Sportsman Series at Mohawk.
“We have had a couple really good learning years the last two years and feel that we are now in a position to contend for the championship and win some races this year”, says Kelsey. “With the help of some sponsorship, I feel we could achieve our goals for this year”.
While 2010 was his first year of racing DIRTcar Sportsman, Brent Kelsey has an intense racing background that all began with his father Terry in the early 70’s racing Snowmobiles, and later on to Stock Cars. Brent followed in his father’s footsteps in 1993 racing in Enduro events at Capital City and would go on to win several events on both DIRT and Pavement over the next few years. In 2003, Kelsey ran the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Pro Truck Series at St. Eustache, finishing seventh in points and became the only Ontario born driver to win the Old Milwaukee 100 at St. Eustache.
Kelsey Racing would also entertain the idea of joining forces with another team, or possibly driving for someone else if that opportunity were to present itself. In the meantime, the team will continue to work hard in the shop and in their search for sponsorship hoping to secure their plans for 2012.
“We have raced at Mohawk Raceway the past two years, and would be happy to go back there again this year, or if we were to acquire sponsorship from companies in other areas we would be more then happy to race at a different venue”, adds Kelsey.
If you are interested in sponsoring Brent Kelsey and working with the Kelsey Racing team in 2012, please contact us. You can reach us by phone at 613-673-5480, by email at brent.kelsey@ocdsb.ca or by visiting. You can also check us out online at www.kelseyracing.ca.
Kelsey has always sported one of the nicest looking cars in the Sportsman class since he began in 2010. (Kelsey Racing Photo Collection)
