BRIAN BIRKHOFER DRIVER

THE HALL OF FAME is well represented by an abundance of legendary Iowa dirt racers from the past but a new generation of Hawkeye mudslingers are earning their place among the greats.

As a teenager, Brian Birkhofer broke into the dirt racing game in 1988 competing in the Pro Stock division at the West Liberty Speedway. After kicking around a few years in the support classes, victories began to come and produced a main ingredient needed in any learning curve –confidence.

Soon, Brian’s father Dave, another of those hard charging Iowa dirt stockers, saw it was time to seat his eager son in one of his late models. For a couple of seasons, Brian honed his skills on his home soil, taking feature wins and a pair of track championships at West Liberty.

When the travel bug bit in 1997 Brian opened fan’s eyes on his first visit to Ohio by qualifying an outdated Howe chassis for Eldora’s Dream Race. A victory that same campaign in a UMP Summer Nationals run at Cresco, Iowa, against some of the best in the business also showed his promise.

Soon, while competing on the national scene, big buck wins such as a pair of checkereds in the Fall Nationals on the Springfield, Illinois Mile, the UMP Eldora Fall Nats, the Jackson 100, the Yankee Dirt Classic, Kentucky Lake’s Commonwealth Cup and the 50 thousand dollar to win Freedom 100 at West Virginia Motor Speedway, began to fall his way.

By this time Brian, known by his huge following as Birky, was ranked among the top stars in the sport, recognized as one of best finesse wheelmen in the business.

Amongst a number of major triumphs in 2002, Birkhofer hit the pinnacle of his career by beating fellow Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist coming out of the final turn of Eldora’s World 100. He pulled off a repeat globe winning performance in dirt late model racing’s biggest event in 2012.

Add to his resume wins in the Firecracker 100, the USA Nationals, the Show-Me 100, the Dirt Track World Championship, the Prairie State Classic and two Knoxville Late Model Nationals. His skills have been displayed with all the top tours, gathering up checkereds with Lucas Oil, the World of Outlaws, Xtreme Dirt Car Series, Dirtcar Summer Nationals, NASCAR All-Star Series and others.

Following his triumph at Knoxville in

2014, Birky shocked the dirt late model world by announcing his retirement from full time racing, citing the need for a change. Since then, he has dabbled on occasion competing in a handful of outings on dirt ovals for car owner Jason Rauen.

With a load of accolades, Brian Birkhofer rode through the ranks to become one of the sport’s biggest stars and has well earned his place among the greats of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.

THE OLD CLICHÉ, “nice guys finish last”, has absolutely no bearing whatsoever when speaking of long time Hoosier State dirt racing star Mike Jewell,

One of the winningest Kentuckiana region racers in the history of the sport, Mike got his first taste of driving race cars at the Scott County Fairgrounds competing in hobby stocks in the late 1970s. At the time, he was following in the tire tracks of his cousin and mentor Doc Jewell, a veteran racer on the southern Indiana dirt ovals.

In 1983 Mike graduated to modified stocks with great success, knocking down an impressive 22 victories that season in his home state. The following year, it was on to late models for the Scottsburg, Indiana racer, competing at the legendary Brownstown Speedway. It proved to be a tough, yet valuable rookie learning curve, for at the time Brownstown was considered one of America’s most competitive dirt venues.

As he gained experience, he broadened his horizons and towed south to Kentucky and the Taylor County Speedway, where he captured his first feature win and scored three season track titles. Jewell became a headliner at another Kentucky oval, the Richmond Raceway, where he picked up his first big event, the UMP Bluegrass National, defeating fellow Hall of Famers Billy Moyer and