HB MOTORSPORTS IS NOW “MITCH BROWN RACING”
Monday - January - 2013
Since the 2012 racing season officially wrapped up, HB Motorsports has undergone some significant changes to its operations.
Perhaps most important among those changes is the team’s name to “Mitch Brown Racing” – a move reflecting the younger generation of family members now more involved in the ongoing operations of the race team’s activities.
Younger brother Jake Brown is also getting more involved in the team’s racing programs while continuing his schooling at St. John’s High School in Brantford. He’ll be back in the Ohsweken Speedway Thunder Stock division in 2013 piloting his totally reworked Monte Carlo.
The team has also purchased a second Maxim chassis and acquired a new team hauler capable of accommodating the needs for Mitch’s Sprint Car activities – programs that include another regular season of competition in Ohsweken Speedway’s Corr/Pak Sprint Car division plus expanded plans for racing on the Patriot Sprint Tour and other touring series that compete in Ontario, Quebec and dirt tracks stateside.
Where It Began …and How It Developed
Racing in the Brown family began back in the 1950s when Harold Brown and his brother Fred first got into the sport at Bridgeport Speedway near Kitchener. Nilestown and Delaware Speedways in the London area and Toronto’s CNE Stadium became part of their weekly schedule during a time when little thought was given to formulating a business name for the hobby they were setting out in. But when Fred passed away and Harold continued on with his passion for circling the ovals in his hand-crafted Super-modifieds he was tagged with the moniker “Little Ben’’ and car number 1-10.
When the now 77-year old switched to late model racing in the early 1970s he teamed with Brantford businessman and racing buff Tom Hopton and formed a partnership as “Hopton & Brown Racing” competing in Chevy Malibus and Camaros on the paved Southern Ontario circuit.
After a few years away from the ovals, Harold returned with son Doug, (who had been a top runner on the Moto Cross circuit) to the realm of stock car racing and “Brown Auto Racing” carried on the family motorsports tradition first in Enduros, then Street Stocks then into the foray of CASCAR competition.
In 2007 with the formation of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, Brown Auto Racing became HB Motorsports –a business arrangement that lasted until this past season.
Today the senior Brown remains an active member in the team’s car building preparations and Doug continues running the day-to-day operations of the family-owned business –Brown Auto Service – plus the race team. And now Mitch Brown is taking on a bigger role in the decision making of the team’s activities.
Big Challenges Ahead for Team in 2013
Last season Mitch Brown completed just his third year of competition in the ultra-fast world of Sprint Car racing but many who race against the youngster consider him a veteran even at nineteen years of age.
Although he slipped a notch or two from his superb fifth-place finish in the 2011 Ohsweken Speedway Corr/Pak points standings, Mitch may have felt some disappointment with his tenth place posting in this past season’s championship race but he sure didn’t have much time reflecting on the final results.
By the time the checkered flag waved on the final race at Ohsweken Speedway he was already racing home to grab some sleep and pick up his equipment for game two of his hockey season with the Caledonia Pro-Fit Corvairs of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
As team captain, he definitely knows how to lead by example and has already potted a few goals and added assists to his team’s main goal of capturing a league championship.
But come the start of the 2013 racing season in May his Big Goal switches from the ice to the dirt ovals again where he knows he’ll have some major challenges to face in order to make a serious bid for Ohsweken Speedway’s Championship and move into a challenging role in the Patriot Sprint Tour.
Younger brother Jake also knows that he’s got to raise his program a notch or two in order to challenge for the Thunder Stock title.
Both brothers appear to be up to those challenges but there’s still a lot of work to be done in the months ahead as they plot their plans to reach their goals.
Sincerely,
Ken Spencer
Marketing and Media Relations
HB Motorsports