1/26/2022
Redwood Acres Raceway
2021 Legends Season In Review
There was little doubt as to who the fastest driver was in Redwood Acres Raceway’s Legends division during the 2021 season. While he had plenty of challengers from out-of-town, Brandon White was the clear favorite race-to-race and his speed paid off with the track championship for the Legends. White won a total of six of the 11 main events he started while also finishing in the top five in all of those races.
Going into the final weekend of events in the Fall Spectacular, it appeared as though Chris Lawrence was going to hang on and earn enough points to take the season crown. Up until that point, Lawrence had started every race while White had missed the early season double-header feature event on May 15. In fact, Lawrence was the winner of the dual feature events and while he didn’t have White’s speed, he was the “next man” on most occasions throughout the season. Unfortunately, Lawrence was unable to race during the Fall Spectacular weekend which allowed White to overtake him in the standings. If 2021 is any indication, the 2022 Legends division will likely be settled between the same two drivers.
Brett Murrell is anything but a rookie when it comes to racing at Redwood Acres Raceway but 2021 was his first year racing a Legends car full-time. Murrell’s earned rookie of the year for the division but his past experience behind the wheel allowed him to adapt quickly to the different handling characteristics of the Legend as he was a top five regular from the start of the season and finished third in points. The only thing Murrell seemed to lack was the knowledge it took to keep his car’s handling under him through long race runs. With a full year under his belt, expect Murrell to step his game up in 2022 and perhaps win a main event or two.
Only two drivers started in all 13 main events for the Legends in 2021. Tyler Krupa was one of them as he finished fourth in the standings with six top five finishes. Krupa showed great speed many times during the year but he didn’t have the consistency he needed to contend regularly for wins. Andrew Thornton was the other driver who started every race. Thornton placed fifth in points and even though he only had a single top five finish, his place in the standings was a testament to the importance of starting every race and running each and every lap possible.
The competition in the Legends division should improve even more than it was in 2021. A total of 40 different drivers raced in the class on the year and the car count should be even larger in 2022. The top out-of-town driver was Cody Winchel. In seven races, Winchel won three races while finishing in the top five six times. There’s little doubt Winchel will be a huge threat every race he starts in 2022. West coast late model super star Jeremy Doss was the only other driver to win for the year. Doss won both main events during the Fall Spectacular weekend.
Submitted By: Matthew Sullivan