Brent Darroch finally gets his championship
After two runner-up finishes, Darroch finally finishes first at Tournament of Champions
NORWALK, Ohio (November 1, 2012) – Brent Darroch is a bridesmaid no more.
Finishing
second in the world twice in the past three seasons, Darroch finally
broke through at the 2012 IHRA Summit Racing Equipment Tournament of
Champions presented by AMSOIL with his first career championship by
beating fellow divisional champion B.J. Bianchi in a battle of the
heavyweights for the Stock Eliminator crown.
But it was far from easy.
After two runner-up finishes in the TOC, Brent Darroch finally broke through in Memphis
Darroch
actually broke the motor in his 1994 Chevrolet Camaro the week before
the race and had to completely overhaul the guts of the car prior to the
World Finals. And with a fresh setup and a new bullet Darroch traveled
to Memphis International Raceway with the goal of making it one step
further than his previous two TOC appearances and he did just that in
spectacular fashion.
"This win means everything to me. We have been working so hard for a
couple years at this, chasing points and even finishing second in the
world twice before. To get this monkey off my back means the world,"
Darroch said. "To make things even more unbelievable, I broke the motor
last weekend and we had to rebuild it. We came down here with a fresh
motor, fresh clutch and not a single pass until the time trial the day
of the race.
"To go from a broke motor without a single pass on it and a brand new setup to winning the whole thing, all I can say is wow."
It
is worth pointing out that despite this being Darroch's first
championship, the Monaca, Pennsylvania native is no stranger to winning.
In fact Darroch holds the best record of any driver in the history of
the Summit Tournament of Champions with three appearances in four
tournaments and a 13-2 record. But until this year's tournament Darroch
had never been able to break through in the final, losing to Michael
Beard in 2009 and Phil Combs in 2011.
"I
have never really been a person to give up. I always feel like things
happen for a reason and if it wasn't my time to win, it wasn't my time
to win," Darroch said. "We worked really hard the past few years and
especially this year and God was with us and helped us out. And now to
win this whole thing and to share this with my family, it is amazing."
Trying
to avoid being a three-time runner-up, Darroch went into the final
against another driver with a lot of experience in the winner's circle
B.J. Bianchi with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Both drivers
matched up pretty evenly; with Bianchi winning the Division 2 title on
the Summit Pro-Am Tour and Darroch claiming the Division 3 title and
both drivers put the manufacturer war to the test with Darroch
representing Chevy and Bianchi piloting a Ford with his '89 Mustang.
Darroch won Division 2 to take a top qualifying spot at the TOC
With
a World Championship on the line Bianchi got off the line first with
very nice .008 light to Darroch's .022, but Darroch was able to close
the gap and crossed the finish line with a spectacular 10.608/118.18 on a
10.60 dial while Bianchi, giving it everything he had, came in .005 too
quick with a 11.325/111.33 on a 11.33 dial to give the Pennsylvania
native the win light.
"I
am always pretty confident, I just feel like you can't go up there and
worry about who you are running, but after finishing second in this race
twice before it really had me thinking," Darroch said. "B.J. is an
awesome competitor and he deserved to win this as much as I did, maybe
more. He actually beat me on the tree, but I dumped him at the finish
line and I had that sinking feeling and when my win light came on I was
like 'I can't believe it, I am a world champion.' A couple of
thousandths either way and this could have been a different race. I am
just grateful that I was able to finally get the win."
While
some of the Tournament of Champions finals featured drivers of varying
skill levels, this race was a battle of two very accomplished racers.
Darroch had two wins in 2012 on his way to winning the Division 3 crown
over Rob Bihl while Bianchi, from Bradenton, Florida, collected three
victories to finish ahead of Myron Piatek in the Division 2 race.
"We
had a really, really good season," Darroch said. "Even before we left I
told my wife that even if we lost first round we had a heck of a season
and we couldn't complain. We won what I think is one of the toughest
divisions in the country and won the Michigan national event. It seemed
like this season all the guys that beat me last year by a few
thousandths here and a few thousandths there were the guys I was able to
beat this year so that helped get the monkey off our backs early."
At
the tournament itself both drivers received a first round bye thanks to
their divisional championships and had to go through some pretty stiff
competition to reach the final.
Ironically
Darroch's first opponent of the weekend was the man he beat to win his
division as Bihl gave him everything he had with a much better light,
but Darroch gained it back on the top end in a race where neither driver
was on their game. Darroch crossed the line .052 off his dial, but
still managed to hold on for the win. In the next round Darroch had
another bad light as Jacob Pitt got off the line first, but once again
Darroch drove around him on the top end for the win.
In
the semifinals Darroch received a bye into the final while Bianchi went
to war with Joel Warren, but Warren made a wild move to the left at the
hit and couldn't run the numbers as Bianchi walked into the final.
Bianchi also recorded a win over Anthony Platania to reach the
championship tilt.
Darroch and B.J. Bianchi went head-to-head in one of the most exciting finals of the night
While
the feel good story of a two-time runner-up finally breaking through
all with a brand new setup is a story unto itself, it doesn't end there.
Darroch's journey gets even more fascinating when you realize that it
has been he and his car together since the very beginning.
"I
have been racing since 1998 with this car. I bought the car brand new
and actually raced it the day after I bought it as a street car. Not
long after I turned it into a Stock Eliminator car," Darroch said. "So
yeah, it is pretty special that this car has been with me through it
all."
Now
Darroch and his championship winning Camaro will enjoy some much
deserved time off before going back at it again in 2013 with possible a
fourth TOC final round on the way.
"This
run has been pretty special and I couldn't have done it without several
people," Darroch said. "I would like to thank Mickey Thompson, Brent
Darroch Motorsports, Darroch Brothers' Auto Body, my family, my wife and
kids, my crew chief Chuck and everyone that has contributed to this
incredible win."
