In seven seasons racing in three different divisions at Coos Bay Speedway, Brody Montgomery has never finished below second in the track‘s points standings.
“When you say it like that, I‘ve never really thought about it like that,” Montgomery said when he was reminded of that fact.
If things go according to plan on Saturday, he can add a third championship in the last four years to his already storied career at the NASCAR-sanctioned .375-mile dirt oval track in Coos County, Oregon.
Montgomery has two wins and 10 top-5 finishes in 10 races this season with a 14-point lead in the America‘s Mattress Super Late Models division at Coos Bay with championship night on Saturday. For a season that didn‘t get off to the best start, the 22-year-old is happy for the chance to bring another trophy home this week.
“Honestly the season started out awful,” he said. “It started out just mediocre basically, not doing too well. A couple top fives, a top three here and there. And then this last few weekends we‘ve figured some stuff out about our car and how I was driving the car and that‘s helped us a ton getting consistent and actually winning races finally again.”
Coos Bay Speedway | Facebook | Twitter
Montgomery knows a lot about winning races at Coos Bay. He began racing there when he was 15 in the hornets division. At the time, Montgomery was racing against his dad, Justin, in the same class.
Justin was a seven-time Oregon state champion on a 4-wheeler, and raced micro sprints and full-sized sprint cars as well. He got out of racing when Montgomery was born, but decided to give the sport a second try with a hornet car when Montgomery was 14.
“I thought it was the coolest thing on the planet,” Montgomery said. “So that next year they bought me one and it started from there.”
Even though Justin had much more race experience, it was the younger Montgomery who got the best of his dad that first season.
“I won 13 races in a row and he finished second like 11 of those,” Montgomery said.
Did that help with bragging rights around the house?
“Absolutely,” he said with a laugh.
“It‘s been pretty cool being able to race with him throughout the years.”
Montgomery raced in the hornets division for two years, finishing second in the points twice. He then moved up to the sportsman late model class, which he won the first year. Another move up to the super late model division the following year saw more early success. He won a track championship there in his first year, and was second in points last season.
Even though Justin isn‘t able to race anymore, the Montgomery duo keeps the sport in the family. Other than one other crew member who washes the car and changes the tires, it‘s mostly all the Montgomerys when it comes to set-up and maintenance.
While Montgomery said that can be “honestly, frustrating at times,” he loves seeing the success the two are able to find together.
“I won‘t do it without my dad,” Montgomery said. “He‘s had to go places a couple times and I won‘t go racing without him. So when we quit it‘ll be the day he quits.”
Coos Bay Point Standings
Montgomery also said he has a lot of really great people who help back him and his racing, from the car owner to his family. That and the rush of being in a race car is what makes it all worth it.
“A lot of it is components,” he said. “We just have good shocks and motor and stuff like that. I‘ve been lucky enough to get a good car.
“I love most the adrenaline. Probably the adrenaline is the coolest thing about it. But second to that is absolutely being able to do it with my dad and make everything work so well.”
After championship night, the Montgomerys will take some time off from racing to run their business — a cleaning facility for cranberries in Oregon that requires 12-hour shifts from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. and another through the night that last through the end of November.
Brody does plan to attend the Wild West Shootout in Arizona in January. But for now he‘s focused on adding to his trophy collection at his home track Saturday night.
“I would like to have a win Saturday but Braden Fugate and Preston Luckman are very, very stiff competition. So it really comes down to whoever starts in front kind of finishes in front a lot of the time,” he said.
“Honestly I would like to load the car in the trailer, preferable with a trophy on top of it.”
NASCAR Championship Night at Coos Bay, featuring America’s Mattress Super Late Models, Sportsman Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Outlaws, Hornets, JR Stingers, Dwarf Cars Pro, OTRO Hard Tops, will begin Saturday at 6:30 p.m.
