Brian Shaw is no stranger to victory lane. He has won more than 200 features since he first started racing in 1991. However, Shaw lacked one significant accomplishment on his racing résumé — a championship. That is, until now. He took home the end-of-the-year crown for the American Modified Series (AMS) in 2021. For Shaw, it was a matter of hometown pride in his quest for the title.
“Where [we live], we’ve had several racers come out of here, and nobody’s ever done it [winning a touring series championship],” said Shaw, 53, of Robinson, Illinois, a city of 7,400 that’s also known for being the birthplace of the Heath candy bar. “I wanted to prove we could do it.”
Running a touring series requires resources. Shaw earns a living by building scaffolding for the local refinery owned by Marathon Petroleum Corporation. He supplements his income in a variety of ways.
He sells racing parts.
Raises sponsorship dollars.
And, he and his 30-year-old son, Brandon, maintain cars for customers, such as Bo LeMastus, CEO of Crosley, whose company also sponsors Shaw’s effort. (For more on LeMastus, see “Bo LeMastus: Bo Loves Racing”.)
“In the modifieds, we just don’t have the help, as far as the people and the money it takes to go up and down the road,” Shaw said of why he typically doesn’t follow a touring series. “Most of the time, it’s just my boy and I. When [Bo] comes, we got two cars that my boy and I take care of. And, we got another car that we take care of, too, [for Jason Highley, of Terre Haute, Indiana] in the AMS. We work twice as hard as anybody out there, just because we take care of so many cars. We hustle to make a dollar to pay for our own stuff.”
Running for a championship requires an additional element outside of resources — a particular mindset. Shaw said he’d be the first to admit that he’s an aggressive driver. However, running for points does not reward those with that mentality.
“I didn’t take as many chances as I normally would,” said Shaw of his championship run. “My main concern was to finish races. I still raced hard, but I was more cautious. I let some things slide … that a couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have let slide.”
At the end of the year, Shaw’s hard work paid off. He won his first championship. Ironically, this year was also his first that he failed to win a feature in 31 seasons.
“I was happy that we could do [win a championship], don’t get me wrong … but it felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders,” Shaw said. “I’m sure my boy and everybody else would be the first to tell you that I was a pain in the ass all year because we were working so hard to win this thing. Now we can go race and have fun.”
With a championship now under his belt, Brian Shaw sets his sights on some R & R, that’s racing and more racing, during 2022 Speedweeks in Florida.
“I’m looking forward to Florida and racing three to four weeks and being able to enjoy it,” said Shaw. “We’ve got some backing behind us, so that we can go down there, race, and have fun. It’s time to get back to winning races.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
