etween
him and the car owner was not there in 2008. The 2008 season was
disappointing for him and the owner as he had only one win and two Top
5 finishes.
As he was evaluating what to do in 2009 he talked to
a long time family friend, Jim Ten Brink. VanDoorn told Ten Brink he
was not having fun, and as a 21 year old he felt racing should be fun.
Ten Brink then had a radical proposal, he would put together a super
late model team to run the CRA Super Series with John as the driver.
With the deal coming together in February, (they did not get the car
until mid-March) it did not leave much time to get the car ready for
the first race at Anderson Speedway on April 11th.
The team consisting of John VanDoorn, his
16-year-old brother Butch, Dean Huizenga, Adam Chase, Dirk Redder and
Jim Ten Brink went to work. John worked with his employer, Port City
Race Cars to get a chassis; they then went to another long time
friend, Jack Jerovsek of Baker Engineering for an engine and built
their car. With many long nights, busy weekends and some of the team
giving up their spring break to get the car ready for the first race.
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|
VanDoorn slips under Eddie Hoffman at
Anderson, on the way to the win. |
"We started with the goal of winning a race this
year and being competitive throughout the season." Ten Brink stated.
"We had decided we had enough to run the first half the season, with
limited sponsorship, and see where we stand then."
The first race at Anderson turned out to be a
harbinger of good things to come as VanDoorn patiently raced from his
second row staring position, chasing veteran racer Eddie Hoffman for
many laps, until Hoffman slid up the track and VanDoorn slipped under
him for the lead and never looked back, going on for the win over
Boris Jurkovic by nearly 2 seconds on the tight ¼ mile track. Van
Doorn then summed up the teams feelings in Victory Lane saying, "New
year, new car, new engine, new owner, it was great to come out and
win. I am proud of my guys, they did not give up on me, helped put
this deal together in just a couple of months, and many of these are
the guys from my old team. I really have to thank my sponsors
Accelerate Liquid Deicing Solution, Port City Race Cars, Baker
Engineering and Pro Cam for all they have done. I am real
excited to be back in Victory Lane, it is a new adventure."
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|
Kaos celebrates championship. |
The new Kaos Racing team left Anderson second in the
point chase and they never fell below that all year. When the team
went to Salem Speedway on June 27th they were in a tie for
first with three time CRA Super Series Champion Scott Hantz. Needing a
solid run on one of the few tracks Hantz has not won on in a CRA Super
Series race, VanDoorn won by over five and a half seconds over Hantz
to take a slim lead. While Hantz would come back to tie the
championship race one more time VanDoorn never trailed again.
"We take pride in our maintenance program." VanDoorn
said. "We check and recheck everything before each race. And we feel
like it showed with us having only one DNF all year, ironically in the
last race of the year."
The team is very proud of what they accomplished
this year as a start-up team that was under funded, and sometimes
struggled to get to the track. "The CRA bonus program, paying out to
us for first place during the season really went a long way to helping
us get to the track for all the races." Ten Brink stated. The team
pulled to the track in a crew cab pickup with a gooseneck trailer, all
of them sharing one hotel room on many road trips.
Their truck caused one of the well-funded traveling
teams from Alabama to comment to them after VanDoorn turned a very
fast lap in qualifying "Guys, we just got our butts kicked by four
hillbillies in a pickup truck." The Kaos team adopted this as a badge
of honor the rest of the season.
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|
The Kaos team worked to change an engine
on pit road before qualifying at the
Winchester 400. |
"We would not be here without the hard work by John,
Butch, and the whole team, they really stuck together this year." Ten
Brink commented. "Our sponsors were great, Baker Engineering, Port
City Race Cars, Magic Transportation, Rip It Energy Drink, R&R
Wireloom and Accelerate Liquid Deicing Solution made this all work.
Jack from Baker Engineering really helped us with the engines, and
Harley at Port City helped John with the chassis. We raced this year
with only one chassis, so we were worried about bending it and really
worked to make sure it stayed straight."
"I really want to say thank you to all my sponsors,
Jim, and the crew." VanDoorn said. "There were so many people who
helped us this year, when we had problems at Winchester before
qualifying, DeWaine and Brent McGunegill were extremely helpful even
though it was not one of their engines and we were pitted next to
Scott Hantz. He and his crew helped us a lot even though we were in a
tight race for the point championship."
Ten Brink pointed to the sense of family and friends
in the CRA Super Series as one of his favorite parts of participating.
"Everyone helping each other, laughing and having fun off the track
and racing hard on it. I really feel like when you have beaten these
guys you have beaten the best. I do not know of anyone better than
Hantz, and I am proud to have raced against them. We were hoping to
just be competitive, to win is unbelievable."