Jim Morrison of Antioch saved the best for last.
A longtime fixture at Wilmot Raceway, Morrison closed the door on his racing career and did so in style, winning the 20-lap feature race in the modified division. He was racing and winning at Wilmot back in the late 1990s.
“This is it,” said Morrison, who finished second to Scott Kuxhouse of Antioch in the season-long driver-point standings. “I’m hanging up the helmet. It’s been a great season, and it’s a great way to finish.”
Kuxhouse dominated the modified division, winning nine of the 12 features and finishing second twice in the rain-plagued season. Ironically, on the night he was crowned driving champion in the modified class at the one-third mile clay oval for the seventh time, he had a horrible run.
In the feature won by Morrison, Kuxhouse had mechanical problems and couldn’t finish the race, finishing 15th in a 20-car field.
“Not the way we would have liked to have finished the year, but it was a great season,” Kuxhouse said.
The champ’s son, Cameron Kuxhouse, also competed in the modified division, and he didn’t even make the field for the feature due to mechanical problems of his own. Scott Kuxhouse races in the No. 57 car, and his son drives the No. 75.
The other area driver to win a title this year was Wadsworth’s Pat Rossman, who finished fourth in Saturday’s main event and secured enough points to win the season-long championships. It was his second driving title at Wilmot.
The other driving champions were Doug Schenck of Cottage Grove, Wis., in the non-wing sprint division, Mark Heinert of Oak Creek, Wis., in the mini-sprint class, and Erik Grosch of Arlington Heights in the Bandit 4-cylinder class.
Grosch edged Carl Benn of Menomonee Falls, Wis., 1,277-1,256 to win the title and had an explanation for why his winning car looked different the final month of the season than it did earlier.
“There’s a little more of a story to the paint scheme of this car,” Grosch said in victory lane. “When we won the championship in 2009, this is the way the car was painted. So we decided to do it again when we were in the battle for the championship to see if it helped. I guess it did. I have to thank my family, crew and everyone who did a lot of work on this car all year.”
Wilmot Raceway is located on the Kenosha County Fairgrounds. There was racing scheduled for 20 dates this season, but a bad run of weather resulted in eight rainouts.
Twitter: @JeffBonato
Mike Babicz contributed to this story.
