9/20/2017
Mike Mueller Is The 2017 Traditional Sprint Car Series Champion
Congrats to 2017 Traditional Sprint Car Series Champion Mike Mueller!
Mike Mueller of Stacy, MN has been trying to win the UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series point championship ever since he earned the GRP Motorsports Rookie of the Year title back in 2013. Mueller has come close, but until this season he had to settle for a spot in the top five behind the point champion. At last Mike Mueller earned his championship title. Putting in a tremendous effort with rock-solid results, Mike Mueller is the 2017 Traditional Sprint Car Series Champion. Mueller won four times, finished in the top five on seventeen occasions, and in the top ten eighteen times. The series raced nineteen full point shows and two non-point events. Mueller competed in all 21 races.
Mueller's first win of the season did not come until July 15 at the Rice Lake Speedway, but he piled up three more after that during the final two months. Mueller won July 27 at the Red Cedar Speedway, August 18 at the Granite City Speedway and on September 9 at the Cedar Lake Speedway during the running of the 17th Annual Richert Memorial. It was Mueller's first win at Cedar Lake, a track he kind of considers as his home track.
His four feature wins this season boosted his career TSCS total to ten. Mueller's first-ever Traditional sprint win came in his rookie season in 2013 at of course the Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids. Mueller has raced five times in his familiar #87 Traditional sprint car at Granite City and has won four of those races. In addition to his wins in 2017, Mueller also has won at the St. Croix Valley Raceway for feature wins at five different tracks during the five years the former modified and super stock driver has fielded a non-winged sprint car.
Consistency usually wins championships, and Mueller was a model of consistency in 2017. The only three times Mueller did not finish in the top ten in a feature race was due to the dreaded DNF. Those three came during a spell in mid-season when Mueller and his team were fighting some engine issues. Obviously they overcame that obstacle and put together a tremendous run during the final two months of the season to claim the championship title over Bryan Roach, Scott Brandt, Jimmy Kouba and Jake Kouba.
Mike Mueller and his dad Herb can be seen at all of the races, as they love to race, have fun in the pits afterwards, and especially celebrate a victory. Often times the Mueller racing team is one of the last haulers to leave the pit area. Several sponsors help keep his Eagle Chassis #87 Traditional sprint car going throughout the course of the season. They include Light Speed Equipment, Zuercher Well Drilling, GRP Motorsports, Bethke Metalcraft, DonCo Renovations, Camelion Batteries and DME.
Mueller joins the list of previous UMSS Traditional Sprint Car Series Champions as indicated below.
2011 - Kevin Bradwell
2012 - Rob Caho, Jr.
2013 - Rob Caho, Jr.
2014 - Cam Schafer
2015 - Rob Caho, Jr.
2016 - Rick Kobs
2017 - Mike Mueller
Article Credit: Greg Parent, UMSS Media Director
