Lucas Punkari
While the first month of the 2011 racing season has gone nearly picture perfect for Don Bowman, the Bemidji, Mn.-based Street Stock driver knows his good luck could change at a moment’s notice.
“We could be having a conversation in three or four weeks, and my performances could be nothing like this at all,” he reasoned.
“That’s just the nature of the sport.”
Bowman, who turns 63 in September, currently leads the division point standings after four weeks of action—17 points clear of Libby Wilson heading into action this coming Saturday (weather permitting).
That lead stems from a pair of feature wins, which also were nights that saw Bowman also capture the checkered flag in the heat for a clean sweep of the event, and overall consistency, with his worst finish up to this point being a third-place showing in the feature race on Canada Day.
“I’ve taken a little bit of a different attitude towards racing this season,” Bowman said.
“I’m just trying to let things come as they may and not really trying to force anything,” he explained. “And because of that, I think I’ve been able to have a really good year so far.”
After running three nights in the Midwest Modified division back in 2006, Bowman has spent the last few years in the Street Stocks at the Emo Speedway, piloting the same car for the last four seasons.
“It’s a 1979 Chevrolet Impala body with a 350 Chevy engine in it,” he noted.
“The main cage was built by Jay McDonald, who is well-known in the Upper Midwest for his work with Modifieds, and the rest of the chassis was done by Jerry and Scott Messner,” he added.
Bowman originally got involved in racing in 1997, owning the Street Stock and Super Stocks car that Jerry Messner drove for four seasons.
“We went our separate ways after that and I decided, at the age of 53, to start driving myself,” he recalled.
“I spent a couple of years in a Pure Stock under the NOPA sanctioning body that was prevalent in northern Minnesota at that time, and after that I went into the WISSOTA type of Street Stocks and I’ve been doing that ever since.”
At the moment, Bowman, who owns Surplus Outlet in Bemidji, is planning on just running at the Emo Speedway for the rest of the season, with the overall goal of capturing the Street Stock title.
“We know that we have to show up every race night in order to win a season title,” he stressed.
“The main thing is to be here every night in order to make that a possibility,” he reiterated.
“But as tight as things are right now, we could have a mechanical problem in the middle of a race that could change the scope of the point standings.
“I’m certainly thankful to be in the lead at this point in the season, but I’m keeping things realistic enough to know that I might not finish that way.”
Part of that belief comes from the competition in the Street Stock division, which Bowman feels is improving each and every race night, especially with some of the younger drivers.
“I’ve been out here just long enough to see some of these kids start from scratch and I’m now seeing them get better and better every season,” he remarked.
“The competition level is starting to toughen up a little bit, and that is nice to see.”
