The Booze Brothers have been involved in
racing since they were born. Their father, Charles Booze, Sr.,
built and raced cars as they were growing up, inspiring and
mentoring his son's racing efforts.
Charlie Jr. began his professional career
with a green 4-door Torino that led him to win the 1997 NMCA
Top Stock World Championship. While assisting his brother throughout
the season, Brian became interested in the Pro-Nostalgia class.
Unfortunately, both classes were phased out of the organization
that year, so the team moved to the newly created NSCA organization
to run Brian's 1962 Galaxie, Pale Rider .
After a few years, they began seeing consistent
success and were able to capture the World Championship in
2000. They continued to dominate the class in 2001 and 2002,
setting and resetting the e.t. and mph records, breaking the
8 second barrier, and achieving Brian's Triple Championships
in that field.
Meanwhile, Brian had the itch to get into
Mustang racing and had even purchased a chassis. It was put
on the back burner when he received a call from Kansas City
business owner, Joe Johnston, asking him to drive his Hot Street
Mustang in the 2002 NMRA season. With Brian driving and Charlie
tuning the engine, the team captured their first Double Championship
in the same season by winning the World Championship in Hot
Street as well as the Pro Nostalgia class.
Jim Kuntz of Kuntz & Company, engine-builder
and cohort, continued to urge them to build their own Hot Street
machine and by early 2003, they could no longer resist the
challenge. Along with veteran Hot Street racer and chassis
builder, Matt Wirt, they cranked on Brian's chassis and were
able to turn it out for the first race of the season. Charlie
Jr. took his turn in the driver's seat and drove the BBR Mustang
to a third place finish.
2004 was the most successful season to
date for the BBR team. They accomplished the first perfect
season in NMRA history by achieving top qualifier and winner
of every event. The team also achieved their second Double
Championship season by capturing the World Championship title
in both the NMRA Hot Street and the PRO Edelbrock Pro Stock
classes. The BBR Mustang was the first Hot Street contender
to break the 8-second barrier in both classes.
While Charlie Jr. was busy wrenching and
driving the Mustang in the two organizations, Brian began to
turn his attention to the oval track arena. He attended the
McDowell/Cook Driving School taught by Ray Cook who piloted
the Bill Elliot/Ray Evernham Dodge in the Stacker 2 Xtreme
Dirt Car Series and Dale McDowell, a star in the World of Outlaw
Late Model series. Brian bought his car, a 2004 Ford Taurus
on a Mastersbilt chassis, from Ray. This transaction initiated
relationships that continue to provide racing knowledge and
support today.
The 2004 season yielded positive results
for the rookie driver. After the first handful of races, he
regularly qualified for the feature race and finished respectably
several times. The highlight of the year was a 4 th place finish
on August 14 th in a 40-lap extended feature event.
In 2005, Charlie Jr. brought home the
2005 NMRA Hot Street Championship, becoming the first contender
in NMRA history to win back-to-back Hot Street Championships. Brian
saw success on the oval track, finishing 8 th in points and
awarded Most Improved Driver for the season at Hagerstown
Speedway.
2006 saw Charlie Jr. accomplish a historic NMRA Hot Street three-peat topped only by the fact that it was combined simultaneously with the RAM 10.5 World Championship. Brian continued to improve on the dirt track, scoring his first feature win and landing in 6th place in points at Hagerstown Speedway.
Charlie Jr. was not able to reel in a fourth NMRA Hot Street championship in 2007, but continued the freight train tradition by securing his second RAM 10.5 World Championship. Meanwhile, Brian extended his horizons in the dirt late model field by participating in the O'Reilly Southern Nationals series. He achieved a 6th place points standing with several top 10 finishes and was awarded Rookie of Year. He moved up a notch at Hagerstown Speedway, ending the season in 5th place.
The constant factors in their racing success
are hard work, dedication, persistence, and engines built by
Kuntz &Company. Jim Kuntz has built every World Championship
engine they have raced in every class and every organization
over the past 8 years.
Stay tuned to see the results of Charlie Jr. and Brian's hard work and dedication in the future. |
