A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Mason Surgener from Lansing, Michigan. Now at just 16 years old, Mason raced the Bandolero East Nationals At Charlotte Motor Speedway and picked up the victory this past weekend.
"Incredible" Mason said. "This win is very emotional for me and means so much. It's unusual and often rare, but the stars aligned this entire weekend and everything fell in place. The car was perfect, the weather was perfect, and I did my job."
He was able to do the trifecta. He started by winning the pole (despite spinning out in a 5 lap qualifier), he won the heat race and then won the feature. He led both the heat the feature from start to finish in dominating fashion.
In the feature he won by 3.8 seconds and said that he felt focused throughout the event. "I think my uncle Tim was with me" said Mason. His uncle Tim passed away on the last day of his race at Nashville and he put a note in his car that said, "Let's win for Tim". He won that day and won the entire Nashville Championship. "I felt that day he was there" added Mason. "The sticker is still in my car. Before I went out on track yesterday my dad stuck his head in the car and said, "Go win this for Tim" and I did."
"Winning the Bandolero East Nationals is a huge deal, not just to me but to those who race Bandos. I get my name on a shirt that gets printed year after year. It's an accumulation of those who have won it before. Current NASCAR drivers are on the shirt, as well as some really cool drivers with tons of talent. And now they add me to the list. I find that so amazing."
Keep an eye out for Mason as he still has some racing to do in 2021. He has some kart races in Ohio and some local club races still left. They are also looking to see what other Bandolero races my be out there. Stay tuned and don't be surprised when you start to hear about Mason a little more frequently at a track near you.
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