Now that the 2004 race season concluded and the points have been tallied, Brandon has finished 3rd in BMARA point standings. As for the National Midget Driver of the Year Points Brandon finished 7th among of 100’s of other drivers all over the U.S. Brandon now looks forward to the 2005 Chili Bowl in Tulsa, OK the week of January 3. While down in Tulsa, he will be recognized during the week of competition, by receiving an award at a special ceremony at the start of the Saturday nights Main Feature. In preparation for Tulsa, Waelti racing has torn apart the car and given it a face lift. With new paint and numerous parts Brandon has high expectations for the Chili Bowl competition and the 2005 BMARA race season. With the support of his long time sponsors and fans Brandon hopes 2005 is the year for the Title Run with more opportunities to be in Victory Lane. Look for updates on Brandon’s Chili Bowl finishes. Waelti Racing hopes everyone has a great holiday and a successful new year.

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September 17-18, 2004
Jacksonville, FL / Canton, IL

The 2004 race season came to a close this weekend down in Jacksonville and Canton Illinois with the MARA sanction. This weekend Brandon drove the 7H car for Jim Fiscus using a Buzzard chassis and an Esslinger engine. Jacksonville started of well scoring a 3rd place finish in the heat locking
him into the A-Main. Starting 10th Brandon pushed towards the front running the high groove, the result was a 6th finish. Expectations were high but due to the differences between the 7h and 3 car chose to be challenging. The next night Brandon was off to the high banks of Canton Ill. Set-up challenges again, forced Brandon to have to adjust his driving style to the 7h. Having to run the b-main Waelti scored a wire to wire win,but placed him deep in the a-main field. Starting 18th Brandon tried various lines before find one the propelled him closer to the front. When the checkered flag flew Brandon scored a 7th place finish. Brandon would like to thank Jim,Randy,Aaron, and the WOR crew for the opportunity to run the 7h.

Congratulations Brandon on another exciting season!!

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September 5, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

Waelti Racing went into the Firemen's Nationals hoping for a great night of racing and knowing that just 18 points seperated Brandon from a top-three finish in the Badger point standings. For qualifiying, the track started out to be very fast, but quickly went away. Brandon posted a 14.835 time, which was 10th quick in the 44-car field, placing Brandon in the front row for the 50-lap main event. Brandon started in the back of the fourth heat and moved into third by the end of the second lap and second a few laps later. A yellow flag came out for a stalled car; on the restart Brandon gave Badger Champion, Scott Hatton, a good battle, but held on to second at the checkered flag. Starting on the outside pole for the A-Main, Brandon took a few laps to find his groove, remaining in the top six for most of the race, with 15 laps to go, Brandon took advantage of his new found groove and moved up to fourth where he finished the event. With this strong run, Waelti Racing made up the difference in points and finished third overall in the Badger point standings.

Thank you to all of our sponsors and fans for your support in this great racing season!

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August 29, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

Brandon qualified 11th quick in the 39-car field placing him deep in the third heat where he brought home a fifth place finish locking him in to his inside sixth row starting position for the nights main event. Brandon battled in the top ten slicing and dicing back and forth with Aaron Fike and Davey Ray when caution came out for a flat tire on Aaron Fike's car. On the restart, Brandon was in the fifth spot where he battled wheel to wheel with Davey Ray who passed him on the last lap placing him in the sixth position at the end of the event. Brandon remains fourth in the Badger point standings, just 18 points behind Chad DeSelle.

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August 22, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

Returning to The Prairie after a top ten finish in Farley, IA on Saturday, Brandon started out the night making the most of qualifing last in the 31 car field with a time of 14.914, sixth quick and placing him in the Trophy Dash. Brandon started on the outside pole for the event and after leading for the first lap settled into second where he remained for the event. Heat Two showed Brandon starting in the seventh position, he went on to a third place finish to secure a top five starting position for the nights 50-lap A-Main. Brandon battled wheel to wheel with Aaron Fike, Brad Kuhn, and Aaron Fiscus for the first 30 laps of the event when he hooked the cusion coming out of turn four, severly bending the right side kick out towards the tire. Luck went the way of Waelti Racing as a red flag came out at the same time. The crew thrashed hard to get the kick out to the point that Brandon could remain in the race. He restarted the race in the fifth position and held on to finish the event in sixth. Brandon remains fourth in Badger points just 11 points behind Chad DeSelle.

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Brandon qualified 9th quick in the 31 car field, placing him in the second heat of the night. Heat Two listed quite the line-up with Brandon starting on the outside of the third row with hard chargers Aaron Fike and, current Badger points leader, Scott Hatton right behind him. Brandon made his way to the second position by lap three when caution came out for a stalled car. On the restart, with Hatton on his bumper, Brandon took little time in taking the lead. He led the final five laps of the event taking the checkers by over a car lengths lead in front of Hatton. His victory secured his outside second row starting position for the A-Main. Brandon battled for the lead during the first six laps when he hooked a rut coming out of turn four. He dropped back to eighth at one point but battled back to finish the event in fourth. Brandon remains fourth in the Badger point standings, just 50 points behind Chad DeSelle.

Last weeks momentum carried over to this week for Waelti Racing with Brandon posting his first sub-15 second qualifing time of the year of 14.999, which was third quick. Brandon started last in the Trophy Dash and finished fourth. Next up...Heat Two which turned out the be the Brandon Waelti show. Starting last in the line-up, Brandon quickly made his way into the lead by the end of the first lap where he stayed for the entire race. With the Ford Focus series racing with the Badger Midgets this week, we, once again, saw a slick race track at feature time. Brandon started in the eigth position. He battled wheel to wheel in the top ten the entire race finishing the event in 6th place.

Coming off a frustrating night of racing last week, Waelti Racing was ready for a successful one. Once again, the night started with Brandon posting a top ten qualifing effort, eighth quick. Starting heat three deep in the field, Brandon had to create his own groove on the top of the track to work through traffic, which he did successfully, to finish fourth in the event and securing his starting spot on the inside of the second row for the A-Main. With the MSA Sprint cars running a split show with the Badger Midgets, we saw a dry-slick rack track, which can pose as a challenge. Brandon handled the dry-slick track very well. He maintained a top three position for the first 15 laps when the leaders encountered lapped traffic, by lap 20 he had dropped back to seventh place but quickly found his groove again to battle back to finish a solid fourth in the event.

July 25, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

Brandon started the night out with a good qualifing effort, 7th quick just missing the Trophy Dash and placing his starting position deep in the fast heat of the night where he finished third. Good enough to keep his second row starting position in the A-Main. On the initial start, Brandon jumped into second place and was on the move when Scott Hatton stalled bringing out the yellow at the end of lap one, causing a complete restart. On the second restart, Brandon did not fair so well...He got caught in the middle of a multi-car incident in turn one causing him to restart in the rear of the field. The third restart saw Brandon running very stong, he had made his way to ninth when the car popped out of gear due to some damage to the rear end and drive line causing him to retire from the event.

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Brandon started the night out with a 4th place qualifying effort and a third place finish in the Trophy Dash. He started last in a very competitive 4th heat, with a 5th place finish in mind Brandon dominated not only the field, but the rough track conditions as well to take the lead by lap 4 and never look back. Rough track conditions remained constant for the feature where Brandon started in the 7th position. Brandon patiently worked his way to 2nd place by lap 9 where he maintained his position for the remainder of the event.

The first night back to racing after a couple of rain-outs was a tough one for Waelti Racing. Qualifying was cancelled due to a rain-delayed start to the evening. The cars were placed in heats based on a draw. The heat race started out rough with a three car altercation, involving Scott Hatton, Kevin Doty, and Brandon causing us to with drawl from the event. As a result Brandon had to run the B-Main, where he started deep in the field, but rallied to win! After winning the B-Main, Brandon started the A-Main in the 18th position. The track, while rough, provided opportunities for Brandon to race wheel to wheel, and three-wide at some points, up to the 10th position. Brandon had his sights set on another top ten finish when he hooked a rut in the track and bent the kick-out back into the right rear tire, causing him to retire from the event.

June 20, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

The night started with a seventh place qualifying effort, which placed Brandon deep in the third heat where he battled his way to a third place finish securing him a spot in the A-Main. Track conditions, dry-slick from top to bottom, once again made passing a challenge, but Brandon held on to secure a solid place in the top ten finishing seventh.

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WAELTI SCORES TOP FIVE FINISH AT LIMALAND

Waelti Racing's final stop at the Buckeye Nationals was quite the finale for Brandon and the team. Brandon won his heat race and went on to finish fourth in a very cometitive A-Main. Brandon started sixth and worked his way up to second slicing and dicing with Bobby East and Davey Ray. With just 10 laps to go, the yellow flag flew; Ray passed Brandon for second. Brandon held on to fourth after staging a tough battle with Bobby East, barely being eged at the finish line.

WAELTI FINISHES ROUND ONE OF THE BUCKEYE NATIONALS WITH A TOP TEN FINISH

Round one of the Buckeye Nationals went well for the team with Brandon finishing second in his heat which secured him a starting spot in the A-Main, where Brandon started 11th. Brandon's presence in the top ten remained strong the entire event. Brandon had raced up the the 7th spot when a yellow flag came out. He lost a couple of positions on the restart, but held on to a secure a solid 10th place finish.

WAELTI SURVIVES LAPPED-TRAFFIC AND HOLDS ON FOR ANOTHER TOP TEN FINISH AT THE PRAIRIE!

Brandon started off another night of racing on a strong note qualifing third, making the dash, and winning his heat. Brandon started the A-Main in the eighth spot working his way into the lead on the ninth lap. Brandon was soon passed by Scott Hatton, but his presence remained very strong in the top three. With around 10 laps to go, the leaders began to work their way through lapped traffic which posed some very interesting racing situations for everyone. Brandon did an excellent job of racing them clean and held on to finish the A-Main in the 7th spot. Brandon remains fifth in the points standings, just 27 points behind Kevin Doty.

Waelti Racing will be traveling to Ohio this week to compete with USAC in the Buckeye Nationals. They will be in Attica on Wednesday, Fremont on Thursday, and Lima on Friday. Updates of these events will be posted as received from the team.

June 6, 2004
Sun Prairie, WI

Brandon started the night out qualifing fourth putting him in the Trophy Dash and finished fourth and being placed in the third, and very strong, heat. Brandon battled wheel to; wheel with Jerry Coons, Jr., Davey Ray, Randy Koch, and Michael Kendall finishing sixth and having to run the B-Main which he led wire to wire, redeeming his 7th place starting spot for the A-Main. Brandon maintained his 7th place position for almost the entire race on a very demanding one-groove race track.

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Waelti traveled to Knoxville, IA this past weekend to compete in the 3rd annual Pepsi/Mt. Dew Knoxville Midget Championships. The field of midgets consisted of 43 very well known and highly competitive drivers this year, and, as luck of the draw had it, Brandon was in a heat with seven of the best in the business including Josh Wise, Davey Ray, and Brad Kuhn. Brandon started on the pole and gained a half of a straight-away lead over Davey Ray when the caution flag came out on lap 4. On the restart, Brandon was beat through turns 1 and 2 by Davey Ray, but still managed to hold off Brad Kuhn and Josh Wise to finish second in the heat and qualify for the feature race on Saturday night. While Brandon finished well enough in his heat race to qualify for the feature, it posed a bit of a challenge in setting up the car as Brandon only saw the track in hot laps and then not again until after several races later when the feature was run. Brandon started the feature in the 10th spot and battled in the top 10 to 15 for the first half of the race and fell back a few spots by the end of the race finishing 21st.

May 21, 2004
Terra Haute, Indiana

Waelti had a successful night by qualifying and finishing in the top ten in the historic Hut 100 in his first attempt at making the race. Waelti pulled a late qualifying draw but yet still was able to qualify 16th which was quick enough to start on the inside of row no. 6 for the 100 lap race. The race proved to be challenging, trying to set up for a 100 laps around the historic half mile. Maintaining a fast pace Waelti ran mid pack throughout the race competing with Corey Krusemen, Jerry Coons Jr., and Bud Kaeding. At lap 60 USAC red flagged the field for a mandatory fuel stop because of the long length of the race and also were able to make a few chassis adjustments. By the end of the race Waelti finished a strong 10th among many USAC regulars.

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May 16, 2004
Angell Park Speedway
Sun Prairie, WI

The night started off on a high note for the team with Brandon qualifing in the top ten and then going on to win the third heat, holding off hard chargers Scott Hatton, Chad DeSelle, and Josh Wise. Brandon's qualifing effort sealed him a front-row starting position for the 50-lap A Main. After leading and surviving the first 28 laps which were filled with caution flags, Brandon battled in the top five for the remainder of the event finishing 4th behind Scott Hatton, Josh Wise, and Kevin Doty.

Our next event, weather permitting, is this Friday at Terre Haute, IN "The Hut 100".

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