Scott Luck (Prairie du Sac) - 2011 RacingOnline.Com Sportsman Champion (Jeff Blaser Photo)

Third in a series of five highlighting the 2011 Dells Raceway Park Champions

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (December 28, 2011) - The 2011 season served as a homecoming of sorts for Scott Luck. Having tested himself at other tracks in 2010, the eventual RacingOnline.com Sportsman Champion was certain Dells Raceway Park was the place for him this season.

Luck, of Prairie du Sac, started his career at DRP racing a secondary car of Brad Luck (pronounced "Luke," no relation). As the two moved up the ranks, they jumped up to the Super Stock division. When DRP decided to transition from the Super Stocks to the Sportsman in 2010, Luck headed to venues where he could continue in the Super Stock.

However, this season, he said he decided to make the transition so he could compete closer to home.

"I always liked racing at the Dells. It's my home," Luck said. "Venturing away makes me appreciate more what we have here. I've been to different tracks and seen their facilities and race operations, they're all good, but Dells is by far the best. That's what made me come back."

In just the first week of action Luck started to establish himself at the head of the class. He set fast time and finished second in the feature event. In the following four weeks Luck set fast time each week and reeled off a win, a second, third and fourth-place finish. Luck then went on to reel off four more wins through the season and set fast time all but two weeks.

"I had the confidence that I could do it every time," Luck said of his stellar qualifying efforts. "I had a fast car and could maintain speed throughout the season."

While setting fast time was no issue for Luck, getting through the field became harder every week. As his fellow Sportsman drivers became more accustomed to their racers, the side-by-side racing became frantic. There were several weeks where Luck was unable to get through traffic until the waning laps of the feature event.

On the weeks that he was able to get through, Luck pointed to a few key breaks that he received to get up front and capture a feature win.

"(I had) the patience to let people make their move and either they progress and you follow them or they didn't and you pass them," Luck said. "The biggest thing that helped me was when the cautions came out, that made people decide to go to the bottom groove or the top groove. When they did that I could go the opposite what everyone else did and it paid off."

Luck credits his ability to choose top or bottom to all of the extra work he put into his racer prior to Saturday evenings. "It takes plenty of time in the shop and a lot of attention to detail to get the car to do that," he said.

As the season progressed, and Luck was weaving through traffic, he found a few new Sportsman cars thrown into the mixer each week. Standouts from other tracks such as Chico Riedner, Randy Bruenig, Jason Thoma and Jason Dunn came to test Wisconsin's Showcase Short Track on several occasions over the second half of the season. Luck said he was happy to see new faces.

"It was definitely a challenge and I always like having a challenge," he said of the outside competitors. "It was good to see those guys show up and make things interesting. It made me concentrate harder on nights in the shop where I could do nothing, or go through and double check and maybe try a little something different to get the car a little faster."

He even credited Jason Thoma's presence to a night where he set the track record. "The one night I set the track record it pushed me harder because he was there. It helps out to have competition," he said.

All challengers aside, Luck reflected on his Championship not only as an accomplishment of 2011, but as one to which his entire career in racing had been leading.

"It's a tough thing to do," Luck said. "When it did happen it meant that all of the other years of racing paid off. Racing isn't something you can start out and win. It took me so long to do it. All of my hard work paid off. Everyone that helped me through the past - it paid off for them too."

Luck said he will return in 2012 to defend his Sportsman crown. He said it will be harder to stay on top, but is ready for the challenge.

In 2011 Luck was sponsored by Fair Valley Performance, Supreme Awards, Sauk Prairie Glass, DSR Chassis and McFarlanes. His crew was composed of David Dederich, Logan Delaney and his mom & dad.

Dells Raceway Park's 2012 opening date is set for Saturday, May 19. The tentative starting date for the Super Late Model's five-race series is the following week, Saturday, May 26. A full 2012 schedule will be released when details are finalized after the first of the year.

Dells Raceway Park is located at N1070 Smith Road, five minutes north of downtown Wisconsin Dells, Wis., off highway 12-16. For more information including the latest news, the 2011 schedule and more visit www.dellsracewaypark.com.