Russ Races to Victory N/SS Championship at Indy

Berens comes from back of pack to win on last lap

by Jeff Burk - Photos by Dennis Mothershed

The final race of the 2012 Victory Performance Nostalgia Super Stock Series presented by Mickey Thompson Tires and DragRacingOnline.com was run as a part of the annual Monster Mopar Weekend held Sept. 21-23 at historic Indianapolis Raceway Park now know as Lucas Oil Raceway at Indiananpolis.

Going into the race there were at leas a half-dozen racers that still had a mathematical chance to win the series championship, but everyone thought the race to the Championship would be between the two racers with the best chance to win the series: Dennis Diepenbrock, who was leading the points going into the Indy race, and defending series champ Dan Beale.

The “experts” were all wrong. In the end the winner was Edgar Wisconsin based racer Russ Berens, who came into Indy in fourth place, 50 points out of the lead. His only chance to win the Championship would be if he won the race and both Diepenbrock and Beale lost in the first round. With both of those racers gone after the first round all Berens had to do was win last race of the series  ( they did and he did) to beat some long  odds to win the 2012 Victory Performance NSS Championship.

All Dennis Diepenbrock (foreground) had to do to win the Victory N/SS Championship was qualify his big red Mopar wagon and go one round. He was out in the first round, Directly behind his car in this photo in the waterbox sits Dan  Beale’s Pontiac, After Diepenbrock fouled then all 2011 Dan Beale needed to do was go a round to make a serious move to win his second  Victory National Championship but he too fouled away his Championship.