ELMA, Iowa -- For the last five years, Brandon Hare has made a habit of taking home some hardware from the dirt tracks in America’s heartland, as well as a pocketful of cash in year-end awards from the American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series.

Not only did he compete in more events than any other USRA driver in any division, Hare also joined an elite group of racers by defending his USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mod National Championship to become a two-time champion this year.

The 25-year-old from Elma, Iowa, notched 14 feature wins in 63 starts, but perhaps even more impressive is the fact that he won at seven different tracks in three different states.

Among his victories was a pair of Iron Man Challenge events where he finished third in points in the tough-as-nails tour. He also recorded four wins at the Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minn., where he claimed the track championship in the division’s first season at the popular high-banked 3/8-mile oval.

While 2011 marks his second straight USRA National Championship, Hare also finished in the top-10 of the USRA Hobby Stock national points three times – 8th in 2007, 2nd in 2008 and 4th in 2009 – before moving up to the open-wheel USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mod ranks.

This year’s Iron Man Challenge Champion, Cayden Carter of Oskaloosa, Iowa, wound up second in the final rankings, followed by Winona, Minn., drivers Jake Timm and Shaun Walski.

Tracy Johnson of Lake Preston, S.D., rounded out the top 5 in national points with a mere 11-point cushion over his brother, Tyler, and also claimed his third track championship at the I-90 Speedway in Hartford, S.D.

Hare is just the third driver to capture the USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mod crown. Tony Dunker was the first champion in 2006 while Matt Jones won it three times in a row from 2007-09 prior to Hare’s repeat effort.

Hare will collect a national points funds check worth $2,000 plus track points funds and numerous contingency awards.

Final USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mod National Points (top 10):

1. 56 Brandon Hare, Elma, Iowa ... 4428
2. 10 Cayden Carter, Oskaloosa, Iowa ... 4351
3. 19 Jake Timm, Winona, Minn. ... 4324
4. 95X Shaun Walski, Winona, Minn. ... 4297
5. 19 Tracy Johnson, Lake Preston, S.D. ... 4250
6. 91 Tyler Johnson, Sioux Falls, S.D. ... 4239
7. 76X Troy Hovey, Decorah, Iowa ... 4222
8. 83 Kylie Kath, Owatonna, Minn. ... 4190
9. 88X Jimmy Broszeit, Postville, Iowa ... 4176
10. 5X Patrick Carney, El Paso, Texas ... 4124

Tenth place will take home at least $250 from the points fund and each eligible USRA Karl Performance Parts B-Mod track champion will pocket $500.

In each of the four USRA-sanctioned national divisions, a driver’s best 20 events based on points earned from March 4 through Oct. 16 applied toward American Racer USRA Weekly Racing Series national points. In order to be eligible for national points funds, a driver must possess a USRA competitor license and have competed in at least 50% of the events held at any one USRA-sanctioned racetrack (minimum of 8 events with a minimum of 4 starts).

Despite being one of the smallest dirt track racing sanctioning bodies in America, the USRA will distribute a national points fund of more than $60,000 in the four classes plus thousands in contingencies from USRA marketing partners. The USRA will also dole out track points funds which are among the highest-paying in the nation for dirt track racing.

The USRA was founded in 2002 with the sanctioning of Modifieds and Stock Cars at the Thunder Valley Speedway in Fayetteville, Ark. Hobby Stocks were added in 2003 and the organization grew steadily over the next three years with 14 tracks hosting USRA events in 2005. The B-Mod division arrived on the scene in 2006.

Champions were not crowned in individual divisions during the first four years, but an overall National Champion was crowned in 2005. Earning that honor was Modified driver Ron Luitjens of Brewster, Minn. Since then, USRA Weekly Racing Series National Champions have been crowned in all four premier divisions.

During the 2011 racing season, more than 2,000 individual drivers competed in USRA-sanctioned events at 37 unique dirt ovals in Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.

To learn more about the USRA, visit www.usraracing.com or call 515-832-6000. You can also like us on Facebook, join us on MySpace or follow us on Twitter.

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USRA OFFICIAL SPONSORS: American Racer Racing Tires, Awesome Race Suits, Intercomp, Karl Chevrolet, Karl Performance Parts, KEVKO Oil Pans & Components, Nitroquest, RACEceiver, RHS – Racing Head Service, Western Flyer Race Cars.

USRA PARTICIPATING SPONSORS: Boubin Tire & Automotive, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, DAY Motor Sports, DirtKnights.com, SpeedNet Direct.

USRA CONTINGENCY SPONSORS: COMP Cams, Dirthead.com, Eibach Springs, Forty9Designs.com, Genesis Shocks, Hooker Custom Harness, KSE Racing Products, Marsh Racing Wheels, New Vision Graphics, PBM Performance Products, Real Racing Wheels, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products.