NORTHVILLE – It has already been a memorable summer for Thomas Weisgram and he hopes the fun is just getting started.

The 30-year-old driver from Northville won a Tri-State feature earlier this summer netting him $3,000 and is the current points leader in the Late Model Division at Brown County Speedway.

“It’s hard to be disappointed. We’re still going to be humble and work hard to keep doing better. Just cause we’re leading points now, it can all change in a week,” Weisgram said. “One bad night can change everything. So we gotta focus on still being consistent. Our goal is to win the track championship for sure. That would be really cool.”

A track title is something that Weisgram has yet to experience in his dozen years of competing at the local oval.

“It would mean a lot to do that,” Weisgram said, “especially in Aberdeen.”

Weisgram said he has a “balanced car” this season, and is making the most of his opportunities. He noted that only minor adjustments have been needed so far on Friday nights.

“The set up is really close with different track conditions,” Weisgram said. “It takes minor adjustments to the race car and maybe just minor changes to your driving style.”

Weisgram pays close attention to detail on how the car responds to various track conditions. He has written notes on what tweaks and adjustments were made and what the results have been.

“These Late Models, in particular, they’re really sophisticated,” Weisgram said. “There’s so many adjustments and it’s so easy to adjust yourself out of the race track.”

Racing is much more than driving fast and turning left, but that’s part of the challenge that Weisgram enjoys is figuring out the fastest way around the track.

“That’s what makes it fun. It’s really tough. Everybody is so good. The competion is so close,” Weisgram said. “That’s why it’s really rewarding when you can run well or win a race. … It means a lot because just how much time and effort you put into these things.”

There wasn’t a much better feeling for Weisgram after he captured his largest prize money by winning the Tri-State Late Model Series feature.

There were 52 Late Model drivers at the track that evening. Weisgram noted he caught a couple of breaks in terms of the starting position, which ended up being in the fifth row of the feature.

“We fell back a little bit right away a couple spots and we kept working our way up,” Weisgram said. “I kind of married myself to the bottom of the race track, and I really only moved off the bottom when we had to.”

Eventually, Weisgram took advantage of a late-race caution and sped past the leaders en route to taking the checkered flag.

“Some late-race restarts worked out in our favor,” Weisgram said. “The front guys were running the top and I felt like I had a line around the bottom, and we just snuck by them. It was pretty cool.”

While things have fallen into place for Weisgram this summer at BCS, he is not about to get too excited. He knows that anything can happen on any given night when it comes to racing.

“We’ve just been focusing on keeping it fun and keeping everything in check, because this sport is so humbling,” Weisgram said. “You could win one week and be the highest of highs, and then the next week be the lowest of lows. You could be a DNF (did not finish), you could run last. You just never know what could happen.”

Interestingly it was family that got Weisgram into racing and family that keeps him there.

His father Pat still competes in the Late Model Division.

“He’s the one who got me into it,” Weisgram said. “He started racing the year that I was born, basically, so I’ve been around it my whole life.”

So what’s it like competing against his dad?

“It’s really good,” Weisgram said. “There’s never really any issues, but the gloves are off though on the race track. Nobody takes it easy on anybody.”

Weisgram nearly walked away from the sport this past year because of the time commitment, but his wife and three young sons were the main reason he is back competing each week at BCS.

“They really relit the fire in me a little bit, because we’re really doing it together,” Weisgram said. “A family that races together stays together. … All they talk about is racing. … We do it together. It’s a family thing.”

With a major victory under his belt and the confidence that comes with it, Weisgram is happy he stayed the course and plans to continue circling the track in search of more victories.

“Hopefully, we can keep doing what we’re doing and keep putting ourselves in position to win more races, because there is no better feeling,” Weisgram said. “You don’t forget what that feels like.”

Weisgram said winning a feature race is much different than competing in a team sport that just involves a pair of squads in search of victory.

“It’s one of the most humbling sports you can have. There’s not a lot of other sports where you go out there and your main event you’re competing against 24 other teams. That’s essentially what it is,” Weisgram said. “Think of the odds. It’s not like playing baseball against one other team, you’ve got a 50-50 chance of winning. Like no you don’t. It’s one of 24.”

Now that Weisgram has gotten a taste of what it’s like to win a major feature, the opportunity to obtain more of them will only fuel his desire to add to his racing resume.

“Winning is winning and you can’t really replicate that feeling any other way,” Weisgram said. “It’s just really rewarding, especially when you know how hard that you work for it and what it takes to even just get a race car to the race track.”