This weekend, Brian Carlson hopes to steer himself out of a two-month long struggle.
It's time he finally puts himself on the World of Outlaws racing map.
As the Linden resident gears up for the biggest World of Outlaws race of the season - the 47th-annual SuperClean Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa, he's focused on the prize.
With the winner of Saturday night's race receiving a record $150,000 - and the four-day total purse more than $910,000, Carlson wants a share of the award.
"It's a bundle of money and I want part of it," Carlson said. "It's definitely a big race. There's a lot of pressure. The race is hard because the points mean so much. It's one of the biggest crowds all year."
Carlson will attempt to qualify for Saturday's Superclean Knoxville Nationals this Friday - after Wednesday's qualifying program was rained out.
Considered to be the premier event in Sprint Car racing, it's a four-day event which features more than 120 drivers and five different features - with the top being the Knoxville Nationals "A" Main Event.
And that's where Carlson would like to end up racing.
But he knows it will take a Herculean effort to get there.
With 4,194 points, Carlson ranks 25th in the standings and he needs more than 2,000 points to climb into the top 10.
Carlson has had a rough season - dealing with injuries, adjusting to new World of Outlaws tire specifications and battling a strong crop of talented drivers.
After injuring his left leg in a May 12 time trials accident at Lake Ozark Speedway in Missouri, Carlson returned to racing in late June.
While he recovered, Carlson missed 13 events.
In his first return to the track after the injury, Carlson won his second-heat race and then finished fifth in the Crane Cams Dash at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Mo.
Despite the finish, he admitted he hasn't had the type of season he expected.
"Right now it doesn't matter where we run night to night in the points," Carlson said. "I'm just concerned about making the show to afford racing. If you travel this far with rigs at $3 a gallon you have to make the show just to pay the bills."
His crew has worked to pick up points in different ways - racing with a different axle width, running with different suspensions with softer springs and working to adjust to the new hard rubber tires.
But none of the adjustments - or the changes in tires - have helped Carlson gain considerable ground.
"Because we were put so far behind the eight-ball in points, we're fortunate we can do some different things with the car - experiment and play with it," he said. "We used different softer springs (which) makes the car squish down or squat down further. . .They should help us on the dry slick tracks better. But it hasn't helped as much as we wanted it to."
Carlson plans on running his same style car in the Superclean Knoxville Nationals.
He'd also like for the rain to stop.
Carlson would rather have a dry track, with more dusty and slick conditions - which he said makes for better racing and a better chance at qualifying in one of the top three races.
"I want to get locked into the 'A', 'B', or 'C' main," Carlson said. "That's what everybody is shooting for. If I'm anywhere in the hunt, I'm going to be happy. . .I don't see any reason why we can't be in the top 10 once in awhile and maybe even surprise some guys that think we're just going to run around the middle of the pack. If we can get up front and stay there, we have an actual chance to win one of these races."
