By Matt Dahlseid

mdahlseid@marshallindependent.com

Brycen Johnson spends his days at his job at Hadley Steel, but even when he comes home, he still can't seem to get enough of working with metal.

In the evening, the 23-year-old Hadley native either comes home and works on his race car with his father or heads to the Murray County Speedway where he competes in the Sportsmen division.

"It's very, very addicting," said Johnson of his fixation with building and racing cars.

Johnson has finished in the top three eight times in 12 races this season and has three wins at Murray County Speedway. He sits in second place in the point standings in the Sportsmen division behind Chandler's Ryan Schuur.

The 2009 season has been Johnson's best on the track in his seven years of racing, but his racing career may be much different if not for an injury sustained by his father, Rande, several years ago.

Rande has been involved in racing at Murray County Speedway since 1974. Over the years, he has been a driver, a board member and has filled whatever other role was needed to keep the track running.

Then, after the speedway was eventually closed down, Rande helped get things going again in the mid-1990s.

Rande was also helping to raise a family while working as a mechanic and tending to business at the race track. With all the time he spent building engines and fixing up cars, his sons Brycen and Chris couldn't help but to develop a passion for automobiles and racing.

"When (Brycen) was a little kid I was supposed to build him a go-kart, but I just got so busy with raising my kids that I didn't get it built," Rande said. "Then I built him a car for the Bombers class and he took to it pretty naturally."

Up until about six years ago, Rande was still revving his engine and putting in laps at the track, though he said he was in it more for the enjoyment than to be competitive. Things changed when Rande had a serious back injury and could no longer race.

With his dad taking time away from the track, Brycen said he felt it was his duty to take over and race the car that his father had driven.

"Dad would be out late nights with his race car and I'd be out there watching him," said Brycen about his childhood. "I really wanted to get into it. I liked driving go-karts and I thought it would be fun."

Rande said that he has seen the passion he possesses for cars and racing come out in Brycen since Brycen began racing at Murray County Speedway.

"He'll work on the car with me and it's a father-son bond kind of thing," Rande said. "He's been really dedicated to working on it. A lot of kids today get fed up with it after a couple of years and do something else, but Brycen likes to do it and this year we're competitive, so we're having a lot of fun."

Brycen and Rande aren't the only men in the family who share a drive for racing. Rande's brother, Mike, has been racing for many years and is still competitive in the Sportsmen division alongside Brycen. Brycen's brother Chris also spent a year competing at the speedway and Brycen said Chris is considering making a comeback.

This year, however, the focus is on Brycen. After trying his luck in the Stock division in years past, which Rande said got too expensive, Brycen said he's having more fun thisy year than he's ever had on the track now that he's back in the Sportsmen division.

Brycen is more than 40 points behind Schuur in the standings and has developed a rivalry of sorts with the points leader.

"When Ryan (Schuur) and I race against each other, it seems like whoever gets out first always wins," Brycen said. "When he gets out in front, I can't seem to catch him. And when I get out in front, he can't seem to catch me. I think our cars are exactly the same."

Brycen said he's had a couple more DNFs (did not finish) than Schuur this year, which is going to make it hard for him to catch Schuur in the standings with four races left in the season. He said he is looking to have a strong finish to the his 2009 and wants to build on his solid year in the future.

Brycen said he's considering switching divisions again and wouldn't mind if he was given the opportunity to take part in the more expensive USRA B-Modified division. But right now, he said he's content racing in the Sportsmen division in the mass of metal he and his father have put so many hours into.

"It's cheap fun and I'm having fun doing it," he said.