Nick Johansen's presence at the race track may be slowing down, but his car certainly is not.
The 32 year-old from Tyler has competed in just 14 races in 2012, but has found himself in the winner's circle seven times. Johansen's most recent win came Thursday at Jackson Speedway, just six days after winning the Norther SportMods race at Murray Count Speedway on July 20th.
Spreading his time across five different speedways in Southern Minnesota, the 2010 Murray County Speedway and 2008 Nobles County Speedway points champion has decided to seek a higher level of competition, rather than another points championship.
"We like to go wherever there is going to be a strong car count," Johansen said. "We're not all for the weekly racing when there's minimal cars. We like to go where the higher money is and where the expected car counts are going to be."
Despite emerging victorious in half of the races he has entered, Johansen has resisted the urge to race more often. For the husband and father of one, racing comes in a distant second to his family.
"We're slowing down," Johansen said of his racing activity. "I'm building on to my family. We've got twin boys coming in October. It gets harder and harder all the time to spend the time doing this with the family around."
The 12-year racing veteran said that, even with a pair of boys inbound, it was not quite time to step from behind the wheel permanently.
"I think we'll continue to race until the kids get into racing and then we'll cut back," Johansen said. "Until then we're going to continue."
So far in 2012, Johansen has raced in Slayton, Jackson, Worthington, Fairmont, and Redwood Falls. Of his seven wins, three came at Nobles County Speedway in Worthington, making it Johansen's most successful track. Johansen has also collected a pair of wins at both Murray County Speedway and Jackson Speedway.
Johansen will have six more opportunities to add to his win total at Murray County Speedway this year, where Johansen is eighth in the points standings despite competed in just four races there. He will also have several more chances to return to victory lane at both Jackson Speedway and Nobles County Speedway, each having five more races scheduled for Johansen's class.