The Scoop
BRAD “JJ” MUELLER – DOUBLE TROUBLE ON DIRT & PAVEMENT
Posted on: Tuesday September 12, 2023
Random Lake’s Brad “JJ” Mueller continues winning on both dirt and asphalt tracks in 2023.
Brad “JJ” Mueller is one of those rare drivers these days who remains at the top of his game racing on both the dirt and the pavement.
This 54-year-old “Gen X” racer from Random Lake captured the “Super Six” late model series at his home track Plymouth Dirt Track wheeling his dirt late model in ’23.
This multi-time Slinger Super Speedway super late model champion also has found victory lane in the Midwest truck series. This year one of his victories came at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna at the “Dixieland Delight” back in August.
According to Mueller it’s the racing “family” that keeps the sport fun for a guy whose family roots run deep with the sport dating back to the 1970’s. “My uncle Tom and dad Jerry started racing late models in 1974,” said Mueller. “They’d race late models at Hales Corners, Cedarburg, De Pere and even Francis Creek a time or two.”
The team’s first driver was a legend – Adell’s Mike Melius. “I want to say they went with Mike as their driver from ’74 until halfway through the 1976 season, “Mueller recalled. “Mike (Melius’) dad got hurt on the family farm and Johnny Reiser took over behind the wheel.” The team would later go on to field cars on the USAC stock car series starting in 1979.
Dean Roper drove for the Mueller Brothers with a car they built from scratch with a stick welder at the team’s old shop in Random Lake. Mueller Brothers claimed USAC titles in 1981, 1982 and 1983. It was a tough series yet with drivers like Joe Ruttman, Alan Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace, Sal Tovella and Butch Gardner still running strong until USAC finally discontinued the stock car series in lieu of the exploding popularity of the ARTGO and ASA late model series at that time.
During those USAC days Brad Mueller was just a kid hanging around the shop – soaking up all the conversations and knowledge he observed. “Back then you knew every single driver’s name and ever single car that ran in that series,” Mueller said. “I actually didn’t start working on race cars until I got one of my own in 1987.”
Mueller’s first car was one he competed in the super stock class at Plymouth under the program that was run by Eastern Wisconsin Stock Car Association (EWSCA). Eventually Mueller would work his way up into the sportsman division and even wheeled a grand national car owned by Larry Richards a couple of times.
The EWSCA sportsman class featured stock stub cars. “Kerry Scribner was the genius behind those cars back then,” said Mueller, who competed in the sportsman class from 1991 to 1993. “We’d take one of Scribner’s beautifully prepared race cars over to Pete Parker who’d put on one of those Camaro stubs on that chassis.”
While Mueller was a frontrunner in the sportsman division, the track championship at Plymouth always seemed to elude him. “We’d always seem to wind up either second or third in points to Gary Laack and Randy Markwardt,” Mueller said. “Those guys brought their “A” game every single night. True studs and Plymouth legends. I’m still great friends with them to this day.”
In 1994 Mueller, took the big leap and moved to the pavement exclusively for that year. “When Robby Reiser moved down south to work full time I NASCAR, I bought his Lefthander chassis that was a championship car at Slinger,” Mueller said. “A couple of years later down the road I would later buy his Port City chassis as well.”
Brad “JJ” Mueller quickly learned the fast way around the “World’s Fastest Quarter Mile’ at Slinger Speedway, winning three straight titles in the 2000’s. (Dave Drews photo)
During his pavement years Mueller would still substitute for guys on the dirt tracks yet on occasion. Meanwhile Mueller began mastering the “World’s Fastest Quarter Mile” and wound up winning a trio of super late model track titles at Slinger from 2003 through 2005. It was also at Slinger where Mueller formed a friendship and great respect for Neenah’s Lowell Bennett. “I can honestly say since the ‘90’s into the late 2000’s Lowell and I have probably run 10,000 laps together and we’ve never touched,” Mueller said. “Lowell and I have the utmost respect for one another. He’s a great family man and a great friend.”
Mueller has never won the prestigious Slinger Nationals but has three runner-up finishes – all to his friend Lowell Bennett.
There was a point in the 2000’s where Mueller admitted he began to spread himself a little too thin. While still doing the super late model pavement deal, Mueller dabbled in ARCA series racing and ran a NASCAR Craftsman truck a handful of times. “It got to be too much, and we eventually opted to throw our eggs in one basket and focus on our super late model program,” Mueller recalled. “That was a big part to how we got three titles down at Slinger.”
In 2008 Mueller returned to his ‘home track’ Plymouth – in a different division. By this time the legendary Hales Corners Speedway in Franklin had closed its doors. And as such, Plymouth picked up the late model class running under the Wisconsin Dirt Late Model Association (WDLMA) banner headed up by the late Bill Behling. “What’s funny there is I bought a late model from Scott Specht to go racing in ’08 when he bought a sportsman car from me 15 years earlier,” Mueller said. “Scott is my brother-in-law and now his nephew Sawyer Specht runs a dirt late model. So, I get to race against him quite a bit. It all came full circle in a way.”
It didn’t take long for “JJ” to get back to the top of his game on dirt. Mueller won his first late model crown at Plymouth in 2011. He would follow that up with titles in ’13, ’15 and ’17. “After that the Dirt Kings Tour started up and we started chasing a good number of those shows,” Mueller said.
Last winter PDTR opted to not host late model racing weekly, instead serving up a “Super Six” series. Behind the efforts of Chad Marquardt and Greg Wester, the six-race series offered a decent payout and a lot of contingency bonuses, due in part to the efforts of those two. “If we could have gotten eight races it would have been better, but we’ll take six of ‘em,” Mueller admitted. “I’ve always loved running at Plymouth as it’s only 15 minutes from where I live. It’s a track where a lot of my friends and family go.”
The Super Six series at Plymouth was one piece of the BMRE 2023 schedule. Mueller captured that series title. “Between Plymouth and running about 70 percent of the Dirt Kings tour races that filled up our dirt late model schedule for this year,” Mueller said. “We ran Slinger full time for their super late model schedule and then Kevin Barker and I own our Midwest truck together and we scheduled half a dozen of those shows too.”
Brad “JJ” Mueller captured the ‘Dixieland Delight’ Midwest Truck Series race at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, Wisconsin in August, 2023. (Midwest Truck Series photo)
Mueller traded Jeff Steenbergen a trailer for that Midwest truck. It’s not the only trade Mueller worked out. Mueller promotes Slinger Super Speedway’s Sunday night show on his rear spoiler of his dirt late model. That spot was a barter with Slinger promoter Todd Thelen for a billboard at Slinger for Mueller’s BMRE Electrick Carts Co. “For years Bill Behling would promote Slinger on his dirt car and promote Hales Corners Speedway on his pavement cars too,” Mueller said. “So, it’s sort of a throwback of sorts in cross promotion.”
Brad Mueller traded out advertising space on the rear spoiler of his dirt late model with Slinger Super Speedway promoter Todd Thelen.
Whether it’s slinging clay with his dirt late model or pounding the pavement in either of the two other machines at his disposal, Muller has enjoyed all of them – especially the Midwest truck as of late. “The truck we race uses more of an old school setup that we had in the ‘90’s and into the 2000’s,” Mueller explained. “It’s pretty simple. No bump stops. We’re running straight springs. And although I initially wasn’t a big fan of the crate motors, that lower horsepower 602 crate motor cranks out maybe 375 horsepower. It’s quite the equalizer. And as for the motor builders I do feel there is still plenty of business to go around for everyone.”
Mueller is quick to point out that the qualifying at the Dixieland race at WIR in Kaukauna with the trucks this summer saw the top twelve in time were all within one tenth of a second. “On a half mile too that’s pretty much unheard of,” Mueller pointed out. “The truck series has a great mix of new kids and older veterans. When I first raced the truck a year ago James Lynch beat me. He’s like 15 or 16 years old. Some of those kids race you with respect and yet others do not always race with respect. It’s better in the truck series I think because a lot of these kids aren’t getting parked in a super late model right away. Sometimes those teen racers feel a lot more pressure to win when they are put in a late model right away.”
An old friend of Mueller’s, Mike Reichenberger, is another former late model racer who’s taken a liking to the truck series. “Mike’s been a friend for over 30 years. The series has great camaraderie. I think John Wood is doing a great job running that deal.”
As far as Mueller’s future racing endeavors – he’ll continue racing as long as he keeps having fun. “It truly is like one big family. I race against my nephew on dirt. I can still battle with my pavement friends at Slinger and now too in the truck series. Racing truly is like our support system if you think of it that way.”
Of all the different classes Mueller has competed in over the years, he’s never run anything open wheel. “My mom Elaine videotaped all of my races and told me once that if I ever raced a sprint car, she would never come to one of my races again,” Mueller confessed.
Brad Mueller Racing Enterprises (BMRE) team of marketing partners includes BMRE Electrick Carts, Witkowski Dentristry, Bull Dog Woodturning, Bonafide Security Solutions, Wehrs Machine & Racing Products, Pork King Good Pork Rinds, Blaus Meats, Slinger Super Speedway, Suburban Harley Davidson, Greg’s Tap, Action Powersports, Plier’s Full Circle, Rachel PM’s Digital Marketing, Sunset Auto, Hobbytown USA, Hopf Farms and Barker Motorsports.
Mueller’s extensive pit crew consists of Matt Schlelien, Ryan Birenbaum, Kevin Barker, Ross Rate, Mark and Logan Brass, Jim Rohrbeck, Ron Ritger, Greg Dudor, Steve and Larry Lehman, Nic and Ryder Mueller, F.J. Borden and Eddie Bentfield. Family members who remain in his corner throughout all his numerous endeavors include his wife Michel, his kids Julia, Nic and Ryder and his grandson Malcolm.