Matt Janisch is 2014 ATQMRA champion
AMERICAN THREE QUARTER MIDGET RACING ASSOCIATION
Matt Janisch is 2014 ATQMRA champion
By DINO OBERTO
(NAZARETH) Consistent, fast and victorious can best sum up the championship winning season for Matt Janisch who captured this year’s driving title with the American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association (ATQMRA).
From his season opening race win at Mahoning Valley Speedway followed with back-to-back scores at Borger’s Speedway which were winged and non-winged then another at Bethel Motorsports Park and finally finishing off by capturing the season finale at Wall Stadium Speedway during Turkey Derby, Janisch was in top form during each and every race.
“At the beginning of the season I wasn’t really planning to run for points but we went out and won the first few races and they had double points this year and I was able to win both of those events so from there on I just figured to run the season and see how we fare. As it turned out we were pretty dominant,” said Janisch, who hails from Nazareth.
“I know the quantity of cars wasn’t there at times but there was no shortage of competition. All the good cars that run upfront were there so it never really took away from the way the fields where from few years ago.”
A win is always special but for Janisch the victory at Wall brought much meaning. Not only was it his first time in Victory Lane at the 1/3-mile oval which ultimately cinched the 2014 title, but it also was a bit of redemption as well. It was at that very same season ending race a few years ago that Janisch was stripped of victory and the title after he was disqualified for a rules infraction.
“I had never won at Wall before in a TQ and we’ve been going there for a quite a while and I never really had any luck there. I tried a bunch of different things just to experiment and we definitely found something,” said Janisch.
28-year old Janisch, who has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University, has been at the wheel of a race car since he was a kid. Aside from a go kart title at Shellhamer’s Speedway, this marked his first time winning a true driving title.
Interestingly is the fact that his background is on dirt with a specialty coming with Micro Sprints. However, when the chance to run a TQ Midget came his way he showed how well he can handle himself on blacktop. Over the past few seasons Janisch regularly picked up feature wins with the ATQMRA.
And now he becomes etched in the record books as the champion of the 57th season on the ATQMRA.
“I was actually close a couple of times over the years to winning the title and to finally nail it means so much because there is so much history behind with the club,” said Janisch.
“That’s one of the neatest things about this. When you look back at the names that have raced with the club a lot of them all went on to do bigger things in their careers. That’s one of the significant things to me about racing with the ATQMRA.”
Janisch had worked with Mark Manieri at MMF Chassis and collaborated with him to refine the championship winning No. 48 car. Manieri had always built dirt cars and Janisch had experience in the TQs.
“I had approached him (Manieri) about doing an asphalt car. The majority of was my design and he did the fabrication.”
His dad, Mark Janisch has been by his side for each race. Blu Metz is also credited for his support to the Janisch team.
Next for Janisch are plans to run indoors at Fort Wayne, IN December 26-28 at the Memorial Coliseum Expo Center. He’ll be doing double duty with a Micro Midget and a 600cc Micro Sprint. He will also compete during the indoor shows at Trenton and Atlantic City with a new car he looks to debut with.
