Julia Landauer Signs With Bruncati for 2017 Season
Thu Jan 05 2017
Charlotte, NC – January 5, 2017
Two-time racing champion Julia Landauer has signed with Bob Bruncati’s Sunrise Ford Racing Team for the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro West Series season. This will be Landauer’s second season in the K&N West Series.
“I’m really excited to take all I learned in 2016 and make a run for the championship in 2017 with Bob [Bruncati] and the Sunrise Team,” Landauer said. “It was a privilege to race for Bill McAnally Racing last year and I’m grateful to get another opportunity to compete for a championship-winning team again in 2017.”
In 2016, Landauer earned two top-3 finishes, seven top-5 finishes, and 13 top-10 finishes to finish fourth in the final series standings, the highest finish for a female in the 62-year history of the series. Landauer also earned the 2016 Driver Achievement award and the Top Breakthrough Driver honor.
A member of the 2016-17 NASCAR Next Class, Landauer was recently named by Forbes Magazine on its Sports 30 Under 30, a list of the “brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers.”
On Landauer’s involvement, team owner Bob Bruncati said, “I am excited that Julia chose my team to advance her racing career. I know together we will win some races in 2017.”
Four-time K&N West champion crew chief Bill Sedgwick will serve as Landauer’s crew chief for 2017. Looking ahead to the season, Sedgwick said, “I think it’s great, I’m looking forward to it. Based on how she raced last year I think we’re going to do good. We have good cars and it’ll be something different [working with Julia]. It’ll be fun?”
Landauer will be competing in the #6 racecar throughout the season.
Bruncati’s drivers won K&N Pro West titles in 2009 (Jason Bowles) and 2013 (Derek Thorn), while drivers for the southern California-based team finished second and eighth in the K&N Pro West championship last year.
Landauer made history in 2015, winning the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Limited Late Model Division championship at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia. She was the first female to win a title in the track’s history. The Stanford University graduate got her start in racecars at the age of 14 as the youngest and first female driving champion from the Skip Barber Racing Series.
The 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro West season begins on Saturday, March 18 at Arizona’s Tucson Speedway and the 14-race schedule culminates on Saturday, November 4 at Kern County Speedway in Bakersfield, California. The TV broadcast schedule on NBCSN will be announced at a later date.