Deuces were wild for Kenny McNicol in the Great Lakes Legends Series (GLLS); he won two early-season races for the second straight year to defend his title in the series’ second season.
McNicol won the opener at Full Throttle Motor Speedway, before finishing runner-up at Michigan’s Flat Rock Speedway and returning to victory lane at Grand Bend Speedway.
His worst results came at Sauble Speedway, where he started towards the back and was caught in a wreck, leading to a DNF on Canada Day. The series returned on the August long weekend for a combined event, where he finished 10th in a 27-car field.
“Definitely a big challenge with the bigger car count,” said McNicol. “I’ve raced with all these guys, from the Canadian Legend Car Series and the Great Lakes Legends, I’ve raced with pretty well all of them. Everybody runs everybody hard, then at the end of the night we go and have a drink together.”
McNicol says there are some strong competitors in the series; there were ultimately six different winners in nine races. Despite the parity, the championship battle was far from his mind; he ended the season with a string of largely consistent results, finishing runner-up in three of the last five events.
“I didn’t think about it too much, we went out every week and raced our race,” said McNicol. “I wasn’t real concerned or focused on the actual championship until the last night; everybody said ‘it looks like you’re going to have this wrapped up.’”
McNicol got the opportunity to start legend car racing a handful of years ago; he’s since purchased his original ride and may bring it back to the track in 2024. For now, he can celebrate being the only champion in the GLLS’ short history.
“It’s always nice to win a second straight title,” concluded McNicol. “We’ll have to see what next season brings and hopefully we can do it again, I’d like to do three in a row.”
