Blair joining Briggs Transport team in '23
Boom Briggs told DirtonDirt.com during Tuesday's Castrol FloRacing Night in America that his teammate in 2023 will be Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., whose year-and-a-half stint driving for Viper Motorsports is set to end at the conclusion of the 2022 World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series campaign.
Blair, 32, will take the spot on the Briggs Transport team filled this year by Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., who will remain Briggs’s teammate for the final six races of his tumultuous 2022 season. A four-time WoO champion, the 34-year-old Richards’s return to the national tour this year has produced four top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 34 starts and a sixth-place ranking in the points standings amid a string of misfortunes on and off the track.
“We didn’t have the results we expected to have this year,” acknowledged Briggs, whose own 2022 WoO ledger shows three top-10 finishes in 35 feature appearances and an eighth-place standing in the points. “We put this deal together for Josh because he had late notice (he would be without a ride for ’22) from (Clint) Bowyer, and a lot of circumstances — (Richards’s) camper fire (during Speedweeks), getting his nose broke at Eldora (from a clod of mud in late May), he gets Covid and misses Cedar Lake (USA Nationals in August) — worked against him.”
Briggs, 51, and his brother Steve, who runs Briggs Transport with Boom and handles the financial side of the racing operation, decided to bring Blair aboard as the team’s second driver in hopes of strengthening their two-driver program led by crew chief Shane Winans. Blair, who in his rookie season as a WoO regular sits third in the points standings with two victories, 10 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 37 starts, offers attractive manpower assistance from his location barely 40 minutes from Briggs’s shop in Bear Lake, Pa.
“Teaming up with Max was just a great fit from the help standpoint,” Briggs said. “It’s all about help in this industry, and he has some crew help, including his dad Robbie, and he has some funding behind him to bring to our deal. And he’s close to us so he can work at either garage when needed; the logistics of where Josh lived (in western Ohio) made it difficult.
“Max has matured a lot. He’s an awesome dad, family man, and look, I get to race because of family, so it’s gonna be a good fit. I mean, (Briggs’s cousin) Chub (Frank) and Robbie (Blair) raced together for how many years up and down the road? We’ve known each other a long time.”
Richards didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment about his season with Briggs and plans for 2023.
