Her last name is synonymous with winning races and challenging for championships at Oxford Plains Speedway.

Still, Vanna Brackett would have been well advised to anticipate a steep learning curve and keep her 2011 goals in check, right?

She was, after all, advancing from Oxford’s Wednesday night Acceleration Series into its weekend Championship Series for the first time.

That meant sharing the track with multi-time champions Kurt Hewins, Skip Tripp and Larry Emerson, to name a few. Not to mention the adjustment, or at least the attention, of being the only female driver in a traditionally male division.

So far, in the limited sample of this rain-ravaged racing season, it looks like it’s the competition that needs to re-evaluate its expectations.

Brackett, 24, has finished sixth and second in her first two Strictly Stock starts. That’s good for a tie for fourth with Emerson in the point standings, nine points behind co-leaders and feature winners Hewins and Tripp.

“I started third from the back. It was only our second race, so I had to start up back with the rookies,” Brackett said of the runner-up finish in her last race June 4. “I just went up the outside.”

Yes, that’s tradition. Vanna is a third-generation Brackett to star at the storied oval.

The most prolific branch of that family tree — her father, Tim — is a two-time Late Model champion. Brother T.J. builds and races cars in the top division, as well.

Vanna joined the fun soon as she reached the minimum age to compete. Seven seasons in the Ladies division produced two season championships, two triple crown titles and 35 wins, a modern-era record for women at the track.

“I would have loved to move up sooner,” she said. “I needed to try something new.“

Gene Hatch furnished that opportunity last September, offering Brackett his car to drive in the Strictly Stock portion of the open competition Little Guy 100s.

Brackett’s ninth-place finish doesn’t tell the full story of her Strictly debut.

“That was after we pitted under green because the car was overheating,“ Brackett said. “We were up to fourth or third before that. We came back out and passed the top three cars on the outside.”

Hatch and co-owner Kevin Burgess quickly finalized plans to put Brackett behind the wheel for a full season. Brackett’s parents, Tim and Jennifer, remain heavily involved in her racing endeavors.

In an economy where the number of sponsors and cars is in decline, the team has a full complement of supporters on the hood and the body panels: Gene’s Auto Repair, Burgess Race Room Supports Our Troops, Phil’s Super Variety & Grill, Jonathan’s Restaurant, Gerrity Industries, Parks Performance, Jim Childs Paint & Auto Body, TJ’s Pizzeria, NAPA of Winthrop, Bill’s Automotive Repair, Winthrop Electric, Bryant Plumbing & Heating, Tucker’s Auto Repair, American Legion Riders Post 40, Twin Town Glass, Fast Eddie’s Drive-In, Beaver Brook Campground, Above All Contracting, Inc., and Sons of the American Legion Post 40.

And those goals? Actually, they haven’t changed.

“I’d like to get Rookie of the Year. It’s only two races, but we seem to have a pretty good handle on that,” Brackett said. “We’d like to stay in the top five in points. And win a race, of course.”

Her first opportunity is Saturday on Maine State Lottery Fireworks Night. Weather permitting, there will be five Strictly Stock points races in July.

Based on early returns, it appears that the division is more balanced than a year ago, when Hewins won 10 of 16 feature events.

That’s a lot like the numbers Brackett used to put up in the Ladies division.

“I like it a lot better. There’s more competition and more cars,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like any one person will win most of the races this year.”

Left turns

• From the It’s Never Too Late Department: Geoff Low of Minot ended a 25-year drought Wednesday night, winning the Renegade feature at OPS. Low led from wire-to-wire in the Acceleration Series main event for six-cylinder cars. A retired grandfather of three, Low won two features in Oxford’s infamous Figure Eight division in the mid-1980s. After a lengthy break from the sport, Low has dabbled in OPS Wednesday and Saturday competition in recent years.

• Canada has been good to Farmingdale’s Johnny Clark. For the second time in three weeks, Clark prevailed in a Pro All Stars Series journey across the border, winning the 150-lap race Sunday at L’Autodrome Chaudiere in Quebec. Clark, a five-time PASS North series champion, also took the checkers at Speedway 660 in Fredericton, New Brunswick and at Scarborough’s Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in the spring. PASS makes its first Oxford appearance in five years on Saturday, July 23, for a 150-lap event on the eve of the TD Bank 250.

• Calvin Rose Jr. of Turner leads the North East Mini Stock Tour standings through four races. Rose, who also is competing in both the Late Model and Mini Stock divisions at OPS, has a 36-point edge over Bath rookie Rob Greenleaf. In addition to a win at Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl, Rose has two runner-up efforts and a third-place finish.

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