By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

There's not a lot that's going to shake B.J. Dauer.

He's seen just about everything in his eight years of racing in the IMCA hobby stock class.

So when he lost a large portion of the right side of his car after contact from other drivers during a heat race Friday night at RPM Speedway in Hays, he pulled off the track and stopped in front on his trailer.

He crawled out of the car and got to work as the rest of the drivers finished the heat race. After all, there was no time to spare. There still was a feature race to run later that night.

"It's not the first time I had to put a car back together," Dauer said.

His luck didn't change much in the feature, but his driving ability and where he finished when the checkered flag flew showed just how talented of a hobby stock driver he is.

Dauer and another driver rubbed paint on the backstretch early in the race, flattening a right side tire on Dauer's ride. The yellow caution flag flew, and Dauer headed to the pits to get the tire changed.

He made it back on the track before the green flag dropped, but he was relegated to the back for bringing out the caution.

He went on to work his way all the way back up front, finishing third behind teenager Matthew Crowell and veteran Jerry Hudson.

"You've got to advance when you can," Dauer said about working through the pack. "And you have to be cautious at the same time. You have to be aggressive and cautious at once."

Dauer has dominated RPM Speedway this year, along with other tracks in the state -- including WaKeeney Speedway, Thomas County Speedway in Colby and the dirt track at Minneapolis.

Those four tracks are what the Marquette driver is focused on this summer.

"My goal is to win four track championships this year," he said.

According to Dauer, he's won 28 of 31 feature races this year, and that's left him as the outright points leader at three of his four main tracks.

"Sometimes it's like I show up at the track and people stare at you," Dauer said about his success. "People try to rub on me a little harder to keep me from winning. But most of the guys I can race door to door with."

While Dauer comes to the track each night with a large target on his back, that pressure has helped him on the track.

"I've learned patience," he said. "Patience doesn't tear equipment up either. I enjoy working on the car, but not fixing it up."

Dauer, who had more than 100 feature wins entering this year, is closing in on the all-time hobby stock wins record. He also has numerous IMCA state titles.

As of Aug. 18, Dauer was three points shy of Shannon Anderson in the IMCA national points race, and he had a dominating lead in the state points standing.

But Dauer isn't ready to settle on the success he's had. Instead, he's focused on winning each night and possibly moving into the sport modified class next year.

"It's a lot of determination," he said. "That's a lot of it. You have to be determined to win and work for it. I've put in hours and hours of studying to find what works for me."