(Bill W) February 22, 2016 – Brady Bacon was back in the States to open his 2016 USAC National Sprint Car campaign with the Hoffman Racing #69 team last weekend. The team peaked with a second place run on night two of the three-night USAC lid lifter at Bubba Raceway Park near Ocala, Florida. The three nights of racing followed a successful midget campaign in Australia that saw victory at Lismore Speedway in New South Wales. Brady will pilot the Josh Ford #73 with the World of Outlaws at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas, March 3 and 4.
The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver spent three weeks “Down Under” in late January and early February racing a midget for Gavin Ohlback. “It was really fun,” says Brady. “The people were nice. We had a couple of rainouts in there. We ran fourth in the opener (at Archerfield Speedway). We should have run second, but I made a mistake and got shuffled back.”
After running second in his Dash at Lismore Speedway, Brady would fend them off for a win there on January 30. “We were able to win at Lismore Speedway,” he says. “We were able to get out in the lead and take that one. Gavin gave us some nice stuff to run and I’d like to thank him again.”
The final weekend was in Sydney. “We ran third on the prelim night in Sydney (at Valvoline Raceway),” says Brady. “Unfortunately, we had a motor issue on the final night. It was a crazy night where we had a chance to win. If we could have been there, we would have had a shot at it.”
Last weekend, things started at Ocala on Thursday. Brady would time in eleventh quick. “We went out late and we just didn’t have it tight enough,” he says. “It was already pretty slick in qualifying. We were able to win our heat and that put us outside row five for the feature. The track was really slick, and about halfway through and it started to get some rubber on it. We were too tight when that happened and we used our tires up. We had gotten up a little further than eighth, but that’s where we wound up after the tire gave in.”
He would time in fifth quick on Friday. “The track was faster,” says Brady. “That made it a little harder to pass in the heat (he went from fifth to fourth). We started fourth in the feature and we were running second pretty quickly. We followed (Robert) Ballou there. I tried something on a restart and fell back to third.”
Brady would reclaim the runner-up spot. “I was riding in third and the top three were all running the same speed,” he says. “No one was making any mistakes. I was able to get to second on a restart. We were right there with Ballou, but at that point, it was kind of one-lane around the top. We ended up running second.”
On Saturday, the track gave in quickly come feature time. Prior to the feature, the team timed in third quick and won their heat from sixth. “We had a good car, but the track took rubber so quickly, it caught us off guard a bit,” says Brady. “We knew it would take rubber, but not that fast. We were just too tight. We burnt the tires up. We ended up changing both rear tires and came from the back to twelfth. We were able to get some of our points back at least.”
Brady was encouraged by the early speed of the Hoffman entry. “It was a frustrating end to the weekend, but we definitely had a lot of speed,” he says. “We’re going back to some of our normal stuff, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
Follow Brady on his Website, Twitter and Facebook!
Follow Brady at his website located at www.BradyBaconRacing.com! Also keep up with him on Facebook and Twitter (which also can be accessed at the website) at the following links…
Twitter Link – http://twitter.com/BradyBacon
Facebook Link - www.facebook.com/pages/Brady-Bacon-Racing/278125555137
Partner of the Week – Heath Clips Lawn Care
Call Heath Clips Lawn Care in St. Charles, Missouri for all your lawn needs! Call them today at (636) 299-3092! Associate Marketing Partner of the Week – Diversified Machine, Inc.
DMI offers a number of racing components including Bulldog rear-ends, micro components, hubs, steering accessories, drivelines, suspension components and much more! DMI is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Visit them online at www.DiversifiedRacing.com!
Brady Bacon Racing would like the following sponsors for all their help: Print Place, Fatheadz Eyewear, Triple X Race Co., Tel-Star Technologies, PPM Titanium Products, KTA Kiser’s Truck and Auto (formerly Sham’s Garage), Heath Clips Lawn Care, Chubby from CnB Mushroom Farms, Lucas Oil Products, Lightning Wings, CP Carrillo, Keizer Wheels, Smiley’s Racing Products, Eaton Industrial Coatings, Sweet Mfg., Butlerbuilt Seats, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Proglide Coatings, Diversified Machine Inc., Fuel Safe, Allstar Performance, Simpson, Octane Ink, Schroth Racing, Wilwood, King Racing Products and Schoenfeld Headers. The Hoffman #69 sprinter is sponsored by Mean Green, Mopar, Triple X Race Components, Hoosier, DMI, Lykins, Engler Machine & Tool, Goodridge Fluid Transfer Systems, KSE, MPD Racing, CSI Shocks, XYZ Machining, Saldana Racing Products, Fuel Safe Racing Cells, Fastener Specialty Motorsports, Wilwood Brakes, Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil, Zemco Headers, Chalk Racing Products and Weld.
Photo: Brady in midget action “Down Under” (Scott McNicol Photo)
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