Brady at speed at Badlands (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
(Bill W) August 23, 2016 – Brady Bacon wrapped one of his best weekends in with one of his worst days as a racer last weekend at the Gold Cup at Badlands Motor Speedway near Brandon, South Dakota. The good was second place finishes in both the prelim and the finale of the Gold Cup for the winged cars.
Now for the bad…The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver drove from Sioux Falls to Springfield, Illinois and back (1200 miles) after the Tony Bettenhausen 100 Silver Crown race was rained out on Saturday. The plane that USAC was promising after the event was canceled with the rainout. After finally driving back to Badlands, he flipped his non-wing #99 not once, but twice. “Everything that was bad about Saturday, I did twice,” he jokes.
The Gold Cup followed the Knoxville Nationals for Brady. “We qualified decent every night at Knoxville,” he says. “Gray Motorsports built that engine, and it helped our program a lot. We just couldn’t get a balance in the dirty air there all week. You get messed up once or twice at Knoxville, and it cost you a lot.”
Brady finished tenth in the 77-car Friday night program, locking himself into Saturday’s B main. “We made a couple of mistakes on Friday night,” he says. “Without those, I think we had a shot at moving up and locking in on Saturday. I lost a couple spots on a late restart, and that was that. I was pretty happy overall. Our qualifying was encouraging, and Knoxville is a tough place. We’re not going to hang our head about finishing in the B there on Saturday night.”
What was supposed to be a four-race swing for the USAC midgets last Sunday through Wednesday in Pennsylvania, turned into a rain fest. The series got just one show in at Lanco’s Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown. Brady was racing in fourth when he got tangled with a lapped car. That sent him to the tail where he would salvage a 13th place finish.
Last Friday at Badlands, however, things were going well. He timed in seventh quick afer coming out 24th in the order. “I didn’t make the best qualifying lap to be honest,” he says. “The car was better than I was out there and I didn’t make the best laps. We were able to go from third to second in the heat, and seventh to second in the feature though. We were pretty maneuverable on the top and bottom. At the end of the race, the bottom went away and being on the top didn’t put us in the best position to pass (Craig) Dollansky.”
Then came the fruitless trip to Springfield and back for the non-wing prelim at Badlands. “Saturday may have been the worst day in my racing career,” says Brady. “I flipped twice, once in qualifying…we put a new rear-end and driveline in it, and went out and wrecked in the B again. We kind of shook it off and just focused on the wing car for Sunday.”
That focus paid off. “We had a really good car all night,” he says. :We drew an eleven for the Dash and drove up to seventh. In the feature, we started seventh and got up and we were contending for the lead right away in the feature. We just couldn’t quite get by Rico (Abreu). We got beside him a couple of times, and got really close on the last lap. We couldn’t quite get there. It was pretty good money, but it still doesn’t feel good when you could have made a whole lot more! We were definitely happy with the car and our performance. We could almost taste that win, but we couldn’t quite get there.”
This week marks the Smackdown at Kokomo Speedway in Indiana. The USAC point leader is looking forward to racing the Todd Keen #18 in the non-point race on Wednesday, before getting in the Hoffman Racing Dynamics #69 the rest of the week. “We’ll race Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the Hoffman’s,” says Brady. “We’ve had a really good racecar at Kokomo this year. The last time out we came from the back to fifth, so we’re really excited about the week. I think we’re going to be good.”
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Gray Motorsports – NHRA Pro Stock drag team and driver Shane Gray. Visit them online at www.GrayMotorsports.com.
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
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Brady Bacon Racing would like the following sponsors for all their help: Fatheadz Eyewear, Viper Risk Management Group, 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, Factory Kahne, FK Indy, 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/Dynamic, Inc. #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 at speed at Badlands (Jeff Bylsma Photo)
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