Less than 24 hours before he won last year at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin, World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series driver Brad Sweet was involved in one of the most scary accidents in series history, during an event in Iowa. The wreck tore his car in half and left him with a broken ankle. Sitting in the hospital still at 6 a.m. on race morning, he was not sure if he would even be able to race at Beaver Dam.
After getting released from the hospital later that morning, he made the trip north to Wisconsin to compete at Beaver Dam. With the help of his crew, who quickly put together a new car for him, Sweet was back behind the wheel and by the end of the night was hoisting the trophy for picking up the win. Sweet, who drives the No. 49 for Kasey Kahne Racing, returns to Beaver Dam Raceway this weekend for the Sixth Annual Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial Presented by Karavan Trailers on Saturday, June 27.
“That was a pretty emotional win,” said Sweet. “When you have those types of wrecks, everyone really comes together. We are one big family out here. I was kind of hurting, but I had a great car. That is a testament to my whole team that we were able to get things turned around so quick after having a car split in half and then winning the next night. That shows the preparation of Kasey Kahne Racing. It was really a storybook ending.”
Sweet started third last season in the Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial and took the lead from Bill Balog on the 24th lap and would pace the remainder of the 40-lap contest to pick up the $10,000 win. The California native began his night by turning the second-fastest lap in time trials. He finished fourth in the second heat race to earn a spot in the dash, where he both started and finished third.
“Once you get in the car, you forget about a lot of things,” he explained. “The adrenaline takes over and I think that is the best painkiller there is. We do this for a living, so we have to race night in and night out. Obviously, outside of the car I was in pain, but inside the car it wasn’t something I was thinking about. I was just thinking about getting a win like every other night.”
Sweet, who hails from Grass Valley, California, raced on several tracks in the early day of his career in his home state of California that have similarities to Beaver Dam Raceway. One of those is the high-banked Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, where he finished third earlier this year.
“The racing is always great at Beaver Dam and puts on a good show,” said Sweet. “It seems like it always has a big cushion. It starts off wet and we like tracks like that. It seems like you can really get after it early in the night. The racing is usually two- and three-wide and that suits anyone on the Outlaws tour. We always seem to have a good set-up there as well, which always helps.”
Sweet enters this week’s three races for the World of Outlaws fourth in the series standings. He has a pair of win this year, with the first coming in the finale of the three-night season-opening DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida back in February. He also won in his home state of California at the picturesque Calistoga Speedway. Sweet has 28 top-10 finishes thus far in 2015, with 14 of those being top-five performances. He also has also been fastest in time trials on two occasions thus far in 2015.
“We pretty happy with how the season has been going,” said Sweet. “We always want to get a little bit better. We are all kind of chasing the (No.) 15 (Donny Schatz) around right now. He’s setting a pace that is unheard of, really. He is winning all of these races and it kind of makes you scratch your head and try to compete. Other than that, we are pretty happy with things and feel we are pretty competitive with everyone else. We want to get a few more wins and get things running a bit smoother before we get into the big money races.”
Tickets for the Jim “JB” Boyd Memorial Presented by Karavan Trailers, featuring the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday, June 27 can be purchased online at: http://slspromotions.ticketforce.com, as well as well as at the track and also at participating O’Reilly Auto Parts Stores.
Fans can also take advantage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts $5 OFF Special and receive $5 OFF when purchasing a General Admission ticket at participating O’Reilly Auto Parts stores. The ticket buyer will exchange their O’Reilly receipt for a ticket at the Main Grandstand ticket booth on race day.
For more information on tickets visit slspromotions.ticketforce.com.
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- administrator on Jun 24, 2015
- Article Date: 6/24/2015 by Tony Veneziano