Lonnie Wheatley, WINCHESTER, Ind. (August 1, 2018) – After an idle day or two on the heels of an impressive USAC Sprint Car “Indiana Sprintweek”, Broken Arrow, OK, native Brady Bacon is eastbound and down for the Fourth Annual USAC National Midget series “PA Midget Week” that fires off Thursday night.
USAC’s PA Midget Week action kicks off at Path Valley Speedway Park on Thursday before moving on to Linda’s Speedway on Friday, Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway on Saturday and then BAPS Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Following four nights of action aboard the FMR No. 76m Midget, Bacon will make the quick turnaround back to Iowa for next week’s 58th Annual Knoxville Nationals aboard the Brady Bacon Racing No. 99 Winged Sprint Car.
Midgets this week and the winged Sprint Car next week comes in the aftermath of seven nights of non-wing USAC Sprint Car action over the course of “Indiana Sprintweek”.
And it was a week in which Bacon continued to show impressive speed each night out aboard the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation No. 99 with a win the opening night out at Plymouth Speedway on July 20 highlighting a Sprintweek that included four top-ten finishes and concluded with Hard Charger honors in Saturday’s finale at Haubstadt.
Sprintweek kicked off with “The Macho Man” notching his fourth USAC Sprint Car win of the season by racing from the fourth position to pace the field the final half of the race at Plymouth Speedway on the way to victory lane, outlasting a leaking right rear tire over the final laps.
“I was getting a little nervous towards the end, I wasn’t quite sure on the racetrack where I needed to be,” Bacon said afterward. “Everything is kinda clicking right now, the car is back to the way it felt in the No. 69.”
After Saturday’s Kokomo postponement, Bacon rallied from 14th on Sunday night, July 22, at Lawrenceburg Speedway to capture his second podium finish in a row by making a late run to capture third at the stripe.
“Our car was really coming in at the end, I think we had the best car at the end of the race,” Bacon commented. “We gained a bunch at the beginning but then we were tight and lost a few spots before we got moving again. We just had to start a little too far back.”
Action continued on Tuesday, July 24, with the Kokomo makeup event where Bacon salvaged a 12th place finish on the night after getting collected in an early race incident.
Bacon was right back in the hunt the next night at the Terre Haute Action Track, landing a front row starting position and racing on to a solid fourth-place finish in the non-stop 30-lapper atop the storied ½-mile clay oval.
Round Five at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway on Thursday, July 26, opened up with Bacon setting a quick time of 12.276 second over a field of 47 entries before wrapping up the night in 16th.
After starting seventh at Bloomington Speedway on Friday, Bacon held steady for a solid sixth-place run before rounding out the long week with Hard Charger efforts at Haubstadt’s Tri-State Speedway on Saturday by racing from 21st to eleventh.
“It was pretty hard to pass with the track reworked before the feature,” Bacon commented. “We made our car a lot better, but we’ve struggled for some reason without a wing here the last couple of times.”
With seven triumphs to his credit already this season, Bacon looks to add his first USAC National Midget triumph of the season to the ledger over the next four nights in Pennsylvania.
Brady Bacon Racing is bolstered by the support of partners including Fatheadz Eyewear, Tel-Star Technology/Port City Raceway, Gene Frankowiak, Cimarron Cycle Works, Priority Aviation, Triple-X Race Co., FMR Racing, FK Indy, Heath Clips Lawn Care, Elliot’s Custom Trailers and Carts, B&S Cattle, Lucas Oil Products, Kiser’s Truck and Auto, Smiley’s Racing Products, Keizer Wheels, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, FK Rod Ends, DMI, Walker Filters, ProGlide Coatings, Octane Ink, CP Carrillo, PAC Racing Allstar Performance, Simpson Racing Products, Driver Websites, Engler Machine and Tool, Wilwood Engineering, Schroth Racing, Smith Precision Products, KSE Racing Products, King Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, FSR Radiators, LRB Mfg. Indy Race Parts, Imperial Wagyu Beef, Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts and the Tony Elliott Foundation.
2018 Quick Stats: 62 races, 7 wins, 29 top-fives, 38 top-tens.
Quick Results: USAC Amsoil Sprint Cars Indiana Sprintweek
Friday, July 20 – 1st at Plymouth Speedway
Sunday, July 22 – 3rd at Lawrenceburg Speedway
Tuesday, July 24 - 12th at Kokomo Speedway
Wednesday, July 25 – 4th at Terre Haute Action Track
Thursday, July 26 – 16th at Lincoln Park Speedway (Putnamville)
Friday, July 27 – 6th at Bloomington Speedway
Saturday, July 28 – 11th at Tri-State Speedway (Haubstadt)
Up Next: USAC National Midgets PA Midget Week
Thursday, August 2 – Path Valley Speedway Park (Spring Run, PA)
Friday, August 3 – Linda’s Speedway (Jonestown, PA)
Saturday, August 4 – Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway (Schaefferstown, PA)
Sunday, August 5 – BAPS Motor Speedway (Newberrytown, PA)
Keep Track: Keep track of Brady Bacon’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.bradybaconracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Brady-Bacon-278125555137/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BradyBaconRacin.
If you would like Brady Bacon Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
(Rich Forman photo)
- administrator on Aug 01, 2018
- Article Date: 8/1/2018 by Lonnie Wheatley