Lonnie Wheatley, WINCHESTER, Ind. (September 18, 2019) – Seven complete races over the course of just four days in three different cars.
It’s a task that is fitting for the racer carrying “The Macho Man” moniker.
Brady Bacon will take in this weekend’s Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial at Wheatland, Missouri’s Lucas Oil Speedway on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Broken Arrow, OK, native will pull double-duty all three nights, piloting the BBR No. 99 Sprint Car in Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour winged 360-Sprint Car portion and the Longworth No. 410 in non-wing WAR Sprint Car action.
Bacon will then round out the weekend with Sunday’s USAC Silver Crown “Bettenhausen 100” at Springfield’s Illinois State Fairgrounds as he tries to get the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 entry one step closer to the series’ owner’s championship.
The Hockett/McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway will mark Bacon’s first winged 360-ci Sprint Car outing of the year that has been filled with Non-Wing, Midget, Silver Crown and winged 410-ci competition.
“We were fast with the 360 the few times we ran it last year, we had a win and had good speed both nights at the Short Track Nationals,” Bacon says. “We have a comfort level going back to it when we got the opportunity.
Bacon looks forward to a change of scenery this weekend in Missouri.
“It’s nice to change it up every once in a while,” Bacon explains. “It’s a good chance to race with different people that you don’t race with a lot and see a lot of fans that we don’t get to see very often and just get back to a place that I used to race at quite a bit. And it’s a race in Jesse’s name, that makes it extremely special to me.”
While the Hockett/McMillin Memorial carries the luxury of no points implications, the ante is upped with Sunday’s USAC Silver Crown card at Springfield.
“We have been qualifying well which helps and we’ve made some adjustments from Du Quoin to improve during the race,” Bacon says. “At the worst I feel like we have been a top-five car each time and have a good chance to win on any night. Klatt Enterprises is leading owner points, so it’s important to put together a couple of strong finishes in these last two races.”
Bacon enters the weekend after a USAC Sprint Car double in which a sure top-five finish at Terre Haute was cut short by a cut tire and then a Hard Charger effort at Haubstadt.
Gridding Saturday’s feature then at the Terre Haute Action Track, Bacon worked his way up to fourth with ease and had more in his sights when a cut right rear tire brought an end to his streak of 21 consecutive top-ten finishes in USAC Sprint Car competition.
“We were fast all the way, we were up to fourth and could have had second with no problem if not the win,” Bacon explains. “Then we cut a tire and hit the wall going into one to end our night.”
Bacon and the Hoffman Racing / Mean Green No. 69 got off to a slow start at Haubstadt’s Tri-State Speedway on Sunday but finished the night out in strong form by rallying from 19th to eighth to earn Hard Charger efforts.”
“We weren’t fast early, then we got going in the feature and we were to seventh at one point,” Bacon says. “Then there was a red flag and we just couldn’t get going after that.”
With an idle weekend for the USAC Sprint Car ranks, Bacon is ready for a healthy dose of ASCS, WAR and USAC Silver Crown action this weekend.
Brady Bacon Racing is bolstered by the support of partners including Mean Green, Fatheadz Eyewear, Imperial Wagyu Beef, Gene Franckowiak, Drivewfx.com, Tel-Star Technologies, B&S Cattle, Lykins Oil, Elliott’s Custom Trailers, Triple X Race Co., Hoosier Tire, XYZ Machine, Factor4, Heath Clips Lawn Care, FK Indy, Engler Machine and Tool, FK Rod Ends, Keizer Wheels, Purple Heart Foundation, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Smiley’s Racing Products, DMI, Walker Filters, ProGlide Coatings, Chalk Stixx, Wilwood Engineering, Lajoie Seats, Smith Precision Products, Allstar Performance, Simpson Racing Products, Driver Websites, Schroth Racing, Saldana Racing Products, KSE Racing Products, King Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers.
2019 Quick Stats: 87 races, 8 wins, 34 top-fives, 49 top-tens.
Up Next: Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour (winged 360) and WAR (non-wing) double duty at Lucas Oil Speedway’s “Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial” in Wheatland, MO, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday; USAC Silver Crown at Springfield’s Illinois State Fairgrounds on Sunday.
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.
- administrator on Sep 18, 2019
- Article Date: 9/18/2019 by Lonnie Wheatley