Brady Bacon has won quite a few big races thus far in his racing career, but on Sept. 6, he put himself into a stratosphere unclaimed by any other feature winner on the dirt track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, native made his winning move in traffic with just eight laps remaining to score the Driven2SaveLives “BC39” presented by NOS Energy Drink victory worth $15,000, his first series win of 2018.
“This is definitely up at the top,” Bacon said. “It’s a first-year event, but it’s the first win on the dirt track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and no one can ever take that away. Obviously, there’s a lot of things that make it special for me, the team, Bob (East), Brad (Noffsinger) and Frank (Manafort). As many years as those guys have been together and to still be winning, it’s an honor to work with guys like that. To still want to work this hard takes a lot to be at the top. They’ve done all the work, made the investment in me and still think I’m at the top. This one’s probably going to take a while to sink in.”
After a lengthy rain delay that pushed the evening’s event back several hours, the A-Main pushed off just after midnight for the inaugural 39-lap race where Bacon set forth all the way back in the seventh position.
“(Kevin Thomas Jr.) wasn’t leaving the door open for me until it got a little slicker,” Bacon recalled. “He kept opening it wider and wider, and I was getting a better run. I just had to time it right. I got under him once, and I thought I might’ve given it away by not staying in front of him. We were able to put enough pressure on him and made him think and move around a little bit, which allowed me to sneak underneath him. It was not over by any means because he had a really good race car, too, and traffic could’ve gone in a number of ways.”
The veteran two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ was unflappable, keeping Boat at bay in the final laps to win by a half-second over Chad Boat, Kevin Thomas Jr., Tyler Courtney and KSE Racing Products/ProSource Hard Charger Christopher Bell from 17th.
“I thought we had a really good car from the start,” Bacon said. “I knew I was going to be a little tight at the beginning. We had some wheelies going on, but I knew it was going to come to me. I could see some black come in on the track. We had a really good line where we could throw it sideways and come off straight on the bottom.
“It’s been a season of adversity and overcoming obstacles,” Bacon added. “Having a solid deal here in the midget helps a lot. Everyone who’s involved has pitched in and done their part above and beyond what anyone should expect anyone to do.”
Here are the results:
Feature (39 laps): 1. Brady Bacon; 2. Chad Boat; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr.; 4. Tyler Courtney; 5. Christopher Bell; 6. Alex Bright; 7. Justin Grant; 8. Holly Shelton; 9. Jerry Coons Jr.; 10. Ryan Robinson; 11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.; 12. Chris Windom; 13. Logan Seavey; 14. Zeb Wise; 15. Shane Cottle; 16. Jason McDougal; 17. Maria Cofer; 18. Terry Babb; 19. Brayton Lynch; 20. David Budres 21. Brian Karraker; 22. Tyler Thomas; 23. Tucker Klaasmeyer; 24. Jake Neuman; 25. Dillon Welch; 26. Dave Darland.
Brownstown to host Jackson 100
Brownstown Speedway will host its most prestigious event of the 2018 season on Friday and Sept. 22 when the 39th Annual Jackson 100 will be held.
Activities will start on Friday with the Bowman 50 for the Indiana Pro late model series. Also racing on Friday night will be the pure stocks, hornets, UMRA King of the TQ Midgets, and it will also be Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series qualifying.
On Sept. 22 will be the heat races, B-mains and the Jackson 100 for late models, paying $20,000 to win. Also racing that day will be super stocks and modifieds.
Devin Gilpin of Columbus is leading the current super late model points standings heading into the Jackson 100. Alan Magner of North Vernon is second in points, followed by Steven Godsey of Bedford, Karlie Holt of Orleans and Jared Bailey of Bedford.
Adam Bowman of Seymour leads the next five in points, followed by Shelby Miles of Bloomington, Zak Blackwood of Columbus, Lee Williams of Haubstadt and Brayton Laster of Greenwood.
Jonathan Davenport leads the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship points standings heading to Brownstown for the Jackson 100. Defending series champion Josh Richards is second, followed by Scott Bloomquist, Earl Pearson Jr. and Tim McCreadie. The rest of the top drivers in the series include Jimmy Owens, Bobby Pierce, Don O’Neal, Gregg Satterlee, Darrell Lanigan, Mason Zeigler, Dennis Erb Jr., Kyle Bronson and Ricky Thornton Jr. who is subbing for Hudson O’Neal, who underwent shoulder surgery last month and is out for the year.
Tonight, Brownstown will host the Indiana Pro late models, along with open wheel modifieds, super stocks, pure stocks and a hornet special. For the latest info, visit brownstownspeedway.com.
Twin Cities rained out
The events scheduled for Sept. 8 at Twin Cities Raceway Park in Vernon were rained out.
Tonight, the track will host a regular program of crate late models, 305 RaceSaver sprints, hornets, pure stocks, super stocks and a pure stock powder puff. For more info, visit twincitiestrack.com.
Lawrenceburg racing tonight
Lawrenceburg Speedway will host its Night of Champions tonight. On the race docket are sprint cars, open wheel modifieds, pure stocks and hornets. For up-to-date info, visit lawrenceburgspeedway.com.
World 100 postponed to October
The 48th Annual World 100 scheduled at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, was postponed last weekend and moved to Oct. 12 and 13. Heavy rains forced officials to move the Sept. 7 and 8 portion of the show to next month.
Eldora did get the Sept. 6 program in the books, despite a lengthy rain-delay. That part of the weekend will count toward the October racing action. Scott Bloomquist and Jimmy Owens won the Duel 25 lap $10,000-to-win main events.
Bloomquist tracked down fellow Hall of Famer Billy Moyer to win the first 25-lap main event. Michael Norris came home third, followed Don O’Neal of Martinsville and Dale McDowell.
The second 25-lap feature saw Owens take the win over Brian Birkhofer, Zack Dohm, Brian Shirley and Tim McCreadie.
Eldora will next hold the Four Crown Nationals on Friday and Sept. 22. For further info, visit eldoraspeedway.com.
This week in racing history
From 60 years ago in 1958, it was Joe King winning his second straight feature at the Columbus Speedway.
From 30 years ago in 1988 at Twin Cities, the late model feature winner was Doc Jewell over Lee Fleetwood, Mike Jewell, Robert Brison and Dennis Mace. Mark Barber won the street stock feature over Phil Fultz, Taulby Donnell, Mark Clark and Tim Clark.
