Car owners are a special group. They are willing to spend money — lots of it, too — and in many cases, they don’t even get to drive the car themselves.
When cars get damaged, and it’s always just a matter of time before the next costly repair, owners spend more money to get their expensive toy back on the track.
Many of these car owners are like Alan Bradway and Steve Tuccelli and can be labeled Saturday Night Warriors. Bradway and Tuccelli are brothers-in-law and have owned a sprint car for years, racing regularly at California’s Placerville Speedway.
“My father raced a lot,” recalled Bradway, “and he drove a 320-cubic-inch, four-barrel carburetor modified and we could race at Placerville, Auburn, Grass Valley, Chico, West Capitol. My dad won championships at all those race tracks. All were multiple championships other than Chico.”
Alan Bradway’s racing career started in a hobby stock type car at age 16, but it was not a long-lasting effort in that division. His first race was on the asphalt at Roseville in 1977 where he finished seventh in a full field of cars. He only ran seven races in a hobby stock before moving up to a modified.
“My dad had a modified and I drove it on Friday and he drove on Saturday, so we split the thing,” Alan Bradway explained. “It was Chico on Friday night and then my dad drove it Saturday at West Capitol. I ran his car for one year then I had my own car the next year. I ran that car until 1982 and then started racing sprint cars in 1983. I drove until 1999. I was kind of the average guy.”
Bradway estimates he collected 20 wins with most of them coming at Placerville.
Upon retiring from driving, he became crew chief on a Mike Sala-owned car, driven by David Robinson Jr. Then, in 2002, he and Tuccelli became car owners with the team name that continues today — F & F Racing.
They campaign the No. x1 sprint car because that’s the number Bradway’s father ran when he retired.
“There was a meeting with me, David Robinson Jr. and Terry Buss, one of my crew guys today,” Bradway explained. “We decided to give Steve Tuccelli, my brother-in-law, a call since he had a car and engine also. We had a couple sponsors and the four of us put Steve and me together as car owners. I had a truck and trailer and David Robinson Jr. drove our car until 2006.”
Drivers of the F & F car in order have been Robinson, Colby Wiesz, Andy Forsberg, Mason Moore, a second stint with Forsberg, Kaleb Montgomery and Michael Faccinto.
“As a car owner, we tend to not have as much of a voice as you might think we would have,” Bradway said. “I call myself an average team, a middle of the road team, we come to the big races and seem to get run over by better financed teams. I think there are changes that can be made that will make things better.
“The biggest problem we are having today is the cost of tires, the cost of shocks, the cost of engines, the cost of the whole thing across the board,” he continued. “It’s a hard thing to go out and try to have fun when you need to find another sponsor to help with your tire bill. Tires and engines are just so incredibly expensive today.”
Bradway would like to see some changes.
“There needs to be a bigger gap between a 410 and a 360,” he said. “Instead of running a $1,500 inboard rotor that’s titanium and has all the bells and whistles on it, go with a cast iron rotor which you can buy two of them and run the same brake pads for almost the whole season. The overall car is just getting so expensive. You buy an expensive wheel and then spend another $200 for titanium bolts? That’s crazy. Steel bolts cost next to nothing.
“The first rule I’d come out with if I had any control would be for 360 stuff to eliminate titanium bolts. I’ve got bolts on my car that are $10 and you can go to the hardware store and get two or three of them for less than a dollar. Steel bolts are almost free. We’re trying to keep up with the Joneses and not every one of my wheels has titanium in it. Parts are getting so much more expensive. Used to buy a set of pistons for six or seven hundred, now it’s over a thousand.”
Bradway’s worried about the next generation of racers.
“Where’s our next generation going to come from? Are we running them out? There’s not going to be a Bradway type family that has raced since 1960,” Bradway said. “We do this because we love it. I lost my brother (Dave Bradway Jr.), my best friend, my big brother who you could tell him any problem you had and he would fix it or tell you how to fix it. I hope the sport does not lose the family aspect. We all love dirt-track racing, we all love motorsports.”
The importance of that statement is shown by the race team name.
It has been F & F Racing from the beginning, standing for Family and Friends Racing. The name came about in his garage when David Robinson Jr., Terry Buss, and Steve Tuccelli came up with the name.
Bradway wasn’t particularly impressed with their idea.
“I thought the guys were crazy,” Bradway remembers, “as I’m old school. I was just shaking my head, thinking you guys are nuts. But I’m part of F & F Racing and I’m proud to be part of it. And still to this day David Robinson Jr. is one of my best friends. I truly appreciate the guy.
“I love this sport and the competition. I get as much out of being a crew guy or an owner as I did as a driver for those years that I raced,” Bradway continued. “Maybe more so as I will always be a better mechanic than I was a driver. If my brother’s accident had never happened, somehow I would have probably gone on the road with him, being a crew guy and learn the ways of the road. That is a sad part that I was never able to go on the road with him.”
It is the 62nd year of the Bradway family being involved with open-wheel racing and the 23rd year for F & F Racing.
Making this possible are the sponsors: Geico Local Office, Bushey Financial Service, Lucas Oil, Econo Lube, CRV Carbon Solutions and SC Fuels.
F & F Racing has won 11 championships with drivers Robinson Jr., Moore and Forsberg.