After his initial success, Bright was offered a chance to return to Australia but knew something was amiss the moment he arrived.
“I get to the airport and the owner tells me he can‘t pick me up so get a taxi and a hotel and I will pay for it tomorrow,” Bright said. “The next day he picks me up, takes me down to the shop and leaves me a vehicle with a trailer. He says he has to go to work so get the car ready and he will have someone come get me the day we go to the races and help me load up. I‘m down there like for four days putting this car together in Perth, and I have never been to Perth before. I don‘t know anybody on that side of the country.
“I get everything ready and head to the track but when I get there, I don‘t have any help,” Bright continued. “Graham Jones, who I only met once, saw I was working alone and said, ‘Hey, where‘s your help?‘ I told him I didn‘t have any, so he said he would give me a hand.”
It was the Australian National title race and Bright finished fourth.Regrouping after the night was over, Jones told Bright, “I‘m sorry mate, this isn‘t how Australian‘s act. How would you like to come down next year?”
Bright agreed and Jones, who didn‘t have a car, said he‘d rent one and get everything they needed. Jones secured a car from Jack Berry and in November 2013 Bright took the top spot in the prestigious Magic Man 34 at Perth Motorplex. Two months later, with award-winning Ed Heffline twisting the wrenches, Bright was on the podium during his Chili Bowl preliminary night and finished fourth in the main event.
Yet, with midget racing struggling in the East, in 2019 Bright was ready to try something different. A plan was in place to go wing sprint car racing, but it all fell apart.
“It was March and I‘m sitting there with a midget frame, no engine and not enough money to buy one, no sponsor to get one and no sprint car to race,” Bright related. “I almost thought I was done racing.”
The good news was that Bright had a solid job to sustain him. He serves as a foreman and heavy equipment operator with a boss who allowed him time to race.
Bright picked up a ride in the growing SpeedSTR ranks at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa., and nailed down some work in a 600 micro. It was not a bad fallback position given the number of high-dollar micro races one can find throughout the area. Amid his attempt to patch something together he received a call from owner Bob Hummer offering a SpeedSTR and micro deal.
Given his commitments, Bright declined the offer. However, out of the blue, the micro he was racing was sold out from under him. He got back on the phone and asked Hummer if the deal still stood.
Hummer had a micro prepared for his son, Chris, who was a senior in high school with plans to attend Lehigh University. Given the direction he was taking with his life, Chris Hummer didn‘t mind giving up the seat to Bright for a few races.
Bright responded with some big victories and in his words, “it was full bore from there.” Hummer invested in a new micro sprint and in short order decided to go sprint car racing.
Hummer came from a strong racing family and had spent time as a car owner and a driver before cutting back to focus on the family business, Rodota Trucking. He had been slowly inching back into the sport, but with Bright‘s arrival on the scene, he was faced with a decision. “He got the needle back in my arm,” Hummer said of Bright.
The new team decided to test the waters with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series. It was a logical choice. Bright had driven for Rick Kaylor during the 2017 USAC Eastern Storm tour and it seemed the transition to a 360-powered non-winged car would not be too tall of an order. It has been a great fit.
In 2020, he won twice in nine starts in the series as Drevicki claimed the title for the third straight year. C to the full tour in 2021, Bright knew he would face familiar faces from his time with ARDC. Also, bursting on the scene was youthful Briggs Danner. He proved to be a handful.
Early in the season it was clear the championship would be decided between Danner and Bright In what was compelling theater, the pair consistently ran up front but rarely had issues.
“I have had a couple of calls with him that I have kind of questioned,” Bright acknowledged. “Maybe it is his driving style. We haven‘t taken each other out, so I will leave it as a question. Right now, we‘re good. It hasn‘t‘ been something we have had to talk about.”
Even with his experience edge, Bright feels that his chief rival had an ace in his back pocket. Curt Michael, who serves as Danner‘s crew chief has won scores of races and a bushel basket full of championships.