“He is an up-and-coming kid,” Bright said. “He‘s good and he is still learning. I think we are close to an even playing field now. It just comes down to setup and we are figuring it out on our own at Hummer Motorsports. He has a good book behind him with Curt and everybody that Curt knows. I think we are trying to catch up on the notebook side of things but racing wise we are on the same page.”
Bright won 11 of 23 features, including an August rampage that saw him win seven times in eight outings.
That sealed the championship.
“A midget is by far the most fun to run,” Bright said. “So I do miss them. But with not much of a series in the East Coast anymore, this is the next best thing. I like the series. I definitely think there is room to grow with it. It seems like it is getting better and better every year. With some of the teams and some of their budgets, it makes it hard for them to run every race. I think the weekday shows hurt some people. These are working people and they have to work during the week, so they can race on the weekend.”
Bright is still not willing to thump his chest about his results. He‘s still hungry. “I want to accomplish something big,” he says, underscoring that he has unfinished business.
Hummer thinks the world of his driver.
“He is 100 percent committed,” Hummer said. “He‘s a hard worker. He lives two hours away from my shop but shows up about seven to seven-thirty to work, stays until 10 or 11 and then heads back home. Then he gets up at five in the morning to go to work. I try to give him the best opportunity that I can.” The problem is that life is complicated. Bright has an excellent job and Hummer has children in college and a business to manage.
Although the schedule is not set in stone, the team hopes to run with the series as much as possible. Through mid-June, Bright had made all 10 races and won three, while Danner had won six features and led the standings.
Nonetheless, as Hummer tries to negotiate the balancing act between real world obligations and his racing habit, he also understands that a driver only develops their true potential when they go against the very best.
The team has competed in the opening rounds of the new Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Series and after winning an event in the series at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, hopes to make all of the events.
“We are probably going to stick with that for the rest of the season but even that is a little far for us,” Hummer said. “Alex wanted to do the full USAC national series, but he has a full-time job and my business is in New Jersey. We‘re not based out of Indy, which makes it tough. For what the purse is and the kind of traveling you have to do, I just don‘t see the value of it. When Xtreme started out, it wasn‘t a crazy schedule, although it is growing.”
Hummer recognizes there may be some growing pains in this new venture.
“Alex is behind the curve a little bit when it comes to national level racing,” Hummer observed. “He has had some good runs, but he‘s not a Justin Grant right out of the trailer. Can he run with them? Is Alex capable of winning? 100 percent. But we don‘t have everything you need behind us like crew members, and that‘s what the top teams have.”
There are other avenues to explore much closer to home.
In 2020, Bright ran five winged 410 races and he has ventured to some of the biggest and fastest joints in the east in both midgets and sprint cars.
“I like non-winged racing. I think it is more exciting,” Hummer said. “There is some good 410 wing racing, but most of the time I think the non-winged is more exciting with all the sliders. Alex doesn‘t have a lot of winged experience and to run out here with the Pennsylvania Posse, which is ultra-competitive, I think you have to run multiple times a week.
“The problem is the tracks are so big, your engine bill is big and your tire bill is going to be huge. I would entertain the idea, but we have to find some sponsorship.”
The record doesn‘t lie. The wins and the championships tell the story. Only time will tell if Bright gets a chance to race full time with a major series or becomes a player in the hardnosed Pennsylvania 410 sprint car scene. His owner Bob Hummer and countless fans, officials and peers know he has the talent.
Alex Bright says he wants to accomplish something big. The truth is he already has.