When the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car Series schedule was revealed, Brady Bacon had to have been licking his chops.
In a break from recent tradition, the season ends (Oct. 27-28) at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Okla., meaning Bacon would return to his home state, and if everything played out perfectly, he would be in position to win a record-tying fifth USAC championship.
Everything seemed to be in place for a storybook ending. In what was a topsy-turvy USAC sprint car season no one seemed to be able to hold onto the top spot in the standings for very long.
Emerson Axsom, Kyle Cummins, Jake Swanson and Justin Grant spent time at the top of the heap, but when Bacon occupied the summit by the end of Indiana Sprint Week many insiders concluded that the chase was over.
While this may have seemed a hasty conclusion, history was on the prognosticators’ side. Bacon was a closer. Much like Levi Jones the man he was chasing in the record book somehow, some way Bacon always seemed to emerge victorious in a close-quarters brawl.
The reason Bacon has been so successful is built on the most important ingredient of all — talent. Yet, that is only one part of the equation. There had been consistency in his operation and approach. In championship years and even in those seasons where he fell short, he and his team have always been able to manage crisis situations.
The most famous example of all was his famous flight out of the Terre Haute Action Track in 2021. When he took to the skies everyone just hoped he wasn’t seriously hurt. Then, just a few hours later, he was being interviewed for his third-place finish. While few of his comeback stories are this dramatic, there are other examples of this team’s resiliency.
In 2023, longtime team member D. J. “Elbow” Lebow took a new position, but Bacon kept rolling. In mid-September, he bagged a $20,000 win at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. It was his 53rd USAC victory which moved him into second on the all-time win list. The year was coming together nicely, but the championship was still up for grabs. Justin Grant had also lost a key member of his team, but when reunited with mentor Jeff Walker he caught fire. Grant swept the Kokomo Smackdown and held a nine-point lead with five races to go.
Grant took the top spot the next round at Gas City, but the always steady Bacon clocked in fifth. In post-race Justin acknowledged when you are battling Brady, “the pressure is never off.” Ahead were races at Eldora and Lawrenceburg Speedway, and then it was off to Oklahoma. One bad night could seal a driver’s fate.
Things Go South
At Eldora everything went south. In Bacon’s mind problems began during the pill draw for qualifying position.
“I drew poorly on a track where you can’t overcome that,” he said. “Sometimes it comes in waves, and nothing goes right. Then you try to make up for things that you can’t, and it just gets worse.”
It turns out that things truly got much worse. Trying to make the best of his situation, bacon took a hard tumble in what proved to be a treacherous turn four in qualifying.
It was time to go to a backup car. Then he got methanol in his eyes in the pits. A quick trip to the infield care center resulted in immediate treatment but he looked like he had been on the losing end of a scuffle. How it happened is the definition of bad luck. Brady was using his high-speed checker, which is attached to an air hose with a regulator.
“I let someone borrow it and I always turn it off. This is a knob to adjust the pressure and I always turn it to zero,” Bacon explained. “When it is at zero, it doesn’t do anything. But someone had left it on, and the air was fully activated, and it sprayed the fuel right back in my face.”
He gamely tried to soldier on but an engine failure after just six laps relegated him to 22nd spot. Grant’s lead grew to 66 points.
It was going to be a tall order to get back to the head of the standings, but as he just experienced, if Grant stumbled, he was back in the game. It was on to Lawrenceburg.
Things could not have started any better. He was the night’s fast qualifier while Grant landed seven positions behind. While he was unable to transfer through the heat race, he did win the semi. It wasn’t to be. The culprit was a driveline failure which relegated him to a 19th-place finish.
A few weeks removed from this disappointment when asked if he was frustrated his answer was predictable. While Eldora was a series of misfortunate events, he deemed the problem at Lawrenceburg “a mistake.”
To understand Bacon is to know that he is meticulous. Mistakes happened, but they are unacceptable.
Now the return trip to Oklahoma takes on a different tenor, but it doesn’t mean he is hanging his head. Just like we have seen on the track, Bacon seemingly rolls with the punches.
“It is just part of it,” Bacon said. “I never get too discouraged. We are kind of known for our ability to bounce back. There’s nothing you can do about the past, so you just move ahead. This is one of the longest stretches I have had, but having bad luck and misfortune is better than just being slow. I have been in that position, too.”
What’s Next?
Points battles are rarely fun, so while there is disappointment there is also a measure of relief.
“Now there is no pressure,” he said. “It is what it is. If we do anywhere near our job, we will run second in points. There are also two more races, and we can win those in front of family and friends and a hometown crowd. We also have a lot of time to prepare for this.”
He is excited about the trip.
“This is really good for racing in Oklahoma, for race fans in Oklahoma, for USAC, and for Cody Brewer and everyone at Red Dirt Raceway,” he said. “The first few times the midgets went to Red Dirt, it was really big, and USAC sprints haven’t been to Oklahoma in a long time.”
At Red Dirt Raceway Bacon will be representing Tel-Star Technologies headed by his friends and supporters Mike and Megan Eubanks. The relationship between the Bacon and Eubanks family runs deep.
While Brady is looking forward to seeing his loyal benefactors, with a laugh he said, “They will be at the races, but more to see my children than me.”
Before the wrong conclusions are drawn this has been far from a lost year for Bacon. He topped the World of Outlaws at Tri-State Speedway in April, and in his words, “It was actually a good year for us financially. All the races we won were big races which helped a lot.”
That doesn’t mean he’s satisfied. He’s within shouting distance of Dave Darland’s all-time USAC win mark, and that fifth USAC championship still looms. It makes the offseason even more critical.
“I need to have someone I can depend on during the season,” he said. “But I am going to rely on myself a bit more in terms of preparation, so I know where I am. If I had someone new doing that it leaves room for a little doubt. The good thing is we have a bit more time than normal this year. So I am getting ahead of things. We have two weeks more, which is huge because you start heading toward the PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show, Christmas, banquets and the Chili Bowl. It goes quick.
“I feel pretty good about where I am equipment wise, but I need to make sure things are in perfect shape,” Bacon added. “When you get in spots like this during the year there is nothing you can do. Sometimes you have to focus on getting ready for the next year and going in with a clean slate.”
No doubt Bacon will come back swinging in 2024. Records may fall and maybe another title is in the offering. This will add to an already impressive record. However, the truth is he isn’t worried about his legacy right now.
“I just try to win the next race and if you do that things take care of themselves,” Bacon concluded.