Brady Bacon Making Run At PA Speedweek Title
Brady Bacon Making Run At PA Speedweek Title
Two-time Indiana Sprint Week champ Brady Bacon is heading east to chase a Pennsylvania Speedweek title.
One of the more decorated drivers in USAC Sprint Car history is coming to race for 10 straight days in Central Pennsylvania.
As part of an expanded 410 Winged schedule, Brady Bacon has his sights set on following the entire PA Speedweek schedule, from June 27's opener at Williams Grove Speedway to July 6's finale at Path Valley Speedway Park, for the Chris Dyson-owned No. 20 team alongside accomplished crew chief Sean Michael.
The 35-year-old of Broken Arrow, Okla., is one of 48 drivers to ever win a PA Speedweek event, his checkers coming in Path Valley Speedweek Park's first-ever miniseries event in 2014 versus a 43-car field. Although Bacon hasn't contested a PA Speedweek event since 2015, six of his 25 winged Sprint Car starts this season are in Central PA.
He's hoping momentum from his 13th-place finish versus Saturday's 51-car Huset's High Bank Nationals field at South Dakota's Huset's Speedway with the TKH Racing No. 21H team carries over into his PA Speedweek pursuit.
"We're going to learn what we used there and hopefully get rolling and have some consistent nights," Bacon told FloRacing. "It'd be nice to not race against 60 cars like we have been, but still, a lot of really good competition in Pennsylvania. But I think we have the pieces to compete for wins and stuff once we have our footing and get our rhythm going."
If all goes smoothly for the three-time USAC National Sprint Car champ, he could pick off a win or two, or even challenge the PA Posse's finest for the title, namely two-time reigning Speedweek champ Anthony Macri and newly-minted Ohio Speedweek champ Danny Dietrich.
Outside his win at Path Valley in 2014, he has wingless wins at Grandview Speedway (2017-19, 2021-22) and Port Royal Speedway (2014 and 2024), plus a Silver Crown win in 2019 at Williams Grove.
Twenty-one of Bacon's 25 races this season are nationally touring events, with his remaining four starts at Sprint Car strongholds Huset's Speedway, Knoxville Raceway, Lincoln Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway. All told, he has three top-fives and four top-10s, with a best finish of second at April 25's World of Outlaws stop at Jacksonville (Ill.) Speedway.
In six Central PA starts, he's missed three features and has a best finish of 15th (April 19 at Lincoln Speedway). But despite that meager stat line, Bacon claims he "made major improvements" at Port Royal Speedway's High Limit Racing-sanctioned Bob Weikert Memorial, from May 24's 12th-place finish in the B-main to May 25's 24th-place finish in the finale where he ran as high as 11th.
Given his past wingless success, he also likes his chances at third-mile Grandview on July 1, and pretty much anywhere with Michaels as his crew chief, the head wrench who's guided Bacon to Silver Crown victory lane.
Veteran mechanic Bob Curtis, who last year served as Gio Scelzi's car chief at KCP Racing and was part of Donny Schatz's 2011 Knoxville Nationals title with Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing, is also on the Dyson-owned No. 20 team.
"Obviously 10 days, hopefully we don't have any issues and we can get them all in with the weather," Bacon said. "But I'm looking forward to racing more. The races we have ran have been against really stiff competition: Outlaw shows, High Limit shows, and haven't gotten a routine going. We hope to do that in Pennsylvania."