Bacon Sweeps Inaugural Corn Belt Nationals
Ready for Mid-America Midget Week
WINCHESTER, Ind. (July 9, 2019) – Knoxville Raceway’s Inaugural Corn Belt Nationals proved to be lucrative for Brady Bacon and the Hoffman Racing / Mean Green No. 69 Sprint Car team.
After battling to victory lane in Friday night’s $5,000-to win preliminary feature, “The Macho Man” dominated throughout in Saturday night’s $20,000-to-win finale to etch his name into the record books as the Inaugural winner of the USAC Sprint Car event.
“I was like, ‘Doug, Doug, throw the white, let’s go. I’m done with this,” Bacon said referring to flagman Doug Clark. “I was having some trouble with those lapped cars, and the cushion was getting really treacherous. Lapped cars were biking in front of me and I was like, ‘man I don’t want someone else to collect me up in this.’ Obviously, you don’t know how good you are. The competition in USAC is so tough right now, I assumed someone was breathing down my neck.”
Bacon had no worries though, as his nearest rival was nearly a half lap back by the time Bacon finally saw that white flag and then the checkered flag.
There is little time to relish his fifth and sixth wins of the year, as Bacon turns his attention to USAC’s Mid-America Midget Week with events in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri beginning on Tuesday.
The week begins with “Tuesday Night Thunder” at Meeker, Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway before moving on to Kansas’ Concordia High Banks for the Chad McDaniel Memorial on Wednesday. Action shifts to Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway for the Midwest Midget Championship on Friday and Saturday and then Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex on Sunday.
Bacon will wheel the Central Motorsports No. 85 for the opening four legs of Mid-America Midget Week before taking the wheel of the Hinck Motorsports No. 21h for the Sunday finale.
Bacon’s weekend sweep at Knoxville begin with some turmoil, as the team was forced to make a quick change of engines after qualifying.
Bacon responded by racing from fifth to win his heat race and ultimately took command in the feature past the halfway point and raced on to his 26th career USAC Sprint Car feature win.
“I think just having a lot of laps around here, more than the competition, has helped a little bit there to know that that middle could come in,” Bacon explained.
Entering Saturday’s tilt atop the event point charts, Bacon timed in sixth among his group and raced to a qualifying race win to earn the front row outside starting position for the 30-lap finale.
Bacon burst into the early lead and wasted little time checking out on the competition, working the top side of the ½-mile clay oval to perfection en route to the big payday and historic win.
Brady Bacon Racing is bolstered by the support of partners including Mean Green, Fatheadz Eyewear, Imperial Wagyu Beef, Gene Franckowiak, Drivewfx.com, Tel-Star Technologies, B&S Cattle, Lykins Oil, Elliott’s Custom Trailers, Triple X Race Co., Hoosier Tire, XYZ Machine, Factor4, Heath Clips Lawn Care, FK Indy, Engler Machine and Tool, Lucas Oil, FK Rod Ends, Keizer Wheels, Purple Heart Foundation, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Smiley’s Racing Products, DMI, Walker Filters, ProGlide Coatings, Chalk Stixx, Wilwood Engineering, Lajoie Seats, Smith Precision Products, Allstar Performance, Simpson Racing Products, Driver Websites, Schroth Racing, Saldana Racing Products, KSE Racing Products, King Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers.
2019 Quick Stats: 49 races, 6 wins, 22 top-fives, 32 top-tens.
Up Next: NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midgets “Mid-America Midget Week”’.
Tuesday – Red Dirt Raceway (Meeker, OK)
Wednesday – Concordia (KS) High Banks
Friday and Saturday – Jefferson County Speedway (Fairbury, NE)
Sunday – Sweet Springs (MO) Motorsports Complex
Those unable to attend can catch all the action live via PPA at www.floracing.tv.
Keep Track: Keep track of Brady Bacon’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.bradybaconracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Brady-Bacon-278125555137/ and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BradyBaconRacin.
If you would like Brady Bacon Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley, Brady Bacon PR