TULSA, Okla. – When it comes to hometown heroes at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals presented by General Tire, they don’t come much bigger than Brady Bacon.
Every year that he returns to Tulsa to compete at the Tulsa Shootout and the Chili Bowl, he performs in front of a plethora of family and friends. So many remember the days when the third-generation driver first hit the track in a quarter midget with a bolt on cage.
That group was also there when he began showing promise at the place now called Port City Speedway, and later when he began winning races regularly as a teenager.
They marveled that Bacon devoted so much to racing, but was the class valedictorian at Grace Christian School in Broken Arrow and also named a National Merit Scholar.
Today, Bacon has a wife and three children to support, and has put three USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series titles on his resume. He has accomplished plenty in his remarkable career, but one goal has continued to elude him.
Bacon admits it’s nice to have four Golden Drillers from the Tulsa Shootout, but he wants more. He wants a Golden Driller from the Chili Bowl, and he feels the time has come to grab the big prize.
However, Bacon feels he needs a little dose of the most precious of commodities at the Chili Bowl: Lady Luck.
“Unfortunately my luck has not been the same at the Chili Bowl as it has at the shootout,” Bacon said. “Several times things were going good. One year I was driving for Keith (Kunz) and we won our heat from fourth, and we were leading our qualifier from fifth, which would have put us on the pole. Then the pickup went bad and the motor quit.
“Another year, I was leading the qualifier in the 76 car (for Frank Manafort) and hit a hole and flipped,” Bacon added. “It’s just weird stuff, but sometimes we just haven’t been that good.”
At this year’s Chili Bowl, Bacon is teamed with owner Kelly Hinck, a combination that first clicked during the 2016 Tulsa Shootout. It is a relationship that goes a bit deeper.
“My dad had raced for him and his brother in the late 80’s and 90s in micro stuff, and I have also raced his midget a few times and we enjoyed working with each other,” Bacon noted.
While the pair’s time together was fun, it didn’t produce the results either man was looking for. Because of his relationship with the firm, Bacon convinced his owner to secure a new Triple X chassis, with the goal of developing it for the Chili Bowl.
It was uncharted territory.
“I was a little nervous when we ran the Race of Champions,” Bacon admitted, “because nobody really has answers on the Triple X chassis. But we passed some cars and we were right there.”
Even though it is a tall order, Bacon feels he genuinely has a shot at the top prize, in part because he has earned the trust of his owner.
“He is allowing me to do what I do with my sprint car,” Bacon noted. “He lets me have control over everything, and do what I think needs to be done.
“In the past that has worked the best for me, and hopefully it does again this week.”
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