SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – There’s something magical in the symbiosis between Brady Bacon and Western World.
The Broken Arrow, Okla., driver collected his 10th career victory in Friday night’s 54th annual Western World Championships at Arizona Speedway and locked up his fourth USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National championship in the process.
Bacon ran down and passed race-long leader Logan Seavey with five laps remaining, then thwarted Seavey’s comeback slider in the race’s final corner.
Bacon is the third driver in USAC history to win at least four sprint car championships, joining five-time champion Levi Jones (2005, ‘07, ‘09-‘11) and four-time titlist Steve Butler (1986-88 and ‘90).
“This race has been great to me over the years, and I’ve got another win tonight,” Bacon said. “I’ve won at three different tracks that the Western World has been at. I don’t know what it is about the race; we just seem to find our way to victory lane. It doesn’t matter if it’s wing, non-wing, 360, 410 or midget, there’s just something about this race. There’s great fans in Arizona and a lot of history here, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
The milestones were racked up throughout the night with Bacon also becoming the ninth driver to win at least 40 career USAC National Sprint Car feature events.
His 40th win ties Gary Bettenhausen for eighth all-time in series history.
Bacon started third in the 30-lap feature event while rookie contender Sterling Cling led the charge to the green flag. Second-place starter Logan Seavey, however, established the pace from the get-go.
Drifting to sixth on the opening lap, Bacon had to steadily work his way back into contention.
On lap 17 he reclaimed third with a slide job past nearest championship foe Kevin Thomas Jr.
Two laps later, Bacon surged past Jake Swanson for second, utilizing the bottom of turns one and two. It didn’t take long for Bacon to track down Seavey, who had a 1.5-second lead but worked through heavy traffic.
On lap 22, a caution period signaled for the lapped cars of Jake Helsel and Caleb Stelzig. Third-running Thomas Jr. couldn’t avoid the mess and the incident ended his slim title chances.
Bacon turned the tide on lap 26 after Seavey got hung up on the cushion in turns one and two cushion. That allowed Bacon to break free by six cars on the backstretch.
Seavey regained his footing and made his comeback move on the final corner — an aggressive slide job as Bacon left the bottom open to run the top groove — but it didn’t stick. Bacon beat Seavey to the line by .495 seconds.
“It was easier to make a mistake on the top, I felt like, and the bottom is kind of my bread and butter and the top is probably his,” Bacon said. “It was just going to be whoever messed up. On the last lap, I messed up on the bottom of one and two and gave him a shot at me. Luckily, I had enough drive off the bottom of four to get back by him.”
Tanner Thorson obliterated the one-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record at Arizona Speedway in qualifying with a lap of 14.390 seconds. He erased Chad Boaspflug’s five-year-old record of 13.625 seconds set in 2016.
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