Bacon Heats Up with 'Firemens' Nationals' Badger Midget Victory
Team Mopar driver Brady Bacon and his Kasey Kahne Racing team capped off a terrific Labor Day weekend with a thrilling victory in the 27th annual "Firemens' Nationals," held Aug. 30 at the Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis. The Nationals, sanctioned by the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA), is one of dirt-track Midget racing's most prized trophies. One night earlier, at the Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway in Beaver Dam, Wis., Bacon had finished second in a United States Auto Club (USAC) Mopar Midget National Championship feature.
Bacon dominated the final half of the Angell Park event aboard his Spike/Mopar, whose powerplant was built by Speedway Engines in Indianapolis. The victory paid $15,000. The Kahne squad very nearly had a one-two finish, but Bacon's teammate, Brad Sweet, flipped with less than two laps to go while running second. That left Illinois/Wisconsin icon Scott Hatton and his Huston Racing entry as the next Mopar finisher, in fifth. Fellow Mopar driver Jerry Coons Jr. was leading the 50-lapper just shy of the halfway point when his Wilke Racing entry was kayoed by a broken fuel pump. Coons clocked in at 18th.
Friday night's USAC event at the fast, flat Dodge County half-mile was the 7th annual "Sue Thiel Memorial." Bacon was in the thick of things right from the start of the 30-lap feature, constantly pressuring the leader but ultimately settling for the runner-up spot. Next-best Mopar man was Hatton, who finished sixth. Sweet, whose night began with fast-time honors and a heat race victory, also threatened to win the main event, but a flat tire in the closing laps dropped him from third to 13th. Two-time USAC Mopar Midget champion Coons rode out a violent mid-race flip, but thankfully emerged uninjured; he placed 19th.
The Mopar-powered USAC teams move next to the O'Reilly Raceway Park outside Indianapolis, where on Sept. 12 they will stage the next installment of the Mopar Midget National Championship. Sweet sits third in the series standings, with Bacon sixth and Coons eighth. For more info on USAC Mopar Midget National Championship Series, visit http://www.usacracing.com.