Busy weekend for Midget, NHRA, World of Outlaws

Team Mopar® driver Brady Bacon won the 27th annual Firemens’ Nationals on Saturday, at the Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. This is one of the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association’s (BMARA) most prized trophies. Bacon also finished second in a USAC Mopar Midget Championship feature at the Dodge County Fairgrounds Speedway in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Bacon, part of the Kahne team, used a powerplant built by Speedway Engines in Indianapolis. The team nearly had a one-two finish, but Bacon’s teammate, Brad Sweet, flipped with less than two laps to go. Scott Hatton was the next Mopar finisher, in fifth place (Sweet had been in second place). Mopar driver Jerry Coons Jr. was just shy of the halfway point when his fuel pump died; he took 18th place.

Meanwhile, Mopar®-powered Jack Beckman advanced to his third consecutive final round and the sixth spot in the NHRA Powerade Funny Car points standings with a runner-up finish on Sunday at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. Driving a Hemi-powered Dodge Charger, he was bested by Robert Hight in the finals, leading until just over a third of the way when he hazed the tires; his time was 4.438 seconds, 254.04 mph time. Hight’s won with 4.312 seconds at 283.85 mph. Beckman’s teammate, Ron Capps, lost in a first-round match with a R2B2 Dodge Charger driven by Melanie Troxel. Troxel’s teammate, Frank Hawley, lost in the first round to Hight.

Finally, Team Mopar®’s Joey Saldana won the 40-lap Caterpillar Clash at Washington’s Skagit Speedway, part of the World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series. It was the fourth WoO victory of the season for Saldana, powered by a Speedway Engines-built Mopar. After posting the third-fastest time-trial lap, Saldana’s team changed engines on the No. 9 car, which carried Saldana from sixth to victory.