It was a season of family fun for Mike Bradley, winning his first Outlaw Midgets championship. Bradley started the year with three straight wins, before a pair of fourth-place results in a Sauble Speedway doubleheader. He says he’s never been a championship runner, but the strong start changed the team’s approach.
“Family time is so important that I found myself missing one or two races,” said Bradley. “It was after the fifth race that dad and I were talking and it’s like ‘hey, let’s make a run at this, let’s get going.’ It’s funny because then I started into a rut.”
Three finishes outside the podium left Bradley stumped with what to do; he took his car to Mike Westwood, who was able to help fix the set-up. He then won the next race, before adding three top-fives to end the year. Winning his first championship, in his 10th year, was emotional for the driver.
“The amount of time you spend in the shop, the amount of your life you give to the sport, then you’re on the top,” said Bradley. “It’s like ‘man, that feels good.’ It’s not about the money, it’s not about the peer recognition, it’s about that feeling of being super proud of yourself.”
Bradley says the team believes that you win races in the shop, but also noted that taking a step back from technical aspects may have cleared their minds and helped them amp up their game.
“I wake up and my eight-year-old daughter, she’s up before I am and dressed up in her race car gear and she’s like ‘dad, we’re going racing today,’” said Bradley. “We used to be more into data acquisition and going through all the data, really trying to understand it…(now) let’s just put all that aside, I’m going to focus on everybody trying to have fun at the track.”
That family focus also extended to the competition, with Mike’s brother Dave running part-time; he won three races, including the Autumn Colours Classic. While an Autumn Colours win remains elusive for Mike, he still considers it a really nice weekend to conclude the season.
