Qualifying gamble leads to race-long excitement for Bradley at Road Atlanta

June 29, 2003. Braselton, GA. Scott Bradley had his hands full in Round Four of the SCCA Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship at Road Atlanta after a gamble on the weather for qualifying failed to pan out, leaving Bradley to start from the middle of the pack, but in an action packed race Bradley fought his way up towards the front in his ARC Racing Mazdaspeed Protegé, gaining fifteen spots to finish thirteenth overall.

The story of Bradley’s run through the field starts in qualifying. After arriving at the track on Saturday morning to a steady downpour, the team decided to roll the dice and go to a full wet weather setup only to have the rain stop shortly before the session, leaving the team without the time to convert the car back. “It was just one of those racing situations,” Bradley commented, “If it had kept raining we would’ve looked like heroes. When you go for the jugular sometimes you miss.”

At a marked disadvantage in qualifying, Bradley brought his Protegé home in the 28^th position and along with the team regrouped in preparation for Sunday’s 25-lap race. “When the rain didn’t come back I knew we were in big trouble for qualifying,” Bradley explained, “The team and I just set out to do the best we could with what we had and while I was disappointed to be starting farther down the grid than I had hoped for, especially after we had been right up at the front during the practice sessions, we knew we would have a solid car for the race.”

Conditions for Sunday’s race proved to be much better than qualifying, and with a confidence in the team’s dry weather setup Bradley set out to work his way through the field. On the opening lap he had gained four positions, by lap four he had dispatched five more cars. “I didn’t experience much resistance on the opening laps of the race and the race was developing nicely,” Bradley described. “The first real resistance came from a group of three BMW’s that were determined to keep me behind their little group. It took a few laps and a bit of creative driving but I was eventually able to get around them.”

Unbeknownst to Bradley at the time, the jostling for position with the BMW’s had managed to dislodge his exhaust system a bit and exhaust was now entering the driver’s compartment. “Apparently as we were bumping around out there the exhaust came loose and cracked a bit. The cars normally get a little hot but with the exhaust leak coming into the car things got a little hotter.” Bradley stated. “When a full course caution came out I thought that might help cool things down but it actually made things worse as les air was getting into the cockpit at the slower speeds and the fumes were building up.”

Determined to continue the fight forward, Bradley set out after Ken Dobson in the car ahead of him, working his way past him on lap 16. Keeping Dobson at bay would prove to be a challenge for Bradley though as a sticking throttle would make downshifting difficult and overheat his brakes as he had to exert more pressure to slow the car down. Dobson was able to take advantage of these difficulties and slip past Bradley on lap 20 when Bradley’s car popped out of third gear at the apex of turn six. “I had a massive slide when the car popped out of gear and I had to drive onto the grass to bring it back under control, allowing Dobson to get through,” Bradley said of his battles, “I tried a few laps to get the position back but at that point my eyes were burning, and it was getting hard to breathe because of the fumes. I was able to keep pace with Ken those closing laps but couldn’t get around him.”

Bradley leaves the weekend upbeat about his and the team’s prospects for the rest of the season. “All things considered the team did an awesome job this weekend,” Bradley exclaimed. “The car was excellent in the dry and if the rain had continued in qualifying I’m sure we would’ve been up front for the race. We are going to work hard between now and the next round at Infineon Raceway as we develop this team into a consistent front-runner. I also have to thank Larry Stepp, Mazdaspeed, The Benefit Planning Group, Moondogs and Poly-Chem for their support.”