Bradley celebrates birthday by clinching championship

Sunday, October 14, 2001. Monterey, California. Over the rolling hills of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Scott Bradley faced what he described as a rollercoaster of emotions during the final round of the 2001 Star Mazda Series North American Championship, an event being held on his 25th birthday. "I knew coming into the weekend that this would either be my best, or worst, birthday of all time depending on how we did in the race," Bradley said, adding "little did I know that the highs and lows would come so frequently."

The weekend started off on a winning note for Bradley, the pilot of the #14 Polycom/Shames Construction Star Mazda, as he was able to beat out FedEx Championship Series drivers Kenny Brack and Bryan Herta in a putting championship held by Mazda Raceway at nearby Pasadera Country Club, picking up a $250 check for the American Red Cross for his efforts. "The competition was a lot of fun as I was able to win some money for an important charity," Bradley said. "My grandparents wanted me to be a professional golfer though, so now I might have given them some ammunition for that!"

The highs continued for Bradley, a Team USA finalist, the following day when the cars made their way onto the track for their first practice session, with Bradley posting the third fastest time. "Things looked pretty good after the first session as the car was quick straight off the truck and we knew where we could pick up some time. We had done the calculations so I knew if we were able to maintain this position throughout the weekend we'd clinch the championship," Bradley said.

Qualifying on Saturday afternoon got the wheels of the emotional rollercoaster spinning for Bradley when the engine started going away early in the session. "I spent the first few laps bringing everything up to temp and when I put my foot down to go for the pole position the engine said no," Bradley said. "Fortunately my engineer gave an excellent handling car and I was able to bring it around towards the front of the field, but when I saw that my closest competitor, Chad Block, had captured the top spot and the 1 point that comes with it, I knew my work was cut out for me."

Block's pole position would be short lived, however, as a technical infraction was discovered in the post qualifying technical inspection and his times were disallowed, moving Block to the back of the field for the start of the race. "With Block on pole I knew our championship chances had been severely damaged. Then to find out only a couple of hours later he was DQ'd and would be starting dead last. Suddenly things were back on track again."

Raceday, and Bradley's birthday, came with Bradley knowing that he could maintain his starting position of seventh to wrap up the title. Overnight the team had replaced his engine and everything had gone well in the morning warm-up session. "I was relieved after shaking down the new engine in the morning session as the car felt strong again, and I could challenge for the victory," Bradley commented afterwards.

Determined to win the race, Bradley made a strong start was competing for fourth place when his championship hopes seemed to evaporate. On the first lap while coming through turn four, one of the fastest corners on the track, Bradley was struck from behind and sent off track into the gravel. "As I skidded through the gravel trap I knew I couldn't hit the brakes or I'd get dug in. I had to let the car coast and hope it didn't hit the tire wall. Luckily it didn't and I got moving almost immediately. When I rejoined the race and saw Chad go flying by I thought it was over. I knew how far back he had started. It was a crushing blow that lasted about 100 yards. Then I put my head down and decided to give a 110% to taking my championship back."

Fighting his way through the field from the 27th position, Bradley worked himself back into 12th place and contention for the championship, provided the current race leader, Scott Jenkins, was able to hold off his closest pursuer Marc De Vellis. Then, bad news as De Vellis was able to move past Jenkins for the lead, and Bradley would have to finish 8th to retain the crown. As the laps counted down, Bradley was able to move into the 10th position as the checkered flag fell, and with three competitors ahead of him not running for series points he would have enough points to hold onto the title, winning the championship by two points. "I think I was more nervous after the race as they kept recalculating the points and I couldn't get a definite answer from anyone, it wasn't until I was called up at the awards banquet that I knew I was the 2001 Star Mazda champion."

"I just can't thank everyone enough for the effort they made to help me achieve this. My primary sponsor Polycom showed faith in me last season and put up the budget for me to compete this year. My secondary sponsor Shames Construction, Barry Shames came through for me and gave us the last portion of sponsorship we needed to get things rolling for the season. Without his help I wouldn't have been there this year. My engineer, Mikel Miller, who gave me a great car every weekend. My data engineer, Eric McCombs, who spent countless hours doing his best to make our data acquisition system work. My mechanics, Darren and Rich for spending all the late nights at the track and some times entire weekends without sleep to make sure the #14 car rolled onto the track the best it could be. Last, but not least, my family and friends who supported me through this year and especially those who attended the race on Sunday."

With the championship wrapped up Bradley now hopes to hear the results of the Team USA Scholarship. Created by motorsports journalist Jeremy Shaw, the goal of the Team USA program is to train young American drivers in competition overseas. Previous winners Jimmy Vasser, Bryand Herta and Memo Gidley have all progressed into the Champ Car ranks. In addition to this competition Bradley also receives a paid test with Team PTG in one of their American Le Mans Series BMW's.