Brent Dragon: Bear Ridge Speedway
Sportsman Modified Race Preview
Coming off a 10th-place finish in the Memorial Day Classic 100 at Thunder Road International Speedbowl last weekend, Brent Dragon takes a break from Late Model racing this weekend. The Milton, Vt., driver plans to compete for the second year in a row in an exhibition race at Bear Ridge Speedway, a quarter-mile dirt track in Bradford, Vt. On Saturday night, Dragon will join his father, Beaver Dragon, his uncle Bobby Dragon and his cousin Scott Dragon in a pair of 10-lap Sportsman Modified races. Brent raced in the event last year, winning one of the two races and then finishing 10th in the track’s regularly-scheduled 30-lap Sportsman Modified feature at Bear Ridge. Dragon is expected to compete in a car owned by track owner Butch Elms.
WHO: Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt.
WHAT: Dirt Sportsman Modified Exhibition Event
WHERE: Bear Ridge Speedway, Bradford, Vt. (.25-mile dirt oval)
WHEN: 6 p.m., Saturday, June 5
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BRENT, YOU HAD A GOOD RUN GOING LAST WEEKEND AT THUNDER ROAD BEFORE THINGS HEADED SOUTH. WHAT HAPPENED?
We started back in 21st and we got all the way up to second (by the halfway point), but the car just got really loose. We tried something a little different with the setup, and it will be really good for the Milk Bowl (with three 50-lap segments). It will definitely be good for the Milk Bowl.
It just didn’t work for us this time. We probably shouldn’t have done it — it was just too big of a change. But absolutely, we wanted to learn something for later on, which we did.
WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR FIRST STAB AT RACING ON DIRT LAST YEAR IN THIS BEAR RIDGE RACE — AND RACING AGAINST YOUR FATHER, TOO?
It was a good time, and we went out and I think we put on a really good show for all of the fans. Last year, my dad booted me right out of the way. I thought I could pass Bobby for the win, and I guess I should have waited for the last lap to make my move. We went down into (turns) three and four, and my dad hit me so hard I had to slow the car down so I wouldn’t drive off the track.
My dad and I probably raced Late Models against each other 15 or 20 times in the past. It’s funny, when I talk to (multi-time PASS North Series champion Ben Rowe) about what it’s like to race against his father, he always says that his father (Mike Rowe) probably races him harder than anyone else on the track. I think his father and my father are cut from the same cloth, for sure.
HOW DID YOU TAKE TO RACING ON DIRT?
It was a blast, especially once I got the hang of it. I was really good in practice and they had me run the (regularly scheduled Sportsman Modified race). I was passing guys in the heat race, and it was going really well.
They give us really good cars to race. The car I ran last year finished second in points there. I can’t wait to go back and do it again, now that I’ve learned a few things about it.