Originally published in 600 Racing Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 7
Chris Bailey Jr., son of Chris and Guyann Bailey of South Park, PA, won the 2002 Pennsylvania State Championship in the Bandolero division in his Rookie year.
Chris is a 7th grade honor student at South Park Middle School. He started his racing career at age 9 in Go-Karts.
Chris has always followed and loved NASCAR racing since he was a baby. He attended his first NASCAR race, The Daytona 500, when he was 6 months old.
Chris’ goal was to be tall enough to drive a Go-Kart by himself instead of being a passenger with his Dad. At age 9 Chris’ dream came true – he was finally tall enough to drive the Go-Karts at the pier in Daytona while we were on vacation. He raced against a group of adults and kicked their butts. He drove like a natural. Chris’ grandfather, Guy Walker, stood there and watched him and was just amazed at his driving style. He looked at Chirs’ Mom and said, “He’s ready it’s time we get him in a Go-Kart and let him race.”
When Chris returned home from Daytona that February, his grandfather found aul White who owns White Motorsports and White said he could provide a winning Kart if Guy could provide a winning driver. Guy then told him about Chris and the rest, as they say, is history.
In spring of 1999, at age 9, Chris started his rookie year driving his Kart. He competed regularly on Saturday nights at Naugle Speedway in Findlay, PA and every other Sunday afternoon at Slippery Rocky Raceway in Slipper Rock, PA. His first year he captured 18 heat wins and 6 feature wins. In his rookie year he won two Track Championships – he was the track champion at both Naugle Speedway and at Slippery Rock Raceway. We were so proud of him for accomplishing what he did his first year. We expected him to just go out there and learn, we never expected feature wins let alone 2 track championships.
In 2000, at age 10, we added a third track to his schedule, Valley Raceway in Masontown, WV so he raced Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That year he finished the season with 40 heat wins and 20 feature wins. He ended the season undefeated at Valley Raceway. He won 3 Track Championships this time. He was the track champion again at Naugle Speedway, Slippery Rock Raceway and now at Valley Raceway.
In 2001, at age 11, he competed regularly at Naugle Speedway in both their regular scheduled series and the High-Bank series and at Slippery Rock Raceway. Instead of traveling to West Virginia, he decided to just got to other local tracks when he had spare time. He competed at a special $500.00 to win race at Race-1 Motor Speedway in Dubois, PA where they had 32 Karts show up so they had to each qualify to see who would make the 20 Kart field. Chris ended up being the fastest qualifier of all 32 Karts so he got the pole position. He was awarded a plaque for being the fastest qualifier. Chris again had another great year and won 32 heat races and 20 feature wins. He won three Track Championships again. For the third year in a row he was the track champion at both Naugle Speedway and at Slippery Rock Raceway. He also won the track champion in the High-Bank series at Naugle Speedway. In Chris’ 3 years of Kart racing he captured 8 Track Championships. He decided he was ready to move up from Go-Karts and race Bandoleros.
In August for his 12th Birthday we took him to 600 Racing in Charlotte, NC where he attended driving school for Bandolero lessons. After completing school he decided that this is what he wanted to race. While we were getting all the information on the Bandolero we were told they were in the process of building a track in Erie, PA that was supposed to open in May of 2002 that would run the Bandolero and Legend Cars.
In February 2002, on our way to the Daytona 500 we stopped at 600 Racing and ordered Chris his Bandolero.
We picked the car up in April and Chris was anxious to race. Lake Erie Speedway was supposed to open in May but they had a delay due to the weather and their new date to open was in June. Chris was so anxious to drive his new car so on May 17th we took him to Concord Motorsports Park in NC where he competed in his first time ever Bandolero race. This was his first time racing on asphalt other than the driving school lessons. He had only raced on dirt with his Go-Kart. He finished 6th in his heat race and 8th in the feature. He did a great job for his first time. He was able to keep up with the other cars and even pass some. He had so much fun there that we turned around the next week and drove to Lowe’s Motor Speedway where he raced on CTC Pole Night for the Coca-Cola 600. Out of 28 cars he had a 10th place finish which was great for only his second time in the car.
When Lake Erie Speedway finally opened June 22, 2002 Chris was so excited to finally start racing on a weekly basis. We again figured this first year we would have to spend it learning all about the set up and he would need time to adjust to the car and to driving on asphalt. Most of all, get some great time.
Well, at the Inaugural night at Lake Erie Speedway, Chris won the first heat race ever run at the track. It only took him until his fourth race until he captured his first Feature win. We were all so excited and proud of him. Following that first feature win, he won the next five features making it six feature wins in a row. He came in second the following week then won the next four features in a row making him have a total of 10 Feature wins out of 14 races. He won the title of being the Pennsylvania State Champion. He has had an Incredible Year!
Thanks to his sponsors: C.A. Bailey Excavating, The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, SkyView Pools, Barcol Construction, Roaring Thunder NASCAR Store and Chautaugua Lake Hideaway for all of their help in supporting our race team. A special thanks goes out to all of his Family and Fans for being there every week for him and to his Pit Crew for all their help and support in making Bailey Family Racing a winning team!