The Dirt Track at Charlotte
'Gramps' Bradsher back behind wheel at Charlotte
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Donald Bradsher is back in action. (Zach Yost)
CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 5) — Donald Bradsher never thought he’d compete again in a Dirt Late Model.
So at 61 years old, more than four years removed from his last official race July 2021 in the highly-competitive division, why is he making a sudden, one-off return in one of the sport’s toughest events, the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte? | RaceWire
“Some people go water-skiing. Some people go deep-sea fishing,” Bradsher of nearby Burlington, N.C., started. “This is like a dream vacation trip come true.”
When the Paylor Motorsports car owner learned that driver Carson Ferguson wouldn’t be available for this week’s season-ending World of Outlaws Real American Late Model Series event because “he got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Bradsher’s supporters nudged him to get back in the saddle.
“Once Carson got this opportunity, he said, ‘Why don’t you go race?’ Then he got my daughters fired up and my grandkids: ‘We wanna see gramps race!’ ” Bradsher said. “So we’re down here to have a little fun, give our sponsors some love — we have some great sponsors down here in this area. Don’t have no expectations. Like, tonight didn’t qualify where we wanted, but haven’t been in a car in four years, or hadn’t raced.”
Bradsher qualified 27th in Group B the first time trial session, which starts him ninth in the sixth heat Thursday and 29th in Group B the second time-trial session, starting him 10th in Friday’s fifth heat. It will be a tall order to climb his way forward to make a feature this week at the 4/10-mile oval, but Bradsher is thoroughly enjoying himself and the memories that he’s making with his family, supporters and team, which matters most.
“Oh yes, we are having a great time,” Bradsher said. “I thought when we went to go test I’d get in (the car), to go play … and I thought that was it. I didn’t really think about driving. I have a grandkid that’s driving now, so spend a lot of time with him, and the other kids play ball sports.
“I have a wonderful wife who makes a lot of this happen. She’s very business-oriented.”
Besides, a part of him didn’t want to lay down a lap toward the upper half of the speed charts.
“Here’s another thing: If I would’ve qualified up front with Jonathan (Davenport) and (Nick) Hoffman and Bobby (Pierce) and them, I don’t need to be in that hornet’s nest,” Bradsher said. “I need to be back there with people about the same speed normally.”
Bradsher didn’t know racing at the World Finals would be a possibility until about two weeks ago. Since then it’s been a scramble to get the formerly retired driver ready. Brasher went to K1 RaceGear in Mooresville, N.C., to buy a plain-black fire suit off the rack and squeezed in one test session Tuesday at Gaffney, S.C’s Cherokee Speedway alongside Pierce and Mike Marlar.
In that test session, Bradsher got up to speed rather respectably, he thought, staying within two-tenths of a second of Marlar and Pierce for most of his laps. But as Bradsher noted, “Charlotte’s a little intimidating and, you know, super fast.”
The car owner who’s a previous winner on the Carolina Clash circuit first felt the nerves of throwing himself back into the driver’s seat, then the differences today’s Dirt Late Models have suspension-wise, and then the G-forces that left his body a little sore Wednesday night.
“Definitely more traction. And the suspension has changed quite a bit,” Bradsher said when describing what he felt different in the Dirt Late Model since he last raced. “I told the guys, even though it’s moving and making traction, it feels like it’s more rigid. It feels like the car loads up, and once it loads up, it’s smashing those springs. You can feel it. I feel like the Gs are more, too, even when we went to Cherokee the other night, I was like, ‘Wow. This is pulling on my body more than it used to.’ ”
In Wednesday’s rounds of time trials when he qualified more than a half-second off the leading pace both times, Bradsher just “didn't drive the right lines.”
“I ain't gonna blame it on the car. It's just me,” said Bradsher, who said he’d been “very nervous” going into Wednesday’s qualifying night and even more anxious when the qualifying groove inched up the racetrack, closer and closer to the wall.
“It’s like I told him, when I seen how far up the racetrack was and stuff, when you're not racing every week, you can't just ride off that racetrack and get right on that wall,” Bradsher said. “Even out there at the end, I was probably 10 feet too far low … and I just drove right through three and four, screwed the lap up. We’ll take it.”
Bradsher also emphasized that the 25-year-old Ferguson will return as his driver of the No. 93 Paylor Motorsports entry for 2026, with the team targeting another Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series run. They even have their Georgia-Florida Speedweeks mapped out for the new year as they’ll begin Feb. 12-14 at Volusia Speedway Park for the back half of the DIRTcar Nationals before Lucas Oil starts its season Feb. 19-21 at All-Tech Raceway.
The Paylor team is still searching for its first national series victory since Ferguson took over the ride from Tim McCreadie last March, but they’ve been close, like when the led July 4’s Lucas Oil action at Ohio’s Atomic Speedway before engine failures. Ferguson finished ninth on the Lucas Oil tour this year.
“I just want everyone to know Carson and the team grew leaps and bounds this year,” Bradsher said. “He kind of got thrown into the situation unexpectedly. I think we’re very close to winning our first Lucas Oil race. Everything we have is together. Every crew member is standing. The car and Carson, I think we’ll be that much stronger.”
Bradsher is proud that he’s one of the few 60-some-year-olds with the ability to still climb behind the wheel. Dale McDowell (59) and Vic Hill (61), two friends of his, are others that he admires. Hill, an engine builder for Paylor’s team, even said he’d offer Bradsher some relief this week in Charlotte if he decides the task is too much to handle.
“He actually came by a while ago and said, ‘If you get tired tomorrow, we’ll just switch out.’ I said, ‘Good deal,’” Bradsher said. “I recommend anyone getting up in age, if you wanna go do a dream, get out and do your dream.”
But Bradsher doesn’t envision he’ll need a relief wheelman this week, saying that returning to the driver’s seat “is kind of like getting a wish-list, bucket-list,” fulfilled. Who knows, it could entice Bradsher to race select events in 2026.
“I’m not gonna say we’ll do something next year, but maybe a Carolina Clash race or something like that,” Bradsher said. “I’ll take what I got at 61 years old.”
