Sportsman driver Logan Bauman will remember last week for years to come. He celebrated his 18th birthday on Wednesday. Then graduated high school on Friday. After that he capped off the week with his first feature win in two seasons at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania.
Don’t think he spent the rest of the weekend celebrating. Bauman had to pick up a spec 358 engine from Leindecker Racing Engines and install it in his other car. Then, he’ll test it tonight at Grandview Speedway, race his sportsman on Saturday, and then compete in his first 358 modified race on Tuesday.
“I have two race cars to get ready,” Bauman, of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, said. “I can’t waste time by being out partying. After graduation, we went out to eat. When the dinner was over, we said, ‘It’s time to get back to work.’”
Bauman turned his 2020 Bicknell Racing Products chassis that he used as a sportsman last season into a modified. He then took his 2015 chassis that he had as a spare and made it his sportsman ride.
“For crate racing, you want a chassis that has been flexed,” said Bauman. “The crate engine doesn’t have the horsepower to flex a chassis. The newer chassis will serve us better with the 358 engine, which will have the power to flex it.”
His education didn’t end with high school. Logan Watt has been helping Bauman with his shocks.
“Yes, a 14-year-old is teaching me about compression, rebound and how to get a shock to handle the way you want it to,” Bauman said. “I started in .25 midgets just before Logan did, and I helped him out. Now, it’s come full swing — he’s the kid I’m trying to beat every weekend and he’s helping me.”
(For more on Watt, read “Logan Watt: .25 Midgets & Parenting Drive His Success”.)
Bauman’s hard work in the shop paid off at Grandview Speedway last Saturday.
“A few weekends ago we were close,” said Bauman. “[The previous] weekend we finished third on Saturday. This past weekend the stars and planets aligned.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
