Brady Lee has started to make a name for himself in East Tennessee, with his enthusiasm for the sport. However, the wins, don’t hurt either. Last Saturday, Lee scored his biggest victory, yet, a CRUSA Late Model Sportsman Tour victory at I-75 Raceway outside of Sweetwater, Tennessee.
Lee is perhaps better known for his street stock exploits. For example, after winning at I-75 Raceway, he and crewmember Orion Mount skipped victory lane and packed up the car. Then they hauled straight to Crossville Speedway an hour away to race that same night. Lee won at Crossville, too.
“[Orion and I] had two phones — one for navigation and one for monitoring the race program in Crossville,” Lee, of Knoxville, Tennessee, said. “Orion was in the passenger seat, guiding me through a backroad shortcut that got us there just before 11 p.m. Friends paid our entry while we were on the way. We joined the field at the back just as it took to the track.”
While Lee won the CRUSA Late Model Sportsman Tour event at I-75 Raceway, Mount won the thunder feature that same night. Mount continues to crew for Lee, but the two have guidance from local legendary crew chief David Bryant and shock builder Johnny Phillips, of Shorty’s Motorsports Shock Service.
“David gives me some great advice, from teaching me all about using the spring smasher to showing me how to watch the racetrack,” said Lee. “Johnny is also big help to our program. I called him for advice on Saturday night — he gave me a few tips.”
Lee readily acknowledged there’s a steep learning curve after moving to a late model sportsman. While the late model comes with far more to set up, the biggest challenge is what you do away from the car.
“You definitely get behind if you don’t pay attention to the track,” Lee said. “As soon as I haul into the pits, I’m up to the fence to see how the track is changing and see what lines the competition is running. Then, it’s back to the car to try and make the correct adjustments. Finally, you have to hope what you adjusted works when you go back out.”
These days Brady Lee juggles quite a bit. He and his wife, Amanda, are building a new house and raising a young family. He works nights for a local utility company, KUB.
“We’ll be racing at least at one track on a weekend,” said Lee. “I don’t know if we will try two tracks in one night again — things have to line up. The tracks’ schedules in real time are the first thing. Then, we have to win at the first track. It finally depends on how fired up we get when we win.”
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.
