Berlin Raceway postpones Chris Bradley Memorial race

Wednesday's Chris Bradley Memorial postponed; Benson unable to race.

MARNE, MI -- Berlin Raceway's Open Invitational Memorial 100 Tribute to Chris Bradley, scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, has been postponed due to an injury to NASCAR Winston Cup driver Johnny Benson that will keep him from competing. The race will be made up at a later date yet to be determined.

Benson suffered injuries in a crash last Friday night in the Hardee's 250 Busch Series race in Richmond, VA. He did not race in Saturday's Winston Cup Pontiac Excitement 400 and will not be able to race Wednesday at Berlin.

Berlin Raceway president Scott Lane said the decision to postpone the race was made primarily because of Benson's connection to the late Chris Bradley, a Coopersville native who was killed in a pit road accident while working as the crew chief for Adam Petty's ASA car in 1998. Bradley began his ASA career as Benson's crew chief, and it was Benson who brought the idea of a tribute race for Bradley to Lane.

"Johnny Benson was instrumental in putting together this memorial race as a tribute to Chris Bradley," Lane said. "I just don't feel that we would be doing justice to the Bradley family to go ahead and have this race without Johnny. We are committed to running this $10,000-to-win race this year, but by postponing it we are allowing ourselves the opportunity to re-schedule for a date when Benson, who very much wants to be a part of this event, is healthy and able to participate.

"There are three considerations here: the Bradley family's ties to Benson, the fans who were expecting to see Benson race and the ability to raise more funds for the Chris Bradley Memorial Scholarship fund if we can re-schedule this race for a date that allows Benson to participate. This is the right thing to do."

The memorial race serves as a fundraiser for the Chris Bradley Memorial Scholarship fund, a sub-fund of the Coopersville Area Community Foundation, which awards one scholarship per year to a Coopersville High School student who plans to pursue a career in the automotive industry. One dollar from every ticket sold for the race will be donated to the fund. In addition, Tony's Pizza and Meijer stores will donate three cents for every frozen Tony's Pizza sold during the week of the race to the foundation.

Lane said a race re-schedule date should be determined shortly, once Benson's timetable for returning to racing is clear and a race date is agreed upon by Benson, the Bradley family and race sponsors Meijer and Tony's Pizza.

Fans who had tickets to the May 8 race may use those tickets for the make-up date for the Chris Bradley Memorial Race.

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