Husband-wife team ready for best at Lernerville

For their first date, Michael Bauer took his future wife, Shannon, to a sprint car race he was competing in at Mercer Raceway Park and the night couldn’t have gone any better.

“We won the heat and the feature,” Michael said. “It was kind of funny because I had to explain that it was a very good night, and this doesn’t happen every week.”

That was in 2012. Fast forward to present day, and Michael and Shannon are working side by side in the shop most nights and at the track each weekend.

Shannon is Michael’s crew chief, and as a team they put together a strong performance last year at Lernerville Speedway when the World of Outlaws came for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. They qualified through the B-main to make their first World of Outlaws A-Main and placed 18th in the feature.

They’re hopeful to repeat with another great night at the 30th annual Silver Cup on Tuesday night. The winner of the World of Outlaws feature event will take home $25,000.

“One of the things I love the most about sprint car racing is that the local teams get a chance to compete against the superstars,” Michael said. “You really don’t really have that in any other sport. High school basketball teams don’t get to play the pros, but we’re racing locally and tweaking to get ready to face the best in the business.”

Michael and Shannon met in college. They had the same major at Clarion, so they were in the same classes and study groups. They currently reside in Eighty Four.

When Michael asked Shannon to go to Mercer with him, she had never been to a sprint car race before but immediately became interested in it and wanted to be involved with the team.

“At first I’d help check bolts on the car and go get the lineup,” Shannon said. “After a few offseasons of helping him rebuild cars I got more involved, whether it was swapping tires out, changing shocks or other adjustments on the car. Now, about nine years later it grew into me being responsible for the car every night.”

Shannon is in her third season as crew chief. Prior to that, Michael set up the car and drove it. He found that having someone there to be a crew chief would be better for him, and Shannon was the perfect person to fill that role.

“Shannon takes really good notes,” Michael said. “Not that I took bad notes, but she’s really good at it. I can come in and tell her what the car is doing, and we may have five or six ways to adjust it. She’s really good at picking the right one. It’s a really good dynamic. It takes a lot off of me. A lot of times it’s a little bit quicker, too. She can see what’s going on when the car is on the track, and after I give my feedback she can make a decision really quick.”

Shannon has noticed development from Michael as a driver now that his entire focus has shifted in that direction.

“It’s given him a beautiful opportunity to grow as a driver,” Shannon said. “It’s been wonderful to watch. I truly enjoy working on the setup. We’re at the shop pretty much every night of the week working on the cars. We drive to the races together, and we talk things over afterwards. We’re both very hands on, and it seems to be working out for us. We genuinely enjoy working together, and we’ve always communicated well.”

For the 2021 season, the Bauers have teamed up with Allen Pryde to run the Pride Motorsports No. 29 car that’s backed by DelGrosso, Gio’s BBQ, Custom Castings, Robert Lee Jr. Trucking, R&B Auto Proz and Quality Masonry.

The partnership has allowed the Bauer’s to expand their racing schedule.

“In addition to the resources and having great equipment, Allen has a wealth of knowledge,” Michael said. “Being able to work with him and understand his viewpoints gave a different perspective. Combining his knowledge and our knowledge has helped us grow.”

For Tuesday, the Bauer’s each said to be successful they have to have the right mindset. They will be up against the best sprint car drivers in the country, but they are focusing on treating it like any other night.

Michael’s goal is to finish in the top 10. Qualifying well will go a long way to obtaining that goal. They are confident in themselves and the effort their crew will put forth.

“It’s our home track,” Shannon said. “We’ve raced this track for many years. Once we get there I’ll look at the surface and throw in the setup based on what the surface looks like then it’s up to Michael to race his car like he does every week at Lernerville. You have goals. You want to qualify well then transfer through the heat, preferably, but if you transfer through the B-main that’s okay because you made the feature. Basically, you want to run the best race that you can and work hard to represent the locals.”