Travis Braden is a racecar driver who travels the country and turns left a lot to earn a living, and that is because he possesses an inseparable love affair with speed.
“Well, I have never met a fellow gearhead who loved speed one day but woke up the next and didn’t love speed anymore,” said the Wheeling native who finished fourth in the ARCA-Menard Series this past season. “If you do what I do, it’s all about the speed.”
Braden, though, readily admits he hasn’t made it yet. It. You know … IT. Not in his mind, anyway, and not by the unofficial standards of the racing industry. Fourth is fine, he says, but fourth isn’t first, he insists.
“I am very proud of the results from this year, but we never made it to victory lane, and that’s something I’m bummed about,” Braden said. “We got close a few times, but the competition was really phenomenal. When I first ran an ARCA race back in 2015, there wasn’t as much talent as there is now. It’s really evolved into a very competitive circuit.
“But that’s what has made it a great experience, and everyone is trying to get to the next level,” he explained. “We ended up fourth in the final standings and not too far behind third, and that’s the best we’ve done in the standings. Last year we were fifth, and this year we finished fourth, and I’m proud of that.”
The ARCA level is similar to Major League Baseball’s minor league system, and it’s considered the last level before an elevation to NASCAR. Baseball players, however, do not need to get sponsors to earn a promotion, but racecar drivers do.
“I’ve been blessed by a lot of great opportunities during my career, but if you want to race on Sundays, you have to offer a value to your fans and to your sponsors. It’s not cheap to do what I do, so it takes support,” explained Braden. “I have to grow, too, to be worth that support, as a driver and as a person who can help those sponsors enhance their product.
“It is a business when it comes down to it, and it’s a course that doesn’t have a map, so that is why we are considering all options right now,” he added. “It’s about the next level, and we’re going to get there.”
Braden recently entered into a partnership with PropMe, a West Virginia company that is working toward gaining approval to offer a proposition wagering smart phone app that would feature a plethora of options. He is scheduled to be at Jerry’s Bar this afternoon at 3 p.m., and he is looking forward to sitting in the virtual reality game seat again so he can stoke his addiction to speed. He’ll race those at the McMechen establishment, too.
“The virtual reality equipment at Jerry’s Bar is the real deal,” Braden said. “It’s incredible, really, because of the views and the movement of the chair. The wind is cool, too.
“When I first sat down and tried it back in August, I was surprised by how accurate it was to the real thing that I experience all year,” he said. “I’m really looking to getting in that chair again (today), and I hope some folks come down and race with me.”
He didn’t plan this success, nor was Braden confident at the start of the 2019 season he would be in this position. But, in 20 ARCA races this past season, the graduate of Wheeling Park High School finished in the Top 10 16 times and collected a third- and a fourth-place finish.
“Yeah,” he quips. “Here we are. I grew up here in Wheeling, and my family had a farm, so, of course, I had a four-wheeler. At some point, I wanted to actually race, so my parents took me up to the West Alexander Fair, and after I did that for two years, I made the decision to take it more seriously.
“And then my parents bought me a mini-cart, the same one that’s hanging on the wall at Quaker Steak and Lube at The Highlands, and that’s when I was only 8 years old, and I won a lot. That’s where it really started,” the 25-year-old Braden said. “I just had that desire for speed, but it really was just a hobby in the beginning. After winning races and championships, though, that’s when we started to get serious.
“And now, here we are with NASCAR as the goal.”
