When Emotions Run On Empty, Brayton’s Widow Remains Driven Return To Indy Revives Fondest Racing Memories

Becky Brayton knows it would have been easier to keep driving right on past Indianapolis Motor Speedway, getting away as fast as possible from the place where her husband, Scott Brayton, was killed in an accident during a practice run last May.

It was her original intention not to be here, she says, but when she realized what racing at Indy had meant to her husband, who practically grew up at the Brickyard, she knew it would dishonor his memory and life’s work if she didn’t make that right turn into the main gate at 16th and Georgetown.

And begin moving forward with her life.

“I guess coming back here in a way was not as hard as I thought it would be, but saying that, I’ve already been back here a few times,” said Brayton. “My first actual race back was New Hampshire last year and I found it very difficult.

“I think, basically, when I drove up and saw the speedway, I had a huge rush of emotions. But I basically decided very shortly that it was time to get back to work if that’s why I was going to be there. I’ve just got to keep a positive attitude and tried to remember all the great things that happened here, because we had 15 years or so of really fond memories.”

Her voice trailed off as she added, “And that’s basically it.”

While the drivers have come to Indy to tangle with the legendary 2.5-mile oval in preparation for Sunday’s 81st running of the Indy 500, Becky Brayton has come, in part, to sort out her emotions in what will be her first solo run at Indy. Raising their 3-year-old daughter, Carly, has kept her extremely busy, as has her job as public relations contact and sponsor liaison for her husband’s former team, Team Menard, but it would have been too difficult to sever the friendships and memories she and her husband forged over the years at Indy.

The fondest memory of all?

“Oh, no question, it was pole day last year,” Brayton said, her eyes lighting up. “It was probably the premier moment of our lives. We got the pole the year before, but last year, how the whole thing happened was so exciting and so much fun. Last year’s pole, I think, was the epitome of why people race cars.”

It certainly epitomized why Scott Brayton loved to race at Indy.

The 37-year-old native of Coldwater, Mich., last year became the first driver in seven years to win back-to-back poles at Indy, doing so with a dash of bravado and a pinch of derring-do in a bit of last-minute high drama.

It was set in motion when Brayton’s former Team Menard stablemate, Arie Luyendyk, bumped Brayton’s current teammate, then-rookie Tony Stewart, from the pole with a record-setting gallop of 233.390 m.p.h. late in the first day of qualifications. With less than 18 minutes left before the track’s closing, Brayton gambled by pulling his qualified car out of Row 2 to attempt another shot at the pole.

“The day before they ran, his car really didn’t run well and he was really upset and brought home all the telemetry sheets and he stayed up until 3:30 in the morning, studying all those sheets,” Becky said. “We finally went to sleep and about three hours later, he hopped out of bed and he said, ‘Come on, we’re going down to the racetrack.’ Then he looked at me and he said, ‘I figured out how I’m going to do it.’ “

After Brayton made an initial run of 231.535, which he knew was not good enough to win the pole, he started bugging team owner John Menard and team manager Larry Curry to run Stewart’s backup car, which Stewart had barely run at all, Becky recalled.

“So we were back here in the bus, watching it all,” she said, “when he saw him out there practicing and running off faster speeds and faster speeds.”

That’s when Becky Brayton said to herself, “He’s going to take that car out,” and she and the rest of the crew scrambled to pit row, where Scott had presented the car for technical inspection.

“When he went through tech, he said, ‘We’re going to withdraw and run this car,’ but the chief steward said, ‘What do you mean? You can’t do that. You need to fill out all this paperwork,”’ Becky said. “But Scotty was just determined, there was no doubt about it, and he just said, ‘Well, you got a pen and paper on ya?’

“Right before he qualified, he would never say anything, but he’d always give me a wink just before he put on his helmet. He did that and he got in his car, and this little, 90-pound chief mechanic came up and said to him, ‘Scooter, do you know what you’re doing?’ And Scott just said to him, ‘It’s in the bag, baby.”’

Brayton then stunned everyone when his gambit paid off with a pole-winning run of 233.718 m.p.h., as the track’s four-lap record was broken for the fourth time that day.

“I don’t know how he knew that, but he just said, ‘It’s in the bag, baby,’ and he went and did it,” Becky said. “I’m telling you, through this whole thing, it was so exciting for all of us that I remembered thinking that even if he didn’t get the pole, this was a day he waited a lifetime for as a racer.”

Becky Brayton is heartened that Speedway and Indy Racing League officials have chosen to honor her husband with the creation of the Scott Brayton Driver’s Trophy, a $25,000 prize to be awarded to any past or present Indy 500 entrant who best exemplifies the character and racing spirit of the late Brayton.

“I think it’s a really nice award, because Scotty never really turned away anybody for anything,” she said. “The other part I think it shows is his diligence in maintaining a career - always an underdog and working hard at it.”

As for her life now? Her husband’s jolting death has certainly presented her with some trying times. Now she is a single parent with a 3-year-old daughter who is beginning to ask difficult questions like, “Where’s my Daddy?”

“I told her the truth when she started asking me, and it was very difficult,” Becky said. “She really didn’t believe me and she thought I was trying to do something mean to her for a while, but she understands now that her Dad’s not coming back. But she still talks a lot about him and she remembers so much right now and I try to reinforce that.”

Becky has maintained the family home in Coldwater, where Carly remembers working with her father on the farm, and by staying close to racing and not keeping it at arm’s length.

“How could I hate it?” she said. “It’s what my husband loved doing most in his life. This is the one place where he was the happiest.”

So what has kept her going through the emotional turmoil?

Becky Brayton paused and said, “First of all, I figured the only other choice wasn’t acceptable - to not go on - because of Carly. Other than that, I just kept thinking that Scott would want me to maintain a positive outlook.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: INDY ON TV Sunday: Indianapolis 500 coverage begins at 8 a.m. on ABC.