By Jay Hardin Track Enterprises
DuQuoin, Ill. – The Bateman Racing Team, out of Murphysboro, Illinois, has had a love affair with the big cars of USAC’s Silver Crown Championship Series that goes back over forty years. As all good things must come to an end, so must the relationship the team has with championship dirt car racing.
Team principal Patty Bateman announced at Springfield this would be the last season for the team with the Ted Horn 100 at DuQuoin likely the last event for the familiar number 55.
Jerry Coons to pilot Bateman racing machine in final DuQuoin start. (Photo by Mark Funderburk)
Randy Bateman worked as a pipefitter and built and repaired race cars when he wasn’t driving them. Midgets and sprint cars were part of his stable for some time but he is perhaps best known for piloting one of the long wheelbase, big tail championship machines usually confining his activities to the three dirt miles of the time, Indianapolis, Springfield and the one closest to home, DuQuoin’s Magic Mile.
The first attempt at DuQuoin came in September of 1982. Randy qualified 51st out of 56 entries and wasn’t able to gain entry through the qualifying race. On September 5, 1983 one of the mighty uprights rolled onto DuQuoin’s Magic Mile carrying Murphysboro’s Randy Bateman. He qualified 34th out of 48 cars that day, relegated to one of the two “last chance” races. He finished third ahead of stalwarts such as Billy Vukovich and Joe Saldana, both of whom started in the Indy 500. Bateman made the 1983 Ted Horn 100 starting 25th a considerable accomplishment for a rookie driver. The storybook ending was not to be, however, as a faulty clutch sidelined the car after 21 miles. Bateman finished exactly where he started, in 25th.
Bateman’s appearances at the other mile tracks were limited by funding and work. He was a twelve-time starter in the Hoosier Hundred at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, finishing ninth in 2002. He also made twelve starts in the Bettenhausen 100 with a best finish of 17th. Resources were generally geared toward making the show at DuQuoin. And make the show he did. A total of sixteen starts before the home crowd and an outside front row qualification run in 2008 which brought the house down. Perhaps fittingly his best finish came in his last start, 13th in 2014.
The effects of ALS took Randy out of the cockpit as wife Patty and brother Mark continued the racing team. Randy would attend when he could and watched as Brian Tyler took his car to third in the 2015 Hoosier Hundred. Sadly, the effects of ALS took its toll and Randy passed away in January of 2017.
Patty and Mark soldiered on, hiring Casey Shuman who gave the car several good runs and finally settling on 2008 USAC Silver Crown champ Jerry Coons Jr. Jerry has managed a couple of top 5 finishes at Springfield (including 4th on August 17) and a couple of top ten finishes (6th in 2023) on the Magic Mile.
In her spare time Patty Bateman has managed to raise championship show dogs including one named “Indy Jo”. She plans to sit on the beach with her family once the race team is done. Southern Illinois fans are encouraged to come to the Ted Horn 100 on August 31 and say goodbye to one of the enduring race teams from the region.
The 71st Ted Horn 100 is part of a huge weekend of racing that begins on Saturday afternoon, August 31 with USAC Silver Crown and Modifieds at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, and Sunday evening, September 1 with the ARCA Southern Illinois 100 and the Bill Oldani Memorial for the Modifieds at the Magic Mile.
Advance tickets for the DuQuoin State Fair races are available by calling the Track Enterprises office at 217-764-3200, by calling the DuQuoin State Fair box office at 618-542-1535, or by stopping by the DuQuoin State Fair box office.
For more information, visit www.usacracing.com, www.arcaracing.com, or www.trackenterprises.com.