2020 Ingalls Park A.C. Practice Tree Nationals

L-R Troy Bogner, Madison Drafke, Braden Bowden

Saturday, was the 2020 version of the Ingalls Park A.C. Practice Tree Nationals to benefit the Midwest Junior Super Series.  The Series' mission is to provide a fun and competitive racing environment for racers and their families at tracks around the Midwest. For 2020, the Series has a seven race schedule: 

The following sponsors contributed to the success of this event:
Summit Racing
Lucas Oil
VP Racing Fuel
Allstar Performance
Diamond  Pistons
Antron Brown Racing
Git Sidewayz
Get'M Performance
Car Chix
The Roloff Family
Pat and Dave Beimfohr (Midwest Junior Super Series)
Ingalls Park A.C.
Route 66 Raceway
Chicagoland Speedway
Sontag Speed Supply
John Homestrom

I arrived at the beginning of the event and shot a short video of the early happenings. The full crowd  had not yet arrived.

As friends gathered, the talk began! Route 66 representatives Bill Larson, Greg Nickleski and I spoke and cured all the ills, present and future, of every racing series in the United States! At the event, Jeanette DesJardins, from Car Chix/event sponsor, and I spoke. This is the "off-season" third event we have attended together. 

Georgina Buckley, Jeanette DesJardins

Jeanette has been on the road for the past six weeks for Car Chix and just returned from the Detroit Autorama. Not to rest, she is flying to Jacksonville, Fl., on Monday to consult with a business for a marketing campaign. Besides Car Chix, Jeanette is owner of Crank It Media.

In the above picture, you will notice Jeanette is wearing a "Lawson Strong" T-shirt. She wasn't the only one. There was a large group wearing the logo wear in support of the John Lawson family, who as you know, lost all their racing equipment in a fire.

I spoke with John's niece, Miranda Alley, and of course Corbin her son, and she told me that while the family has been grief stricken over the loss, they have been buoyed by the support coming from all parts of the country!

If you have never been to the Practice Tree Nationals, it is a competition using a drag racing practice "Christmas" tree to test reaction times. However, anytime you get racers going head-to-head there is going to be competition, smack talk and attempted intimidation! Here is Dom Bowden attempting the "Stare-Down" of Todd Trench! I think Todd was locked-in and focused!!

This is the type of fun that is to be had at this event. Another part of the fun, is watching different classes of drivers compete against each other. In the case below, Junior Modified driver Braden Bowden is going head-to-head with former Junior/ High School and now Super Pro driver, Tori Trench.

Here is some more of the comraderies and competition.

After the round robin competition, it came down to the finals in each of the three classes, Junior, Sportsman and Pro. In the Junior class it was Madison Drafke vs Mia Rybarski with Madison taking the #1 trophy.

In the Sportsman Class, it was Troy Bogner vs Bob Churchill with Troy claiming the top prize.

In the Pro Class, it was Braden Bowden vs Tori Trench, with Braden taking the win.

This was another great event where everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. Congratulations to our winners and the beneficiary of the event, the Midwest Junior Super Series.

Footnote: As I was packing, I heard a commotion by the Tree. It seems a grudge match had developed and the bet was a steak dinner. Thus it was Bob Churchill vs Joe Zolper! It was Bob taking the win light to his great exuberance. He wanted to make it abundantly clear that, "I kicked Joe Zolper's (expletive deleted). The competition never stops!!

Note: There are a couple of hundred more images to be processed and when they are done, I will post a link on Facebook for your perusal.