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Byron Dragway - Big Bucks Bracket Racing - 8-1-2021

8/3/2021

Sunday morning broke with another beautiful day for racing. Thank you Mother Nature for a great weather weekend! The day's racing consisted of four classes: Super Pro (Box/No Box), Pro Eliminator, Sportsman and Street Eliminator. There were two Time Trial runs for all classes except for Super Pro, which had run the previous day.

Super Pro, as usual, was run as two sub-classes, Box and No Box. The winner of each sub-class would then run against each other for the Big Bucks prize of $5,000.00.

In No Box, they ran six rounds to get to the finals. In the first round, Larry Hohn ran a near perfect race against Troy Boeke with a .000 RT/6.52 DI/6.525 ET/103.32.

Dave Perry and Brian Dumdie marched through the field to reach the Final.

This was a fantastically close race with Dave winning by .002.

The numbers:
Dave Perry - RT .035/DI 5.65/ET 5.652/120.07 mph
Brian Dumdie - RT .037/DI 5.99/ET 5.992/114.64 mph

Like in No Box, the competition in Box was extremely close all day. In the second round, the previous day's winner, Vince Mangiaracina, ran a perfect race, RT .000, DI 5.70 ET 5.700, 117.97 mph.

Through seven rounds to reach the Final, Dave Johnson and Vince Mistrata eliminated the competition. In the Final, Dave Johnson took the win with a RT .015, DI 5.67, ET 5.696, 122.03 mph to Vince Mistrata's RT .041, DI 4.67, ET 4.711, 142.04 mph.

As the last race of the day, it was very dark. It was decided to run the race. Dave Johnson in his 2009 Ford Mustang with a perfect reaction time defeated Dave Perry in his 1963 Corvette.

Dave Johnson RT .000, DI 8.67, ET 5.722, 116.74mph
Dave Perry RT .067, DI 5.65, ET 5.667,120.20 mph

The Pro Eliminator class ran five rounds of eliminations to reach the Final. Marty Thornton defeated John Coyle when he broke out.

Marty Thornton RT .061, DI 9.26, ET 9.320, 141.33 mph
John Coyle RT .047, DI 11.97, ET 11.950, 109.64 mph

The Street Eliminator class ran three rounds to reach their Final. It was a battle of SUV's with Doug Goodman in the GMC /Envoy defeating Rob France's Chevrolet Trailblazer. Rob broke out.

Doug Goodman RT .067, DI 17.42, ET 17.443, 82.12 mph
Rob France RT .113, DI 12.50, ET 12.453, 97.90 mph

In Sportsman, it was Rob France, in his second final of the day taking the victory, Rob was entered in Sportsman and Street Eliminator.

Track Bites

As with Saturday, there was a contingent of former Rt. 66 racers attending or participating in the races. I had the opportunity to talk with Bill Larson. Besides racing at RT. 66, he was one of the track announcers. Bill stated he had retired and was now working at an engine shop three days a week.

Bill Larson

I was also speaking with Jim Ilosvay who over the off season had rebuilt the car with a new King motor and a new suspension.

Here are some more images of Sunday's action.

I want to congratulate all the winners for putting on a fantastic show. For those who didn't make it to the end, there's always the next race!

To see all the images from Sunday, please click here.

If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or click on the "Ordering" tab at the top of the page.

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Byron Dragway - Big Bucks Bracket Race, Super Pro #5

8/2/2021

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Saturday at Byron Dragway was a magnificent day to go racing. As Track Announcer Randy Simpson stated "Chamber of Commerce weather". The racing was the season's fifth bracket race for the Super Pro cars along with a Test & Tune. The Super Pro cars are further broken down into two sub-classes of (Delay) Box and No (Delay) Box. The final race was between the Box and No Box cars with the winner taking home the "Big Bucks"! Saturday's winner's check was for $3000.00. Early on it was decided to also have a "High Stakes", no points race.

After time trials, the first cars up were the No Box cars.

After the first round of eliminations, losing drivers have the option of "buying back" into the race. John Coyle was racing Todd Hohn and both redlighted. Larry was closer to green, -.001, than John's -.007, so gained the win. Todd would get to the 5th round before being eliminated by Brian Dumdie. However, John took the option of a buy back and marched through the field with excellent reaction times. His worst was on a single run in the 5th round with .052. Starting in the second round his R/T's were .004, .010, .005, .052, .013. In the Finals of No Box, John was up against Brian Dumdie, who also had been cutting down the tree. John took the win with a R/T .015, D/I 7.63, ET 7.644 and 88.00 MPH to Brian's .029/6.02/6.039/113.84.

In Box, there was stiff competition all day.

After seven rounds of racing, it came down to Vince Mangiaracina in his Monza against Jim Taylor in his Vega. With his .009 reaction time, a 5.70 DI, 5.728 ET at 115.28 mph, Vince took the win and would face off against John Coyle to take home the money.

In the Final, Final

At the start of the race, both John and Vince had exactly the same Reaction Time of .018. At the stripe it was Vince taking the victory by .009. It was a great race and he enjoyed his time in the Winner's Circle!!

In the High Stakes (Gamblers) race there was a surprise winner. TJ Trench normally drives a dragster in Super Pro (Box).

Mid-race, his dragster came to a halt in the shut down lane. When I spoke to him, he stated the car started to hop so he shut it down. They suspect a broken transmission and they were through for the weekend. To my surprise, I see Joe Malfeo's car approach the Tree, except Joe is sitting on the wall watching. Joe offered up the "Widow's Son" Chevy Monza to TJ to run this race. TJ had never driven the car before and it had been several years since he had even driven a door car in competition. He did a great job putting it in the Winner's Circle.

Track Bites

Upon my arrival in the morning at Byron, I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few ex-Route 66 regular drivers. One of the first was John Schober. He stated he was here with Zach Manaseri and Liz Manaseri (who is dating TJ Trench), his grandkids. He will be driving the dragster. Zach and Liz will be sharing the Orange S-10 with Zach doing box and Liz no box. Here is an image of Liz driving and Zach far right.

I saw the Lasik family on the west side of the track with their new dragster. I had heard this was to be their first time out in Jesse's new car. Jesse is graduating from Juniors to a full size car. He earned his Super Comp license at Frank Hawley School at Indy in June. The car launched well however there seemed to be a problem down track. I spoke to Mom, Lisa, then noticed Jesse sitting in the golf cart. Dominic Bowden was testing the car for Jesse to ensure it was ready to go. It is an apparent engine problem, possibly a blown head gasket. I am sure Jesse is a little frustrated waiting to drive the car. An image of Dominic in the car.

Here are some more images of the day's action, including the test & tunes:

One of my favorite of the T & T'ers was Steve Malek's "Xtreme Bird".

With good weather and great racing it was a fun day to be at the track.

To see the images of all the action, please click here.

If you see something of interest and desire to order something, please click here on "Ordering" at the top of the page.

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Road America-Chase Elliott Road Course Master

7/5/2021

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On Sunday afternoon, Chase Elliott streaked to his sixth road course victory of his career at Road America's Jockey Made in America 250 presented by Kwik Trip. Elliott started 34th, deep in the field, because of two crashes in qualifying. The crashes occurred on his attempts at a fast lap. After the clean-up there wasn't enough time left to get in a qualifying lap. Elliott worked his way through the field along with playing strategy to take the lead from Kyle Busch with 16 laps to go. Elliott pulled out to a lead and finished six seconds ahead of second place Christopher Bell #24.

Chase Elliot exiting Turn 6 heading to Turn 7

When it was clear that, without any mishaps, Chase would win, a large crowd gathered around Victory Lane. A loud cheer rang out as Chase streaked by Victory Lane on the way to the checkers!

After Chase took the Checkered Flag, he celebrated with fans on his cool down lap returning to the start/finish line for a smoky burnout. Then, as he stated later, "he must not have gotten the memo" he was informed to return to Turn 5 for the TV interview. At the conclusion of the interview, the Turn 5 fans were clamoring for another Burnout. Chase gave the fans what they wanted. Unfortunately, he flattened his rear tires. Unable to maneuver the car, he was pushed around the track by a tow truck. He stopped on the main straight while his team, who had been waiting for him in Victory Lane, then changed his rear tires. Finally, Chase was able to make it to Victory Lane.

A surprise visitor to the Victory Lane celebration was the newly minted Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Gordon, who was offering his congratulations on Chase's 13th win of his career. Shortly later, Jeff was talking to another Hall of Famer, Chase's Dad, Bill Elliott. You will notice Bill's right hand is in a cast. He was injured in a SRX Series race last week and drove in Saturday night's race at Lucas Oil Raceway.

The remaining top five finishers were as follows: Christopher Bell #20, Kyle Busch #18, Kurt Busch #1 and Denny Hamlin #11.

Here is some of the racing action that was exhibited at Road America!

Track Bites

In qualifying, it was William Byron #24 winning the pole with a speed of 110.359. William was also the winner of Stage 1. Unfortunately for William, he was involved a late race spin and was relegated to 33rd place.

Tyler Reddick #8 was the winner of the Second Stage and finished in the 8th position.

This was the first NASCAR Race at Road America since 1956. The crowd was large and very enthusiastic. Here is a little taste of the event.

The flyover consisted of four US Air Force T-38 Talons and the men that flew them.

Congratulations to Chase Elliot and the entire Hendrick Motorsports team for a great race. Road America and the entire staff deserve kudos for their work in ensuring all the fans had a great time.

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Road America-NXS Henry 180, Kyle Busch Wins #101

7/3/2021

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After two spins during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Henry 150 at Road America, Kyle Busch came from the back of the field to take his 101st Series win. Kyle took the lead with four laps to go and never looked back. This is Kyles fourth win in four attempts this season.

The field was led to the green by pole winner Ty Gibbs. Ty, later, had transmission problems and was forced from the race.

AJ Allmendinger #16, led much of the early race winning both stage 1 and 2 eventually finishing fourth.

Into the latter stages of the race, the aggressiveness seemed to tick up with several crashes, which eliminated several good race cars. This allowed Kyle Busch to get away from the pack and take a substantial lead to the checkers. Here are some images of the race action.

Daniel Hemric, Michael Annett, AJ Allmendinger and Harrison Burton filled out the top five.

Earlier in the day, the Cup Series held one of the few practices it has held this season. It was supposed to be a fifty minute practice, but was interrupted by several racing incidents. Two of these crashes caused Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece to pull out the back up cars. They will be forced to start from the back of the field. Due to the stoppages, NASCAR added 5 minutes to the practice. It was Kurt Busch in the #1 Monster Energy Chevrolet winning practice.

Here is some more action from the practice session.

The Cup cars will qualify Sunday morning, followed by the early afternoon start of the Jockey Made in the USA 250 Presented by Kwik Trip.

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2021 Road America-NASCAR Weekend Friday

7/2/2021

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Today, was our reacquaint yourself with a road course day. As in the past, the racetrack was looking spectacular! Upon our arrival the Trans Am cars were practicing. Unfortunately, by the time we accomplished all of our set-up duties, practice was completed. We should be able to watch and report on some Trans Am racing on Saturday.

There was a fifty minute practice session for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Austin Cindric won practice with a time/speed of 135.096/107.87 mph. He was almost a second faster than Jeb Burton's #10 Chevrolet. Justin Allgaier,#7, was third, followed by #16 AJ Allmemdinger and #18 Daniel Hemric.

Austin Cindric

During this practice session several drivers experienced issues:

#9-Noah Gragson blew an engine
#98-Riley Herbst hit the wall and will go to a backup car
#8-Sam Mayer hit the wall
#26-Kris Wright and #74-Bayley Currey wheel hopped and spun into gravel traps
#17-Cody Ware and #51-Jeremy Clements went off track
#07-Josh Bilicki stalled on track
#4-Landon Cassell and #39-Ryan Sieg made contact.

While approaching the Carousel a few other drivers had small issues. Here is Ty Gibbs getting slightly off track.

And Daniel Hemric:

Tomorrow, there will be more Trans Am action, Xfinity Series Qualifications, Cup practice and the Xfinity Series Henry 180 race. The anticipation for action is very high. Here is a little more of today's action.

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Byron Dragway Junior Fest D2 & Drag Week 500 D3

9/22/2020

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Adam Jakupcak (background) and Jesse Lasik (foreground)

Sunday was the second day of the Junior Fest and Day 3 of Drag Week 500. Drag Week 500 was created when the Hot Rod Drag Week was canceled due to Covid-19. In conjunction with Rock Falls (Wi) Raceway, this three day event fills the void created by the cancellation. The racers held the first race event on Friday at Byron. Packed up their equipment and drove the race cars the 250 miles to the Rock Falls Raceway to compete Saturday. At the conclusion Saturday, they drove back to Byron for Sunday's race. The race cars had to be street legal and driven to the events, no trailering allowed.

In the Junior Fest, it again was two classes, Novice and Elite, running for a Wally. In Novice, there were four rounds of competition before the final. In the final for a second day in a row, it was James Pfohl. His opponent was Aiden Malek from, Beloit Wi. This race was won at the start line as James had a significant better light than Aiden, .125 to .188. Aiden ran closer to his dial-in, but could not overcome the start. This would be classified as a "Hole Shot Win".

James Pfohl

In the Elite Class, it was Algonquin's Ryan Mackey against Joe Schubbe of Plainfield. Joe had been cutting great lights all day. His worst was a .077! At the start of the final, Joe must have gotten a little anxious because he went red by -.014. This gave the Wally to Ryan.

Ryan Mackey

For the Drag Week 500, there was a bracket style race for Street Eliminator and two classes where the winner was declared by their average of the three races-two tracks.

The Street Eliminator Class ran three rounds of competition before the finals. In the final it was JT Barnes against Tony Churchwell. Tony was the slower car so launched first with JT playing catch up. Both drivers pushed each and both broke out. JT took the win by running closest to his D/I of 10.28 with a 10.274 to Tony's 11.55/11.500.

In the Street Class Power Added, it was Cameron Alley with an 8.58 average. In Super Street Power Added it was Scott Keplinger with an 8.05 average.

Here are some images from the entire day.

Track Bite

I had to leave the track before the completion of the Junior Fun Run. I understand Hayley Becker won the race. Congratulations to Hayley and the Becker Racing Team!

It was another beautiful weather day and a day full of great competition. I want to give kudos to BJ and the entire Byron Dragway Team for filling the void of the Hot Rod Drag Week with the Drag Week 500. All I heard Sunday was how grateful the Drag Week racers were for being able to compete in this event.

To see all the images from Sunday's event, please click here.

If you see something you would like to purchase, please click here or click on the Ordering tab at the top of the page.

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Byron Dragway Junior Fest Day 1

9/21/2020

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Saturday was Day One of the 2-day Junior Fest at Byron Dragway. In addition to the competition, there were awards for best costumed crew and best decorated golf cart. Above was one of the competitors. As far as the crews, here are some examples.

I almost didn't recognize Bill Freis in the black wig!

The first cars to hit the track were the Test & Tuners. Almost immediately a car had a problem with a transmission seal blowing out causing a major oil-down.

Staff worked extremely hard to fix the track, however it took some time. So what do you do with kids who were expecting to be racing, let's check out the track!

After the delay, it was time to go racing. Today's racing included Wally's for each class of Novice and Elite. Both classes went four rounds to get to the finals. In the Novice class, it was Clinton, Iowa's James Pfohl against Berlin Wi.'s Thomas Konen. Thomas had cutting good lights in each round, however he went red by -.025. It would have been a very close race as James had a .009 light and ran an 8.930 on an 8.90 D/I.

James Pfohl

In the Elite Class, it was Jack Nolan, Lemont, against Jesse Fritts, Greenup. This race was similar to the Novice because Jesse had good lights all day, but in the final he left just a little early, -.005, to give the win to Jack for the Wally. Both broke out, but that red light was Jesse's downfall.

Jack Nolan

In addition to the Juniors running today, the Buick Club was on hand and ran a competition amongst themselves. In their final it was Perry Carlini against Joe Garcia. Again, the win was a gift of a red light, when Joe went red by -.121.

Track Bites

It was a good day for Pfohl family. Not only did James win the Wally, but his sister, Jillian, won the Fun Race.

Pfohl Family

In the Test & Tune portion of the day, Launching Larry with his wheel-standing Barracuda asked me to get a shot from the rear as the car went up. Here is an example.

The North Shore Corvette Club was also on-track Saturday with some beautiful Corvettes.

Other than the little blip in the morning, everyone had a great time with some great weather and great racing.

To see all the images from the day, please click here.

If you see something you would like to purchase, click on the ordering tab at the top of the page or here.

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Byron Dragway - 45th US Bracket Nationals, Day 3

9/8/2020

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As you will notice from the title, this is Day 3 of the 45th Annual US Bracket Nationals. You might be wondering, Day 3? What happened to days 1 & 2? Well day one, Saturday, I had to leave the track earlier than anticipated and day two was a weather day. These will be discussed in Track Bites.

So, onto Day 3. The racing on Monday consisted of a non-points, Super Pro race for a NHRA TV.com Challenge Wally for each class of Super Pro (Box/No Box) and for the overall winner, a $5,000.00 "Big Check". The No Box cars led off the day with their one round of qualifying for the entered 43 cars. The Box cars followed with their 72 cars. In between the end of qualifying and the beginning of eliminations, a small contingent of Test & Tune cars hit the track. After Round 2 of eliminations, the Test & Tune group got larger as eliminated cars joined the group. After six rounds of eliminations in No Box, it came down to Jesse Leonard, Hastings, Mn., in his 67 Camaro against David Strepek, St. Charles, in his 63 Chevy Pick Up truck.

David was slightly quicker off the line than Jesse, (.028/.030), however, Jesse ran closer to his 6.01 D/I with a 6.019 to take the Wally. David ran a 7.335 on a 7.32 D/I.

After seven rounds of Eliminations in the Box category, it came down to Johnny DiPiazza in his Chevy Vega against Steve Folk in the 65 Chevy Nova wagon. Johnny cut a .003 light and Steve had a very respectable .028. Johnny's quick light led to Steve trying to make up the difference and breaking out, D/I 6.11- E/T 6.097. The breakout gave the Wally to Johnny.

In the Box/No Box runoff race for the "Big Check", it was Johnny in the left lane and Jesse in the right. Both had respectable lights, Johnny .029 and Jesse .039. They pushed each other hard to the stripe where both broke out. Jesse ran closer to his D/I (6.00/5.999) to Johnny's 6.24/6.237 to take the big money payout.

Winner's Circle was a happy place for both drivers.

Track Bites

On Saturday, Day One of the US Bracket Nationals was a great day of racing. As I stated earlier, I had to leave the track and did not see the finals of the Super Pro points race. It was Johnny DiPiazza taking the win and the "Big Check". With two wins, one for a Wally and another for the big money, I would say Johnny had a great weekend!

On Sunday, Day Two, it started raining overnight and into the morning. Mother Nature wasn't playing nice as track personnel dried the track three times! The cars didn't hit the track until 4:30 pm and ran as many rounds as they could until halted by darkness. At that point, it was decided that the competitors would split the money and the Wally's would be awarded at a later race. Kudos to BJ and his staff for all the hard work it took to get cars on track.

On Saturday, Brian Dumdie had a very close call after his '57 Chevy starting spewing transmission fluid at the launch causing Brian to have a wild ride.

It was great to see Brian back on track Monday, no worse for the wear and in the same lane!

On Monday, it was time to welcome another young driver to the sport of Drag Racing. Jackson Lang of Hincklely, Il. was licensing his junior dragster. These kids in the Junior Program are the future of the sport!

Even with Mother Nature throwing us a curve on Sunday, it was a very successful weekend and we did get to hand out two Walleys. Here are some more images from Monday.

To see the rest of the images from Monday, please click here.

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Byron-Day 2 of Two Wheel Speed w/Midwest Index Shootout and T & T

8/31/2020

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Joe Robbins

Sunday broke as another beautiful day for racing. It was partly sunny with temps in the 70's. It was to be the second day of Two Wheel Speed and a Test & Tune with the addition of the Midwest Index Shootout with six classes competing.

First up is SS Bike 950. This is a 9.50 index race. Larry Sargis gained his right to the Finals with a bye run and Gil Odjick made it in when Chris Panko redlighted. At the start, Gil was just slightly better with his reaction time, .084 to Larry's .087. Larry made it up at the stripe running closer to the index, 9.714 than Gil's 9.763.

Larry Sargis

Up next, was another index class, 890 Bike. Chris Panko received a bye to make into the finals. Where he was to face Thomas "Turtle" Cole, who defeated Bruce Damewood, when Bruce redlighted. At the start, it was "Turtle" with the faster response time, .024, to Chris' .055. Chris made up that time by not by much, 8.941 to Turtles 8.975. That was a .003 win for Chris.

Chris Panko

Street Bike is a Bracket style race. The riders each select a time they cannot go less. If they are under the Dial-in (D/I) they breakout and lose. To get to the Finals, Larry Sargis defeated Ted Thompson and Jeremy Murphy had the Bye. Larry had this one from the start with a .026 light to Jeremy's .057. At the stripe, Larry ran closer to his D/I of 9.45 with a 9.505 as Jeremy ran hard to catch Larry and brokeout by .002, 9.20/9.198. This gave Larry his second win of the day!

Larry Sargis

Drag Bike is like Street Bike in that is a Bracket race. The finalists were Thomas Cole and Bill Homuth. "Turtle" defeated Bruce Damewood in the Semi-final and Bill defeated Bill Baker, Bill had the better light (.010/.031. However Turtle ran significantly closer to his D/I, 8.293/8.27 than Bill at 9.358/9.28 to take the win.

Thomas "Turtle" Cole

As the final race for the bikes, the Street Bike winner, Larry Stargis, faces off against Drag Bike winner, Thomas "Turtle" Cole for the overall Bike win. Larry was going for the triple. Larry had a D/I of 9.45 and "Turtle" at 8.28. Turtle had the better light, .042, to Larry's .069. At the stripe it was Larry running closer to his D/I, 9.487 to "Turtle's" 8.346 to take the win. This gave Larry three wins for the day. I would say that was a good day.

The Midwest Index Shootout runs six classes of Index racing. The first was Street Intimidator. In the final it was Jeff Smith against Brian Hampton. Jeff had a much better light than Brian, .054/.149. Brian had to push to overcome the bad light and ended up breaking out giving the win to Jeff.

Jeff Smith

In Steet Heat it was an all truck final. Damien Hampton, from Mendota, against Rockford's DJ Jones. DJ had the better light. .032/.042, however Damien made up the difference by runing closer to his D/I to take the win.

Damien Hampton

In Street Limited, it was Alyx Kemp versus DJ Matiecka in a classic Mustang against Camaro race. Street Limited uses a 10.80 dial-in. DJ was a little quick on the throttle and redlighted giving the win to Alyx, who was driving the Mustang.

Alyx Kemp

In Pro Avenger, it was Jimmie Moore from Byron against Elgin's Scott Frost. Jimmie had the better light .027/.106. Scott didn't have as good a light and actually came closer to the 10.20 Index with his 10.212 to Jimmie's 10.227. Scott could not overcome an R/T of .106 with Jimmie taking a "Holeshot" win.

Jimmie Moore

It was Lenny Anderson, Genoa, against Rockford's Kelly Spears. Lenny had the better light .020/.040, but Kelly came closer to the 9.50 Index but could not overcome the slower reaction time. This was another "Holeshot" win in Pro Dominator for Lenny.

Lenny Anderson

In the final race for Midwest Index Shootout, Pro Extreme, with Jim Hickey against Darryl Appel. Darryl had the better light, .051/.055, but Jim ran closer to the 8.60 Index. Jim's victory was by .004!

Jim Hickey

In between the Series' runs, there was a Test & Tune.

Track Bites:

Junior driver Allie Coonan completed her NHRA licensing requirements to be able to compete in the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League. Congratulations Allie and welcome to the drag racing community.

Allie Coonan

In the Bike runoff it was Larry Sargis and Thomas "Turtle" Cole. In the first round eliminations in each of their classes, both riders lost. They both purchased a "Buy Back" to be able to return to competition. I think it was money well spent because they won their classes and earned their run off positions.

You can only hope for good weather and good racing. Sunday, both were on display at Byron Dragway making for a great day! Next weekend is Labor Day Weekend which means it's US Bracket Nationals at Byron. Within the restrictions of Covid-19, I hope to see as many folks as are able to come and while practicing social distancing.

To see the rest of Sunday's images, please click here.

If you see something you would like to purchase, please click on the Ordering tab at the top of the page or click here.

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Byron - Two Wheel Speed and Test & Tune

8/29/2020

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Thomas "Turtle" Cole

Saturday was the first of two days of Two Wheel Speed. This day, the bikes were competing in four classes, 890 Bike, 950 Bike, Street Bike and Drag Bike. Several of the riders were competing in more than one class. There were six competitors in 890 Bike. The Finals were an all Iowa race with Bruce Damewood, Clinton, against Thomas "Turtle" Cole, Davenport. Bruce had the better light (.012/.037). They pushed each other into a double breakout where Bruce ran closer to the 8.90 index to take the win.

Bruce Damewood

In 950 Bike there were only four competitors with Larry Sargis, Midlothian, against Byron's Gil Odjick. in the Final. Larry was better on the tree with an .031 to Gil's .068. At the stripe it was Larry with the win by .003.

Larry Sargis

In Street Bike, there were six competitors going two elimination rounds before reaching the Final. In the Finals it was Rockford's Ted Thompson against Larry Sargis, Midlothian. Ted had the slower ET and therefor left first. Larry gave it his best, but at the stripe he brokeout by .036 handing the win to Ted.

Ted Thompson

Bill Baker

In the runoff between the two bike classes it was Bill Baker, Drag Bike, against Ted Thompson, Street Bike. Ted had the slower bike so he left over three seconds before Bill launched. Bill was playing catch up while Ted was trying to time his race to beat Bill to the stripe. Ted was just a little fast and broke out, 12.30/12.262, handing the win to Bill.

In addition to the bikes, there was a relatively good number of Test and Tune cars.

Track Bites:

Allie Coonan, age 5, started her NHRA Junior Drag Racing Licensing training. NHRA has developed a complete training program to ensure children are safe driving a junior dragster. NHRA sanctioned tracks have designated trainers who teach the kids the rights and wrongs.

During the Test & Tune portion of the day, it was announced Greg Darm had brought a contingent of racers to the track. They call themselves the Streator Streakers. Here is Greg racing with one of his streakers. Greg is in the white car and racing against Steve Quickel.

Saturday was one of those days when something happens and you realize you are growing old! Julia Hooten was licensing in the family Chevrolet Nova racecar. Julia, who is 21, used to drive a junior dragster. And this was on her parent's, Tom and Denise, wedding anniversary. First, Congratulations to Tom and Denise and second, Congratulations to Julia on licensing in the "big" car!

Julia Hooten

Great weather and good racing make for a fabulous day. Looking forward for another great day on Sunday, when Two Wheel Speed, Midwest Index Shoot Out and Test & Tune run at Byron.

To see all the racing images from Saturday, please click here.

If you see something you would like to purchase, click on the Ordering tab at the top of the page or click here.

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Forward>>

Byron Dragway - Big Bucks Bracket Racing - 8-1-2021

Byron Dragway - Big Bucks Bracket Race, Super Pro #5

Road America-Chase Elliott Road Course Master

Road America-NXS Henry 180, Kyle Busch Wins #101

2021 Road America-NASCAR Weekend Friday

Byron Dragway Junior Fest D2 & Drag Week 500 D3

Byron Dragway Junior Fest Day 1

Byron Dragway - 45th US Bracket Nationals, Day 3

Byron-Day 2 of Two Wheel Speed w/Midwest Index Shootout and T & T

Byron - Two Wheel Speed and Test & Tune

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