Rt. 66-ET Bracket #4 with JDRL #1

If you weren't at Route 66 Raceway Saturday, this was the type of racing you missed! While I grant you that the day didn't start off very well, however the Staff at Route 66 did a magnificent job of recovering, prepping the track and completing today's program. I thought for sure the program would go deep into the night, but the program was completed at 7:00 pm while it was still light out.  Kudos to the entire Operations Staff. Today, the program consisted of ET Bracket race four and Junior Drag Racing League race #1. Due to an earlier rainout, this was the opening 2018 race of the season for the Rt. 66 JDRL racers. Because of the inclimate weather, it was decided there would only be one time trial instead of the normal two.

After the completion  of the Time Trial, the bracket racing continued with the the first round of eliminations, followed by the round robin racing of the rest of the elimination rounds. The number of rounds in each class is determined by the number of participants in each class. The first class to complete its elimination rounds was Pro Bike. It was Mike Krueger defeating Frank Linders in a double break out. In the case of a double breakout , the driver who breaks out less is declared the winner.

The next class with a final was High School. It was David Kovar Jr. taking the win light over Connor Lawson. Connor beat David on the tree, however David was able to track Connor down and win by 2/1-thousands of a second.

Next up was Super Pro. It was an all dragster finals with Nick Mistrata up against Wally Pote. This race was decided at the start with Nick's .013 reaction time to Wally's .022.

The Sportsman Class was the next to bring their Final to the line. It was Paul O'Keefe against David Lyons. David had the better reaction time (.033-.047) but at the stripe it was Paul O'Keefe winning his second in a row Sportsman Class race. Paul ran a 12.223 on a 12.20 dial-in.

The last class to be contested was Pro.  This was a race between Herman Zehnder and Dave Meccia and won by Herman Zehnder in another double breakoout. Herman broke out by .015 to Dave's .040.

...and a little video from the day's action.

Junior Drag Racing League
Due to an early season rain-out, this was the first race of the 2018 of the season for the League. For those that don't know, the JDRL is youth racing league that is broken down into two classes. The kids can start at five years of age after completing a licensing class. Here are the age groups:

Junior Sportsman - Ages 6-10 (11.90 & slower)

Junior Modified - Ages 10-17 (10-12 years-old are 8.90 & slower; 13-17 years-old are 7.90 & slower)

Today's racing sponsors are as follows:

The Sportsman class was sponsored by ReMax 1st Service and the Modified class was sponsored by Metropolitan Industries.

*The #1 Qualifier in each class will be sponsored by Route 66 Food and Fuel. 

In the Jr. Sportsman Class there were eight cars competing. In the Finals, it was Ava Valencia against Holden Grimes. Ava took the win light when Holden broke-out by .014!

In the Jr. Modified class, it was Nate Kelley vs Ryan Campbell. Nate is a frequent visitor to the Winner's Circle and again today he prevailed. Nate had a reaction time of .074 to Ryan's .111.

In the Jr. Modified Class, Tori Trench was the #1 Qualifier.

In the Jr. Sportsman Class, it was Alexandra Coyle with the #1 qualifier spot. Unfortunately we did not get a photo of Alexandra in the Winner's Circle, however here she is on-track in her re-purposed former Ancel Jr. Dragster

Here is some video from today's action.

Track Bites

At the beginning of the day, I was surprised to see Sportsman driver Joe Zehnder driving his Mustang. This year he has campaigning a Camaro. Joe has been a long time Camaro driver, but for the last several seasons had been driving the Mustang. He has had great success in the Mustang. Unfortunately, while racing at US 41, the Camaro developed a valve-train problem, which will take a couple of weeks to correct. Joe rolled out "Old Reliable" and was the #1 Qualifier. Joe went several rounds before breaking out by .008 against Morgan Hixon.

Speaking of Morgan Hixon, this was her first race of the season. Morgan is attending college in Florida and has been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get back behind the wheel. In the day's race, Morgan made it to the Semi-Finals before losing to eventual winner Paul O'Keefe. Great job Morgan.

And then there is Autumn (Audi) Lawson and Miranda Lawson-Alley on their Burromax Electric Mini-Bikes. If my information is correct, they are selling these environmentally correct track bikes. If you need one, see them. Oh yes, and they are racers. Miranda has been having having problems with the S-10 and dad, Mike, is trying to resolve the issues. Audi drives the 1967 Blue Chevy Nova.

Again, I want to congratulate the Route 66 Staff on a job well done. With all the weather related issues, they could of easily given up and called it a day, They didn't and completed a day many thought wouldn't be done. Great job!

​To see all of the day's action, please click here.

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