 Last Sunday was race #2 of the Big Bucks Bracket Bash. After Saturday's nearly four hour rain delay, it was nice to have a beautiful day to race. On the schedule were all the classes: Street Eliminator Sportsman Eliminator Pro Eliminator Super Pro Box/No Box Only Super Pro would be racing 1/8 mile with the rest the 1/4 mile. First up was Street Eliminator. They went four rounds to reach their Final. In the Final, it was Stephen Mroz from Summit, Il. in his 2014 Camaro against Ted Thompson in his 2012 Mustang. The classic Pony car matchup. Steve was very consistent all day. In Round 2, his opponent was a long time friend and frequent competitor, Bill Larson. Bill was a little anxious at the start and redlighted. In Round 4, Stephen had a bye into the Final. Ted was also very consistent with his reaction times and running close to his Dial-in. In Round 1 he was aided when his opponent, Ken Rosebrook redlighted. In the final, Ted had the better reaction time, .046/.069. However, both broke out and Stephen ran closer to his Dial-in enough to overcome his reaction time.  The next class up was Sportsman. This class went four rounds before the Final. In the Final it was Jeff Toepper against Dennis Wrosch, another classic pony car matchup, Camaro vs Mustang. Jeff's route to the Final was a little up and down. In Round 2, Jeff was up against Ted Thompson and both broke out, however Jeff ran closer to the dial-in to take the win. In Round 3, Jeff had the bye into Round 4. There, he was up against a tough competitor that he has raced on many occasions, Fred Trombley. Fred got a little anxious at the start and redlighted handing the win to Jeff. Dennis took a more traditional route to the Finals. He consistently had better lights than his competitors. When he didn't run closer to this dial-in he beat them at the start. In the Final, Dennis, again, was faster at the light than Jeff, .032/.051. At the stripe both broke out with Jeff, again, running closer to the dial-in to take the win.  Next in the queue was Pro Eliminator. They went five rounds to reach their Final, with Troy Bogner and Jordan Ancel facing off. Troy earned a Round 1 bye with his qualifying in Time Trials. In Rounds 2 and 3, his opponents, Jessie Albright and Fred Berardi Jr., both redlighted. Rounds 4 and 5 were both more traditional wins to include a .001 light in Round 5. Jordan, through the first three rounds, had better or tied her opponent's reaction times to take the wins. In Round 4, Mark Langfoss beat her on the tree, .039/.067, but broke out giving the win to Jordan. This led to a bye round to the Finals against Troy. In the Finals, Troy cut a .006 light and Jordan went -.055 red to give the win to Troy. This was Troy's second win in as many tries this season.  Renee and Troy Bogner Onto the Super Pro Class. Super Pro is broken into two sub-classes of Box and No-Box. After both sub-classes determined their winners, those then faced off for the overall Super Pro winner and the big check. Leading off was the No-Box class, which went five rounds to reach the Final. The Final pitted Kevin Lancaster against Bob Disch. Kevin was racing well with great reaction times and having his car dialed in. In Round 3, he earned a Bye into Round 4, where he faced off against Brian Dumdie. Brian redlighted handing the win to Kevin. In Round 5, Kevin bested his opponent, Steve Marquis, on the tree and dial-in, 0.23/6.03/6.031, to reach the Final. Kevin had his worst light of the day, .057, which is still very good, but it didn't matter as Bob Disch went red by -.029 to give the win to Kevin and a place in the Final-Final. The Box class went seven rounds to reach their final. In the Final, it was Dennis DiValerio against Saturday's big check winner Tim Vincent. Dennis, in Round 1, lost to Scott LaBudde, but, with a buy back, came back in Round 2 to defeat Jim Laughlin, who broke out. In Rounds 3,4,&5, Dennis was chopping down the tree with a worst being a .012 light. That earned him a bye in Round 5. In Round 6, he continued his great R/T's with a .001. His opponent Monty Fisher went red by -.003. Tim cruised through the competition with great lights and dial-ins through six rounds. This gave Tim a bye in the seventh and a place in the Final. In the Final of Super Pro, it was Dennis DiValerio against Tim Vincent. Both took different routes to make it this far. At the start, Tim left first with the slower car with a respectful .022 light. However, Dennis cut a .003 light. With Dennis chasing, he forced Tim to push it causing Tim to break out, 4,84/4.829, giving the win to Dennis. In the Final-Final of Super Pro it was No-Box winner, Kevin Lancaster against Box winner Dennis DiValerio. They both cut great lights, Kevin .006 and Dennis .014. Kevin ran closer to his dial-in, 6.03/6.052 to Dennis' 4.29/4.321 to take the win and the $5,000 big check. Track Bites In the Pro Elimination Final, it was Jordan Ancel's first final since graduating from the Junior ranks and driving the "big" car. I have been shooting the Ancel Family Racing for a long time. Below is the first time I photographed Jordan racing, May 5, 2013. Her sister, Darcy, had driven this car the previous year and had gotten a new car. Jordan got the seat in this car. It was renamed from "Dynamite Darcy" to the "Agitator". She has come a long ways, celebrating in the Winners Circle with her Mom and Dad and the Bogners at Byron Dragway to commemorate her first Final ! All weekend long, there was a lot of discussion about the upgrades made by Dennis DiValerio to his dragster that allowed him to pull a wheelie. While going through Sunday's images, I found another dragster doing wheelies driven by Charlie Hamma. It's unusual to have two dragsters pulling wheelies as much as these two. Racers will travel all over to race on any given track. Most do have a home track which is normally the closest to where they live. On Sunday, there was a group of racers that I have worked with a very long time. We first met at Route 66 and now they congregate at Byron Dragway. It was a good day to get together with two of them, in the photo, winning this day. And this does not include the Pro Eliminator final with Troy Bogner and Jordan Ancel.
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 Dennis DiValerio On Saturday morning, as I was preparing to leave for the Big Bucks Bracket Bash at Byron Dragway, my General Manager, wife Janet, asked if I had checked the weather report. I replied, "I did last night." She stated you better check it again. When I did, I saw that the report changed with rain expected around 2 pm instead of later that night. I made the call to head to the track. With the impending rain, the Byron personnel moved swiftly to get the event started. There would be two rounds of qualifying with eliminations following. As soon as Time trials ended there was a quick turnaround to start eliminations. The first cars out were the No Box cars. The No Box cars would run five rounds to reach its Final. However, in between the rain hit causing a rain delay of almost four hours. In their Final it, would be Terry Heller from Morrison, Il. in his 71 Chevrolet Vega against John Hixon from Plainfield, Il. in his 70 Buick GS. Terry got to the Final, by being very consistent with his hitting his Dial-In, except in Round 2 when his opponent, Shane Pope, redlighted by -.007. John got to the Final on the strength of his Reaction Times. Except in Round 1, when his opponent, Jordan Ancel had a problem getting off the line, his worst R/T was .034. In Round 2, John received a bye with his .000 R/T in Time Trials. In the Final, John cut another good light, .022, however Terry had a great light, .008. Both ran over their D/I .006. Terry won on the strength of his Reaction Time. This was a great race!  Photo courtesy of Byron Dragway In the Box class, there would be six rounds of competition to reach the Box Final. In the Final, it would be Tim Vincent against Shane Pope. The path for Tim and Shane to the Final appears to have been through their Reaction Times. Tim's worst was .020 and Shane .026. In the Final, this held true when Tim had a holeshot win when Shane ran closer to his dial-in, 4.75/4.751 to Tim's 4.89/4.896, however Tim's .006 R/T beat Shane's .015 by .009. This race was won on the start line. This set up Tim Vincent against Terry Heller in the Final, Final of Super Pro for the $3,000 big check. In the race, it was Terry, in the slower car, to leave first being chased by Tim. At the stripe Terry broke out by .007 giving the win to Tim.  Photo courtesy of Byron Dragway Track Bites Just for complete disclosure, I left this race early. After watching the radar for quite some time, I never thought this race would be completed! I will never doubt BJ again!! In the second round, Nate Kelley driving the "Gone Batty" dragster, after launching, broke and pulled off the track. Normally, that would end his day, however his opponent, John Schadt, redlighted by -.002 to give the win to Nate. They found a broken part in the distributor and were able to quickly repair the motor. Nate made it to the semi-final against Shane Pope. Sometimes it is better to lucky than good! In addition to the Super Pro race there was a Test & Tune.  Wayne Maurer III After the Saturday rain, it was nice to have good weather to race. Sunday it was the Diesel vehicles turn to hit the track. The Diesel Drags is a little different event, in that there are not any elimination rounds. It's more of a "show" event. There were five rounds of qualifications for the Awards at the end. In the three brands of diesels the following were the winners: Cummins (1) #302 TJ Frey (2) #616 Walker Knight (3) #603 Dustin Fowler Power Stroke (1) #608 Dan Bigelow (2) #601 Tyler Davison (3) #617 Craig Grisolia Duramax (1) #614 Ron Saltzma (also Best Blackout) (2) #613 Joe Tordai (3) #606 Derek Patterson (also Best Appearing GM) Most Unique Wayne Maurer III  In addition to the Diesels, there was a Test & Tune: Track Bites The Ness family brought two junior dragsters to Byron today. One was their son, Cohen Ness, age 12, testing and his sister, Lennox, age 9, was licensing. As part of the day of racing, it was decided to offer a Diesel Bracket Race. Only two trucks decided to race. It was Gil Odjick and Brandon Schmidt. The race was won at the start when Gil had a .106 reaction time to Brandon's .736. Brandon could not overcome that.  Gil Odjick One of the more interesting cars testing today was the 1951 Studebaker Starlite Coupe, Silver Stude", driven by Calvin Johnson from Hollandale Wi. The car has a 468 c.i. Chevy engine. When Calvin puts on the side mufflers and street car tires it becomes street legal.  The diesel that won the Most Unique award was the Mudtang of Wayne Maurer III. It is a 2000 Mustang body hung on a 2000 Ford F250 frame. The vehicle began it's life in Michigan and was bought by Wayne and brought back to Hampshire, Il. for completion.  With the great weather, it made for a great show with quite a few fans in the stands.  |
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