Byron Dragway, For Me, Back to Racing- Big Bucks Bracket Bash

Grant Zimmerman

Sunday was a beautiful day for racing. The weather was so good the old saying came to mind, "Chamber of Commerce weather"! For myself, after missing nine race dates due to health issues, it was great to get back to my happy place, the racetrack! Enough, back to the racing. Sunday's racing consisted of Street Eliminator, Sportsman Eliminator, Pro Eliminator and Super Pro Box/No Box. The Super Pro sub-classes would face off for the $5,000 Big Check.

In Street Eliminator, it took four rounds of competition to reach the Final between Steve Quickel and Brian Hampton. In looking at the result sheets, it wasn't an easy trip for either driver. In the first round, Steve won a double red light foul, when his competitor Carla Reynolds, went red first. Brian faced some tough competition before getting a bye into the Final. There, Steve was quicker off the line, .105/.113 and ran closer to his dial-in to take the win, 12.50/12.624-17.59/17.776.

(L) Steve Quickel

The next class up was Sportsman Eliminator. They took five rounds to reach the Finals, between Steve Mroz and Fred Trombley. Both Steve and Fred had similar routes to reach the Final. They either beat you on the tree or ran closer to the dial or both! They were tough all day. Steve had a bye in the fifth round to get into the Finals. There, they both came to the tree and only Steve launched to take the win. It seems in staging, Fred timed out. With the automatic start feature, after Pre-stage, you have ten seconds to Stage. Fred exceeded that time. Afterwards, Fred said, "I probably have been close many times! Steve won, he deserved it!"

(L-R) Dave Ancel, Gina Ancel, Steve Mroz, Herman Zehnder, Joe Zehnder, Darcy Ancel, Jordan Ancel

Next up was Pro Eliminator. The competitors went five rounds to reach the Finals between Corey Duncan and Brando Carlson. The competition in Pro was tight all day. Both Corey and Brando were on their game with good lights and running close to their dial-ins. For Corey, the round 4 race win against Marty Thornton was strange. As they were Staging, Marty revved his engine as he preparing to launch. I thought that strange, being that he was the faster car and would start second. Corey then revved and launched. Marty did not. At the time, it was thought, after Marty Staged, he rolled back into Pre-stage causing a foul. In the Final, Corey was quicker on the light, .023 to Brando's .091. Brando pushed it a little too hard breaking out by 0.014. Cory took the win.

Corey Duncan (second from left)

Next was Super Pro, with No Box first. Reaching the Finals was Grant Zimmerman and Shane Pope. Both Grant and Shane were excellent on the light this day. Grant's worst light was a .041 to Shane's .080. Those lights were in the No Box Final. At the stripe, Shane was pushing and broke out by .001 with Grant taking the win.

In the Box sub-class, it took seven rounds to reach the Finals between Dion Degnitz and Charlie Hamma, both in dragsters. Both had fantastic reaction times all day with Charlie having a perfect light (.000) in the second round. Through the seven rounds to reach the Final they had a combined ten .00_ lights! In the Final, Charlie was just a little too quick and went red -.007 to Dion's .013 giving the win to Dion. This put the door car (No-Box) up against the Box dragster.

In the Final, Final, Grant Zimmerman, driving the slower car, launched first with a .018 light to Dion's .015 reaction time. At the stripe, Grant ran his number with a one to take the win, 6.47/6.471. Dion was 5.38/5.397. It was a great race!

Dion Degnitz

Grant Zimmerman and Family

Track Bites

As chronicled earlier, Steve Mroz won this day's Sportsman's race. This was Steve's first Sportsman win as he was a previous Street Eliminator winner. Steve's brother, Bill, recently required brain surgery for a treatable brain tumor. Bill is currently recovering. Bill drives the family chopped top Buick Regal. They are holding a "Race to Recovery" raffle to assist Bill in his recovery. The tickets are $20 with a drawing on August 31st with a grand prize of $2,000. If you can help, contact Steve.

This day also brought Herman Zehnder back to driving. Herman was a long time bracket racer alongside his brother Joe. I believe Herman was a six-time Route 66 Champion in his red Mustang. After selling the car to Autumn Lawson, Herman had taken a break from driving. Since his brother Joe went back to driving a Camaro, he convinced Herman to return to driving with his Mustang convertible. Joe has successfully driven the Mustang to track championships. It's good to see Herman back behind the wheel.

This day also brought Kamryn Schubbe's debut in the big car, a super pro box car. Kamyrn graduated from the Junior Dragsters. In the first round she lost when she broke out by .002. She had a respectable run, .028/4.86/4.858 @ 139.36 mph. She bought back into the race and in the second round she had another respectable run. She had a -.004 redlight, but her numbers were great, -.004/4.85/4.861 @ 142.36. Give her a little more seat time and she will start turning on some win lights. Congratulations Kam!

The competition was extremely tough on Sunday! There were a large contingent of very good bracket racers. One little slip and you lost. A great day of racing.

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

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