Byron Dragway Junior Fest D2 & Drag Week 500 D3

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.

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