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. 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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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.
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. 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.
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". 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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! 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. Sunday was Byron Dragway's NHRA Summit King of the Track race. The Summit King of the Track is a bonus program, normally, run in conjunction with an existing weekly program. Sunday was one of the weekly Bracket Races. The winner of the four classes, Street Eliminator, Sportsman ET, Pro and Super Pro, face off for the right to claim the title of King of the Track Champion. Of course, with this title comes the "Wally"! In Street Eliminator, there were four elimination rounds leading to the Finals. In this race it was Naperville's Ted Thompson against Bartlett's Robert France. This ended up being a "Hole Shot" win for Ted. Robert ran closer to his Dial-in but couldn't over Ted's .003 light. Their numbers were Ted .003/14.40/14.473 and Robert's .120/12.75/12.781. The Sportsman Class ran four rounds of eliminations to reach their Finals. Racing their way to the Finals, was Jeff Toepper, Channon,Il., and Steve Quickel, Streator, Il. Jeff and Steve were close on the tree, however Jeff ran closer to his Dial-in (12.00/12.012) while Steve broke out (.15.12/15.116) to give the win to Jeff. The Pro Eminator Class ran five rounds to reach their Final. It was Brian Dumdie, Sycamore, against Tim Flynn, Naperville. Tim had a better response time than Brian, .019/.029. Unfortunately for Tim, it continued all the way to the stripe, where he broke out by -.04. Normally, Brian's dad, Don, drives this '57. Don decided Brian should try the big car. It looks like Brian's car will be sitting now. The Super Pro Class was sub-divided into Box (electronics) and No-Box. Each runs against their sub-class cars until each have a winner. At that point, the two race against each other for the Class win and the right to represent Super Pro for King of the Track. Since this is a Big Bucket race the winner takes home $5,000. In that Final it was Bruce Van Stratten representing Box in a dragster and John Coyle representing No-Box in a Camaro doorslammer. Bruce had a better light (.010/.023) than John and ran closer to his Dial-in. At the end of the race Bruce decided to let John represent the King of the Track from Super Pro. This meant no dragster would be the running for King of the Track. Ted Thompson, Street Eliminator Jeff Toepper, Sportsman Brian Dumdie, Pro Eliminator John Coyle, Super Pro It was Jeff Toepper and John Coyle advancing to the Final to take home the Wally. In the Final Jeff had the better light, .009/.040 and they pushed each other to the stripe. Both drivers broke-out with Jeff running closest to his Dial-in. Jeff Toepper 7.60/7.595 John Coyle 7.66/7.609 Congratulations Jeff! Track Bites Earlier in the day, I saw Mark Marusak's cream/yellow Nova doing it's burnout. Then I saw Mark crewing not driving the car. I caught up with Mark a short time later and learned that Dave Ancel was driving. Dave wanted to have some fun! Ted Thompson was having a strange race day driving four wheels. Ted normally races a motorcyle winning both last Saturday and Sunday in Street Bike ET Class. As the day began, I was listening to the PA system as Brett Williamson was introduced as he was starting his burnout. I looked up, but did not see the Black '57 Chevrolet. I learned later that he had spun a bearing in the motor and had to borrow a car to race today. This weekend, with two days of racing, ending with the awarding of a Wally for Summit King of the Track and handing out Big Bucks cash, what could be better? The great weather contributed to fantastic races. Congratulations to all the winners.
To see all the images from Sunday's racing, 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. Saturday was the first Byron Speedway, She Speed Ladies-Only Event. I had some questions for Byron General Manager Randy Simpson. The event that precipitated this event was the cancellation of the Car Chix Ladies Only race on August 15th due to Covid-19. In the She Speed event, there were two classes, Pro and Street. Pro was divided in to Box/No Box classes. In the Street Class, after four rounds of eliminations it was Darcy Ancel, Morris, II., against Byron, Illinois' Kristin Vincent. Darcy had the better light and drove closer to her D/I to take the win (.130/16.55/16.562) over Kristin (.168/13.81/13.846). The Pro Class ran its rounds of Box/No Box eliminations. At the end of each sub-class: In Box, the winner was Chelsey Simpson and in N0-Box, it was Jurnee Bennett from Neenah, Wi. Chelsey and Jurnee then faced off for the overall Pro Class winner. Chelsey left with a great light of .040 and then ran a 6.685 to break out, however, Jurnee went red by -.001! This gave the win to Chelsey. The Super Pro race, like the She Speed Pro class, was divided in Box and No-Box. There was some great racing and both sub-classes went six elimination rounds to get to the final. In the No-Box class, it was Rockford's Ray Smith against Byron's Jeff Billeter. Ray cut a great .001 light and ran a 6.301 on a 6.29 D/I to take the win after Jeff had -.309 redlight. I can only think something happened to Jeff's car because throughout the eliminations he cutting down the tree The Finals for Box was one of the best races of the day. It put TJ Trench, Alsip, against Orland Park's John Schober. John had a R/T of .005 to TJ's .021. TJ ran a 4,791 E/T on a 4.79 D/I to John's 4.999 E/T on 5.00 DI. John broke out by .001 to give the win to TJ. In the Super Pro faceoff between TJ Trench and Ray Smith, it was TJ taking the win, .016/4.78/4.791 to Ray's .035/6.29/6.302. In the High Stakes (Gamblers), it was Grant Park's John Haut taking the win. In between the racing, there was a Test & Tune. Two of the more interesting cars were the Plymouth Barracuda of Launching Larry and Steve Malek's Pro Mod Plymouth Road Runner Super Bird. There was also another Junior Drag Racer licensing Saturday. It was Olivia Kreyer, age 11, of Beloit, Wi. ...and come Sunday, there will be a complete Bracket Race with all the bracket racers racing against each other to win this King of the Track Wally Here is a little video from today's action. |
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