Route 66 ET Bracket #8-Bogner Wins Fifth Championship

Sunday was the final Rockett Brand Racing Fuel ET Bracket Series race of the 2019 season and crowned the Track Champions. This was highlighted by Troy Bogner winning his fifth Track Championship tying Herman Zehnder for the most track championships. When you realize that this is Route 66's twenty-first season and Troy and Herman have won ten of the 21 Pro Championships, that is domination by two drivers! 

Onto the rest of the day. First, I want thank Mother Nature for this weekend! This season has been a struggle and there haven't been too many kind words directed at her! The weather for Friday night's Race Your Ride and Sunday's ET Bracket race was spectacular. Great days to be at Route 66!!

The racing started promptly in the morning with the two rounds of Time Trials. Sunday included a Junior Drag Racing League "Fun" race. Their last race of the season was rained out so it was decided to include this. The track appeared to be hooking well.

After the completion of the Time Trials, the round robin eliminations began. The first to complete its class was Pro Bike. It's only right, that the race should come down to numbers 1 & 2 in the points, Mike Krueger vs Tom Ewig! Tom was slight quicker off the line, .022/.026. Both pushed each other to a double break-out, with Mike running closer to his dial-in, 8-46/8.450, than Tom's, 9.11/9.086. With this win Mike secured the Track Championship.

Next up was High School. This pitted Darcy Ancel against Owen Rink. Darcy had the slower vehicle so she left first with Owen trying to race her down. Owen had the slightly faster reaction time, .071, to Darcy's, .076. Owen was not able to track Darcy down with Darcy running closer to her dial-in, 16.08/16.133, to Owen's 14.65/14.721. Like Pro Bike, this win secured Darcy the High School Track Championship.

After High School, it was Super Pro's turn. This put long time bracket racers Don Schomer and John Woolwine against each other. They were very close in their Dial-in's, Don 9.71/John 9.32. They were both going for the win and pushed each other to a double break-out. John would have won, however he went red by -.001! This gave Don the win.

In Pro, it was Troy Bogner against Jody Kovel. Jody had the slower car and started first with Troy trying to catch him. At the line, Jody ran closer to his dial-in,10.48/10.498 to Troy's 9.42/9.447, however Troy beat Jody on the tree, .059/.083. This goes down as a "Hole Shot" win for Troy and as previously mentioned, the Track Championship.

The last class to be contested was Sportsman. This placed Steve Mroz against Andy Brodzinski Jr.
Steve had the slower car leaving first with Andy trying to catch him. Andy tried a little too hard and broke out giving the win to Steve. However, I'm not sure it would have made much difference when you compare the numbers, Steve .060/14.34/14.342 to Andy's .086/12.58/12.536. This gave Steve the Sportsman Championship. This was Steve's fourth 2019 season final losing three previous times to Paul O'Keefe, #2 in points. Paul went out in the first round today which secured the championship for Steve.

JDRL "Fun" race

In the "fun" race, it was just a good time! No pressure, No money just racing!

In the final it was Cooper Hamelen against Danny Ellis. It was Cooper taking the win with having the better reaction time and running closer to his dial-in than Danny, .074/8.96/8.991 to .144/8.02/8.055. Cooper was not available for photos after the race.

In addition to those championships and photos already mentioned, it was Mike Murray taking the Super Pro Championship.

In Junior Modified, it was Danny Ellis taking the Championship.

In the Junior Sportsman class, it was Hayley Becker taking the championship. Hayley was not available for photos, however here she is from a previous race.

Track Bites

It was long time Super Pro racer Al Kuefler's birthday and what a birthday show it was! Look at these reaction times:

Round 1 - .006
Round 2 - .000
Round 3 - .000
Round 4 - -.008

Al said he wasn't upset about going red by -.008 because he was so close to another perfect light. He will take that any day!

To show the fun that was being had, in the first round eliminations of the Junior "Fun" race, I saw Sydney and Samantha Senko coming through the tunnel to race against each other. I thought this was going to be fun. Then I noticed there was dial-in of 17.00. It seems, Junior Sportsman racer Ryan Brockman selected their dial-ins. Syd won with a 17.633 with Sam breaking out with a 15.377. I don't think either have ever gone that slow down the track!!

When photographing a bracket race, it can be fast paced with race after race. Trying to get the shot, sometimes, take precedence over which cars are racing. This was happening when I noticed a car that I hadn't seen in awhile. It was long time 66 racer John Singleton! John had moved to Tennessee and was back in town and decided to come race. It was good to see John back at 66!

On Saturday, there was one of the last car nights at the Duke's Drive In, Bridgeview. Dukes has been a long time gathering place for car guys and racers. It is closing and eventually hopes to re-open at a new location. However there is no timetable for that to occur. Near the end of the night, Nick Hooten started his car and it backfired shearing off several teeth from the flywheel. The racing family jumped in with Joe Malfeo offering up his garage to make the repairs. The car was taken to Joe's, repaired and made it to 66 about 4:00 a.m. to race Sunday. Unfortunately, Nick went out in the first round, but the car survived. Great job everyone!

And "POOF" like that the 2019 Route 66 ET Bracket Season is over. Next up for the Indy qualified bracket racers are the ET Bracket Finals. Good luck Team 66!

To see all the images from Sunday's race please click here.

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