Route 66 Raceway 2018 - First Race

Mother Nature finally smiled on us for the first race of the 2018 season, ET Bracket Race #1 sponsored by Rockett Brand Racing Fuel. It was a mostly clear day with temperature in the 60's. A far cry from what the weather has been. The racing was hotter than the day.  With many of the cars hitting the track for the first time, some issues can be expected to occur. To our good fortune, there was only one oil down all day. Rt. 66 staff promptly cleaned and re-prepped the track with minimal delay. As is the case with most bracket races, there were two rounds of qualifying.

At the conclusion of Qualifying, the elimination rounds began.

The first class to crown a winner was High School, with Tori Trench defeating Connor Lawson. At the beginning of the day, Tori was not inclined to run High School, however when her brother TJ's car broke she decided to attempt the race in her daily driver and won! This was her first time ever competing in High School.

Next up was Pro Bike. In this race, it was last season's champion, Tom Ewig against Bruce Damewood riding his "old reliable" red/silver flame bike. Tom was a little fast coming off the line redlighting which awarded the win to Bruce. 

After Pro Bike, Sportsman was on track to crown its winner. It was Fred Trombley and Tony Lyons going head to head. Both are long time competitors in the class with many wins. Today, it was Tony Lyons pulling off the win when Fred broke out.

Next up was Pro and it was Herman Zehnder in his Mustang against John Coyle in his Camaro. Herman and John are both long time competitors with Herman winning multiple championships. John hadn't been able to race in the past two years due to family commitments. At the start, Herman left a little early causing a redlight awarding the win to John.

The last race of the day was Super Pro. This was the classic wily veteran, Don Schomer, vs young gun, Nick Hooten. Don is a long time competitor in the Pro Class and this was his first time in Super Pro. This was Nick's first final in the big car. He has had several in the JDRL Division. In this case it was Don Schomer pulling off the win. Don stated as he approached the finish he let off slightly to avoid "breaking out" to take the win.

This was a great day of racing at Route 66. Here are some more images from the day.

To see all the images from today, please click here.

If you see something you would to order please click here or on the "Ordering" tab at the top of the page.