JOHN BOMBATCH
Motorsports
With last week’s action rained out after just one round of competition, this weekend’s Championship Bracket Series event should go a long ways toward establishing the points leaders in each of Tri-State Dragway’s racing divisions.
That’s because racers entered in any of Tri-State’s competition divisions will earn double points July 3-5 on each day of National Hot Rod Association-sanctioned (NHRA) bracket racing.
And if points aren’t enough reason to go all-out this weekend, cash purses in the Super Pro and Pro brackets have been increased each day as well.
Junior dragsters will race Saturday, Sunday and Monday too, and there’s a special $700-to-win Foot-Brake race scheduled Sunday.
What’s a foot-brake race? For those of you picturing the drivers struggling to woah their cars down Fred Flintstone style — with their feet dragging along the road and sparks flying — in hopes of bringing their machines to a stop, uh, no. That’s not it.
As Tri-State’s Bob Martin explains it, a foot-brake race is an event open to all machines in any category with non-electric braking systems. Excluding the junior dragsters, if you can slow your car down with a non-electric braking system, you’re eligible to race in the Foot-Brake race.
In order to ensure each day’s racing gets finished in a timely fashion, all races for the weekend will be run over the 1/8-mile track distance.
Tonight at the track, a special Test & Tune session takes place and a $25-to-enter Gambler’s Race gets rolling at 7 p.m.
Heading into this weekend’s trio of races, West Chester dragster pilot John Cook leads Erlanger, Ky.’s Joe Lee by 145 points in the Super Pro division. Hamilton driver Darrell Jones sits atop the Pro division points standings with a 40-point edge over fellow Hamiltonian Wayne Adams.
In the street category, Fairfield’s Jeff Seither has a 25-point lead over Hamilton’s Ken Barton, with Norwood’s Dave Jennings just 65 points behind.
The youngsters in the Junior Dragster series are waging quite a battle for the TSD points lead. After last week’s rainout, Fairfield’s Austin Still finds himself tied for the Junior Dragster lead with Bright, Indiana’s Trey Sizemore. Both drivers have 270 points, just five points more than Beavercreek’s Brooke Adams, and 30 points in front of Robbie Marcum of Somerville.
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. today and at 9 a.m. Saturday through Monday, with racing expected to get started at 1 p.m.
Call Tri-State at (513) 863-0562 or go to tristatedragway.com for more details.
NHRA auditions set
You know you can’t dance, and you know you can’t sing, but you also know darn well that you can drive a race car down a quarter-mile drag strip with the best of them.
If that describes you, the NHRA is looking for you.
Auditions for the NHRA’s new drag racing reality show called “Unleashed” are scheduled to take place Sept. 10-12 at National Trail Raceway, just east of Columbus.
Auditions also are scheduled in Indianapolis and Gainesville, Fla.
The reality show’s winner will receive a fully funded ride in an NHRA series.
Tickets and driver registration begins Tuesday for the Columbus event.
Go to nhratix.com for details.
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Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.