Monday — Oct 14th
This was day one of the 2024 SBRA bracket finals that was well attended and the weather was nearly perfect too. We started at 10 am with all racers getting one time shot. In Super it was Randy Krause over Travis Hill Jr. Pro was won by Dylan Moore over Mike Fornwalt. Bike winner was Paul James Sr. over Brian Moore.
Tuesday — Oct. 15th
Much cooler, cloudy and windy weather greeted the bigger turnout of racers as we got underway at 10 am with racers getting one time shot. The Super winner was Carrie Norton over Mike Fornwalt. Kaleb Kline took the win in Pro over Travis Ritchie. In Bike it was Brian Moore over Boyd Mathias. Day one for Junior Dragsters and it was Isiah Moore over Cole Huth.
Wednesday — Oct. 16th
Another cloudy cool day but no wind greeted our racers as the car counts climbed again. We started at 9 am with everyone getting one time run. In Super it was Glenn Seward over Hailey Bowles. Pro was won by Mark Harbaugh over Dave Miller. Bike winner was Brian Canoles over Brian Moore. And lastly Calvin Weaver won out over Kylee Kwitoski in the Junior Dragster class.
Thursday — Oct. 17th
This was the big day, the weather sunny and in the 60’s, just perfect for racing. We started at 10 am with the race of champions, each got one time run, In Super Steve Whitman won over Tom Scott. Pro winner was Brandon Skelly over Brandon Butler. Bike was won by Dave Clinedinst over Boyd Mathias. Junior Dragster was won by Calvin Weaver over Kylee Kwitoski. Now the Gamblers cars. They ran with no time runs getting underway about 1:30 pm. Super was won by Travis Hill Jr. over Mark Brewer. Pro had Dylan Moore over Jim Easton. Bike was won by Mike Shulz over Dale Hamilton. Junior Dragster was won by Cody Schondelmeyer. We finished up about 1:30 pm.
Friday — Oct. 18th
We got going at 9 am, no time runs except those new arrivals and there were about 55 making one pass. In Super it was Scott Campbell over Mike Anderson, this class had 122 entries. In Pro we had 170 entries with Brandon Butler over Rufus Hill Jr. The Bike class had 31 riders with Mike Shculz over Brian Snyder. The Junior Dragster had 28 entries with Calvin Weaver over Cole Rudy.
Saturday — Oct. 19th
Ok, the main event with big money to all the winners with a total purse of about $30,000 with no entry fee to those that qualified, not a bad deal there! In Super Dahryl Clark beat Peyton Bunch, Pro was won by Mark Brewer over Steve Lenig. Bike winner was Joe Devola over Jordan Haase and lastly in Junior Dragster it was Cole Rudy over Calvin Weaver.
Thoughts on this event. The total purse for this event was over $74,000. We always have some weather issues, none this year, no rain though it was cool in the mornings several days with frost. Cars were fast due to great air and the track itself was absolutely dynamite, cars make more power in the cool air and the track handled all of them. A big shout out to Bub Casto and Jake Landes on how well the track worked! We had a number of our staff that couldn’t work as they had to work their regular jobs so we had plenty of people that stepped in and helped us. Ashley Kashner did the Gamblers entries and buybacks, Mike Smith worked the burnout boxes, Tammy Kline filled in at the shirt shack, Dale Kline worked the foodstand. Hain Dominick was the final day scorekeeper, Gary Gore and Timmy Campbell also jumped in and helped wherever needed. I had numerous announcer helpers, Courtney Daymude helped a bunch on Thursday, Steve Dickey helped for three days, Mike Natoli helped later in the week and of course track owner Elmer Wachter announced some also. All of them did great. The racing itself was terrific, so many dead close races, many triple zip .000 lights to many to count, big wheel stands and I mean gigantic ones and many cars making their fastest runs ever. The standings at the end. Team Mason Dixon 86, Beaver Spring 79, Summerduck 78, Keystone 77, South Mountain 37 and Cecil County 10. Lastly, everyone was cooperative all six days including the racers and other race track owners and staff that were with us, our track staff starting with the owners, Elmer and Cathy Wachter and all the rest of the gang did a great job for sure. If left someone out I apologize for sure. Lastly, a former Division One director Greg Xaekallis once said to me about big multi day events “I want to accomplish three things, run it safe, run it fair and finish it!” That sums up what we did with the 2024 SBRA Bracket Finals! Thanks for being with us!
Mike Bassin, track announcer Mason Dixon Dragway