SATURDAY, NOV. 12

With one day in the books of the third annual Fun In The Sun Bracket Race, Day 2’s plans included two races, the first of which pays $10,000 to the winner with the second a $20,000-to-win event.

First up was one time trial for all competitors followed by a Run For The Money dial-in time shot with the driver closest to his or her dial on that one run earning themselves some cash. The same Run For The Money event was held yesterday and the outcome for both days was the same. Alabama’s Keith Nelson took home some extra cash for his two-day winning of the Run For The Money time trial.

The Strange Engineering Best Losing Package award in the first round went to Brandon Taylor earning $200 in cash for his efforts. In the second round, S&W Race Cars awarded a $250 gift certificate for the Best Losing Package and that went to George Ebel.

With nine cars left in competition for Race No. 1, the competitors were Trey Brunner, Dave Scigliuto, Dean Karns, Bob Goodman, Chris Roe, Michael Shoop, Marco, LaFramboise, Jeffrey Jarrell and Jay Adams. The survivors of that round were Bunner, LaFramboise, Goodman, Adams and Roe.

In the round of five, Roe advanced when Goodman turned it red, despite Roe also going red. Didn’t matter though, as Goodman was first to leave the starting line. In the next set, Bunner used a better reaction time to take a .001 victory over LaFramboise, while Adams moved his Corvette into the semifinals by way of the bye run.

For the semifinals it will be the ’87 Camaro of Bunner on the bye run with Adams; Corvette facing off with Roe’s dragster, assuring us of at least one door car in the final round. Roe used a stellar .006 package to defeat Adams and move him to the final against Bunner, door car against dragster.

While dragsters have long been considered the tool of choice when it comes to high dollar bracket racing, door cars have been making huge strides in recent events all across the country.

Trey Bunner (shown) did his part to add to their mystique as he used a better reaction time to turn back Chris Roe who ran under his dial in an attempt to catch Bunner.

One race down for the day and one more to go before the lights are shut off for the night. With $20,000 on the line for the second race, the staging lanes were as packed as they were for the first.

Once again, for the first round, Strange Engineering awarded $200 cash to the Best Losing Package which went to 2015 NHRA world champion Jacob Elrod. Second round Best Losing Package awarded by S&W Race Cars went to Lou Hawthorne. Third round dragster Best Losing Package went to Gary Bailey and was awarded a new hood scoop courtesy of Riggeal’s Performance Fiberglass & Composites.

With the same amount of cars showing up for Race No.2 as in the earlier race, it once again came down to nine cars left; Elizabeth Keene, Severn Johnson, Tim Butler, Kenny Underwood, Dave Scigliuto, Dave Schapiro, Brandon Jarrell, Bobby Johns and Mark Staton. Survivors from that round No. 6 include Friday semifinalist Keene, Johns, former Million Dollar Race winner Underwood, Staton and Johnson.

Keene earned the bye run making her way into her second semifinal of the weekend. Underwood defeated Johnson and Johns took out the last remaining door car, the ’48 Ford truck of Staton.

With Johns earning the semifinal bye run, it was Keene and Underwood facing off. Looking to advance to her first final round of the weekend, Keene and Underwood were separated by only .001 at the starting line and a double-breakout at the finish line resulted in the win light shining in Underwood’s lane.