Who Wants to be a Millionaire ... or close to it, on Memorial Day?

by Chris Martin

It appears that in May of every year for the foreseeable future Rockingham Dragway boss Steve Earwood will be doing his best Regis Philbin imitation and ask America’s e.t. bracket racers, “Who wants to be a Millionaire?”

That’s not a joke, either. While that likely will be the only question Earwood asks them (other than maybe “How much do we owe you?”) the fact remains his Rockingham plant will be the host site for the Holley Carburetors / Race Tech / “Millennium Million” e.t. bracket race this coming Memorial Day weekend.

On May 26-29, racers can expect to compete for the most ambitious purses yet conceived for bracket racers. Some of the highlights include a $5,000-to-win Gambler’s Race, Friday, May 26, and $20,000-to-win bracket races on Saturday and Monday, May 27 and 29.

Of course the big deal is the Millennium Million race which, if 500 plus racers enter, will assure a $1,000,000 payout on May 28.

In addition, a special Compulink Run For the Money time trial will precede the Holley Million Millennium. Any racer that makes a perfect time trial run (a .500 reaction time and an eighth-mile run dead on their dial-in) will earn a $100,000 bonus.

Also a special drawing from lottery tickets sold to competitors at the race site will be made to determine 16 drivers who will run for a new Race Tech dragster chassis on Monday. The money from the tickets will go to the Richmond County Hospice for the terminally ill.

On Friday, a special race for another Race Tech chassis will be contested by pre-entered racers only.

The idea of a million dollar bracket race was spawned quite informally five years ago. While today the Rockingham owner and his North Carolina-based partners Jim Turner and Bob Harris are promoting the affair, Earwood actually came up with the concept with George Howard.

“George and I were sitting on a balcony at the Gainesville (Fla.) Hilton during a track operator’s meeting,” said Earwood. “We had both put on big-dollar e.t. races. George, who ran a trucking business in Birmingham (Ala.), had put on a few big races before, including a $40,000-to-win show at Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky. I had hosted a couple at Rockingham and we got to thinking what would really stand out, what could we do that would top those. We agreed that $50,000 and $100,000 bracket races had been done before, but no one had ever put on a million-dollar bracket race. We thought right then to look into it and bring it off.

“The way we figured it, we would collect a $2,000 entry fee and if we got 500 racers, we would make the purse. We would guarantee any winner at least $100,000 with $50,000 to the runner-up, and $10,000 to the semifinalists. That structure, including the entry fee has endured to today.”

Earwood and Howard’s first venture took place in 1996 at eighth-mile Huntsville Dragway in Alabama and 235 racers ponied up the entry fee to B&M Million event. The race was held there through 1998 and then switched over to another Alabama facility, Montgomery Motorsports Park in 1999.

This year Earwood and Howard effected a change.

Earwood said, “My association with George and the B&M Million, as it was called when we started, was very rewarding. However, Jim, Bob, and I believe Rockingham is the perfect site for a big money bracket race like the one we are planning. It’s accessible, it’s well respected and it can easily accommodate all who enter, whether that number is 5 or 500.

“I know it will work out at ‘the Rock.’ [The IHRA Holley Spring Nationals] was just held there and we had 700 race cars. So George and I agreed to hold two races; I’ll hold the Holley Millennium Million race here at ‘the Rock’ and George will hold his million-dollar race in Montgomery in October.”

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