Dirt
Racers stay sharp at
DragstersForSale.com
Practice Tree event
W
ith an unbeatable combina-
tion of fun, excitement and com-
petition, the 4th Annual Drag-
stersForSale.com Practice Tree
event, January 20, in Evansville, Indiana, was
another big hit. The day was packed with events,
prizes, and surprises for everyone who came to
chase race entries and cold hard cash.
The night started off with a Warm Up race
to get the blood flowing, wrists snapping and
fingers twitching. The Warm Up offered week-
end entries to the premier bracket races in the
nation, including Triples at the Million Dollar
Race, Triples in Vegas, No Box Nationals, and
the Summer Door Car Shootout. The Main Event
featured big cash payouts, with 32 entered racers
fighting for an entry into the Million Dollar event
in Montgomery, Alabama. The evening wrapped
up with the Racepak Shootout, which included all
the winners, runners-up and semifinalists from
the evening battling for a Sportsman Racepak
and Pit Mat.
“It’s all about getting the right mix of events,
sponsor support and the weather lining up for
the event to have the success we have had,” said
Don O’Neal, event organizer. “On Thursday we
had sponsor prizes snowed in down south, up
north and anywhere in between. Our event t-
shirts were stranded on Friday in North Carolina.
Steve Knight overnighted them to the VFW, where
they were delivered at 3 p.m. I jokingly told ev-
eryone that they all received the most expensive
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
event t-shirt they will ever get.”
Attendees received a surprise when 2017
NHRA Pro Stock world champion Bo Butner
and his fiancé, Randi Lynn Shipp, made an ap-
pearance to mix it up with racers from all over
the region. A longtime sportsman racer often re-
ferred to as “The Sportsman’s Champ”, Butner was
welcomed with a huge round of applause inside
the VFW Post. “I bet you I have hit the top bulb
50 times in my life,” Butner chuckled. “Tonight
was a blast, to see everyone come together to talk
racing and practice.”
The Warm Up saw 241 entries stage up for
a chance at weekend race entries in the 2018
season. Butner started off a little rough in the
beginning, but it didn’t take long for him to
settle in and string together low .00 reaction
times to land himself in the final of the Warm
Up against Carson Griffith, who had two entries
still in. Griffith took out the champ with a .001
to Butner’s .009. Griffith chose the Triple entry
at Montgomery, Butner selected the Triple in
Vegas, then Griffith chose the No Box Nationals.
Semifinalist Tyler Bohannon picked the Summer
Door Car Shootout.
The Main Event combined the competitive top
bulb racers with a slice of the best bottom bulb
racers in the country. The event started with 568
entries chasing an advertised winner’s purse of
$4,000. With the number of entries going over
500, it was announced that the purse would be
increased at every payout position. The structure
allowed the racers hitting the bottom to match
up against each other until only one was left to
collect the $250 Last One Standing cash. This
was a first for the event, keeping top and bottom
separated, which seemed to help the event for
entries and time.
“We have always tried to make sure that we
have something for everyone at the event, whether
it’s prizes for the significant other, bottom bulb
events, top bulb, and so on,” O’Neal explained. “I
want to make sure there is something for every-
one. This year it seemed that announcing the bot-
tom bulb racers being separate for many rounds
helped with the number of actual bottom bulb
racers who attended. This will more than likely
signal a change in the way we approach the event.”
The Main Event saw a world champion, NHRA
division hitters, bracket racing experts and even
a couple Jr. Dragster racers battle it out for five
long hours of focus and letting go of the button.
The night progressed until two tough bottom
bulb racers, Josh Lynch and Seth Lancaster, were
left. They staged up, patiently waited for each
LED light to fall, then the tree flashed on the
side of Lancaster, as he grabbed the first round
of cash payouts of the night. Lynch and Lancaster
both rolled on over to the next round of the Main
Event, where they would face racers who were
hitting the top bulb all night.
When the semifinalists gathered to discuss a
split, all four racers were eager to push money
further back to the semifinalists. This round was
paying $750 to the losers. Cody Williams and
Carson Griffith just missed the tree in their pair-
ings, placing Zack Manuel and Mitchell Reaves in
the final, running for $5,500 between the winner
and runner-up. This payday turned out to be a
good one for both racers, as they also split up the
money for a $3,500/$2,000 split. Manuel nicked
Reaves for the win.
The Million Dollar Race Shootouts, supported
by Randy and Jennifer Folk from day one, in-
cluded hitters from all over the country, all of
Issue 130
Practice Makes Perfect