Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 63
DIALED IN
Firecracker
Bracket Nationals
Bousman, Foley and Mason score at Byron Dragway’s self-promoted bracket bash
By Van Abernethy
B
yron Dragway is no stranger to
big-money bracket races, as this leg-
endary facility in Illinois has been
hosting them long before it was fash-
ionable. Famously, the track paid out
$5,000 to win back in 1975, which was an un-
heard-of sum of money in those days, and the
event attracted 643 entries. In the late 1990s
the big-money payout tradition became a yearly
September 2019
attraction at Byron with the launch of the Fire-
cracker Bracket Nationals, held each year on
July 4th weekend. The payout resembled the
purse of the 1975 event, eventually increasing
to $7,000 in the following years.
“In 2018, we decided to step this race up,” ex-
plains track owner B.J. Vangsness. Last year’s
running made headlines when it was announced
that Saturday’s main event would pay $100,000
to win, capping off the amount of entries at 400.
“It made for a long day for all involved and the
racers don’t want to sit around that long, so
we decided to make it a 256-car field for 2019,
comprised of 128 dragsters and 128 door cars,
and this format has worked out so much better,”
Vangsness adds.
The $100,000-to-win race on Saturday is only
the beginning, as the main event is bookended
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