Drag Illustrated Issue 153, February 2020 | Page 48
DIALED IN
TURKEY BEACH BASH
The payout structure was one that Rolison
hadn’t tried before, but it had to be slightly altered
the weekend of the event.
“The idea was to have four ten-granders
throughout the weekend, and it sure looked good
on paper, but on Friday we had some downtime
and things just weren’t flowing the way we needed
them to,” Rolison explains. “It seemed like the
best thing to do was take the two ten-granders on
Saturday and merge them into a single twenty-
grander, doubling the purse all the way down. The
only thing we didn’t double was the buyback. I
wanted people to know that it didn’t benefit me
as a promoter, it just allowed them to race for the
same amount of money, and a little bit cheaper
should they have to buy back in.”
A total of 277 entries were present for Satur-
day’s $20,000 main event, which was comple-
mented by a pair of $10,000 races on Friday and
Sunday, respectively.
The Turkey Beach Bash was comprised of one
giant class of cars, although bottom-bulb racers
were kept separate until one remained, at which
point they would merge into the top-bulb field of
cars. While they were running for one purse, there
was a little bit of extra cash awarded to the last
remaining bottom-bulb racer before they merged
with the rest of the top-bulb field.
Johnny Ezell was the first winner of the week-
end when he got past Lucas Walker during Fri-
day’s final round. Saturday’s big $20k purse came
down between Elie McGee and Rick Baehr, with
McGee emerging victorious. Sunday’s finale saw
Allen Wickell stop Chris Jones for the final day
of elimination.
The Rolison family really got into the Thanks-
giving theme, with Morgan being the best sport of
all by donning a turkey costume for winner’s circle
photos, as the victorious racers were presented
with giant checks, trophies and even a frozen
turkey to take home and serve on Thanksgiving,
or sooner if they so desired!
The King of the Coast crowd has always put a
great deal of emphasis on good times. “I’ve said
before that it’s like you went to a family reunion
and a bracket race broke out,” laughs Rolison.
At any KOC event at Gulfport, it’s common-
place for racers to cookout and exchange food
in large numbers. “I’ll be standing at the head of
staging and people are constantly bringing me
plates of food,” smiles Rolison. “I get the utmost
satisfaction from promoting races. It means a
lot when people walk up and say, ‘Hey, great job
on the race!’”
Rolison had plenty of opportunities to promote
this past season, with 2019 being the busiest year
to date. In addition to the six KOC events at Gulf-
port, there was also the Footbrake 150. He and
his partner, Britt Cummings, also promoted the
Dream Team race in Memphis, Tennessee, as well
as the Great American Bracket Race. He even
put together a Pro Mod event, which was held
in conjunction with a bracket race at Gulfport.
“Next year we’re gonna be even busier,” he quips.
In addition to his full schedule of KOC, he’s also
got a lineup of races that include new events such
as a non-points race at Emerald Coast Dragway
in Holt, Florida.
“Then there’s the big one,” says Rolison, and he’s
not just throwing around words. On Memorial
weekend in Memphis, Rolison and Cummings
will present the first-ever guaranteed payout of
one million dollars. Pre-entry was opened in Oc-
tober 2019 and was 80% full as of late November.
“We’ve also got a Factory Stock race at that same
event that will pay around $40k-50k to win,” says
Rolison, who will also be taking over the Summit
Super Series at Gulfport in 2020. “And I’ve still
got my day job at Coca-Cola!”
For Rolison, it all started at Gulfport, and that’s
where his heart will always remain. “This is my
home track and my comfort area. We can do some
great things here at Gulfport. I love this track,
and it was so great to have Drag Illustrated here
with us this weekend,” says Rolison.
The local series at Gulfport has always had
tremendous sponsor support from BTE, who was
onboard since day one. Other support followed
from the likes of David McMurtry Racing Engines,
Rick’s Speed Shop, Craw’s Racing, Velocity Rac-
ing Carbs, Moser Engineering, CS Transport and
Fine Line Signs and Graphics.
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Issue 153