BRITT CUMMINGS , GAYLON ROLISON TALK MILLION- DOLLAR BRACKET RACES , GROWING GRASSROOTS RACING , AND MORE
BY NATE VAN WAGNEN
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES SISK AND VAN ABERNETHY
T ’ S A HOT , HUMID MISSISSIPPI EVENING and Gaylon Rolison Jr . is on his way home from the office . He ’ s been in meetings all afternoon , reviewing sales data for Coca-Cola ’ s line of bottled soft drinks . As a sales supervisor for the soda giant , Rolison is all about numbers . It ’ s his job to know the numbers and to increase the numbers – anything from market share to shelf space to total sales – in the nine stores he oversees in the area . On top of all this , he ’ s a longtime bracket racing promoter . His King of the Coast series has been contested at Gulfport Dragway every year since 2005 .
A couple hours away in Louisiana , Britt Cummings is getting a striping machine ready to go paint lines on a grocery store parking lot . It ’ s been raining for six weeks , so work orders have been piling up . Striping parking lots has been the family business since 1985 when Cummings ’ father , Larry , started the business . He ’ s since retired , leaving the work up to Britt and his brother , Slate , as well as his son , Cole . It ’ s hard , unglamorous work , especially in the dead heat of the summer , but it ’ s helped to pay for the Cummings family ’ s racing efforts for over 30 years .
From these two very different career paths , Rolison and Cummings have developed traits and learned principles that now apply to their joint effort as promoters of big-money bracket races like the SDPC Raceshop Great American Guaranteed Million presented by Chevrolet Performance . Cummings , a self-proclaimed “ redneck ” with a wealth of experience and success as a bracket racer , brings to the table big ideas , a racer ’ s mentality ,
BRITT CUMMINGS ( LEFT ) AND GAYLON ROLISON JR . HAVE WORKED FOR OVER A DECADE TO PUT ON BRACKET RACES THAT APPEAL TO RACERS OF ALL LEVELS , FROM LOCAL WEEKEND WARRIORS TO TOURING BIG-MONEY HITTERS .
DragIllustrated . com
67 Drag Illustrated