Bracket Bash Muncie Dragway hosts second annual Trip 12 ’ s weekend for box and no-box racers By Van Abernethy
Muncie Dragway was cautiously optimistic in 2020 when they decided to launch a brand-new event , not even knowing if the gathering would happen as the pandemic was raging . The race was formatted as a triple $ 10-grander event limited to 300 entries , and while it was a gutsy move to even give the event the green light given the circumstances , it paid off with solid re-sults . After seeing the success that the inaugural event achieved , they knew they ’ d hit on something to build upon moving forward , so they went right to work on improving the event for the second running , which was held August 13- 15 this summer .
“ The event was a collaboration between myself and my son-in-law , Wes May , who owns May Race Carbs ,” explains Scott Daniels , who along with his wife , Dawn , bought the Indiana facility in 2012 . “ It just made sense for us to do a race , especially when you think about all these promoters out there doing races , and here we are with a racetrack , and with Wes in the carb business , so
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we decided to sit down and see what we could do .”
For the second running of this event , the payout got a nice increase to $ 12,000 per day for each of the three main events . Also , a 64-car nobox shootout was added , bringing the total car count to 364 .
“ Technically , it ’ s one race , but here ’ s how it ’ s structured : We have 64 no-box cars , along with 300 box entries ,” Daniels says . “ For the no-box guys it ’ s kind of their own race inside a race , and the winner gets $ 1,000 , then rolls over to the next round of the main event for a chance to win some big money .”
The payout structure is pretty deep , with thirdround winners getting paid . In addition to May
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Race Carbs , Muncie Dragway also welcomed Mr . Cool as the title sponsor for the most recent running of the Trip 12 ’ s presented by May Race Carbs .
“ We had people travel from all around come and compete in this event ,” Daniels says . “ I ’ ve seen racers from New York , West Virginia , Illinois , Michigan , etc . We even had some Canadian racers signed up to attend , but with the border still closed they weren ’ t able to make it .”
Things got kicked off on Thursday afternoon with open test and tune , followed with a 64-car buy-in shootout with $ 5,000 going to the winner . A passing rain shower delayed the conclusion of the shootout , which had to be completed on Friday during qualifying .
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRYAN EPPS |