MILLION DOLLAR BRACKET RACE

him at least $ 140K , or a loss would send him home with $ 40K .

A similar situation arose in the semifinal , where Kanselaar and Stalba found themselves battling each other with a massive amount of money at stake . Only four-thousandths separated the pair at the starting line , but Kanselaar runs closer to his 4.54 dial to advance to the final round .

It ’ s only fitting that the final round came down to a classic door car versus dragster duel , eagerly watched by a gigantic group at the starting line and thousands of MotorManiaTV viewers across the country .

Alabama native Tarleton carefully staged his Camaro in the left lane opposite of Iowa ’ s Kanselaar who was wheeling his dragster , both dialing in the 4-second range for their first Million Dollar Drag Race final round . Tarleton launched first but Kanselaar quickly chased with the reaction time advantage and ran three hundredths above his dial to earn the prestigious victory .

Both young drivers had unique stories leading up to the race as discussed in their winner ’ s circle interviews . The 23-year-old Kanselaar described how he had made it to the later rounds and even “ The Big Split ” during the event before but came with the mindset of just winning the entire race this time . That is , once he was talked into making the trip by a friend , which was a last-minute but

obviously very wise decision .

Tarleton explained how until a local event just a few days before The Million Dollar Drag Race , he hadn ’ t raced his runner-up machine in nearly a year . For a more personal touch , he announced that he and his wife , Kay , are expecting a baby girl in May .

THURSDAY / SATURDAY COMBINED SUMMIT $ 100K That left only one more race left for completion before wrapping up the 27th Annual Mickey

Thompson Million Dollar Drag Race . The combined Summit $ 100K quarterfinal contained a stacked list of five drivers : Peeps Pennington , Bryson Scruggs , Aaron Disinger , Gary Williams , and John Labbous Jr .

Disinger eliminated Labbous while Pennington got the win over Williams . Scruggs utilized the bye run to earn his spot in the next round .

In the semifinal ,

Scruggs had a seventhousandths advantage , but Disinger ran dead on his dial-in to advance his Malibu into the final round . Pennington ’ s previous reaction time awarded him with the bye run , but just for fun , he laid down an . 011 package on the solo pass towards the final .

It was another door car and dragster final to round out the weekend when Pennington and Disinger lined up at the tree . Disinger got to the stripe first but broke out two thousandths while Pennington had an . 014 light and ran . 014 above his dial to earn the $ 100,000 win . DI

Carb Screens have

48 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 179