South Carolinians Kevin Brannon and Wallace Wilson claim Big Bucks victories at Carolina Dragway By Van Abernethy

The weekend weather forecast in Aiken was near-perfect for this event and came as a muchneeded break , as this event had fallen victim to rainy weather in the two years prior , forcing a total cancellation in 2021 and 2022 . For Saturday ’ s main event , it took eight rounds of stiff competition before Kevin Brannon parked his familiar 1980 Chevy Monza in the winner ’ s circle . Brannon ’ s . 008 gate job in the finals was enough to hold off Shaun Lingerfelt in the thrilling and very close final round .

A two-time Million winner , Brannon is no stranger to big-money finals and is known for keeping his cool under pressure . Among his other notable achievements , the South Carolina native has also won championships in NHRA as well as IHRA , and scored a $ 100,000 win at SFG . His vintage Monza is more of a family heirloom than merely a race car . “ It ’ s something of a never-getrid-of car ,” says Brannon . “ Both my parents have driven it , and it was also the first big car I ever made a pass in after Jr . Dragsters , so it ’ s kind of a family car .

A resident of Gaffney , South Carolina , Brannon calls Greer Dragway his home track , but has also been coming to Carolina Dragway for most of his career for special events . “ Very fortunate and blessed ” is how he describes his drag racing exploits to date .

For Sunday ’ s main event finale , Wallace Wilson accomplished something that ’ s not easily done : Enter the quickest car on the property in a bracket race and win ! His 2023 Maddox dragster is motivated by a PAR Racing Engines 665-cubic-inch powerplant and was clocking low 4.20-second elapsed times ( the quickest numbers of any car in the event ) and turning on one win light after another all the way to the final round , where he sealed the deal by getting past Turtle Brannon . Wilson drove exceptionally well , recording many . 00X reaction times throughout eliminations .

In the finals , he was out of the gate with a slightly more conservative . 014 , which was more than enough to get the job done , since Brannon was uncharacteristically late with a . 187 . Brannon was forced to chase Wilson pretty hard at the stripe and broke out with a 5.057 on a 5.06 dial . Wilson , sensing he was far ahead in the contest , let off early and coasted to a 4.338 on a 4.26 dial to win the $ 20,000 on the final day of the event .

The Big Bucks win is the largest purse ever for the Taylors , South Carolina , resident , who had a decorated Jr . Dragster career , winning his first event at Atlanta Dragway at age 8 , and later clinching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2016 .

These days , Wallace says he tends to come on strong at the end of the year , and it was especially evident in 2023 . Two weeks before his Big Bucks win at Carolina , he runner-upped at Darlington , and then scored yet another final-round appearance at Union Dragway just one week prior to his victory at Carolina . “ Typically , I always do pretty well at Carolina , and for some reason I tend to do better at the very end of the season ,” he concludes . DI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY THERESA HOWARD

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