PHOTOGRAPHS BY VAN ABERNETHY |
South Carolina’ s Union Dragway kicked off the 2025 season with some fabulous March weather, which provided some of the most heavily-attended test-and-tune sessions in recent memory.“ We probably got to run four test-and-tune sessions in March, and we enjoyed some of those beautiful 68-degree sunny days, but we had to stop at 5:00 p. m., because the temperature quickly drops into the 30s this time of year,” says Tony Brown, the track manager. By mid-year, though, those chilly nights were a distant memory and the summer heat wave was as sweltering as expected. Then came those persistent afternoon thunderstorms that seemed to show up right on cue.“ It’ s so hard to dry the place after those afternoon thunderstorms began rolling in, and it’ s been a real challenge this year,” says Brown.
The points bracket season has been a definite bright spot at Union this year, with a consistently strong field of cars for each race. The guaranteed purse is reportedly what’ s made the difference, with no car minimum, and $ 3K to win in Top. The Sportsman and Jr. Dragster programs have been really strong as well, with a total of 11 IHRAsanctioned points races on the schedule.
Brown is a racer himself and has always had a strong connection to the sportsman racing community.“ I still get so excited when a racer wins his first race!” smiles Brown. That excitement was
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evident early in 2025 when Mark Arrington hit a hot streak.“ I think Mark had been runner-up four times previously when he won the Craig Hipp Gambler’ s Race on a recent Friday night, then came back and won it again the following week, followed by yet another win at bracket race on Saturday!” says Brown.
Track owner John Bartunek is always quick to praise his track manager’ s work ethic and strong
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connection to the racing community.“ Tony truly cares about people and this sport!” says Bartunek, who’ s owned Union Dragway since 2021 after relocating from New York to this area with his wife, Liz.
There’ s lots of great events on the schedule at Union Dragway this year, including some 10.5 races, which is experiencing a resurgence of late. Brown, in fact, has been dabbling with 10.5 racing since 2010, and has even toured a series to a
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September / October 2025 |
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