FRIDAY - JACOB STOLWORTHY WINS $50,000 FRIDAY AT SUMMER FLING 

The JEGS Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway rolled into FuelTech Friday with an action-packed schedule with the Reaction Time Challenge, Brodix Best Package Runoff, Laris Motorsports Insurance Racer Appreciation Dinner, Micro Strategies 16-Car Dragster Shootout, the $50,000 main event, and a grudge match to end the evening.

With Thursday’s 16-Car Shootout being for the door cars, Friday’s Shootout hosted 16 dragsters presented by Micro Strategies. Chase Conley, Paul Warwick, Jordan Eaker, and Jerry Hollingsworth paired up on the ladder. Warwick took the win over Conley after the two were separated by .001 at the hit, while Hollingsworth turned it three thousandths red to advance Eaker. By way of Eaker’s two thousandths breakout, Warwick picked up the $3,000 check.

The main event started with 315 and eventually narrowed down to eight including Will Holloman, Ritchie Howard, Mark Price, Dustin Chesnut, Jacob Stolworthy, Adam Quesenberry, Jeff Taylor, and Donovan Williams. Quesenberry turned it .005 red against Price, while Stolworthy took .003 on Chesnut to put together .019 total. Taylor knocked out Howard while Donovan crossed the stripe first by .001 to break out by .011 against the .011 package of Holloman.

The lone door car of Price had the starting line advantage but mechanical trouble had him bow out against Stolworthy. Taylor and Holloman were separated by .006 on the tree with Taylor getting to the stripe first by .007 to secure a spot in his second final round of the week following his $15,000 Wednesday victory.

It was a west coast final on the east coast for the FuelTech $50,000. Stolworthy of Meridian, ID put together .023 total to win his first Fling over Wednesday $15K winner Taylor from Apache Junction, AZ.

 

 

THURSDAY - SHAWN CARPENTER CAPTURE $50000 WIN AT SUMMER FLING

The first of three $50,000-to-win purses at the JEGS Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway saw 300 entries duke it out on ATI Performance Products Thursday, wracking up multiple perfect runs only a few days into the weeklong event.

In a nod to the upcoming Door Car Fling in 2025, the Fling Team organized an all-door car shootout of 16 racers. Howard Westbury, Jeff Verdi, Doug Moles, and Shannon Waycaster made up the four remaining cars, but it was Westbury and Moles who moved on to the final round. By way of Moles’ redlight, Westbury collected the $3,000 up for grabs.

The ladder was set at seven including Josh Luedke, Tony Morris, Jon Corbin, Shawn Carpenter, Tommy Plott, Anthony Bertozzi, and Matt Dadas. Luedke took one-thousandth at the stripe over Morris to advance, while Carpenter was .008 taking .007 to knock out the ‘68 Firebird of Corbin. Bertozzi drilled the tree with a perfect bulb against the four-thousandths redlight of Plott. Dadas let go .003 on a solo trip down the track.

Despite having the advantage at the hit, Dadas bowed out of competition by way of an eight-thousandths breakout against Carpenter. On the other side of the semifinals, Luedke took .003 needing to take .002 or less to break out by just one-thousandth to the .015 package of Bertozzi.

A pair of door cars lined up in the final round both searching for their first Fling big check, but it was all over on the starting line when Bertozzi clicked it two-thousandths red to the .009 of Carpenter who cruised his ‘68 Camaro down towards the ATI Performance Products $50,000 Thursday winlight.

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY - JEFF TAYLOR SECURES $15,000 PAYDAY AT SUMMER FLING 

 

 

Day two of the Jegs Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries felt more like autumn with high temperatures in the seventies and a comfortable breeze blowing across the scenic Bristol Dragway. However, the competition was far from cool with multiple racers displaying perfect reaction times, dead-on zero passes, and nearly invisible margins of victory. 

Advanced Product Design Wednesday opened with 240 cars breaking the stage beam in round one with $15,000 on the line. Seventh round featured seven remaining drivers on the ladder: Jeff Taylor, Will Holloman, Cory Gulitti, Kevin Pollard, Joe Julsrud, Clifford Davidson, and Gage Burch. 

In the first quarterfinal pairing, Pollard lets go .002 but finds himself .003 behind at the finish line beside Burch, who had an .010 reaction time and ran dead-on with an eight for the win. Holloman is .015 up front and one above to advance over Julsrud, who was left mathematically ineligible. Davidson launches .002 too soon to advance Taylor who was .006 green and rolls out of the throttle after the automatic win. On the bye, Gulitti is .009 on the tree and runs dead on with a zero on his way to the semifinal. 

Three dragsters and one door car remain with only two win lights standing between one driver and fifteen grand. Gulitti has the starting line advantage with his .004 light, but breaks out three-thousandths at the stripe beside Burch who runs one above for the win. Taylor is .001 and takes .009 at the finish line to earn his spot in the final round over Holloman, who is .024 total for the loss. 

Two drivers who are no stranger to the winner’s circle prepare to battle for yet another Fling victory to add to their racing resumes. Taylor earned the MVP award at the Spring Fling in GALOT after running himself in the $50K final in April, and Burch earned a $15K win at last year’s Summer Fling. In tonight’s final, Taylor turns an eight-thousandths starting line advantage into an .011 margin of victory over Burch to secure the $15,000 win. 

During the winner’s circle celebrations Taylor says, “I tried to figure out a game plan before I put the helmet on, and we executed them, and it all worked out. First and foremost, [I have to thank] my Dad, as always. He’s back working so we can come race and it means the world to us.”

 

 

TUESDAY - DUKE WINS RACE TECH DRAGSTER CHASSIS TUESDAY AT SUMMER FLING 

The first day of on-track action fired up on Tuesday at the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway. A great week of racing would be in store for racers on the mountain at one of the most picturesque facilities in the country.

Law Chevrolet hosted the test and tune session in addition to a 32-Car Shootout where the winner would walk away with a Race Tech dragster chassis. The format guaranteed a door car versus dragster final with 16 door cars on one side of the ladder and 16 dragsters on the other.

After the second round Chase Conley, John Taylor Sr., Donovan Williams, and Antoine Jett remained on the dragster side and Chad Duke, Vinny Guido, TJ Owens, and Adrew Stirk were the last door cars standing. Conley was .015 taking .003 to be dead-on three over Taylor, while Jett turned it two thousandths red to the .005 of Williams. Duke had the starting line advantage and the winlight over Guido, and Stirk took .004 to knock out Owens.

In the semifinals, Conley advanced past Williams on a hole shot victory. In the following pair, Stirk was perfect on the tree and broke out by just four-thousandths of a second to bow out against the .010 and one above of Duke.

The ‘68 Camaro of Duke faced off with the dragster of Conley, and by way of Conley’s redlight Duke scored the 2025 Race Tech Dragster Chassis and was the first of the week to roll into the Fling Winner’s Circle.

Race fans can tune in on Advanced Product Design $15,000 Wednesday at 8:15 a.m. where all drivers on property will receive a time run prior to eliminations. Everything will be streamed live from @RaceTheFlings on YouTube where our in-house camera crew is slated to deliver another high-quality broadcast with live timing, starting line camera, exclusive interviews, and more in partnership with Strange Engineering.

 

 

 

 

 

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