The sport of drag racing is typically a warm weather sport, right? Not if you attend the DragstersForSale.Com 3rd Annual Practice Tree Race Presented by TEAM DFS. Over 150 of the Midwest and Tri-State regions drag racers converged on the VFW Post 1114 in Evansville, IN this past Saturday to try to take home $4500 in prize money in the “Top Bulb” event with the Bottom Bulb Racers chasing over $1500 in prize money.

The event brings in racers from all over the Midwest for the chance to win weekend race entries to events promoted by The Dillman family and their No Box Nationals that will be taking place at I-57 Dragway this summer. Loose Rocker Promotions supplies weekend entry for a skilled racer for their racing series, and if that is not getting a bracket racer’s blood moving the chance to square off against 32 racers for entries to the Spring Fling Bracket Race Series and The Million Dollar Race for the mere cost of $50 and $100 respectively will most definitely get you moving to Evansville.     

“We put this event on to get people back out with their racing families that they see 8 months out of the year on a weekly basis racing. The sight of racers winning one of the $8000 in prizes that we give away as door prizes while getting a chance to compete at a race that the entry is $700 or $2000 really makes me happy,” said Don O’Neal, who is responsible for the event.

The event consisted of 6 events, 5 of which racers had to pay to enter, with the 6th event being a Shootout Race Sponsored by Racepak. This event included the Quarter and Semi Finalists from the events squaring off for the ownership rights of a Sportsman Data Logger from Racepak and the runner up taking home a Racepak branded Pit Mat.

1st event to lead off the night of cash and prizes was the Racing Rv’s Bottom Bulb event. Starting with 238 entries and just a few hours later only 2 were fighting to claim title of the baddest off the Bottom. The tree activated and Neil Posey claimed victory over Shawn Rissler for the event. We had the potential for a sweep by Carson Griffith has he was carrying 2 entries into the quarters only to lose both by the Semi’s.

This year over 356 entries let go of the Trans Brake Button on the stylish Richardson Boyz Steering wheels in the Top Bulb event presented by Law Chevrolet. Having hitters with last names like Adkins, Crick, Bohannon, Beard, along with big personalities such as Disco Dean Karns and David “Bird” Jones squaring off against past winners of Jarrell and Mascaro, divisional champ Al Peavler and numerous racers chasing $3K in cash to the winner.

As the time drew closer to midnight, which is when most big money bracket racing events start heating up, that is exactly what happened. Dylan Winters, Tyler Moffitt, Tyler Jarrell, Brock Smith and Blake Webb were the ones battling for the cash.  The final round came down to a battle of the B’s between Brock and Blake. The story line of how Blake ended up in the final round hinges on the fact that he was the recipient of our Mulligan award this year that allows a racer to get back into a race after they lose a round. The Mulligan is used before the round of 16. He utilized it and that was all he needed to catch fire to take home the big price.

The final hours of the evening topped off with 2 Entries to The Million Dollar Race promoted by Randy and Jennifer Folk. 64 of the best on this night trying to have their entry for the October race paid for in January.  The winners Brandon Jarrell and Tyler Bohannon stood proudly when the LED’S flashed in the final. Brandon became the first repeat winner as he won the Top Bulb Race in 2014. The runner ups were Lester Adkins and Josh Statts taking home a little cash.

Kyle Seipel and Peter Biondo promote a great racing series simply known as “The Fling.” On this Midwestern night, none other than David “Bird” Jones known for his Street Outlaws Camaro, made moves all the way to the finals. On the other side there sat a tractor puller who loves drag racing named Cody Wiggins. Cody and David gave it a great show in the finals, double 00 lights on both sides, yet Cody came out on top.

The final event included all of the so close racers to send them home with a Racepak logger or Pit Mat from Racepak.  Closing it out was Scott Carmen in a squeaker against David “Bird” Jones to take home a Sportsman Logger from the great folks at Racepak.

After 12 straight hours, 74 pizzas, 30 cases of beverages and 800 times a trans brake button clicked the bright LED lights from Porta Tree. Once again we wait for cold winter months of January 2018 to see who will emerge with entries to the greatest bracket racing events in the country.

Our evening could not have been a success without the great support of VP Racing Fuels, Mickey Thompson Tires, Lucas Oil, NGK Spark Plugs, Porta Tree, JEGS, Carts Gone Wild, Line First Racing Apparel, Performance Tees, Simpson, CoolShirt, Meyer Distributing, Auto Meter, Edelbrock, AFCO, Dynatech, Racepak and Moroso. Want to send a special shout out to Law Chevrolet, Racing RV’S and Keith Berry for their support of our event and racing organizations.