Elon Werner is perfectly fine being one of those figures behind the scenes, helping others to make a name for themselves.
Werner, whose Werner Enterprises public relations firm has promoted some of the biggest names in drag racing, including John Force, has now stepped out of the shadows and is casting a rather significant one of his own.
Werner is the driving force behind the Drag Race Bracket Bonanza [DRBB] brand, a dynamic bracket competition for fans to play during the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series races. The competition is designed to engage fans of all ages with drag racing.
“It’s something that I literally thought about for five years,” Werner explained. “I thought about it, I talked to people about it. I felt like drag racing needed more fan interaction. It needed a game to just lure new people in. And finally, at the beginning of 2023, I just said, ‘I can’t keep talking about it. I have to do it.”
Then, after decades of helping racers and drag racing entities build a name for themselves, Werner began working on something for himself. He reached out to a web developer located in Colorado to change the status of his vision and make it a reality.
“I told him my idea,” Werner explained. “He didn’t know anything about drag racing, but he was a sports fan, so he knew about basically the college basketball bracket. I just said, ‘This is what I want to make.”
Every journey starts with a first step; in Werner’s case, it was a giant leap.
“It was just something that after every race, even in the off-season for years, I thought, “Man, we need to do something like this,” Werner said. “I would talk to people in the sport about it, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, yeah, we need that. We should do that. Someone should do that.”
“I finally just said, ‘Why not me?”
There are now thousands of members in DRBB, and over 300 private leagues have been created.
Werner’s biggest challenge in turning his vision into reality focused on the limitations of only 24 hours in a day and 365 days a year. For a man spread so thin he could hardly breathe, Werner understood his project would require 24/7 attention.
“I’ve always been really sensitive to [managing my time], and I have been lucky to work with some great drivers,” Werner, whose public relations clientele includes the Texas Motorplex, full-time clients Josh Hart, and part-time drivers Chris King, TJ Zizzo, and Joe Morrison.
“I always, when I’m at the track, I want to give my attention to Josh and Buddy and make them stars, get them coverage,” Werner explained. “When I have what little bit of downtime, that’s what I use for Bracket Bonanza.”
When Werner began cultivating DRBB, he was doing PR work with Justin Ashley and Hart.
“They knew about it, and if my clients brought it up, I would give them updates,” Werner said. “But I never wanted them to have the idea that I was at the racetrack working for them, but then I was also doing this other little side project. I always wanted to be present for them. And then, if I had extra time, that’s what I devoted to Bracket Bonanza.”
No one could argue Werner’s work ethic. He’s been one to arrive at the track early and depart long after the last car has traveled down the strip for as long as he’s been in drag racing.
“My list of things to do, all my client press releases, interview requests, appearances, were always the first things,” Werner said. “Then, if I saw a window of 30 minutes or 45 minutes, here’s where I could do something for Bracket Bonanza. Or at the end of the day, I would do something for Bracket Bonanza.”
The move forward recently took a positive step, and Werner was able to hire his first team member, his daughter Abby Werner-Woodward. She is looking after the site while her father does his public relations work.
Werner-Woodward’s drag racing mentor, Dave Densmore, a former NHRA publicity director and publicist to drag racing legends, has joined the team.
Densmore’s major talent, outside of writing crisp copy, has always been obtaining the obscure stats many of the leading drag racing copywriters depend on. He was the perfect person to create a DRBB tip sheet.
“Dave is a great writer, and he knows everything about the sport, including statistics and history,” Werner said. “He gives us his tips going into a race. And it’s been great because I value his insight, the way he sees things.”
Werner is constantly working to improve the DRBB model. Recently, he called on an executive from a major drag racing team to get involved in playing the brackets at multiple races. However, as this executive got busy with his day-to-day operations, the DRBB participation got put on the back burner. He lost track of how he did, citing, “It left me feeling unfulfilled.”
“I get input from people,” Werner added. “We’re constantly trying to make it better.”
Werner took the feedback to heart and created a Monday morning debrief email that provided information on the weekend’s completion.
“It is our second most popular open email of all the emails we do,” Werner said. “The most popular is the Saturday, brackets-are-open email, but the Monday morning email results from listening to the players. We’re constantly taking ideas to improve the game, but I think we’re in a really good spot.”
Werner has also included the sport’s legends in DRBB, such as Ed McCulloch, Larry Dixon Jr., Angelle Sampey, and Warren Johnson, to name a few.
It’s been a tremendous experience for Wernerm, who has earned the NHRA’s support along the way. Hearing DRBB PA spots or watching a commercial on the track’s Jumbotron is a regular occurrence.
“It really makes me feel two things to witness this: really proud and then also just really surprised that it’s growing, and we’ve created this thing that has really caught on. And even more than hearing the commercial or hearing the PAs, whatever, is when people will stop me, fans, drivers, and crew guys, and talk to me about Bracket Bonanza. Those are the interactions that are really cool because they’re always positive.
“It’s always someone saying, ‘Hey, I’ve been playing Bracket Bonanza, and I’m terrible at it, but I love it.”
Werner has also befriended families whose generations make a routine of participating. As DRBB grows, Werner remains committed to what brought him to the dance, which is public relations.
His mission is for every drag racing to make DRBB a part of their lives. Werner has created an end-of-year prize package that includes an autographed Impact helmet, wrestling-stye championship belts, gift certificates, and, not to forget, signed plates from each event winner.
“I’d love to just see more people playing it,” Werner said. “We doubled our players in 2024. We’re going to have some plans in the off-season to make 2025 even bigger. The biggest thing we need is more megaphones that tell people to play. And then, also, getting people to play more.
“For the college basketball bracket, it’s easy to get 25 million people to fill out a bracket one time. It’s tougher to get people to fill out a bracket for 20 races. That’s closer to fantasy football or fantasy baseball. So, trying to drive attention to select events to make it worth their while to play, but then also creating an environment where if you want to play 20 times, it’s worth your while.”
