DIALED IN
SUPER BOWL OF BRACKET RACING
recalls Earwood. “It’s one of those races that still
gets talked about around here all these years later,
but for the times and for this point of the cycle, the
SFG Super Bowl event was huge and we were very
pleased with the turnout.”
There’s certainly reason to be enthused about
the health of big-money dial-in racing, especially
considering racers who pre-entered for the Su-
per Bowl of Bracket Racing dished out $799 in
advance, while others readily parted with $950
at the gate for a weekend passage to compete for
hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition to
the hundred grand to win up for grabs daily Fri-
day through Sunday, the event paid tremendous
amounts of round money, with no fewer than 18
sponsors coming on board to support the event.
As for the match-up format of eliminations, door
cars and dragsters are compiled together in one
giant class, although the two are separated for as
long as possible to bolster parity. Many racers en-
thusiastically traveled great distances to compete
for daily payouts of this magnitude. “We had racers
come from Canada and the Midwest, as well as
from states all up and down the Eastern Seaboard,
with many first-time racers visiting Rockingham,”
says Earwood.
Sometimes it takes mega events like this to fill
the pits, especially in the Tar Heel state. “The North
Carolina racer is a unique individual because they
have so many choices,” Earwood explains. “We have
18 tracks in this state and a total of 22 tracks within
2.5 hours from where we’re sitting.”
As far as the high-dollar bracket racing model
goes, Earwood is optimistic about the future, but
warns there’s a limit and reiterates that everything
goes in a cycle. “George Howard and I started the
B&M Series in the early 1990s and we did the Mil-
lion Dollar race for a number of years, so I’m used
to doing these type races, but that’s been 20-plus
years ago and there got to be too many of them
and it ran its course,” he recalls.
Incidentally, the SFG Super Bowl of Bracket
Racing was Rockingham’s most heavily-attended
event of 2018. “It was certainly great to have a race
like this back at Rockingham, but I have to warn
anyone that puts on these type events to not get
greedy,” cautions Earwood.
The case has been made that despite popularity
and racer support, the recent frequency of these
mega-payout races can put a strain on the partici-
pants if the market becomes flooded.
“How many working-class racers can afford to
take off five days from work and pay a hefty entry
fee and travel expense?” Earwood wonders. “You’ve
got a certain amount of touring pros and it’s all
they do, but in order to make these things work,
you’ve got to have the serious weekend racer and
he’s a guy that’s either got his own small business
or has a successful job and he can only do this so
many weekends out of the year. It’s my belief that
there will be less of these type races in 2019, but
the ones they have will be very successful.”
SFG Promotions will return to Rockingham this
season, as well as a host of other venues, including
U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan,
which will host the inaugural SFG 500, which pays
an unprecedented $500,000 to win. “This will be
the highest paying drag race in history!” exclaims
Riley, the event founder.
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 142