Drag Illustrated Issue 170, August 2021 | Page 72

ROLISON ’ S KING OF THE COAST BRACKET RACING SERIES IS WHERE THE MISSISSIPPI NATIVE REALLY LEARNED THE INS AND OUTS OF RACE PROMOTION . THE SERIES HAS BEEN CONTESTED AT GULFPORT DRAGWAY EVERY YEAR SINCE 2005 .
would not be at the level it is now . Again , to be successful , you got to have good people around you , and we felt like we surrounded ourselves with some of the best .
Looking back at the Guaranteed Million , do you think it had the impact that you hoped it would ?
CUMMINGS : Honestly , as far as how the race went down and everything we did there , just kind of showcasing the bracket racers , I think it was a very big positive . It had a big impact on everything and how things are going to be done in the future , but there was also a negative . With the COVID deal ending up the way it did and the way it pushed back all these races , there were four weekends in a row of big races . I think it was three Millions and another big $ 250,000 race . Well , one Guaranteed Million , two not-guaranteed millions , and a $ 250,000 race .
But a lot of people spent a lot of money that month , and I think we are starting to see that now . Some people kind of overstretched themselves , and a lot of them races was on credit cards , and you don ’ t worry about credit card payments until a month after . The trend this year with the bigger bracket races has been , the car counts have been down , except for the two we put on , so we consider ourselves very lucky . But I think there was a big negative to all of them big races going on at one time , and I raced in one of them . I think it was a negative to it .
Bracket racing , and especially big-money races , is becoming a crowded market . How much more room for growth is there in this area ?
CUMMINGS : Well , as of right now , I personally think that we are probably , at best , 50 / 50 at having another Guaranteed Million next year . I think racers are going to go for value from here on out , and it ’ s already showing this year . At the Dream Team race we had , it was $ 10K , $ 20K , and $ 10K for $ 350 , and we had over 560 cars entries . The Red , White , and Blue race was a buy-one-get-one entry for $ 400 and we ran two $ 20Ks . Everybody there was doubled , and we had over 400 entries , which was all we sold .
But the days of $ 1,500 entry fees , we think they are few and far between right now . We think the racers are definitely going to not spend as much . I can tell you this ; as a racer , for me personally , I ’ m only going to go to a race that says “ guaranteed ” on the flyer to start off with , and then I ’ m going to go to a race that looks good on a flyer .
ROLISON : I don ’ t know . I think everybody can agree for the most part that that balloon has to pop at some point , but it hasn ’ t .
This weekend there was a $ 300,000 race somewhere on the East Coast . Michael Beard and Anthony Walton are putting on that race and it looks like there ’ s going to be a lot of cars there . A ton of cars . I think someone was talking about , if you double enter that race and buy back , you would spend about $ 5,000 . That ’ s a lot of money to go racing all weekend .
At our million-dollar race , we had racers that had tabs up to $ 20,000 . If I went to a racetrack and spent $ 20,000 , I ’ d be scared to get home to my wife , I ’ m just saying . So , I think there ’ s growth , but I think there ’ s going to be a correction at some point . I think you ’ re seeing a little bit maybe now , maybe not . Maybe just a touch , but I think there are some outliers that are making that happen due to the status of our economy . And I think there may be some political stuff going on that ’ s affecting that , which is a topic for another day . But I think all that has affected it a little bit , but I do think there ’ s going to be a correction at some point .
I don ’ t know if that ’ s going to sustain forever . I remember Luke Bogacki talking about this . He basically said we all should sit back and relish this moment because 20-30 years from now , we might consider this time right now the golden age of bracket racing . Fifteen years ago , other than the original Million , there might ’ ve been three or four races that were premier events and they paid $ 50,000 to win . You almost feel like that you can go race for $ 50,000 just about anywhere now . A $ 10,000 race was a big race 15 years ago . That almost feels like just a regular Saturday night bracket race now .
And I think those races are the ones that are going to have their work cut out for them because you ’ re so in between . The big-money racers that like to go to the big races might not go to those in-between races . Then there might be some Saturday night warriors that can ’ t afford to hit
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