By JM Hallas
Night one lost to fluid, cold and wind.
Marion, TX. – San Antonio Raceway hosted one last big blowout bracket race as the racing season draws to a close. The South Texas Winter Shootout had some nice pay outs awaiting the winners in the three classes.(Electronics, Foot Brake, Jr. Dragster) All three classes are in action each day vying for the big purses that are up for grabs.
Friday was night racing beginning with an open test session as the sun went down followed by time trials in each class. After the front passed during the day and dropped temperatures drivers and crews looked to adjust for the added horsepower before the nights eliminations.
In Electronics(Box) $2000 were there for the taking Friday night along with $1500 for the Foot Brake(No-box) winner and $350 for the Jr. Dragsters. Unfortunately after fluid was laid down on the track, in Foot Bake time trials, officials were forced to cancel the nights event. Friday nights payout will now be added into the rest of the weekend.
A combination of lengthy clean up, cold air temperatures and falling track temps it was determined they had ‘lost the track.’ Even if it could have been cleaned, and track re-prepped, that the number of cars on site would put racing well into the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday and Sunday not only does the purse ramp up, but the competition as well. In the regular bracket eliminations the Electronics class runs for a cool $5000 to win, Foot Brakers see their winners pay jump to $2500, with Jr. Dragsters again, $350 to win.
On top of the bracket eliminations, and money, Saturday and Sunday also have an extra shot at grabbing a few bucks in the ‘Dialing for Dollars’ game. Drivers pay into the pot for an additional time trial, then try to run closest to their dial in for the chance of picking up the cash(70% to the winner).
And if that wasn’t enough money on the line, Saturday also has an additional “Shootout” with another $5000 on the line for the Electronics winner and $2000 awaiting the Foot Brake winner. If time permits there’s also golf cart and pit bike races slated for after the “Shootout.” That should be interesting.
