Carl’s 4 Wheel Drive and Performance Center Bracket Series Race 3-4 Recap

Last Updated on April 28, 2025 by WWTR

By Jeremy Rosenstengel

A semi-retired drag racing veteran who has won in four different decades decides to come to WWT Raceway and show us all how it’s done in Super Pro. A dominant champion gets it done in Pro class and the perennial favorite steps up his game to get it done two races in a row in VP Racing Lubricants Sportsman. How about a girl from a five-generation drag racing family who steps up and decides to go racing and has been to two races and has now won two races? We have all that and much more this week including a bad on-track accident, the WWT Raceway family response, some rain and some final round action not to be believed. It was a great race weekend at WWT Raceway!!!!  

Super Pro: 

So, everyone out there loves a comeback story…. We had a great one this week in Super Pro. The guy who semi-retired from drag racing, and an I-55 Pevely racetrack stand out, the guy who has Super Pro wins in four different decades, the guy who still drives his iconic red (used to be black back in the day) 1970 Super Sport Chevelle that stands straight up in the air with a 5-foot-high wheelie is still racing was on his game big time. While everyone out there has all their state-of-the-art delay boxes and electronics, this guy still uses all his old-school, still cool, stuff and still finds a way to get the job done. Yes, you can say that Brandt Hansen had himself one heck of a day. How tough is racing at WWT Raceway in 2025? Guys who had first-round .000 lights, Angelo Belosi, Darryl Sutton, Darrel Forsythe, and that was just the first round. That’s correct, a .001 light will not get you a first-round bye-run in Super Pro at WWT Raceway.  Wow.   

Fast forward to the finals, Timothy Reid vs Brandt Hansen. Tim was .019 and 21 thousandths over the dial-in on the brakes to be bested by Hansen who was .012 on the tree and 11 thousandths over the dial-in to secure the win. In an all-Reid family semi-final matchup, Timothy Reid dispatched David Reid and Brandt Hansen got the competition bye when Brian Cooks trans brake did not hold on to the starting line after he had an incredible day to get himself to the semifinals. In the end, it was veteran racer Brandt Hansen standing alone in the winner’s circle. Well, to be fair, he was not exactly standing alone. Brandt was lucky enough to be joined in the winner’s circle by fellow veteran racers and fellow Bracket Three Super Pro racing standouts Nancy Conn and Todd Hansen. They of course are Brandts sister and brother. Pretty cool storyline and a cool way to end the day with all your siblings in the winner’s circle. Congratulations to the Hansen family on your great day and win!!!!   

Side note, Mark Sullens, after being .001 on the tree and on what looked to be a great pass, had an on-track incident in which his 1976 Chevrolet Chevette unfortunately made a hard turn and contacted the wall and was destroyed. Mark was taken to a local hospital and released the next day and is doing very well. That is the important thing. WWT Raceway racers got together and decided that the Saturday night button race, which proceeds that normally go towards helping to offset the travel cost to NHRA Division 3 finals, will instead be donated to Mark and his family. It is a great charitable act by our WWT racers to help another racer who is down.   

Pro Class:  

Danny Ratulowski and Tommy Barbero are both on a terror this year. Both were in the final rounds in Bracket Race One, Danny as runner-up to Luke Bogacki in Super Pro and Tommy taking the Pro Class win, now here they both are again in the Bracket 3 Pro finals. What an incredible final round it was, both Danny and Tommy were one thousandth apart on the starting line, and both drivers in the finals were dead on their dial-in with a six, Tommy stood on the brake pedal killing off six mph and got behind by a little over an inch hoping to push Danny out in a super close, super nail-biting final round finish line stripe. Danny Ratulowski was able to take the finish line and the stripe. It was one for the ages. Tommy defeated Dan Garry in his Duster in the Semi-finals with Danny receiving the semi-finals competition bye. Great win and congratulations go to both great drivers who now each have two final rounds in two weeks of racing, each with a win and a loss in the finals. It is certainly going to be a great year in Pro Class!!!  

VP Racing Lubricants Sportsman Class:  

Sportsman class over the last four years, except 2024 which saw the rising up of newcomer Luke Beach, has been dominated by one person: Craig Powell. Jason Phillips said it best when he said, “Craig is reaching legendary status in the WWT Raceway Sportsman history with this run he is on.”  

Craig was runner-up in points to Luke in 2024 but has three prior championships and a fourth he won on points even though he did not enter, this guy is just incredible. Bracket Race 3 was no exception. Craig, in his usually consistent manner, managed to mow his way through the field and, after winning Bracket 1, he is in yet another final round. His opponent this week was long-time Sportsman standout and High School class mentor Steve Zeuner. In the final round,Zeuner took a large starting line advantage with his .020 light to Powell’s .042 light. At the stripe, Powell pushed Zeuner super hard then dumped to take the double break-out win.  

It was a great effort by both drivers and to no one’s surprise, Powell still managed to find a way to get it done in the end. Zeuner took out Jim Meyers in the semi-finals. Powell had the competition bye in the semi-finals then went into familiar territory when he won the event. To make matters even more interesting, Powell is racing with a new transmission and torque converter that he is struggling to tune. He is very unhappy with the performance of the converter and transmission. He will surely become much better when he gets that all straighten out. Yikes, he has won the first two races already and went all the way to the semi-finals last week in Pro Class. This guy is scary good, greatjob to Craig and Steve on this week’s performance.   

Commercial Safe & Lock Super Pro Bike:  

Janie Palm, last year’s champion, was on fire again this week on her Super Pro motorcycle. Janie took on Steven Erdenberger in the final round. Janie took advantage of an eight-thousandths advantage at the starting line and covered Erdenberger by a bike length at the stripe to secure the victory. Janie defeated DeAndre Lewis in the semi-finals. Erdenberger was able to get past Darnell Dickerson who red-lit in the semi-final round. Congratulations to Janie on a great victory!!!  

Junior Thunder:  

Brayden Hearn is on a roll this year. The young second-generation racer who competes in both the Jr. Dragster class as well as in his red fourth-gen Camaro in high school was able to secure his final round victory over opponent Damon Haberberger taking advantage of true start for the double red light start. Haberberger was closer to his dial down track but that did not matter as Hearn already had the victory in hand. Congratulations to Brayden on your victory!!!  

Junior Lightning: 

Jaxin Reed could be seen running into her father’s arms and jumping up legs off the ground passing out a huge hug as he approached the winner circle. It was a great sight to see!!! Jaxin defeated Mason Reichardt in the final round takingadvantage of a .021 light to Mason’s stellar .027 light with Jaxin being dead on one and Mason being dead on seven in the finals. Wow, that is some great driving on both sides. Jaxin defeated Karson Elkins in the semi-finals again with a .011 light with Mason catching the semi-finals bye. Great racing by these kids. Congratulations to Jaxin.   

Marine Coin Company Jr. Street:  

In a battle of the two great kids and with years and years of racing experience in their family’s history and DNA, Leila Thomas took on and battled with young Jacob Phillips. The Jr. Street class is cool in that the adults ride along with the kids in the car. Leila, a fifth-generation racer, had her dad Ricky Thomas III riding a shotgun and Jacob, a third-generation racer, had his dad Racin Jason Phillips in the shotgun seat. In the end, it all came down to the starting line as it usually does. Leila took advantage of a better reaction time to defeat Phillips despite Phillips only being one over the dial into Thomas being three over on the brakes hard. It was a great job of racing for both kids. Leila now has won back-to-back weeks in her first-ever races. Wow, what an accomplishment. Congratulations to Leila and the Thomas family and all the kids who participated.