Carl’s 4- Wheel Drive and Performance Centers Bracket Race 9 and 10 Recap

Last Updated on August 25, 2026 by WWTR

By Jeremy Rosenstengel

Photos by Keke Lipford

World Wide Technology Raceway is honored to present the Carls 4- Wheel Drive and Performance Centers bracket race 9 and 10. This is it, this is the big one… the championships in each class, the championship jackets, the Gold Cards are all hanging in the balance. Do you think people are excited about it? You better believe it. Just try to imagine if you will a post Covid record of over 300 entries on Saturday and over 250 entries stuck around for Sunday’s race.

 The day would also see double digit numbers of perfect reaction times. The excitement over the championships in addition to the diamond NHRA 75th Anniversary Wally were all in play. Names like Spillars, Foley, Ratulowski, Barbero, Zeuner, Renald, Hale, just to name a few had sleeves rolled up and we’re ready to do battle.

 The combination of the championship battles with perfect, late summer like weather made for the perfect combination for this weekend. Add to the mix the NHRA Oakley Division 3 Super Quick and 330 Junior Super Quick action and we had everything a drag racing fan could ever dream for all rolled up into one weekend. This is it; these are our stories!!!!

OAKLEY SUPER QUICK:

Oakley Super Quick Saturday saw a field full of blisteringly fast blown dragsters tearing down the 1/8 mile. The Saturday final found WWTR’s own Larry Conn vs Brownberg, Indiana’s Devin Isenhower. Isenhower took the starting line advantage and propelled that into a finish line win over Larry Conn by a hair. These rocket ships were going 4.44 ET is over 158 miles an hour.

Oakley Super Quick Sunday final featured hometown favorite and this year’s Twin 50’s runner up Tim Foley vs Cole Arnett. The Pipefitter and Plummers sponsored Superstar Foley found a way let go quicker on the starting line than Cole and had his dragster ripping three time at the finish line to earn the NHRA Wally!!!

SUPER PRO:

Super Pro Saturday started out with over 100 entries. Wow is that a huge regular bracket race entry number. Saturday’s final round featured Ron Conroy, in his 1972 Vega, from St. Charles, MO vs Tyler Stine from Taylorville, IL in his dragster. Ron Conroy let the button fly 20 thousandths early picking up the red-light foul start in the final round, giving the victory Tyler Stine. Stine needed to defeat Sean Miller in the semifinals as Conroy had the bye to the finals. 

Super Pro Sunday saw Cody Wiggins from Kentucky vs WWTR’s Darryl Sutton. Sutton, who took advantage of a semifinal triple zero perfect light in his top sportsman type race car after his perfect light, backed off the button a little too hard in the final. Sutton was late and Wiggins was just good enough with the 4.38 elapsed time victory. Sutton defeated Tyler Wied in the semifinals and Wiggins defeated Brian Garrett in his semifinal match. 

One another note, Brian Spillars went about his business doing what he always does all weekend. Brian just went round by round accumulating round wins and points. At the end of the day, Spillars had not gone deep either day but as usual, he had done just enough, collecting just enough points steadily to put him over the top and take his second in a row WWTR Super Pro season points Championship. Brian may go about his business very quietly but make no mistake. This guy has the heart of a Champion. Congratulations Brian Spillars, 2026 Super Pro Champion. 

PRO CLASS:

Saturday’s Pro Class started with almost 60 entries. The final round saw the racing legend Tricky Ricky Thomas Jr, with his 50 plus years racing experience and legendary wins vs young Bobby “Knight” Meyer. Thomas, driving his S-10 nicknamed “the dime,” was able to switch feet off the starting line quicker and young Bobby Meyer, and the starting line advantage proved to be the difference at the stripe allowing Thomas to back onto Meyer for the win. Meyer defeated Tyler Wied in the semifinal matchup and Thomas was able to defeat the red-hot Kevin Corzine who was implementing his new heavy concentration strategy, which seems to be working very well for him. Took him all the way to the semifinals. 

Pro class Sunday found two-time champion Tommy Barbero in the finals vs Tyler Wied. In a final for the ages, Tommy Barbero’s .009 reaction time was .004 behind Wied’s .005 and Tommy wound up breaking out by five thousandths of a second at the finish line stripe to give the victory to Wied. Wied defeated Bob Krekel in the semifinals.

The biggest round, however, was in the quarterfinal matchup between Tommy Barbaro and Danny Ratulowski. No one knew at the time, but that match up was going to be the one that decided who would win the 2026 Pro Class Championship. In that matchup, Tommy Barbaro had a .014 reaction time to Ratulowski’s .027 which decided the matchup. But nobody had realized yet was that that was also going to decide the points championship. Great racing guys!!!

VP RACING LUBRICANTS SPORTSMAN CLASS:
Sportsman class was nearly 30 cars strong on Saturday. That was a great turnout for WWTR. Sportsman class saw a final that was the battle of the young guys in their 4th gen Camaros. Tim Hearn would take on Cohen Hale in the finals. Hale would get the best of the matchup being 10 better on the tree and putting his Camaros 11.654 on a 11.65 dial in for the win. Hale had to defeat Connor Awalt in his Camaro in the semifinals to advance to the finals. Congratulations to Cohen Hale on your numerous victories of the weekend. More to come on this guy. 

Sunday’s VP Racing lubricants Sportsman final again featured Cohen Hale. This time against Nick Winchester. Hale took advantage of Winchester’s .097 reaction time and cut that number in half with both cars going one number over the dial in to secure the victory for Hale. He only needed to defeat Abby Burrow in the semifinals and her 2006 Mustang.

Perhaps the more interesting story in sports was going on all around them. Defending 2025 Sportsman points Champion Steve Zeuner had lost in the third round to Nick Winchester. That left the door wide open and the points race for Joe Renaud, if he could won the race, to steal the points lead, and the yearly championship from Zeuner, but only if he could get that done. Renald, who is tracking the points carefully knew exactly what he had to do after that round to steal the championship. Renaud ran into the same Nick Winchester that had defeated Zeuner the round before and Renaud went .013 red light to secure his second back-to-back Sportsman championship (2025 Champion and 2026 Champion) for Steve Zeuner. Congratulations Steve and Sheril Zeuner. 

COMMERCIAL SAFE AND LOCK SUPER PRO MX:

Commercial Safe S/Pro MX Saturday was a packed field with almost 30 bikes to start the field round one. The field was almost exclusively 8 and 9 second full quarter mile bikes. The finals found multiple time track champion Jamie Palm of Bunker Hill, IL versus her opponent Steve Grissom of Washington Park, IL. The finals virtually a dead heat of the starting line with both opponents’ reaction times in the 30s. Palm took the victory with a three over her dial 9.19 to secure the victory. Palm had to beat Brian Silvester in the semifinals and Grissom had to beat Yan Levit to secure his spot in the final. 

Commercial Safe S/Pro MX Sunday found B.J. Evans and Mitch Kupfenstiner matched up head to head to see who was going to take the Bracket 10 win. Evans cut Kupfenstiner’s reaction time in half and Mitch had to run six numbers under his dial in order to try to catch Evans after that starting line advantage. In the end, Evans was successful and was able to get the Sunday win. Evans also had to beat Mark Abrams in the semifinals and Mitch had to beat Brian Silvester in his semifinals match up. 

In the 2026 points championship series for Commercial Safe S/Pro MX, it appears again as though Janie Palm with secure yet another Championship. Janie is an amazing racer and person. Congratulations Janie on your Championship!!!

E-TICKET MOTORSPORTS JUNIOR THUNDER:
Junior Thunder Saturday saw Cayden Duell versus Greyson Hopley. Both drivers were nearly identical .050 reaction times. Duell was able to secure the victory on the Hopley break out as Grayson ran 7 thousandths under his dial in. Congratulations to both drivers on a great round. 

Junior Thunder Sunday was all about the girls as Allie Coonan battled Jaxon Brown. Coonan used a sharp .049 reaction time then gave her opponent several rips at the finish line to secure her win.

E-TICKET MOTORSPORTS JUNIOR LIGHTNING:

Junior Lightning Saturday again saw Cayden Duell in the victory circle. This time Cayden’s opponent was Remi Brown. Duell was a sharp .046 reaction time. As Duell proceeded down track and stayed just barely in front of Brown at the finish line to secure the victory in a very close match. Both drivers exhibited veteran like moves at the finish line as these kids were very sharp.

Junior Lightning Sunday found Allie Coonan matched up in the finals against Remi Brown. Allie had a huge starting line advantage as both drivers were going down the track, but both cars picked up around three numbers with the cooler weather setting in. In a very close finish line Allie was able to get behind  and breakout by less than Remi at the finish line. Great job of racing kids. 

JUNIOR STREET:

Junior Street class featured Cayden Duell (yes again) in his 1997 Camaro versus Jacob Phillips I believe in his Mustang. Duell was at a huge reaction time advantage over Phillips and completed the victory with a 5 over the dial on victory. 

HIGH SCHOOL:
High School class Saturday and Sunday were both dominated by two drivers. Timothy Hearn and Cohen Hale both dominated the weekend as these two met in both the High School final rounds. Saturday’s final saw Cohen with a .052 to a .060 reaction time advantage. On the double breakout finish, Cohen was able to breakout by less to secure Saturdays win. Sunday’s race was just the opposite.

In Sunday’s race Timothy Hearn was able to post a .047 reaction time to Hale’s .038 reaction time but this time Hearn was able to go 13.75 dead on with a five. Hale was one number over his dialing in the losing effort. Great job to both these kids for dominating the weekend.

OAKLEY 330 JUNIOR SUPER QUICK

In the Junior Super Quick event, the finals saw Juiliet Reed versus Michael Mudro. Mudro in the final round was .005 from being perfect, unfortunately it was on the red-light side. Reed posted a green reaction time and ran a 4.977 et in securing the victory. Congratulations kids!!!