Holiday Bracket Results

Last Updated on July 7, 2026 by WWTR

By Jeremy Rosenstengel

The World Wide Technology Raceway Fourth of July holiday bracket 3K was on fire this week and the only thing hotter than the on 150 degrees on-track temperatures were the drivers in those race cars. Feels like temperatures of 110 degrees outside and in car temperatures of 140+ degrees meant that only the tough were going to survive this weekend and man did they ever. We had some absolutely amazing performances this weekend out of super tough veteran racers. We had a multiple time, junior dragster champion finally break through and get his first win in a door car. Oh, and that drag car just happened to be his grandpa’s old Ford Falcon race car. We had the kid that’s currently number two on Drag Champs who’s hot in American racing blog finding his way into the winner circle again for like the fifth time this week. We have a husband/wife dragster/Camaro race team that’s hotter than a firecracker and after going to semifinal after semifinal finally find their way into the winner circle in their dragster. When I say it was a great weekend of racing, these stories just write themselves through great drivers, great race cars, and sweat inducing desire for that winner circle Happy Gilmore big check. That desire can’t be stopped by hot temperatures. Our WWTR racers show what true grit and desire for the winner circle looks like. 

Thursday’s box race featured a huge breakthrough win by a husband-and-wife race team that has just been on fire. Larry and Nancy Conn from House Springs, Missouri have continued all season to put their Camaro into semifinal after semifinal. They have been looking for that breakout win all year to get them over the top. This weekend was finally the weekend that they broke through: Larry Conn gave up three thousandths on the starting line of Thursdays finals to Brett Arnett but was able to put his dragster closer to the 4.55 at 151 mile an hour than Arnett’s 5.80 at 118. The victory was a great breakthrough for Team Conn racing who had been striving for this win all season. Conn defeated Cohen Hale in the semifinals and Arnett had to beat Sean Miller to earn his trip to the finals. Great job and congratulations to the Conn racing team who now have a great $3,000 race win to build on for the rest of the 2026 race season. 

The Thursday no-box race was won by a young racing phenom who just happens to be on fire this month. So much so in fact, that this young man, even before this win has been featured as your Drag Champ number two racer in the country. Cohen Hale, coming off a four race win last weekend, takes your no box championship Saturday $500 over Brad Matthews. In the finals, Cohen had a .035 light to Matthews .035 red light to secure his victory. The weekend was really terrific for the Hale racing team as Cohen’s sister Kennedi in recent weeks has been debuting their new family race car Camaro. Kennedi has also been going a lot of rounds as of late. Both kids are switching over from junior dragsters to door cars and that has been a tough transition, but they are both doing fantastic. Congratulations kids!!!

Friday’s WWTR Holiday Bracket box race final featured the battle of the dragsters. Steve Nord out of St. Charles, Missouri in his 2002 Spitzer dragster paired up against the Miller Racing Family 2001 dragster of Amanda Miller. Nord took advantage of a huge starting line advantage with his .017 reaction time and his 4.64 ET to best Miller who ran the quicker but losing 4.51 elapsed time. Nord needed to beat Sam Stewart in the semifinals to earn his way into the finals. Amanda Miller had two best Spencer Smith to earn her trip. Congratulations to Steve Nord on your $3,000 victory!!!!

Fridays no-box race has a very special story to it. In that race, Sam Stewart in the final used a .006 reaction time two over the dial in on the brakes hard to defeat five-time winner in the last two weeks Cohen Hale. It was a great door car no box final from two (Cohen still racing Jr.’s) superstars of junior dragster racing. These two have been beating each other up on the racetrack since they were young kids, and this is their first door cars final together. That’s only part of the story, however.

This week, in addition to capping off a huge week for the Hale racing family, was also a banner week for the Stewart racing family. There are so many great storylines that you could talk about here. Sam’s sister, the Florida college bound, Jett car driving scholar athlete gets her first door car win and her father’s hotrod at WWTR Carl’s 4 Wheel Drive and Performance Center Bracket Series race five. Sam’s fiancé Leah Wheeler, coming off her I-57 victory and her bracket race six WWTR Sportsman victory last weekend has to run Sam in the semifinals in order for Sam to get to the finals. Think about that, this guy had to beat his fiancé to go to the final. This kid got nerves of steel to pull that one off.

Then you’ve got the story of Sam, driving his grandfather’s Ford Falcon race car to his first victory in a door car. The story just couldn’t get much better for the Stewart Racing Team. You know that Mike and Angela cannot be any prouder of these kids. After beating Leah in the semifinals, Sam used his .006 starting line reaction time to Cohen’s .038 reaction time to secure the victory with Sam jumping on the brakes and killing two numbers at the stripe to bring Cohen in tight. You know grandpa was smiling as they handed Sam that $500 winner’s check for this young racing sensations first door car victory. Congratulations to the Stewart racing team on your incredible couple weeks of racing for every member of your family. 

Thank you again to World Wide Technology Raceway for bringing us this incredible big dollar race for our Fourth of July weekend. What an outstanding race and what great storylines this race produced. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to the WWTR staff who had to go out there and fight these hot temperatures and we’re really the unsung heroes of this race weekend.