ROCKINGHAM — Although Rockingham Dragway’s return to big money bracket racing drew a weekend field of almost 350 bracket racers from 20 states, when the tire smoke cleared Sunday, the bulk of the purse stayed in the host state with Michael Paschal, Shawn Carpenter and Tim Thomas.
Each of the three Carolinians took home a $20,000 winner’s check from The Rock’s inaugural Top ET Challenge — its first big money event since track owner Steve Earwood and the late George Howard collaborated on several popular projects.
The Top ET Challenge was co-produced by Tony Saraceni and 1320 Race Promotions.
Thomas, a past winner at Rockingham, claimed the last of the “20s” on Sunday when he edged 2015 Rockingham track champ David Lowe (Rowland) in the final round.
Racers earned more than $150,000 over the three days. In addition to the $20,000 paid to each day’s big winner, each runner-up earned $5,000 and the semifinal losers $1,500.
Though he came up short of the big money, “Nasty Nick” Hastings (Shelby, Ohio) received the iron man award for taking his 1981 Pontiac T1000 to the round of seven on all three days. His best finish was runner-up to Carpenter on Saturday.
SUNDAY SUMMARY
After getting a free pass to the final when Trenton’s Brian Higgins was guilty of a foul start, Thomas threw a .013 package at Lowe in the big-money round — which also included a .005 reaction time. It proved decisive and left Thomas as the lone survivor among the 338 racers who started the first round.
Jimmy Broadway (Vanceboro) ended Hastings’ final bid for a $20,000 payday when he took the Ohio runner out in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capitalize on the momentum and lost to Lowe a round later by the narrowest of margins.
SATURDAY SUMMARY
Carpenter (Elm City), a “big money” racing veteran, got the second $20,ooo check when Hastings missed his target by one thousandeth of a second in the final round and was guilty of a breakout foul.
Unlike Friday — when Hastings was the only non-Carolinian among the last eight — Scott Sanders (Pikeville, Kentucky) and Bob Leripzigon (New Hope, Pennsylvania) advanced to the round of seven but neither could move any further.
For Carpenter, the toughest part of the final was sitting at the starting line while Hastings got a .35 of a second head start. When he did finally get the green, the Elm City veteran’s .007 reaction time was the difference maker as he pushed Hastings into his narrow breakout.
FRIDAY SUMMARY
It took the Compulink timing system to call the final-round winner Friday. And that winner was Paschal (Pleasant Garden), who by a scant .006 of a second, got his dragster to the finish line ahead of the 1980 Ford Mustang of William Brewer (St. Pauls).
Paschal, who entered two cars and got both of them as far as the quarterfinals, put together a .027 package in the final. Brewer actually had an ever-so-slight lead at the start but was .015 off his target and that was the difference.
Except for Hastings, who wound his way into the semifinals, the bulk of the Friday purse remained in North Carolina. In addition to Paschal and Brewer, other Carolinians who advanced to the round of seven were Lowe (Rowland), Ernie Humes (Troutman), Paul Warwick (Lumberton) and David Dean (Charlotte).
