A near perfect weather forecast for drag racing greeted a sold out 375 entry field of talented sportsman racers chasing over a quarter million dollars in event purses at Virginia Motorsports Park for the 4th Annual Triple Threat Bracket Series: Mega Bucks event on October 10-13, 2024.
Jeff Taylor started the weekend with the Thursday $10K warm-up victory on Thursday. Taylor made the tow from Apache Junction, Arizona with his American Race Cars dragster along with brother John Taylor and teammate Greg Hicks. Taylor has recorded one of his best seasons to date with numerous big money wins and the familiar and feared yellow dragster found its way to the winners circle on day one in the best final round of the weekend. Taylor was .003 up front and ran dead on his 4.61 dial in to be .005 total, while Daryl Tillman and his ’63 Corvette was .005 up front and dead on his 5.32 dial in to be .009 total, a lap that would have won every other final during the four day event. Jamie Goodman was the lone semi-finalist while Andre Nunez and Shawn Carpenter bowed out in the quarterfinals.
McCarty Auto Parts Friday was the first of two $50,000 to Win races that would headline the weekend with two shots at the custom gold Triple Threat trophies and a bunch of money to take home to the bank account. As the ladder rounds began, the big names were a plenty from all over the East Coast with Chaz Silance, Dustin Smiley, Jeff Serra, Joe Gary, Jon Corbin, Kyle Cultrera, Shane Maddox and Steve Sisko all remaining in competition. Silance took down Joe Gary with a .011 one above lap, Dustin Smiley took advantage of the always tough Jeff Serra missing the tree to put his door car into the semis. Steve Sisko put together .011 total to lock out Maddox’s breakout lap in his dragster while the best race of the round belonged to Cultrera and Corbin. Cultrera put down .006 total to take down Corbin’s .010 total lap alongside. The semi-finals saw Silance and Cultrera face off with Silance getting by as Cultrera broke out by .005 while Dustin Smiley fell victim to a .002 red light, handing the win tor Steve Sisko who was .005 and coasted down. The final round saw a door car vs. dragster final with Steve Sisko laying down another stellar lap of .010 total to take down Chaz Silance who was .019 up front and broke out trying to drive around the Cavalier of Sisko.
FuelTech Saturday would see the second $50,000 to Win race roll into the water box with another stacked field of the top talent in the country on display at VMP. As the rounds fell, we landed with 9 cars with the tough Jeff Serra sitting on the bye. Joe Gary took down Brent Martin, Rick Hustwayte over Brandon Lane, Jon Corbin over Chad Traylor and James DiCiacco over Layton Sumpter took the field down to 5 and then on the ladder. Joe Gary was awarded the bye at 5 with the best reaction time of the previous round. Jeff Serra took down James DiCiacco who had issues while Jon Corbin put down a perfect reaction time and ran one above his dial-in to lock out Rick Hustwayte. Corbin earned the bye to the finals with the .000 reaction while Joe Gary clicked it .005 red alongside Jeff Serra to set the stage for another door car vs. dragster matchup for $50K with two of the sport’s biggest and most consistent names and drivers. Corbin had the reaction time advantage in the final round and never looked back, putting down .023 total and locking out Jeff Serra who was .024 letting go, grabbing a big check that he and his ’68 Firebird had been nearing all season long.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Sunday would end the weekend with a $25,000 to Win race to put a bow on a stellar weekend of big money bracket racing. As the final ladder of the weekend was formed, big matchups continued. Herb Bailey took down Bobby Murphy via redlight, Bruce Hensley slid by Kyle Cultrera while John Taylor got by 50K winner Jon Corbin via redlight, as well. The matchup of the round was Rick Hustwayte and Brent Martin – if Hustwayte won, he would lock up the Triple Threat points championship for 2024 while if he did not Martin could steal it away with a run to the winner’s circle. This one was decided on the starting line as Martin turned it .005 red and Hustwayte cruised to the automatic victory, being .008 himself. Hustwayte took down Herb Bailey in the first pair of the semi-finals while Bruce Hensley turned it .006 red to John Taylor as Taylor was .007 to earn lane choice in the finals. In yet another impressive final round, Rick Hustwayte was .008 and dead on to be .016 total while Taylor was .009 and dead on to be .018 total, only a .002 margin of victory in the last run of the weekend and season for the Triple Threat Bracket Series.
Rick Hustwayte will also be crowned the Brewer’s Body Shop Triple Threat Bracket Series points champion for 2024, winning $2,500 along with a gold card to all 2025 Triple Threat events. Brent Martin, Jon Corbin, Blane Parrish, Jeff Serra, Steve Sisko, Kyle Cultrera, Joe Gary, Brandon Lane and Jayden Lawler were your top ten and will all receive either cash, prizes or a combination from our friends at Brewer’s Body Shop, Get’M Performance, Hippie Fabrication and Hoosier Racing Tire.
