In the weeks leading up to the Fall ET Challenge, everyone’s eyes were laid on the weather forecasts as November racing is solely dependent upon what the skies allow. Luckily, the weathermen gave us enough of a window to complete 99% of the 2020 edition of the Fall ET Challenge under some trying, but raceable conditions for most of the weekend following Wednesday & Thursday’s massive rain storm that yielded flash flood warnings in the surrounding counties and areas.
Saturday morning began with bright sunny skies, high temperatures in the upper 50s and right over 250 entries on the grounds for both Super Pro and the Footbrake32 Challenge. After a single time trial session, we jetted into eliminations and away we raced as quickly and efficiently as possible. As the sun dropped and the temperatures lowered to the upper 40s, the cars continued to run dead-on their dial-ins through the early evening hours as the rounds began to wind down. Footbrake32 found Seth Phillips’ Plymouth reign supreme over David Keyton’s Camaro in thanks to a laser sharp .007 reaction time while Tim Betterton and David Whitlock were the semi-finalists in the first completed category of the weekend. Phillips’ night did not stop there as he earned a bid in the next round of Super Pro, which was the round of 8 where the ladder came into effect. Kyle Cultrera’s run to eight with two entries continued to four while Phillips and Ray Holmes joined the Maine-based wheel man for Team W. Cultrera’s two runs landed him in the #2 and #3 slots on the ladder in the semis where he had to choose which bullet he wanted to pilot to the finals. Seth Phillips strapped yet another .00x reaction time on the log book to defeat Richmond’s own Ray Holmes in the semi-finals in his Corvette. Phillips slipped up just enough in the finals with an .028 reaction time and Kyle Cultrera made the Footbrake winner pay the price with a .004 reaction time and driving the stripe to take the win, driving for TeamW in the ’06 Miller that also took Kelly Fenton-Taylor to a quarter-final finish. For a complete breakdown of Saturday’s eliminations, click on the class name of your choice: Super Pro – Footbrake.
Sunday morning brought a completely different weather forecast, morning dew/fog combined with different atmospheric conditions with a lower barometer, higher temperatures and a stiff side wind that was constantly blowing in storms from hundreds of miles away all throughout the day for the over 200 entries who remained in the house at VMP. Jason Stern fought through the Footbrake32 field on Sunday in his ’67 Camaro to take the win over Fredericksburg, Virginia’s Travis Leake. Darren Wood and Russell Cannon were the semi-finalists. Super Pro was moving through the rounds rapidly, also seeing the impending weather but just could not get done in time as Bruce Hensley and Ben Parks were in the tunnel ready to showdown for the final round, but Mother Nature had other ideas with a number of small mist showers then a downpour, keeping the last run of the weekend from happening. Tim Williams and Ernie Lumpkin were the semi-finalists while Jason Stern, Derrek Thomson and JT Taylor rounded out the quarter-finals in the Sunday edition of the Fall ET Challenge. For a complete breakdown of Sunday’s eliminations, click on the class name of your choice: Super Pro – Footbrake.
We want to thank everyone who came out and raced with Virginia Motorsports Park for the Fall ET Challenge on November 14-15. Our season-finale on the championship drag strip is the 8th Annual Turkey Trots event with $10,000 to Win on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a weekend entry of only $390!
