Bristol, TN — Saturday brought the highest car count of the week with 331 entries staging up for the first round of the Silver State HVAC $50,000 race at the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway.

The fifth and final day of the event meant an event MVP would be crowned. A shortlist of racers was narrowed down to two including Jon Corbin and Jeff Taylor. Round wins and average reaction times came into consideration, but it was ultimately Taylor’s Wednesday $15,000 Warm-Up win and Friday $50,000 runner-up that led the Fling Team to present Taylor with the 2024 Summer Fling MVP Award. The title follows Taylor’s Spring Fling GALOT MVP Award after racing himself in a 50K final round back in April, making him the Fling Race Series’ first ever two-time MVP.

The ladder for the last day for 50K included Matt Dadas in two entries, Matt Cooke, Wallace Wilson, Carson Brown, Jayden Lawler, Cameron Manuel, and Shannon Gilmore. Cooke was .009 taking .003 to be dead-on nine to knock out the .013 and dead-on eight of Dadas’s first entry. The next pair saw Brown put together .014 over Wilson, while Lawler was .020 and dead-on one crossing the stripe first by .003 while Manuel was .003 on the tree and a few hundredths above. On his second entry, Dadas and Gilmore were separated by just .001 on the tree but it was Dadas who put it dead-on eight taking .003 to move on to the semifinals. Continue reading →

Bristol, TN — The JEGS Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway rolled into FuelTech Friday with an action-packed schedule with the Reaction Time Challenge, Brodix Best Package Runoff, Laris Motorsports Insurance Racer Appreciation Dinner, Micro Strategies 16-Car Dragster Shootout, the $50,000 main event, and a grudge match to end the evening.

With Thursday’s 16-Car Shootout being for the door cars, Friday’s Shootout hosted 16 dragsters presented by Micro Strategies. Chase Conley, Paul Warwick, Jordan Eaker, and Jerry Hollingsworth paired up on the ladder. Warwick took the win over Conley after the two were separated by .001 at the hit, while Hollingsworth turned it three thousandths red to advance Eaker. By way of Eaker’s two thousandths breakout, Warwick picked up the $3,000 check.

The main event started with 315 and eventually narrowed down to eight including Will Holloman, Ritchie Howard, Mark Price, Dustin Chesnut, Jacob Stolworthy, Adam Quesenberry, Jeff Taylor, and Donovan Williams. Quesenberry turned it .005 red against Price, while Stolworthy took .003 on Chesnut to put together .019 total. Taylor knocked out Howard while Donovan crossed the stripe first by .001 to break out by .011 against the .011 package of Holloman. Continue reading →

Bristol, TN — Day two of the Jegs Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries felt more like autumn with high temperatures in the seventies and a comfortable breeze blowing across the scenic Bristol Dragway. However, the competition was far from cool with multiple racers displaying perfect reaction times, dead-on zero passes, and nearly invisible margins of victory.

Advanced Product Design Wednesday opened with 240 cars breaking the stage beam in round one with $15,000 on the line. Seventh round featured seven remaining drivers on the ladder: Jeff Taylor, Will Holloman, Cory Gulitti, Kevin Pollard, Joe Julsrud, Clifford Davidson, and Gage Burch.

In the first quarterfinal pairing, Pollard lets go .002 but finds himself .003 behind at the finish line beside Burch, who had an .010 reaction time and ran dead-on with an eight for the win. Holloman is .015 up front and one above to advance over Julsrud, who was left mathematically ineligible. Davidson launches .002 too soon to advance Taylor who was .006 green and rolls out of the throttle after the automatic win. On the bye, Gulitti is .009 on the tree and runs dead on with a zero on his way to the semifinal. Continue reading →

Bristol, TN — The first day of on-track action fired up on Tuesday at the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by OPTIMA Batteries at Bristol Dragway. A great week of racing would be in store for racers on the mountain at one of the most picturesque facilities in the country.

Law Chevrolet hosted the test and tune session in addition to a 32-Car Shootout where the winner would walk away with a Race Tech dragster chassis. The format guaranteed a door car versus dragster final with 16 door cars on one side of the ladder and 16 dragsters on the other.

After the second round Chase Conley, John Taylor Sr., Donovan Williams, and Antoine Jett remained on the dragster side and Chad Duke, Vinny Guido, TJ Owens, and Adrew Stirk were the last door cars standing. Conley was .015 taking .003 to be dead-on three over Taylor, while Jett turned it two thousandths red to the .005 of Williams. Duke had the starting line advantage and the winlight over Guido, and Stirk took .004 to knock out Owens. Continue reading →

Bristol, TN — The Fling Team has arrived at Bristol Dragway to ignite the second half of the Fling Race Series tour with the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries September 3-7.

The first of two Flings to be held at Thunder Valley is bringing three $50K races Thursday through Saturday, over $55,000 in racer appreciation giveaways, and a free Laris Motorsports Insurance Racer Appreciation Dinner with live music Friday night. The full ‘Fling Experience’ will be delivered with a fun, family atmosphere at a professionally-run race including activities for the kids with a bounce house and treasure hunt for toys.

“With it being the fifteenth anniversary of the Flings, we knew our Fall Fling 500K entries would sell out quickly,” said promoter Peter Biondo. “Now the Bristol racers who didn’t make it in the 500K event, can race the Summer Fling at the same track.” Continue reading →

Columbus, OH — The final day of the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries at National Trail Raceway had 312 entries staging up for $30,000 on American Race Cars Saturday.

A full week of beautiful weather continued throughout the day and into the afternoon. Increased round money and special awards would wrap up the third Fling event of the year.

The Fling Team selected Chris Bear as the 2022 Summer Fling MVP to receive the Todd’s Extreme custom-painted Impact Racing helmet and $1,000 bonus for his stellar performance over the course of the event, carrying double entries deep into eliminations during the Thursday 30K and Friday 100K races. Bear also had over five perfect reaction times, proving to be set up “on kill” each day and earning him a spot on the dragster side of the Brodix Best Package Runoff for the SR20 cylinder heads (qualifying with a .002 package).

After struggling early in the week and turning things around by going deep into eliminations on Saturday, the Fling Team selected Gary Williams as the winner of the Kyle Seipel Never Give Up Award presented by Ivey Hutto Golf Cart Sales. He received a custom crystal plaque and $1,000 bonus.

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Columbus, OH — FuelTech Thursday at the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries at National Trail Raceway raised the purse and the stakes with a $30,000 payday with 270 entries staging up in pursuit of hoisting up a big check at the end of the night.

The morning kicked off with a Run for the Money open to all racers on property for a $20 buy-in. Kenny Underwood put down the best overall package of .001 total, earning himself $2,000. The second best package was that of Tim Markoglu, who was .003 total with a .001 reaction time to win $1,000. $500 was awarded to Cameron Manuel, who also had a .003 package but was .002 on the tree.

Sunny skies and great track conditions made for close laps throughout the day. Three drivers carried two entries to the round of 12 including Chris Bear, Chase Meade, and Cameron Manuel accompanied by Jessica Cameron, Pete D’Agnolo, Courtney Grisez, Eric Peterka, and Jeff Serra.

Six returned for Round 7 with no doubles carrying over. Cameron turned it .006 red to Peterka, and Manuel fouled by .006 as well against Meade. D’Agnolo laid down a .007 package after a perfect light against Bear to earn the bye in the semifinals.

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Columbus, OH — The first day of on-track action of the JEGS Performance Summer Fling presented by Optima Batteries at National Trail Raceway began on Tuesday following the free Expert Seminar Monday afternoon.

Cars hit the track at noon for the Law Chevrolet Buick Test and Tune where racers were given an early opportunity to get their equipment dialed-in for the days of racing ahead. Meanwhile, an exclusive 32-car field matched up in the Super Tuesday American Race Cars/Race Tech Shootout in hopes of securing one of the two dragster chassis up for grabs with the winner having choice of builder.

As 32 cars became eight, Matt Schell, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Garrett Griffith, Joe Hoskins, Kyle Bigley, Donovan Williams, Bill Webb, and Tim Kelley rolled into the lanes for the ladder round.

Griffith turned it just two thousandths red to Hoskins, and Bigley used a substantial advantage on the tree to eliminate Williams. Schell moved to the semifinals by way of Coughlin’s .006 breakout, while Webb took the TruStart win after turning it .004 red to the .015 redlight of Kelley.

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