D7 Opener and Way Too Early Championship Predictions
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Term
slick tires
Slick tires are special racing tires that have no grooves or patterns. They help race cars stick to the track better so they can go faster without slipping.
Concept
super comp car
Super Comp cars race on a special time limit of 8.90 seconds for a quarter-mile track. Drivers try to be as close as possible to that time without going faster.
Term
Wally
In drag racing, winners get a special trophy called a Wally. It's like a prize for being the fastest in the race.
Term
open face helmet
An open face helmet is a helmet that covers your head but leaves your face open so you can see better and breathe easier, but it doesn't protect your face like some other helmets.
Concept
super street
Super Street is a kind of drag race where cars that look like regular street cars but are made faster race to see who is quickest.
Concept
top dragster
Top Dragster is a type of drag race where small, fast cars with motorcycle engines race in a straight line to see who is fastest.
Concept
top sportsman
Top Sportsman is a type of drag race where very fast and powerful cars race straight down the track.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The 1967 Chevrolet Camaro is a famous American sports car known for being fast and cool. Many people like to race it or keep it as a collector's car.
Term
Super Gas
Super Gas is a kind of drag race where cars try to run the quarter mile in exactly 9.90 seconds, so drivers have to be very careful to not go too fast or too slow.
Term
top comp
Top Comp is a type of drag race where cars race in a special group with certain rules. It's a way to make the races fair and fun.
Concept
sportsman motorcycle
A sportsman motorcycle is a type of bike that is easier and cheaper to race with, making it good for people just starting out in motorcycle racing.
Term
dump the clutch
Dumping the clutch is when a driver lets go of the clutch pedal fast to make the car start moving quickly, especially in drag races.
Car
Pontiac 1982 Trans Am
The 1982 Pontiac Trans Am is a fast and sporty car from the 1980s. It’s famous for its powerful engine and cool looks.
Car
Volvo 780
The Volvo 780 is a fancy, comfortable car made in the 1980s that looks nice and is good for smooth driving. It’s not usually a race car, so hearing it mentioned with fast cars is a bit surprising. It’s a special kind of car that some people really like.
Term
small block
A small block is a kind of engine that is smaller and lighter but still powerful. People use it in racing cars because it helps the car go fast without being too heavy.
Concept
NHRA
NHRA is the group that runs drag racing events, where cars race in a straight line to see who is fastest.
Concept
drag racing
Drag racing is when two cars race side by side in a straight line to see which one is quickest.
Term
bracket racing
Bracket racing is a type of car race where people with different fast cars race against each other, but the winner is the one who drives closest to their predicted time, not just the fastest car.
Car
Chevrolet El Camino
The Chevrolet El Camino is a car that looks like a truck in the back. People like to race it because it can go really fast and is fun to drive.
Term
super stock
Super Stock is a type of drag race where cars look mostly like normal street cars but are tuned to go really fast in a straight line.
Concept
bracket championship
In bracket racing, drivers try to beat their own predicted time instead of just going as fast as possible. This makes races more about skill and consistency than just speed.
Concept
stock eliminator
Stock Eliminator is a type of drag race where cars have to stay mostly like they came from the factory. It’s about racing stock cars with only small changes allowed.
Term
big block
A big block is a big engine with lots of power, usually found in muscle cars or race cars. It helps the car go really fast and strong.
Brand
Mopar
Mopar is a name for parts and cars made by Chrysler and related brands like Dodge and Jeep. People also call Chrysler muscle cars 'Mopar' cars.
Concept
Top Alcohol Funny Car
Top Alcohol Funny Cars are special drag racing cars that go very fast and use special fuel. They are expensive to race and need a lot of care and work from a team.
Concept
qualifying runs
Qualifying runs are practice races where drivers try to get the fastest time so they can start the real race in a good position.
Term
belt
The belt is like a rubber band that helps the supercharger work. If it breaks or falls off, the supercharger can't do its job, and the car loses power.
Term
blower car
A blower car has a special device called a supercharger that pushes extra air into the engine to make it more powerful. This helps the car go faster, especially in drag races.
Concept
top alcohol dragster
Top Alcohol Dragsters are very fast race cars that use a special type of fuel called methanol. They race in straight lines and are almost as fast as the fastest drag racing cars.
Car
Pontiac Sunfire
The Pontiac Sunfire is a small, simple car made to be easy to drive and not too expensive. It’s not very fast or fancy, so people usually use it just to get around town. That’s why it was mentioned as a regular car in the talk.
Car
Ford Dark Horse
The Ford Mustang is a famous, powerful car from America that many people love because it looks cool and can go very fast. It’s often used in races and is known for being a strong competitor. That’s why it was talked about as a possible winner in a big race.
Car
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird is a fast, sporty car made in America that lots of people like because it looks cool and can go really fast. People often use it in races because it has a strong engine and can be made even faster. That's why it was talked about in a racing show.
Car
Volvo 345
The Volvo 345 is a small family car with extra space in the back, made to be strong and last a long time. It’s not usually a race car, so hearing it talked about with racing numbers is a bit different. It’s mostly known as a good, dependable car for everyday use.
LIVE
yes sir there he is
dude look at that that background i'm getting chat gpt whipped into shape buddy
man took a while you're looking you're getting really good at those um and i'm
glad you are because mine would just probably the same thing over and over and over again
because i i'm not that creative it's fun you can talk smack to it like if it if it puts out some
bunk stuff you can be like come on man that totally sucks and it'll be like uh you know what
you're right i'm really sorry let me try another let me try again so uh we went enough rounds at
this point that it knows it's starting to know what i like so uh yeah that's one of my favorite ones
right there man that desert that desert sun yeah yeah look at that i mean what what is
arizona that is exactly what it is right there put a drag strip right down the middle of that
bad boy and we're in business looks like exactly where i just was this last weekend yeah
well we had a pretty good weekend you probably got to watch a lot of racing um yeah i did i uh
i got to be at the races it was good to be back um in the sun i mean the first three days were cold
and i was bundled up and everybody had sweatshirts on and then the day number last it's like
my goodness who turned the heater on i was sweating and in shorts and looking for the cooler for
water and everything else uh it was funny watching on the live because you could tell
some of those mornings were pretty brisk uh looked like some decent afternoons but uh
but definitely looked pretty brisk and it was cold and rainy and i coming off a week at the
coast last week north coast 39 degrees on the beach which is not a friendly it's not a friendly
atmosphere and and but look at us now here we are off and running we got points on the board
the chase for the championship has begun man it's crazy yeah it's getting started and uh
i i can't believe that the nha has been doing this for 75 years um that's i mean iha is coming
in hot but uh i think 75 years has a lot to say for the nha um my mom and i were i were actually
talking this weekend this will be my 10th year in a big car and i was like man i don't feel like i'm
one of the quote unquote young guns anymore i'm i am still one of the younger ones but
i've been doing this for 10 years now that that blew my mind well that 73 light you cut sure didn't
do anything to show your experience i was i was upset with you but you pulled it off man you
turned to 73 the old 90 pack into a wind light oh yeah uh i i got pretty lucky that round uh the
weather um definitely changed that morning and uh i got a little lucky um with pete pete pete's
probably out there listening in uh the weather changed and it was tricky that morning and i got
away with it but i'm actually surprised that i'm allowed back on the podcast today after my first
outing you kicked me kicked me off the podcast for giving it back 3000 with the national open
but uh this is a provisional situation here buddy you're not out of the woods yet but we're uh
you know you're on probation hopefully i well i i feel like i almost redeemed myself but uh
oh you definitely did i gotta know what where the uh where the coats and the wallies and
where'd all the background stuff go dude in a different room i i got i got kicked out of the
podcast room it's getting transformed into another room uh my my son and i are having another child
in july but uh i know it's a little early to start preparing but with our schedule
we only have very few uh weekends between now and then that we can do anything so
man i told you you were off the podcast and you ain't right too it took everything down
i mean jeez man i was just kind of playing around to take it so serious oh yeah um it was
what you know you mentioned you got your lucky round in the first round um cool round love watching
pete's car that thing leaves so great and uh you got your car leaving nice and um you know i think
i think probably not the round either of you had drawn up in your head ends up falling your way
it was interesting to watch people kick the rust off there was a lot of lights that like
boy if i'm ever going to a national event i'm going to phoenix when everybody's rusty but what
was interesting is by the time you got you know fourth fifth round um people got her sharpened
up pretty quick man and it got pretty nasty there in the late rounds and um and so it was fun to
watch everybody kind of get back in the groove get their mojo back and um you know by the time by
the time it all finished up everyone was looking like we've been racing all season so yeah i was
noticing a similar thing in uh super gas man i was like watching time runs and i'm like 90 90 90
and i'm like holy cow is there is there a pair that's not gonna go dead on right now um i think
also in super stock i i got watching down at the finish line in like five pairs in a row or
something crazy one of the two cars was dead on every every run and i was just like pretty blown
away with how good people's stuff is right off the bat yeah man you gotta have good stuff these
days or you don't stand much of a chance um i was pulling for my dog trevor harkam i thought he might
be able to get her done and then he threw up the old 65 pack uh in the late rounds against tre
vetter and that was uh that was all she wrote but um fun to watch man uh where do you want to
start you want to get it in national open first uh yeah let's get into the national open and uh
i'll bring up a picture of some of the winners man they look good with those new wallies uh
these are slick and you can only get them this year that's the only time they're available i guess
so it's uh i i really wanted one chris was in my way but uh it was fun to race him um yeah we had
kody stevensson over michael marcy in the super comp final uh kody is um a standout to me he he
didn't start full time i guess racing until a couple years ago but he's really breaking through
throwing down and he's gonna be one to watch out for um all year long he he what's funny is he won
this exact same race um last year in the spring so uh he likes phoenix uh to repeat uh a win there
um super gas uh no surprise here val torrez coming in clutch with the win
over chris nap chris napziger um out of vegas dude val is val is like a swiss watch man that guy's
automatic um you know i i kind of thought he might come out and do it again in the divisional
just just picking up right where he's left off the last couple seasons at the end of the year
swinging hard and throwing down laps not surprised to see him in the winter circle but
but also find myself shaking my head a little bit because it's like man this dude's good
absolutely what uh what's even crazier val has a new super comp car this year it was one of those
drag race um results um cars do you know what one's on talking about the twins
the orange and blue he brings that out first passed down the track 890 with the zero
i was like are you kidding me val come on yeah that dude knows how to set him up man
pretty impressive guy to watch to his thing oh yeah in super street i don't know if this guy has
a better beard or he's better at driving a race car but keith downing uh got the win over art hoover
i mean look at that beard well he's holding the wally so it is it's hard to know he's got
he's pretty good at both things i mean he's looking like zizi top out here how far does it
hang out the helmet i want to see him with his helmet on if it it probably would look better
with an open face let's be honest you think he tucks it into the suit i wonder if they make him
like safe you know i wonder if he has to like tuck it maybe he has a beard sock instead of a head
we need to consult the tech department here what's the rules when you're rocking the billy gibbons
zizi top beard what do you got to do uh one of the neat things that um i'll bring up right now
so art hoover was the runner up in super street his son brandon hoover also runner it up in top
dragster the same day uh it was actually the top top count final the top dragster top sportsman
and i've never um seen it in in like in person top comp but man it is cool watching super or
top sportsman cars and top dragster cars race each other that's one of the coolest things i've
ever seen yeah man i'm glad it's back i don't know when it kind of went away or what was the
the deal that brought it back um you know i remember that it existed really but for me there
it was kind of a first two at least in an age of awareness where where i've got to see it too and
and you know even just watching it on the screen it's like this is sweet
heck yeah uh i i just like watching fast bracket racing it's it's definitely one of my favorite
things there was uh unfortunately an incident a top sportsman car got into the wall and it was
really nice car i hated to see it happen but luckily the driver was all right uh he got out
um took a little while to clean up the track but um hate to see that for it for anybody but
especially one of the nicest cars on the property um moving on uh stock super stock combo
mike williams got it done in his 67 camaro now that is a beautiful car um he got the win over
or michael paugh i'm not i'm gonna butcher isn't it
should i just left it alone i should have left it alone anyway congrats to mike one of the
mike was gonna win that one and then uh the four mentioned top com thomas bear um no surprise
they're kind of like a val torres um when you hear top drag sure you think of tom bear when
you hear super gas you think of val torres um like i should like open a school or something
yeah he would probably be good at that like maybe he should like teach people how to race
like super comp or something like that well and he's got the deck stacked too like uh um
i saw crew castile out there going rounds um i think the only person that stopped him in the
end was tom uh i think they ended up going head to head and and it's like you know team bear coming
in hot uh he's got some hot shoes driving his cars and or driving their own cars i don't know who
the hell owns them but people that he's trained up and and um is working with and you know who better
to have uh show you the ropes than than tom bear man oh yeah and we'll bring it up now because uh
because you got the win in top comp he also run it up the divisional in uh in top dragster as well
so heck of an outing for mr bear a win and a runner up to start the year yeah man kicking
things off strong and you know there's a lot of racing left um and so you know there's going to be
plenty of people who who didn't start out strong who as we get to the end of the season are going
to be right there in the mix but um when you can when you can throw some points on the board that
you know you're not going to throw away in the very first race um you know pretty pretty good
way to to start the season and kick things off give yourself a little breathing room right out of the
gate yep and it's uh that that national open i like it because it's good warm-up race um
and it definitely carried things over into the the divisional one of the classes we don't talk a
lot about but i'd like to give them their light uh sportsman motorcycle um tom medlin and i've
heard that name for as long as i can remember um growing up in division seven uh he's definitely
one of the top uh bike guys out here so congrats to tom on getting it done first race of the year
i'm really learning to appreciate that stuff i mean i think anyone can look at it and appreciate
that you got to be crazy to send a bike and drive the stripe on a motorcycle um just super
what super wild uh and as i've gotten to know the dupille family up here and and you know don
dupille who's just a household west coast name when it comes to sportsman motorcycle multi-time
champ um those machines are so cool and whether it's a new school hayabusa or something or what's
the old school kz calisakis which i am a little partial to um pretty cool stuff man and and those
people laid out all out on the line and some of the some of the coolest stories come out of that
camp um you know a lot of people get into sportsman motorcycle because uh the low barrier to entry
right it's it's way easier to run a sportsman motorcycle is way cheaper than than running a
super comp car or something like that and then it seems like they just get hooked and they stay there
and uh and love it so love the community that motorcycle community super tight knit um so yeah
i'm really learning to appreciate uh those guys and what they do i was just going to mention how
tighten it that motorcycle group is um it doesn't matter where you are it always seems like they're
they're always parked next to each other they're always giving each other a hard time and it's
it's a big family for them so um those guys are jacking their jaws at each other in the lanes
until the starters like get up here you know that like they just go till the very last second
raping each other and having a good time so definitely a good crowd so my wife um
she she knows drag racing that we do so anybody in my family she knows super comp super gas
like the usual stuff but she she hasn't grown up in in drag racing so she doesn't know sportsman
motorcycle right and uh they ran right before us one of these times and she looks at me like
oh my gosh they're going as fast as i am and i'm in a drag stride legs flopping behind them and
yeah it's crazy i'm like yeah they're crazy like you'll never catch me on a bike no man i i always
whenever you see those guys dump the clutch especially on the faster bikes like i have no
idea how they hold on to that thing when they drop that clutch but uh yeah pretty cool stuff
congratulations to tom mather yep uh how about we dive into the divisional now
let's do it one of the coolest things that i've seen in quite in quite a while uh it happened
in top of sportsman um william missiah in an 82 trans am running 780s okay gets the win and
i'm not a hundred percent sure on this but i'm almost 90 percent sure he toted out there on
an open trailer love it man and yeah 780s is more like middle sportsman but uh you know a lot of
these guys running well into the sixes now but um you know that that's super cool um small block
under the hood right small block even yeah look at that and we'll talk about pete here in a minute
but two classes you know in in super gas and in top sportsmen that are now dominated by you know
20 degree 600 inch you know 70 000 engines and a couple guys with small blocks under the hood
out there getting it done so pretty cool yeah i love to see it and uh it he does it the affordable
way and he can still get it done then that just makes me uh pretty happy another guy doing it the
affordable way um in the dirty bird and that's just not a clever name it is pretty dirty kyle
maybe you could get some towels now but kyle fritz first time winner in super street um i love to see
it uh fun fact i just read on his facebook post that is the first um n h r a win for the entire fritz
family and uh you know the fritz family there's the dad and and generations before him that
they're drag racer so congrats kyle on the first win and uh all the hard work and it's just it's
just cool to see you do it bud did the diamond wally being the first one someone hands to you
you know um it was gonna be special anyway whenever that first one came but uh that's gonna be extra
special on the mantle no matter how many he stacks up next to that over time uh that one's always
going to stand out for sure so pretty cool for kyle congrats to him uh local racer up here kenny
snow was was going some rounds in super street and uh of course was pulling for him uh as a north
westerner myself a heck of a run for kenny but but congrats to kyle man pretty awesome and like
he said to the whole family when when you got people chasing it for that long that just never
give up never give up multiple generations chasing it chasing it chasing it and somebody finally
makes good um you know that's that's not just a win for kyle right that whole family uh gets to
share in that and yeah look at that smile man just like what gotta love it man absolutely um
how about a podcast bump to our guy pete both call the shot just coming out there wrecking house
and uh doing it with style in the Porsche called a shot man he told us a couple weeks ago that he
was gonna get out he was gonna have some fun but he was coming to win and he was gonna try to win
and they were getting pumped for this event event him and gary um you know and they were stoked for
it and uh he got out there he made good on his promise and and you know you see gary there looking
over his shoulder uh and and got it done man congrats to our guy pete um chalking one up your
current world leader in point sitting number one in super gas pete both let's just say two things
worked one the traction device worked and two the tire gauge worked and it came together for
mr both tried and true baby gotta figure it out it was funny seeing their their picture um
i know they were gassing up or something you know and had the old the old you hall and the and the
trailer and and off they go you know uh just two dudes out there having a good time together and
plenty to talk about on the on the trip home for sure for him and gary and uh like gary said
pete would probably tell us that was f in yesterday
um moving on one one person that you and i were both rooting for was mr denis pause
and uh we're always rooting for justin as well but it's cool to see denis do it especially in his
alcamino i didn't even know that thing was still super stock legal because he'll bracket race it
and do all kinds of stuff and and like you say and we talked a little before the show i'm always
for rooting for justin lamb but i'm also never rooting against denis pause uh hard not to love
that guy i hope we can get him on the show uh at some point that guy's been racing for a long
long time and he can mix it up class racing he can mix it up bracket racing in the same car one of
you know a lot of super stock guys don't take their super stock or out bracket racing certainly
stock eliminator guys tend not to do that kind of stuff denis just likes to race and um it started
looking like look at jl right jl's mowing through everybody but you get to that final round and
neither one of those guys woke up that morning and said i want a 41 mile an hour stripe in the
final but that's what they got and um justin knows that thing around him took a little bit too big of
a bite of that finish line and uh you know denis laid down a solid lap right next to him was able
to turn on the wind light so uh man the the old schoolers getting it done getting it done this
weekend so congrats to denis man always cool to see that guy like i said i didn't even know that car
was still legal but apparently it is um i'm going to go to sportsman motorcycle because i want to
bring something up so jeremy bates um got the wind sportsman motorcycle what i thought was cool
about this is both denis and jeremy represented the the d7 in the world finals for the the bracket
championship and if you think about it they probably haven't raced at phoenix since they won
in phoenix so back-to-back wins in phoenix for denis and jeremy um i thought it was kind of a
coincidence well and that's the kind of thing that starts to build um you hear people talking
about a place that's been good to them you know and as superstitious as as drag racers are you
know it's like neither one of those guys gonna miss any phoenix races for a long time right till
they lose two in a row or something because that place has been so good to them um and it starts
to get in other people's heads at least a little bit too you know you start looking over it's like
this guy's won the last three at this track you know you know he's got it figured out um so yeah
just those little things start to build that that connection that people wind up having with with
tracks so yeah congratulations to jeremy as well heck of a run uh stock eliminator um your winner
mr chris hall um winner was gonna or the walleye was gonna end up in utah either way fun fact chris
fixed my car on uh thursday night after i couldn't figure out the shifter he came over and fixed it
and he threatened me said if we race in the final you can't beat me and uh well i didn't have to
beat him he just whooped my butt so i still got the big block in it right big block oh yeah one of
the nicest especially for a big block hanging out in the front of one of those nose heavy things that
thing leaves super nice obviously bro i was pulling for you um chris hall's a guy that you can't
not you know root for or like just super super nice guy um and and you guys both laid down
heck of a lap he tightened it up on the stripe on you and and locked you out but um you know you
didn't lay down a duck by any means and in the other side and um could have went anybody's way
till right down at the very end at the finish line so congrats to you my brother for a heck of a run
way to start off the season and obviously huge congrats uh to chris hall one of the
grades out here on the west coast getting it done once again i was i i talked to chris on the phone
today we're we're pretty good friends uh i was telling him that i'm not uh a love to win person
i'm gonna i'm a hate to lose guy and uh after the after the finish line in my life didn't turn on
i wasn't even mad that i lost so uh i love chris love his family and uh always happy to see them
turn on that last wind light well yeah man that's the thing you guys both laid down respectable
laps right and when you do that um it doesn't matter which side the the light turns on you know
that you know that you threw down and the other guy just threw more down you know and um and that's
the way it goes and and you'll get him one of these next times you know and uh and you'll you
know go back and forth and yeah nothing to hang your head about that's for sure um you rose to
the occasion in the final um and you know went chris his way so great start for him but great
start for you too and uh you know stock eliminated here we go off and running oh yeah uh we talked
about some of the older guys um getting it done how about scott mcley in comp eliminator um i did
a little quick internet search scott mcley is 75 years old or years young uh he doesn't show his
age he he works on that thing night and day and obviously it's paying off because it's really fast
well and in a class that relies so much on innovation and ingenuity um to still be figuring
out ways to to get up under your index however much you need to to make it happen uh in the final
round you know early in the season two so much um soft playing when it comes to comp right you
don't want to come out first first rate this season and blow your index for the rest of the
year so everybody being extra strategic and um really cool to see see a guy like that but like
you say still at this age i don't know how long he's been doing it but um still turning those
wrenches just right and uh and getting that car to be exactly where he needs it to be to be able
to put it out front so huge huge congrats uh to him look at that walley man that's gotta feel good
i'm a i'm a big scott mcley fan uh i don't know him very personally but he does run a mopar
in that calm car so uh cool to see something other than uh a small block chevy
getting it done in comp so yeah good for you what is that thing here what is short says scott mcley
engineering so apparently the guy knows a thing or two about how to how to make things work uh
moving on top dragsher we had i believe he's from canada uh grant and durry uh coming down
all the way to arizona in his tnt supercar um getting it done in top dragster that's that's
a really really nice dragster happy for grant he did a little bit of super comp racing as well
but uh turned on the last wind light in top dragster we talked about watching the fast bracket
classes man and one of one of the funnest things still that i've ever done is anytime i've got
to stand at the finish line at vegas and watch top and top uh watching those guys come to the
stripe in top dragster and top sportsman the coolest thing man and uh you know driving that fast and
you know you don't see a you certainly don't see a lot of spot drop or anything like that because
good way to good way to park it in the wall when you're going 6 10 but um still a lot of strategy
plenty of wampan and plenty of rocking off the throttle and uh watching watching folks drive the
stripe at 180 miles an hour man not not many things better so i guess i have a question i need someone
out there in the comments to tell me who if you ran top dragster top sportsman um is the closing
rate say it's 210 to 230 that's 20 miles an hour right how about 110 to 120 is it
do you doesn't feel the same i don't know i've never been that fast so y'all tell me if the
closing rate feels the same or if you're a little more sketchy to hit a drop spot going 220
yeah does it does a 10 mile an hour closing rate at 220 feel the same as it does at 110
i bet not but maybe i i suppose to look out the window probably feel similar
that scoreboard's coming at you a whole lot quicker though so you know i don't know how
that factors into it but uh i hope someday before they put me in the dirt i would love to turn loose
a top dragster i'd like to say a top sportsman car but i feel like the dragster's a little easier
to drive and um i don't know that i'll be good enough nor will i be able to afford piling up a
top sportsman car i don't know that i could afford to pile up a top dragster either i
feel like my chances are better that i won't so uh would love to would love to let go of one of
those things someday man super super awesome machines a guy that seems to can do it all
trey vetter he got the win in super comp and not a bad outing in super stock as well
he did hurt his yellow comaro here testing a couple weeks ago so he jumped in his uncle
chris's stalker footbreak that thing down to a semifinal in super stock got the win super comp
like i said um just an impressive start to the year and and i don't even want to call to start
it's just carrying over from last year uh he just doesn't quit he's a machine uh he's a good friend
and i just i'm always rooting for trey well and i wondered i wasn't aware what happened to the to
his other car so i was wondering why uh he wasn't into i took a couple double takes as i was looking
at the screen i'm what the hell is he driving uh but like you said man the the guy's a machine um and
we talked a little bit about jl earlier think about the the justin lamb tree of racing and
and what it's starting to become now um you know you got guys like k and you got guys like dylan
that um are having a ton of success and uh i know both of those those guys would point
right to justin and and thank him for all the things he does for that program and uh pretty
pretty neat to watch jl kind of enter into that phase of his racing career where where he's able
to start sharing and and teaching and coaching obviously he does a lot of work with this bracket
racing elite but um the jl tree man pretty strong you want to you want to put a stamp on it uh let's
go ahead and give trey vetter the greatest of all time of this week the mvp of the bracket breakdown
100 my mvp of the week um you know tom bares in the running there uh heck of a run for him
like i said pete called a shot and and went out and got it done um but racing two classes like that
one of them an unfamiliar car at least relative to to his normal car uh for him to have that kind
of success um deserving for sure greatest of all time of the week trey vetter kicking things
off this season our first mvp super pump for you trey way to go bud okay i wanted to get
your your just for getting two sportsmen classes buddy we are what did i miss they're not bracket
classes okay fine go for it well i love top alcohol man it's the coolest uh and i think we
got some some words in the chat here too but that gasparelli crew uh you know never a slouch
out there by any means but certainly um you know usually kind of mid-pack um you know in
they're thrown down you don't want to make a mistake if they're next to you but um you know
for the top kind of the top half of the field if they're dialed in um usually got those guys
covered by a number or two and so really cool to see to see tobin uh get that win um you know
in a class like that where it's all or nothing and you're blowing stuff up all the time and and
it's super expensive to run and you just keep coming back and keep it's one thing to gas up
deal sportsmen motorcycle every weekend it's another thing to drag a top alcohol funny car
out of the trailer every weekend and just keep coming back for more and um and they're finally
able to get it done and put it in the winter circle i think that was tobin's first ever win
uh as well so um just a big shout out to the gasparelli crew one of the coolest looking cars
beautiful beautiful car and um i love the way those top alcohol funny cars look anyway nice
and small and sleek and and uh but big shout out to him and then shan kowey uh i think i heard
alan rinehart say that every single one of his qualifying runs would have went number one
oh wow it didn't matter um him and joey threw down joey was running really good until he wasn't
um lost around that that he definitely would have won normally uh i think even had a had a chance
had he been able to pedal and get back into it to drive back around him but uh when he got back
in the gas i was chatting with him a little bit threw the belt off and a blower car with no belt
you know n a top alcohol cars don't uh don't run too well so that was all she wrote for joey
i know he was looking to start the season off strong uh they're packing up and heading to
gainsville now but um shan kowey man class of the field right now and uh he's backing up all the
performances he did last year and uh comes out swinging and leaves phoenix with the lead so
congrats to shan kowey i'm i'm definitely not a top alcohol high hall hater that's not how i
wanted to come across i just i did forget about them i'll be gonna get yourself kicked off the
podcast man some things i did notice though um shane westerfield and the rick jackson crew
brought out a brand new car qualified number one that's awesome second doug gordon's back
and i think that he's gonna have some effect on the championship this year um i know that him
and uh shoot what's his name world champ top alcohol funny oh um john bellamere
john bellamere they go at it uh the last what five six seasons it was one of the two was
gonna win it so uh doug's back and uh it's gonna be fun to watch him and then he's back in a big
way too he fell off a little down the middle there against tobin in the final but he was 940
something to the 60 foot uh which is just the the top alcohol 60 foot numbers man just you
know sometimes they'll get down into eights on the top alcohol dragster side and uh i don't know
what an 888 60 foot feels like but it's gotta be pretty cool um in the end he ran he ran a little
faster than tobin uh at the big end but found himself four hun behind at the finish line
look like he fell off a little down in the middle um but uh yeah he's back man first thing back
right to the finals um you know obviously the top alcohol fields continue to struggle a little bit
for car count we didn't see some folks that that you might think you'd normally see on a on a west
coast opener uh the house were not there i knew they wouldn't be there or at least they told me
they wouldn't i think when i pulled it up i just assumed that they'd show up anyway um so you have
a few mess in there only a three round race but um you can't control the other people that come
and and so the people that did they did their part and they deserve all the accolades that that
you would get if it was a seven round race um but cool to see dug back and uh right back into
championship form it seems yes sir are you happy with the alcohol that'll do for now i'll do better
next time i promise okay let me set this up for you and i just want your honest reaction to this
couple weeks ago gary promised me that he would do something on the podcast
and he did follow through with what he promised so q2 of super gas i'm up there helping my sister run
and gary is right behind her right and she launches goes down i see your number pop up i
take a step back i see gary's up figured i'd watch him so he does his burnout and then
guy runs over to me he's gonna do a dry hop for you and i'm like no way and at this point
he's done his burnout he's backed up a little bit ready for the dry hop i didn't get a chance to get
my phone out for a video the live stream didn't catch it i don't have any video proof but it was
legendary but you saw it did a dry hop full on it's almost better that like it's it's just a
legend thing now right it's like you had to be there because there's no video evidence didn't
make the stream but he did it and you got to see it and you got to love it man i mean especially
from a guy who's like he's pretty motivated this year he told us like i want to come out and i want
to win some races i want to do good you know he loves racing for fun but he's like you know he
talked about his stage in life and where he's at and he's like look i got to make some moves and i
got it i got to get her done and then he still goes out and bust out some dry hops you know and so
that's typically not the thing you do if you're trying to lock in and get serious about you know
turning on that final win light but keeping it loose man got to love it so props to gary for
following through uh let's keep it going man dry hops this is the year of the dry hop let's do it
super class dry hops he did also mention that he was going to do it again for us in vegas so
i could get a video so i'm not gonna get one but we're going to get two out of gary at least this
year dude if if and if we can get super class dry hops going all season like to me that's cooler than
any other class doing dry hops all season like let's get throttle stop cars doing dry hops
all year i'm here for it so we already have a blinders band in in stock in super stock how long
before the bracket breakdown kids dry hops band in all of these categories let's find out buddy
you know there's only one way to find out and you know if we wind up with the gary mig rule
we'll know we played a we played a small part in that um hopefully hopefully the powers that be
would not be so so short-sighted to to ban something like that but uh crazier things have
happened in the national hot rod association yes sir that uh pretty much wraps up our phoenix
recap um is there anything you want to add in to that before we move on to our to our bold uh
predictions no man just a final congrats right like we said it's been a long winter for some folks
longer than others you know longer than than some or for some you know what i'm trying to say uh
and and so to come out and perform the way a lot of these these folks did first race
back pretty cool and like i said we're off and running man we got points on the board
we have leaders in the clubhouse um you know from here on out so there's people with with
hundreds and 105s and 95s whatever they are now depending on the class on the board
starting out strong so uh it it will start to take shape uh here quick man you know three
four weeks from now we're gonna have quite a few points on the board with all the
divisionals and the national kicking off and um and it'll be interesting to see
yep oh yeah well way too early i still have my notes from the seashore in uh
where you're vacationing right i was a workcation uh i was definitely working and
i thought you know i might change some of these picks um but i don't have to i feel pretty good
after this weekend about my picks um and uh given some of the news that that dropped today
i may look like a little bit of a homer for one of my candidates here but i will explain my reasoning
when we get there so let's get into it we went over top dragster and top alcohol funny car last
year i took john bradford and top alcohol dragster i think we both took sean bellamere in funny car
i know i did um i'm sticking with those i think that efi are john bradford um they've got that
thing figured out and uh i think he's gonna get it done this year but let's get into all the rest of
them okay where do you want to start my list starts with comp let's start with comp i love it
i'm going with chase williams so i i don't i've got a few west coasters uh on the list
but chase is not one of them uh had a pretty strong season last year finished in the top 10
about 120 points out from jeff taylor i think but he only went to four naddies and he only went to
seven divisionals so points per event chase williams was putting it on him last year and
i don't know what his plans are if he's gonna chase uh and go for a world title but i feel like
he throws two more naddies and another divisional on the board only being 120 points back maybe we
have a different scenario at the end of the year than what we wound up with so i'm going with chase
williams i hope that he's uh i hope that he's chasing and he doesn't make a fool out of me
coming out of d4 that's my pick for comp eliminator world champion chase williams
i like your pick and it's hard to argue and let's be honest all these picks it's called way too
early championship predictions for a reason uh we're not necessarily rooting for one person
or another to win we're just we're just talking right no need to get mad at us we want you guys to
let us know in the comments who you think is going to win too um back on chase williams he did also
win that uh the comp clash i think it was 250 thousand dollars to win that deal um so definitely
a good pick um if he's there for the money he's probably going to be there for a world championship
so a good pick with chase um and i'm gonna be the homer on this one um i think this guy has
earned it he deserves one he's come up short just a couple of times um and along with the legacy
his father has um i'm picking ryan water to to kick some butt this year um rumor has it
he may have a dragster out this year in comp um and that's kind of mind boggling to me i can't
picture a water in anything but a door car but um well yeah it's a sunfire right is that a sunfire
that yep so he had the he had the camaro and now uh now he's in the sunfire but i do i do know
that he does have a dragster i don't know if he'll be bringing it out this year um but the
sunfire still can get it done it's hard for me to picture him in anything but the purple and
orange sunfire uh and definitely you know was looking at the points uh on the divisional side
and the national side he was definitely somebody i was considering uh for my pick i would love it
to see a west coaster get it done uh in comp so not a bad pick at all uh and certainly gonna be
rooting for ryan down the stretch and i'll uh i'll kick things off with the next category
top sportsman does that work for you works for me top sportsman um i'm a big fan of ed open
he's been running as long as i can remember uh we've raced with ed for a really long time
and he's a utah native uh i i i love that car he drives that 68 camaro sleek black with the
white stripes it's just a pretty car and uh he always um seems to be in the top 10 uh i don't
think since top sportsman's been a thing he's been outside of the top 10 yeah um so ed open
is gonna get it done this year in top sportsman for me that is a super solid pick man um you know
you'd never really bet on any one person against the field but like you said for for as often as
he's in the top 10 top 5 uh mr open is a solid solid place to put your money in top sportsman
this is where i'm gonna come back home just a little bit uh i'm going with benji martin
so benji martin finished way down in the low 20s last year he was less than 200 points out of the
lead but he only went to one national event and he absolutely destroyed on the divisional side
last year i mean he was in every late round um he was an animal uh last year picked up a win up in
seattle uh and then you know couple mid 70 point totals um at woodburn uh just had a heck of a
run on the divisional side i don't know what his plans are for natty's and he don't have to run
quite a few more of them this year if he's gonna have a chance uh but he had a solid solid season
last year and and he's a guy that i think if he decided he wanted to go for it um definitely has a
has a good chance he's a heck of a driver and so i'm taking a little bit of a chance here hoping
that benji's you know going after that 75th anniversary season and chasing him a title so uh
i'm gonna pick benji martin for top sportsman world champ it's all a pick
lead us off with top top dragster man um this one was tough for me because watching
jessica eastburn's performance last year uh man super super impressive um
ty gainer watching that young fella develop into the race her that that he has become
i know he's gonna go after it this year as much as he can but and i have a similar pick or at
least a a similar reason for another pick that we'll get to uh i'm keeping this one on the west
coast as well and i am picking dylan how to win the topjacks to world championship i spoke to him
a couple times towards the end of last season i've spoke to him a couple times this off season
that kid that man he's a young man um he is singularly focused and the only thing he wants to do
is win the topjacks to world championship maybe a super comp one as well uh but i know
that he is super focused on topjacks for this year they've been putting in a ton of work in the shop
getting those machines ready and and i know he's laser focused he's one of the best drivers
on the west coast if not in the country he's proven that time and time again um
and he's got the resources and the equipment right there is no there are no holes in dylan
howe's armor um you know it's gonna come down to uh if he doesn't win it it's just gonna because
because somebody you know hit a longer home run um i think dylan howe with with the focus
that he has and the commitment that he has the type of program that they run uh dylan howe
will be your topjacks to world champion can i argue with that i'm going to look like i'm just jumping
on the the bandwagon i don't i don't know what the correct terminology is here but
i made this list before the divisional started i promise you my pick for topjacks show this year
i have two um i have two don't one can win it i know but you have to pick i'm gonna bring out my
inner jet and just pick like five people and then if i pick classic classic my first pick is tom
is bare so he's gonna he's going to be it enough races that's guaranteed he's got his school cars
he's gonna be it there he just won uh the division for he just run it up the divisional where it
counts for points and tom's just money i've seen him do crazy things off the trailer uh we talked
about it on foresight's podcast he jumps off the trailer in the semis with a car he hasn't said in
all weekend and lays down less than 10 total in it so tom tom knows how to get it done the other
person i have is motrohio um last year had a really good outing he won in seattle um i believe he
run it up in pomona or semide in pomona but mo mo money knows how to get it done in top dragster
love to see a nitrous car in there too i think the the top dragster top sportsman world's getting
a little taken over with the pro chargers and the blowers but uh pretty cool to see a nitrous setup
getting it done in there as well so motrohio tom is bare that's my pick co champion i don't see
what is this guy doing this is ridiculous uh both of them solid picks um you know if
best out of seven best out of seven um between mo and tom i got tom going four three
in a tight in a tight one to break the tie in the seventh round i think i'd have to go uh
but man i mo can drive man and i've seen him wheel that thing when it's pointing the wrong
direction and getting all kinds of out of shape and still turning on the wind light uh he can
wheel that thing so um solid pick man solid solid pick picks picks solid picks i guess
it's just one yeah co champs top uh excuse me super gas um we talked val torrez
you can never argue with that um but i'm going to go a little bit different direction
with evan koalski um the the kid's just been uh throwing down and not only super gas but
super stock as well but he seems a lot more comfortable in the super gas car he's driven
a little longer um but he he's always deep in the rounds when it comes to super gas anywhere he is
and i think that the consistency has going deep is just it's gonna fall into his place this year
i think he has uh it's definitely top 10 on his on his sticker this year but uh it's going to be a
number one next year finished five in the world last year evan did um had a heck of a run uh he
did it with seven and eight um and he was one point out of fourth place and he was five points out of
third place uh less than 40 from being the champ so you remember as we finished last year
that top six it was stupid uh you had you had three four five and six separated by four points
and the the bottom or the two through six was only separated by 12 points so super super nasty
finished last year in super gas uh i don't mind that pick at all um i also made my list
last week still right here on the seashore in uh notebook paper the only redeeming
point about the seashore in uh the view was nice too otherwise man what a terrible place to stay
it was the swampiest thing there's no hvac in that place just baseboard heaters
so when i'd come back after my meetings in the day that like i'd slide into into bed and it felt
like someone'd been sweating in that thing it was just swan it was terrible uh but pretty nice
notepad here and uh and like i said i thought i might change my picks but i don't have to uh val
torrez is my pick um i think it's so hard for people who got real close to turn right back around
and do it again and make another run like that right so many things have to go your way um
many of them that you didn't have any control over right you can throw down one heck of a score
but if you got some guy or gal and some other division who's throwing down better like you
can't do nothing about that um so it's so hard i think to come back from a second third place finish
and be right at the top of the boards again but like you mentioned with ed open um you know
like you could mention any year with sherman adcock uh val torrez is one of those guys that
figures out how to get it done um and i think he's going to win a world championship this year
i have a dark horse so it's not a second pick um but before you get off of val i'd like to just say
it is hard to go back to back in anything okay val won the world championship two years ago okay
he finished second last year by only a handful of points right so he almost did it so what's to
say he's not going to do it again well and that's the thing right and he came out first thing in the
in the national open and parked it in the winter circle like that guy's automatic like
he's not trying to figure anything out he's not trying to learn like he knows what he's doing
and he knows how to make that thing run the number he knows how to drive he knows how to
hit the tree he knows how to wheel that thing at the stripe um and after however many months off
right he comes out and and proved that that he's ready to go uh and so it's hard for me to bet
against a man so keeping that one on the west coast as well with val torrez but look out for
david morris uh david morris uh who you are probably familiar with due to his association
with fuel factory uh morris motorsports featured prominently on the wfo ignition show that's how
i've gotten to know sue and dave uh to just salt of the earth people i think they claim d2 uh which
like what a what a mess that like so much cannibalism go right everyone just eats each other up all
year in d2 because everyone's so awesome out there um but he's been getting that supergaster
figured out their whole super program sues got some wins in her super street car uh they got
their dot 90 program dialed in pretty good they've got good support um and i know i know that he's
coming after it this year so uh keep a lookout for david morris down from the southeast uh
that's my dark course david is one of my favorite people to talk to um you can just tell
that he's very meticulous on everything he touches it doesn't matter if it's the fuel
or if it's his race car um or race cars plural um but that guy is uh very intelligent um and it's
something that you you can just listen to him talking just he's just pushing out the the the
knowledge and and everything on the sport and so david is a good pick he's a good racer and he's
got one fast fast super gas car super nice beautiful don davis roadster one of the one of the original
the old don davis race cars i know that that it's went through multiple iterations but uh
beautiful car he keeps that thing looking brand new and and like you say just uh super nice guy
super knowledgeable he's got the right people's support in his his uh operation in his program
so um looking for big things out of david morris i don't think he's gonna top val torrez but but if
he did uh it wouldn't surprise me because i know he's hungry for it this year so
super comp i'm gonna pull another big jed move here um my pit you've had all you we've had three
weeks to figure this out and you you can't pick somebody well i'm just gonna figure and then i'll
pick one of the three how about all right all right okay chad weber could go back to back the guy just
constantly lays down sub 20 total runs and just makes people beat him it's it's just ridiculous
okay so chad weber cooper chun it's gonna win his first national this year i know that
he's gonna get some crap for that and then trey vetter i picked him before he won this year uh i
did talk to trey last week about uh how many events he was going to attend this year because
that's kind of the issue with trey he's got work and just hard to get time off and uh i think that
he's already on a on a hot streak and uh if he continues doing well like this he's gonna
find the time off to go to go hit all the events so trey vetter is my pick for super comp slash
superstar solid pick solid pick and would love to see trey get it done um
but he's not going to because tyler bohanan is going to win the super comp world championship
this year um this is the one where i could be getting accused of a little bit of homerism because
of my my new association with tb promotions but similar to dylan how uh tyler bohanan is talking
about nothing but win world championships this year that's all he wants to do and he's putting
every bit of energy that he can into it i think he's gonna have to borrow a bunch of cars to get
it done because i don't like for a guy who has as many cars as he's got like right now he technically
i don't think has any cars because i don't think anything's really ready um and i know he wants
to win a super stock championship more and he's gonna chase that too i just think he's probably
better in the dragster uh if you told me i had to race tyler bohanan and i got to pick whether
we're in dragsters or door cars he's really good in the door car but i don't want to see him in a
dragster at all so um i'm gonna pick him in super comp um again just singularly focused a guy who
has simplified his life uh as much as he possibly can and the only thing he's talking about right now
is winning a world championship he's putting it over big money races he's putting it over
the all the ihra stuff that's out where he is he wants to win an ahra world championship um and i
think when when people like him that are as good as he is are focused like that um he's gonna be
tough to beat man so tyler bohanan coming out of left field to be your 2026 super comp world champ
i think tyler bohanan even when he's not focused is a tough one to beat so uh super comp better
watch out while he is focused so we'll we'll be seeing i'm sure we'll see tyler continuously in
the top of 10 throughout the season and definitely in towards the top of the sheet come down to the
wire and i want to say i wanted to say chris wittfield man like again this comes down to like
how many and chris is good enough right it's not to say that he can't like how many years
can you consistently can everything fall your way because so much of it's not in your control
like even if chris takes care of everything he can do
last year was the year man that was the one i feel like and and and he'll come back and he
will get one um and i know he's focused boy he's really focused and i want to pick him uh
and i hope he pulls it off um it's just how often how many times in a row can you put yourself at
the top of the board um it's tough man it's tough to do so we'll see but i'm all with tebow
absolutely super stock i mean how can you not talk about stock and super stock and not talk
about jimmy hidalgo jr um cooter baby just he is one of those guys where you expect him
to be top three in both stock and super stock he's gonna be the world champ this year absolutely
cooter's gonna win one of the two um so we'll just cue him in for both of you can't pick you
you still which one i didn't pick yet i'm just saying he's gonna win one of them
another guy brad burton he went on a pretty good heater last year um showed that he's capable
in the super stocker as well um and they got that firebird running pretty stout so brad burton if
we want to go the homer route like i said trey vetter can get it done in stock or excuse me
super stock or super comp um this year i'm hoping i'm hoping that jimmy hidalgo wins it in super stock
yeah not stock because if he wins it in stock i mean you can't um you know it's interesting for
any west coast racers that we're picking it's there's always a couple halls involved right like
imagine living in ohio or virginia west virginia like you can run you can run a whole season and
get all six and all eight within a couple hours of the house for west coasters to do it uh they're
gonna have to make a couple pulls right um topique is gone uh flying age still is not running nationals
bandamere's gone um so it's it's tough man
i'd like to pick a couple west coast guys in some of the other categories but
it's just you know you got to make that hall a couple times uh if you really gonna have a chance
at it for those national events so um i don't i don't hate it man i don't i don't hate your pick
that's all right are you uh i gotta pick super stock cooters gonna win
oh it's over yeah no cooters the champ uh i'd love to see jay i'll get another one um i don't i don't
know that he he came in the same the same way last year that i think he's coming in this year
like he's got family stuff going on he got a lot of things going on his life it turned out that's
like hey we gotta gotta go after this you know after a while he will do the same if he winds up in
a situation where it's like hey we can do this but i don't think he's coming into the season
uh especially with just the way things fell together with that double up to finish off the
season i mean i think his tank's pretty full i know he's a super competitive guy and he always
wants to come out and compete and win he showed that this weekend um you know getting it to the
final round so who who knows there i just know that he he's probably not coming into the season
you know hell bent on on chasing a chasing the world it'll be a decision he makes later in the
season um i think cooter is coming in like that uh because he always does and the way things fell
last year that one's still stinging uh just a little bit i think so um yeah cooter's gonna win it
and i think he's gonna win it big that's it's funny you mentioned justin and in the way he
approaches this season and uh that's probably the reason i did not pick justin is because
you don't know if he's going to commit to a full season or just run his nationals because that's
what he enjoys uh he's got a family and now and uh it's hard to blame him for for wanting to spend
more time with them so uh that's the only reason i'm picking cooter over justin um justin wants to
say i'm gonna chase this thing down again man that's that's a tough choice oh yeah the minute he
says he's going out to the world i might change my pick right because like when you talk about
people being dead set on something the minute he flips that switch whenever that might happen like
you don't want to see him because you know and he's got those cards figured out now right he's
been working on those copos for years and and he's got him dialed he's got him right where he wants
him so if he does decide to flip that switch everybody better watch out well walker popping in
here by the way cooter will be running in the eights this season all right well just give us
a spoiler and don't tell us what he's running what is it yeah but you know and so as cool as that is
is that where you want to be i mean he's always going to be chasing but he's going to have a lot
of stripes that nobody really wants to look at right him or the other person if he's running eights
and the other guy's running 11th that's no fun yeah i don't i don't know about this um
cooter seems pretty dominant in in the car and in class that he's in right now so i don't know uh
kind of a bold strategy for cooter to to to step away from that and and get into something different
but i mean cooter's a good driver he's gonna adapt to anything that he hops in and and do
well in whatever it is so and i'm all for eight-second superstockers like don't get me like that
let's let's go i want to see it but uh same car just a different engine combo all right
well that makes it a lot easier yeah so yeah but still right i mean he's gonna be screaming at the
stripe uh he'll know i mean he'd be chasing every round so he'll know whether he's gonna
give it up or not or keep it on the mat but uh that'll be fun man if we got if we got 890 superstockers
this year for cooter i'm here for it heck yeah last one right one to go yeah i'll let you kick
this one off jammin jerry ammons that's it man what else you gotta say that's there's nothing else
to say jammin jerry is gonna get it done the lucas oil squad the coolest squad of whips at the track
everywhere they go uh jerry's gonna get it done this year man um you know there's there's very few
people out there uh that are as talented i don't know that i would call anybody more talented
they have amazing equipment um they have the determination the drive those guys have been
putting in work in the shop uh all year this year he finished top 10 last year with four and eight
so um you know he was like 130 points out um so two the the other two nationals might not
have got him there but they'd have got him a little closer and uh and he had some issues last
year right they had some some parts breakage so uh and some issues with the car and had to pull out
i think um at least one maybe they had a weather situation on another one or something like that
but um i know he had every intention of chasing it last year and uh i know he's gonna do the same
this year and uh i think it's i think it's jammin jerry's time he's he is your 2026 stock eliminated
champ i love it i love jerry he's a good guy um i love the whole family actually uh it's just
cool to see how they work together um all the data that they can like get and collect with
so many cars as they got uh sure helps him a lot or helps each other a lot in that case um so
he's got the team behind him and uh jerry's definitely wanted to watch out for um as for my pick
it's hard to not pick yourself in this scenario so i will pick myself but if i was out of the
equation if i am out of the equation my bet my pick mr steve foley uh he's got that copo he came
off the all-star win this last year uh salt of the earth dude uh just knows how to race man and
it doesn't matter where he's at it could be in texas it could be in north carolina
anywhere in between west coast steve is going to be deep in the rounds and steve is is he's
got ice in his veins he just you can't rattle that guy um so my pick outside of myself uh mr
steve foley i got love for that pick man steve's gonna be rocking the number five on the scoop all
year uh as far as numbers go one of the cooler looking numbers uh the number five so uh i know
he'd rather have it say number one but uh anytime you've got less than a double digit number on the
scoop you gotta feel pretty good about about where you're at heading into the season um so yeah i
don't i don't mind that pick at all i love that you're betting on yourself uh you know and and man
if you if we come back to this thing at the end of the season after pomona um and and you're the
stock eliminator world champ i'm gonna be so stoked bro uh and so i hope you do it um jerry emin's
gonna have something to say steve foley's gonna have something to say about that and so are a
bunch of other people but i know your game you started the season off in a really really good
position uh to build and uh and i know you'll take advantage of that so you know i'll be pulling
for you this whole time um and we'll we'll see how it we'll see how it goes well there you have it
are way way way too early championship predictions from a couple amateur analysts and i don't know
what else to say to that but let's let's revisit this so after seattle i'm gonna call the national
at seattle and that's the turning point we're halfway through the season after that so we'll
revisit our way to early world championship picks things really start to take shape after seattle
so let's revisit this late july after that race we'll see if any of our people i'm gonna pin this
on the wall so i don't lose it i'm gonna pin my list on the wall we'll revisit after seattle
see if any of our picks are still alive and in the running for the world championship after seattle
do we need to put a wager on this between you and i how many how many wrong chance can we get correct
or do we just take their positions and add them all up and whoever has the lowest score wins
i mean i think the over under is probably pretty low here probably two the over under is probably
two um and the under is probably a safe bet right there's a lot of races and a lot of racers
out there um on how many we can get right but i'll take the i'll take the i'll take the line
and and bet that i get at least two right that's kind of how i'm feeling i think i mean there's
a lot of let's put let's put right here right now 50 bucks a piece we're betting against each other
that the other person gets two right if cooter wins we both got one in the back
uh and so we're in good shape there if if both of us get more two or more it's a push
uh if one of us doesn't um then they lose and 50 bucks go in the other way
oh yeah that's fine with me all right it's then lock it in locked in 50 bones
two of them right uh you're gonna owe me 50 bucks bro well i mean we'll see
i i think that i'm gonna be 50 bucks richer so um one thing i want to bring up and you're
probably not gonna like this but check that out look at that little poster we should print this
we should frame this uh maybe i will put that on my new wall right here since the podcast room got
a little bit uh deteriorated and now that i got an empty canvas that we should put your face on it
i will admit without shame that i will be printing a glossy copy of that uh for my
little racing scrapbook i've printed or kept every flyer uh from every race i've i've ever
announced in any major event that i've ever raced in um really really uh just fortunate
and grateful humbled um and really proud uh to be able to join tyler and brian and pj and
pointer and jeb shana the whole crew over there um a dream come true for for me man um it's
yeah i don't really know what to say this is all went so fast from from making my first pass i've
been a lifelong fan but but you know didn't really come back to the drag strip until 2021
didn't make my first pass in my own car until 2022 um didn't really start announcing until
late 2023 and just kind of dove in head first there and to be sitting here in 2026 uh to be
on the crew with the tb promotions team uh i'll be at every single event this year all over the
country some of the biggest money races in the country at the coolest venues will be at beach
bend and will be at vmp and will be at trails uh it's going to be epic and um just feel super
lucky super fortunate um and i'm super thankful not only for them but everybody uh here at home
for the people at woodburn my friends and family everybody who sends me messages and supports uh
you know supports what i'm trying to do as i uh as i live out childhood dreams in my mid 40s um
um i just i don't really know what to say man uh it's pretty cool i'm pretty pretty excited for
you and i mean personally i could see here and listen to you announce pair after pair you you
don't just have the i'm gonna say generic um the generic announcing style and by generic i mean
double o's a pair this guy gets there first here's your winner i i like how you tell the story i like
how you get hyped for for every round not just the final rounds or the semi final rounds i i like
how every round matters and and it's just always next level with your announcing so excited to
hear you on the mic more than just the the national event in seattle more than just your
local woodburn race but uh across the country um at these big money races and uh i'm just super
stoked for you trey thanks brother i appreciate it so much um the telling the story is so fun the
build up uh the build up through the rounds as you build that story and as that story
starts to take shape um it's so cool and it's something that bracket racers and class racers
even um don't don't get as much as they should you know um there's so many story lines there's
so much on the line there's so much pressure and and there's a story to tell and you know
at a lot of these big money races there's nobody in the stands um and they know that going in right
but but that doesn't mean there's not a story to tell and and whether you're telling it to them
over the pa uh or in the case of some of these bigger races being able to tell it to all the
folks watching in on the chat bleachers um you know super fun super cool and um and learn from the
best man and and i'll be standing on the shoulders of the people who came before me and just trying
to do them proud uh guys like big jet right um i remember the first time i heard ryan glaghorn
call a final round i was like holy smokes um and then i discovered steve riggens who in my opinion
steve riggens is the goat uh there's nobody better than steve riggens and and i love watching that
guy i love listening to him and how he builds the energy um and how it turns a you know a 740
door car race into the world finals um you know and so it's cool to have have learned from from
the best and and do what i can to incorporate my own style and and um you know do the racers right
and give them the kind of show that they deserve so uh appreciate it and super super stoked uh
you know i was talking to somebody earlier today they're like how you gonna race
and you know i got i'm gonna announcing too much this year and and i told them well i can't lose
around if i don't race this year so you know we're playing chess not checkers and and your
boy might finish the season undefeated because i don't know if i'll i don't know if i'll ever
get it off the trailer this year but uh i'm really looking forward to it man so thank you i appreciate
it um yeah don't know what else to say pretty surreal pretty surreal well uh one last thing
before we we wrap things up i just want to give my nephew nox a little bit of a shout out he's been
to a couple junior races this year at our local track in vegas and he has a couple trophies from
those two races so shout out to you nox good job this year keep it up we're rooting for you and uh
all the other junior drivers out there bringing home the bacon keep it up
we love to see it um that's one thing that i would like to talk about on maybe a future episode is
how do we get more um of these junior racers how do we get more uh folks that aren't necessarily
involved with the sport more involved in cars because i was noticing it a little bit at this
divisional um there's there's the older people and then there's like the mid-age people and then
there's hardly any of the younger folk so i gotta bring autoshop back to high school man uh
the dumbest decision that any high school ever made every everybody's dumped their
autoshop program um and you know investment in just trades in general and that kind of stuff
teaching people about that kind of stuff um engineering i know there's been a recent kind
of renaissance with stem fields and things like that but but but they're getting into more tech
and computers and different things rather than kind of the mechanical side of things i hope
i hope some people wake up and and bring back high school autoshop class um i think it's things
like that that uh you know get people going and this thing uh i remember my high school used to
have a huge drag team where i live right now in sweet home oregon there they had a legendary
shop class and a legendary high school drag racing team the minute the shop class got cancelled
all of it was gone nobody did it anymore because they didn't have that place to gather they didn't
have that that um you know common thread to share yeah so yeah bring back shop class
yes sir well uh if you don't have anything else that pretty much wraps us up for this episode
of the bracket breakdown i'm looking forward to chatting more next week um maybe we'll do a little
bit of a pomona preview um the the divisional there uh gainsville i believe does that start next week
or uh nope there's some the week after i think week after that's correct yeah this next week oh
what about 345 holy cow did you see that that was shun langen uncork in 345 man um i know the air
was great there but it wasn't like negative air i mean it was still i think like 1800 da or something
it wasn't something stupid that you wouldn't that you couldn't see at a race maybe uh
345 miles an hour man unbelievable i honestly thought they were going to be stuck around
like that 340 mark for quite some time but that just shows that sir at 350 is closer than we think
if they're cranking up 345s in preseason man i mean you know 348 349 maybe a wild 350 in sonoma
or seattle uh you know where we set records last year um it could happen man uh seeing josh hart get
off to a fast start heut 340 mile an hour rip his very first pass in a john force car um so it's
gonna be fun to watch the fuel classes this year uh you know we talk brackets here but uh but we
still love the big loud fast stuff and uh pretty cool to see those guys coming out and getting
things tuned up so looking forward to gainsville man yes sir that's all uh for the bracket breakdown
this week we'll catch y'all next monday thanks buddy see you next time
About this episode
The hosts dive into the kickoff of the drag racing season, sharing their experiences from the National Open in Arizona. They discuss standout performances, including Kody Stevensson's repeat win in super comp and Val Torres' impressive super gas consistency. The conversation highlights the return to form for many racers after the off-season, the excitement of bracket racing, and notable competitors like Tom Bear and Keith Downing. They also touch on the challenges of racing motorcycles and the camaraderie within the racing community, setting the stage for a competitive season ahead.
Original notes
The LODRS has officially begun. We talk winners and who we think will be atop the points sheet at the end of the year.
Bracket Breakdown
Bracket Breakdown
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