Here are some pictures I took on my phone at the 2011 Royal Purple Raceway Banquet.  These pictures do not do the awards and trophies justice.  Every year, Royal Purple Raceway gives away very nice award plaques to all who make the top 10, and a small trophy to all who make the bracket finals team.  Congratulations to Jay Robinson and Derrick Patton for winning their respective classes, and to all who made the team!

O’Reilly E.T. Bracket Series Results - September 11, 2011

Footbrake

Winner – Robert Penn

Runner-Up – James Day

Semis – Mike “Drew” Porcher

Total Entries – 49

In the closing race of the 2011 season, it was a pair of familiar faces in the final round.  Houston’s Robert Penn, driving his ’83 Z28 Camaro, took the win over James Day from Pasadena.  Both drivers ran within .01 of their dial-ins, but Day pushed his ’00 Camaro just a little too hard, breaking out by .006.  Robert Penn and his shoe polish were getting along just great all afternoon, never missing by more than .02.  It was only fitting that the man responsible for arranging for the bracket racers to have “money winner” stickers to win the final race of the season.  On the other side of the ladder, multi-year track champion, Jason Patterson, was off to a great start laying down .00 lights in his first 4 rounds, including back to back .000’s, until he got petrified by “Casper” and James Day in round 5.  The other multi-year series champion, Jay Robinson, had already sealed his unprecedented 6^th straight championship before this weekend began.  The money winners for September 11, 2011 were: Thomas Iven, Billy Talbot, Nathan Gallagher, Drew Porcher, Henry Canales, Jr, Adam White, Shiela Day, Jason Patterson and Kendall Eisemann.  

O’Reilly E.T. Bracket Series Results - September 11, 2011

Super Pro

Winner – Derrick Patton

Runner-Up – Stephen Hughes

Semis – Mike Johnson, Eddie League, Jr.

Total Entries – 39

The last race of the season drew the smallest turnout of the year in the Super Pro category, with only 39 cars making the call for first round.  Baytown’s Chanse Bullock needed a strong outing and he needed points leader Derrick Patton to go home early for a chance to take home the series championship trophy.  Neither would be the case, as Chanse lost in the second round to a strong .008 package by John Winn from Deer Park.  And Derrick pulled one more out of his hat, putting the exclamation point on a fine season.  Pasadena’s Stephen Hughes made yet another final round appearance, taking home the runner-up trophy and $600 cash prize, and would make the case that the points would look a little different had he signed up at the beginning of the year.  Stephen only changed his dial in once all day, and he ran within .01 of his dial every time he needed to.  Derrick also kept his Maverick in a tight range, varying only from 6.79-6.81 after the 1^st round.  In the end, it was Highlands’ Derrick Patton crossing the 1/8^th mile stripe first by .005 seconds.  The money winners for the final Super Pro event for the 2011 season at Royal Purple Raceway were: semifinalists Eddie League, Jr and Mike Johnson, Glen Stepan, Bryan Day, Tony Davis, Ricky Kay, Mitchell Lawrence, Van Arnold, John Winn, Mike Frederick, Sr., James Kay, Bryan Harris and Jay Costales.   

O’Reilly E.T. Bracket Series Results - September 10, 2011

Super Pro

Winner – Robert Gregory

Runner-Up – Daryl Patton

Semis – Stephen Hughes

Total Entries – 46

Yes, you read that right.  It was Robert Gregory and Daryl Patton in the final again!  Kind of, sort of.  It was Robert Gregory, the son of Robert Gregory who won in August driving the same car.  And it was Daryl Patton again, but the round sheets say Daryl was driving a ’70 Maverick, but we all know that Daryl’s son, Derrick Patton, drives the Maverick and Daryl Patton drives the dragster, except for when they switch.  Hunter Patton used to drive a dragster, but now he drives a Mustang.  Ok, I think we might have gotten off track there.  Where were we?  Oh yeah, Robert Gregory took the win in the final on Patton’s -.001 red light.  In the semi’s, Gregory dialed up over half a second to chase down a throttle-stopped Stephen Hughes, both drivers running .01 over with a slight reaction time advantage going to Gregory.  Hughes started off the day with a pair of .009 lights and 8.93 passes on his way to his semifinal finish.  Congratulations to the other money winners: Tony Davis, Derrick Patton, Zach McDaniel, Earl Thrift, Mike Johnson, Glen Stepan and Jonathan Johnson.