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The forth annual Bracket Grand Prix is is set for Connecticut's Thompson Speedway
Friday, September 23rd, 2022.
Last year's race was won by the Ceci Partnership out of Berlin New
Jersey . The 94 Ford Escort was able to pull off back to
back wins due to consistency and virtually no errors in the pits or
on-track. The winner was from the G time bracket. The
famous S-10 of Glen Farney led late in last year's event, but had to
relinquish the
lead on 309 to the eventual winners. Farney's entry has been in
contention to win all three previous Bracket Grand Prixs. The
Bright Ideas Racing 510 finished 7th in 2018, 2nd in 2019, and
second again in 2021. Farney's entry was from Bracket J this
season. The #69 Katowicz BMW rounded out the top 3. This was the 69 team's first attempt at Bracket Road Course Racing. Teams select they bracket they want to run in. This is the key to a good finish and this team was very accurate in the task at hand. The top 4 were all from different brackets. The fastest three entries by raw time all fell out of competition by half way. 21 racers took the green flag. If you have a Neon, or a VW Rabbit or a Camaro bring them for there is one thing for sure. Each and every entry has a shot to win under this format. The payout of $1000 to win is percentage based. If 1-39 cars enter, the winner will leave with $1000.00. At 40 cars we double it. 60 cars we triple it. Get 80 on the track and will quadruple it. Hit 100 and the winner will leave with a cool $5000.00. 
Any safely caged car is eligible to inter as long as it is based on
an OEM chassis. Picking a bracket is simple. There is an hour
practice on the morning of the event. This is when competitors
figure out how fast their car is. Once they know, simply pick
a bracket that your team thinks is best, and that you won't go
faster than or break out. The key is to cut it close.
Slower brackets have more laps credited at the start. If you
break out, we do pull you in and move you up to the next bracket.
The extra laps yur team might have been credited for will be
removed. We also apply a lap penalty. Still teams that break out
have opportunity to win. If you own a car that is eligible for Lemons, Champ car, AER, or any local track where they race stock chassis, then this is a race that you should enjoy running. The expected field is between 20-30 race cars. It is a great race to prepare for running other series that may have 100 cars on the same track. New team? This is a great place to debut. Use it as a track day. Whatever your reasoning may be, we want you to know your team will be welcome to compete at the Bracket Grand Prix. This year's event is dedicated to Terri and Harold
Churchill. Since the inception of WTC both Churchills
were part of our circle track and road course racing. Both
considered this event to be the most fun for competitors and
officials. Yes officials like to work event that they truly
enjoy. Harold worked the garage and handed out the penalties while
Terri worked the tower and scoring. We lost both over the winter
months. They are both truly missed at every event. |
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The $5,000 to win Bracket Grand Prix
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Straight Outta Suncook and into Victory Lane |
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The first ever Bracket Grand Prix was held Saturday June 29th, 2018 at
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. The 6 hour endurance event
creates a competitive atmosphere by allowing any production car with
safety modifications to compete. The "Brackets" are simply
performance predictions. The competitor informs officials how fast
their entry is. Slower cars get credited laps as a handicap.
If the race vehicle goes to quick or "breaks out" of his bracket,
some of that handicap will be taken away along with a penalty.
The goal is to discourage expensive modifications, and have
competitive low cost races. If Thompson's race proved anything, the
brackets do just that. Teams are allowed a short practice to aid in selecting the proper bracket. Pre race, the cars are lined up by bracket. The green is thrown and the race is on. On this day, teams would also have to beat the heat as on track temperatures rose well over 100 degrees. Glen Farney's entry was the #510 Bright Ideas S-10 pick-up. The teamed declared in class X, and cruised with the early lead. Class X entries are awarded a head start of 54 laps. In second was the #2 Subaru, a class H entry some 12 circuits behind. The fastest car in the field, the #20 Mustang, was in class A. He started straight up with zero laps credited.
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WTC specializes in conducting
oval and road course events for race vehicles based on production
chassis. Rules are formulated in such a way that the least expensive
option has a slight advantage. Our latest project to announce is the
Bracket GT offered on June 30 2018 at the Thompson Speedway
Motorsports Park.
For amateur competition handicapping is not new. It starts in
neighborhoods at a young age. The top players picked sides. At
other times, someone got a head start. The idea is always to
use the competitors available, and make it a game.The Bracket GP does just that. We utilize a simple tool, transponder scoring. Results are instant on Race Monitor. By using this tool we have constructed racing event that allows racers to "Run what you brung". There are no classes. Brackets simply determine a cars head start per hour or the "handicap" All race vehicles must be production based. There is a tire rule. You must have an acceptable cage, and safety equipment. If your car is legal for Chump Car or Lemons, it is legal here. There are 10 speed brackets. The brackets are track specific. From testing, practice, or a teams racing history at Thompson, most teams are able to find out how fast their race vehicle is expected to be. The Teams simply pick (dial in) their bracket. That choice determines their head start. The base time is bracket A. Bracket A is also the fastest bracket allowed to compete. From there each bracket increases by 1 lap per hour. Cars in bracket B will get 1 lap per hour head start. In a six hour race, that would be 6 laps. Theoretically, if two teams ran perfect laps from each bracket, at 6 hours, they would cross the line side by side. The chess game is picking the bracket. Teams that often are mere participants with no shot of winning now can have an equal chance. Bracket racing is not new. Drag racing has utilized the practice or years. We are not sure of anyone ever using brackets in road racing however we think it will work far superior to any method major series are using now. Hope you join us at the Bracket Grand Prix, Thompson Motorsports Park, Thompson Ct. June 30th 2018 for what we think will be the way of the future. 2018 Brackets (Click "How the brackets work" to go to the 2019-2020 backets. They have been changed slightly)
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An pre race favorite in the competition was the #26 Alfa Romeo of
Farrel Seferian. This car is famous in the North East running a
multiple of endurance events for years. Mechanical gremlins set in.
The 26 retired after 25 laps. They are expected entries when the 24
Hours of Lemons returns to Thompson in a few weeks.
The guy that took the longest drive getting there unfortunately had
a short time on track. The "Hard Luck" award had to go to the #82
Adams and Adams Ford Escort Wagon hauled from Ohio. Electrical
issues kept the team on pit row. After 16 laps on-track, their day
was done.
Most teams had completed one round of pit stops. Some had done
multiple. The race progressed just sort of half way to lap 140
laps for 510 S-10. #2 Subaru closing down on the lead..
Pressure was building and there it was. Farney's Bright Ideas
Chevy had broken out and was black flagged. Officially the Bright
Ideas Team will always be the first team ever penalized for being
too fast for their bracker. In the penalty are the team
was all smiles. Imagine, the S-10 being penalized for
speeding. What was Farney's next bright idea? "
Let's see if we can break out again!"
There was a new leader pacing the field. Neil Plats 256 Camaro
had the point. The #2 Subaru was in second. The 86
2-broke 2 care BMW was in third. The Camaro headed to pit row
for fuel on lap 245 as did the 86 BMW. The Subaru had
the lead, but in hot pursuit were three more teams capable of
winning. The Mello Yello 60 moved into the runner up position.
Michael Coleman's Star engineering Number 59 rounded out the top 3.
There was no doubt the 2-broke-2-care team is familiar with
Thompson. They were pre-race favorites, and had quietly moved toward
the front of the field. Then , on lap 173 the 86 turned a lap
of 1:32.214, too fast for their bracket. They had to sit in
the penalty area for the time difference in brackets, plus 1 lap.
The penalty was too much to overcome and took the local favorites
out of contention for the win.
There was still plenty of drama playing out up font. The 60
team had to stretch out their next to last leg to make their fuel
window. The Baller Racing Honda was turning up the heat hoping to
push the leader hard enough to run out. Drivers cannot extend
their shifts more then 2 hours. Samantha Nicholson had
an eye on the time. With under 2 minutes left, on lap 177, the
driver change was made. Every drop of fuel was stuffed in. They
would have to make it from here. With pressure from behind it
would be tough. First the 256 Camaro headed to pit row for fuel.
Then , 21 laps later there was a huge sigh of relief. The 204
was summons to pit row for breaking out of his bracket. It was
a devastating blow to the Baller Racing Team. They
truly had a shot of winning. It was much needed relief
for the 60 team. They could back the pace down and finish the race
with ease.
Fred Heinly's 218 was still in the hunt cruising in second, but he
too had fuel mileage issues. A five minute fuel stop would drop him
drastically in the standings. He backed his pace down, letting the
59 motor on by and coasted to a podium finish. He would comment post
race, " The car ran out of gas when we got into the trailer."
Bracket selection was the fly in the ointment this time. Had Fred
selected the next slower bracket, his team would haave won. Of
course picking the bracket is everything at the Bracket Grand Prix.
In the mix all day was the 59 Sentra. When all the scenarios
played out, The Star Engineering entry finished as the runner
up. Michael Coleman, Andrew Anastasio, Adentungi Kusimo, and Jay Sofainek
came within fractions of the win. The anchor of the team, Michael
actually started racing at 67 when his wife convinced him to take a
Skip Barber course. "Anytime an old guy with a middle of the field
car can come up with a second place is thrilling."
