Story By: ELON WERNER / DRAG RACE BRACKET BONANZA – DALLAS, TX – Heading into the biggest race of the NHRA season, the 70th Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals, Drag Race Bracket Bonanza, the first free online fantasy drag racing bracket game, is stepping up with more prizes, more fan engagement and more legendary players.
This weekend will be the culmination of The Majors series and players will be awarded double points at the finale of the three-race series which includes the results from the Gatornationals and the Winternationals.
The double points will also help U.S. Nationals players improve their standing before the six-race Countdown series starts. Mega-talented jewelry and metal artist Katie Buttera designed the Major trophies which will be awarded to the top five overall finishers and the top 15 finishers in the series will receive Summit Racing Equipment gift certificates.
“The U.S. Nationals is the biggest race of the year and everyone at Drag Race Bracket Bonanza wanted to make it our most special event for our thousands of players,” said Elon Werner, president of Werner G+E LLC. “We have original trophies from Katie Buttera that are basically pieces of art highlighting the Majors, we are offering double points and we have an amazing Legends contest for all our players to enjoy. We also have gift certificates from Summit Racing Equipment for the top five finishers overall and the top five finishers in each of the four classes respectively.”
To celebrate the 70th U.S. Nationals DRBB asked four drag racing and U.S. Nationals legends to pick their drivers and our players will win cool prizes. Four-time U.S. Nationals winner Larry Dixon Jr. will pick his own Top Fuel bracket, five-time Funny Car winner Ed “The Ace” McCulloch will pick Funny Car, six-time winner Warren “The Professor” Johnson will pick Pro Stock and finally two-time Pro Stock Motorcycle winner Angelle Sampey will fill out the PSM bracket. The legends brackets will be revealed during the first round of eliminations and fans can compare their picks. Five lucky players who out-pick the legends in each class will be randomly selected for special U.S. Nationals Drag Race Bracket Bonanza certificates of achievement.
“The U.S. Nationals is all about making legends and to have these four legends join in the fun of Drag Race Bracket Bonanza is a dream come true,” said Werner. “These racers have etched their names into U.S. Nationals history and for our players to be able to compete against them for fun and bragging rights is cool. I can’t thank Larry, Ed, Warren and Angelle enough for taking the time to participate. Drag racing is all about interaction and access and the Legends contests hits the mark on both.”
Last year Drag Race Bracket Bonanza debuted at the U.S. Nationals with much fanfare and one year later thousands of players have enjoyed picking their drivers and winning cool prizes. Winning players have represented 36 states and four countries (Canada, UK, Germany and Australia). The one-of-a-kind event plaques that are signed by the race winner have become significant pieces of memorabilia commemorating drivers’ first wins, significant career milestones for drivers and historic performances through the past year. Drivers Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Matt Hartford and Matt Smith will be defending their 2023 U.S. Nationals event wins and will try and be the first drivers to ever sign a DRBB plaque two years in a row.
“These DRBB plaques are pretty cool,” said five-time U.S. Nationals winner Antron Brown. “I’ve been lucky enough to have signed four of them over the past year, and it’s one of my goals for the weekend to get to sign another. It’s truly become a part of the Winners Circle routine to be able to sign these plaques for DRBB winners, and I’m thankful for Drag Race Bracket Bonanza providing another point of action for our fans to get involved.”