TWO BROTHERS WIN ALL THE BIG BUCKS

Bradenton, Florida’s Gary Williams, younger brother to Troy Williams, won the BTE Million and all the loot that went with it—a whopping $265,000 -- at the 2004 edition of bracket racing’s biggest event. Dragster racer Williams’ win came at the 9th annual edition of the Million, held over the September 23-26 weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park. Troy won the Million, held at Huntsville (Alabama) Dragway, in 1998.

Gary Williams, son of race promoters Troy and Jeanette Williams of Bradenton, drove the Mike Bloomfield Motorsports dragster over another big money winner in the past, William "The Fat Lady" Hamilton of Ohio, who invented a special trans brake button that goes by the name of "The Fat Lady" and is light-activated. Williams hit a .013 reaction time to Hamilton’s late .092, and took a .058 margin of victory. Both cars were hitting high 4-second times on the Memphis eighth-mile.

Third place finisher was another bracket hitter, Kevin "Young Gun" Pruett of Millbrook, Alabama, who lost to Hamilton. Williams earned a bye into the final.

More than 250 entered the BTE Million, which cost each $2,000 for entry, with a $500 buy back available after the first or second rounds. "I knew this was going to be a big race," said Million promoter and founder George Howard of Birmingham, Alabama. "I fully expect that we’ll see a million dollar purse within the next five years."

Other winners of the four-day, big-money and -prize bracket bash included J.P. Hickman of Florida, Hugh Meeks III of Montgomery, Jason Folk of Florida, Stephen Hughes of Texas, Leon Robertson of Tennessee, Scotty Richardson of Tennessee, and Nick Folk of Illinois. [9-27-2004]

FLOPPER CHUNKS

One of the Agent's operatives left a message in the voicemail this weekend to report that a new set of Goodyear's D2300 slicks chunked on the SKOAL Racing blue Monte Carlo driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. TJ's 4.869 at 319.37 was stout, but chunking has not been much of an issue this season for that flopper.

The Agent wonders when the new old-design D1430 will make its way onto all the nitro cars. [9-27-2004]

SCHUMACHER GETS CONNOLLY TOO?

The latest Schumacher Racing rumor coming out of the NHRA Dallas race is their 2005 Mopar Pro Stock driver roster is filled. In addition to one of the Coughlin clan, probably Jeg Jr. moving over to the seat of the Dodge Stratus, the other side of the new team is rumored to be O'Reilly Fall Nationals Pro Stock winner Dave Connolly.

Connolly's lighting quick reactions have been noticed by a number of teams, but it looks like the future is bright at Schumacher's Indy shop. If all this goes down Dave will teamed with the Bob Glidden - Steve Schmidt Hoosier powerhouse.

With this potential departure of Connolly, Bill 'Grumpy" Jenkins will be shifting his efforts for 2005 over to rookie Erica Enders at Cagnazzi Racing and her teammate/mentor Steve Johns. (Zak Hawthorne photo) [9-27-2004]