Brackets or Heads Up?

They can both coexist in 2005, according to George Howard.

B y Dale Wilson
11/22/04

Has bracket racing become a victim of its own success? Can bracket racing save itself? Or better put, what can save bracket racing?

George Howard thinks he has an answer. Yeah, we know … it seems like every other month, somebody writes a story about George Howard, the successful Birmingham, Alabama, track operator and owner (Huntsville Dragway, Bama Dragway), a founder of low-buck entry fee/high-buck payout Southern-based bracket race series plus the annual BTE Million Dollar Drag Race, a former Pro Stock and Pro Modified race car owner, trucker, truck salesman … you know his resume. Howard has had about as much influence on the sport of bracket racing as its “inventor,” Ron Leek of Byron (Illinois) Dragway, or any other racing entrepreneur, like Rockingham’s Steve Earwood (a former partner of Howard), Orlando’s Carl Weisinger, Great Lakes’ “Broadway Bob” Metzler, or … whomever.

Now Howard wants to change things up a bit. Not get rid of bracket racing altogether, but just tweak his 2005 racing program a touch. “We need to put more butts in the stands,” he says, meaning bracket racing, as most promoters know, doesn't attract a large crowd of spectators, no matter how big the track purse is. “A track promoter nowadays can’t make it on racing alone. He has to have paying spectators,” George says.

His solution --- let’s bring in some heads-up, no breakout action on a weekly basis.

Already, that concept has paid off --- in early November, Howard put on his ORCSA World Drag Challenge at Huntsville, a race that saw nearly 400 Outlaw Pro Modifieds, Automatic Pro Mods, 10.5, Easy Street, etc., etc. cars roll through the gates. He had 5,000 spectators each day. Reportedly, it took more than a half an hour to get a cola at Huntsville’s concession stand. George was impressed. So was his bank account.