Nearly 250 of the best door car bracket racers in the midwest packed I-57 Dragstrip in Benton, IL, for last weekend’s 13th annual Moser Engineering Summer Door Car Shootout presented by BTE. Friday action opened with Austin Richardson at the wheel of his RBZ Vega, claiming the $12,000 top prize in the Ohio Crankshaft Main Event.
Richardson (Greenbriar, TN), who made incredible laps throughout the event, got a free pass in the final when Matt Dadas (Vermillion, OH) turned on the red light. Keith Hall and former Million Dollar Race winner Tucker Kanselaar were the semi-finalists. Grant Zimmerman claimed the $1,000 Laris Motorsports Insurance No Box Bonus, outlasting a stellar field of bottom bulb competitors before ultimately falling in the quarterfinal round of the main event.
During the late rounds of Ohio Crankshaft Friday action, racers were treated to a complimentary BBQ dinner thanks to Vintage Race Trailers!
Saturday action opened with the unique BRODIX Dial for Dollars to benefit the SIU Automotive scholarship fund – SDCS racers raised $3,000 for the scholarship! Indiana racer Shawna Whitworth rolled into I57 Dragstrip late Friday night, and wasted no time getting acclimated. On her first run of the weekend posted a stellar .006 package to earn the top prize: a set of BRODIX IK200 Cylinder Heads! Kenny Pease, Joey Robertson, Jordan Martin, and Charlie Hamma also earned prizes for stellar Dial-for-Dollars packages.
Saturday’s $12,000-to-win BRODIX main event saw longtime SDCS supporter Kenny Pease (earn his first main event victory. Pease drove his stack injected Chevy II to the final round win over first-time SDCS entrant Cory Dunkin. Zach Jones and Lucas Walker, the Laris Motorsports Insurance No Box Bonus winner, were the semi-finalists.
As the Saturday main event concluded, the Law Chevrolet Salute to the Fans was just getting underway. While the Lawrence Motorsports Burnout Contest and Law Chevrolet Wheelie contest were the highlights among fans, racers were looking forward to the much anticipated APD King of Illinois Shootout, which boasted a record breaking purse of $43,000 to the winner – the richest purse in I-57 Dragstrip history!
Dustin Smith claimed the Oakley Performance Quick 16 prize over John Davis, Jr. The final round appearance was Davis’s third consecutive SDCS Quick 16 final: he won the event last season and took runner-up honors in 2022! Rob Jennings and Jeff Clark were the semi-finalists.
The Law Chevrolet wheelie wagon contest was hotly contested and ultimately saw a familiar face in the winner’s circle, albeit in a different car (truck). Despite impressive performances from finalists Derek Pearson (a former winner himself), Travis Eaton, Josh Pickett, and Cory Dunkin, Lucas Walker retained his crown as the undisputed wheelie king of the “Biggest Little Door Car Race in the Midwest,” driving Charlie Lockhart’s S-10 to a near perfect score (49 out of 50) from the judges panel.
This year’s Lawrence Motorsports Burnout contest was nothing short of epic. Five qualifiers: Kurt Harrington, Chase Huffman, Travis Wilson, Christopher Takacs, and defending champion Tom Webster earned a berth in the Saturday night run off on the strength of fantastic burnouts in round 2 of the main event. Why round two? Because anyone can do a burnout in time trials! Historically, the winner of the burnout contest is the final contestant (because they see what they have to do to win), but this year Travis Wilson earned a perfect “50” in the second heat, driving his machine to a full eighth mile burnout! We assumed it was over… Until we saw reigning champ Tom Webster follow that with a jaw-dropping performance in his beautiful Nova. The judges spoke: all tens! As a result, Webster and Wilson agreed to split the $1,000 top prize (and the set of Hoosier tires allotted for second place)!
The illustrious APD “King of Illinois” crown rested atop the head of Tennessee racer Taylor Bowling. Bowling earned the massive $43,000 top prize by defeating Richard Duvall in the final round. Duvall had a slight starting line advantage, but handed over the victory by the slimmest of margins after a breakout by just .0002! Defending “King of Illinois” Kyle Kunze was the lone-semi-finalist.
Throughout the weekend, racers were treated to complimentary donuts, milk and coffee each morning courtesy of Best One Tire. In case that didn’t satisfy the sweet tooth, the Rugburn Raceway Butch Daugherty Memorial Ice Cream Social provided relief from the hot weather with free ice cream to all competitors and crew throughout the weekend!
Weekend action closed with Sunday’s Moser Engineering $12,000-to-win main event, which saw Grant Zimmerman earn his second Laris Motorsports Insurance No Box Bonus of the weekend. This time, the reigning IHRA World Champion was able to parlay that performance into the main event and add the $12,000 top prize to his weekend rake. Zimmerman defeated John Davis, Jr., who enjoyed a stellar weekend of his own, in the final round. Jeremy Jensen, the winningest driver in SDCS history, and Cecil Whitaker were the Sunday semi-finalists.
In addition to the winners and finalists, the SDCS staff handed out more than $50,000 worth of awards and “Door” prizes throughout the weekend. To see a complete list of prize winners, visit the event Facebook page at facebook.com/summerdoorcarshootout. Stay tuned for details on the 14th running of the “Biggest Little Door Car Race in the Midwest,” set to return to I-57 Dragstrip in the summer of 2025!
This story was originally published on June 27, 2024. 
