Lebanon Valley Dragway started the Jet action on Friday night with the New York State Jet Wars. The Douthit Family was on hand with both of their nostalgia funny car jets, along with two funny cars from the Hanna Family. Jet dragsters from the Hanna Family and Ernie Bogue, Jr. were there, plus a bonus debut performance by Dawn Perdue in her new Wicked Sinsation dragster. The Darnell Family capped the night off with a performance by their Shockwave Jet Truck. Peter Hoenck also made some great, albeit less fiery wheelstander runs in his Heartbeat High pickup.

For the first time in a long time, LVD also was able to complete all of the scheduled bracket eliminators on Wednesday night, Saturday, and Sunday. 

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New England Dragway had a record crowd on hand for their popular Jet Cars Under The Stars on Saturday. The lineup for jet-powered dragsters, funny cars, and trucks was similar to Friday night at LVD, plus a couple of runs by the Darnell Family’s AfterShock Jet Fire Truck. The East Coast Pro Comp Association (ECPCA) and the Iannotti Brother’s Select Cars Top Sportsman Series, Pro Stock sleds, and Fast By Gast Top Bike helped fill out the program.

Sunday featured another round of the Top Sportsman and Pro Stock Sleds, plus the .90 classes and the Street Fighter bikes, along with a 1/8 mile gamblers race.

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New Oxford Dragway saw the return of Funny Cars to the 1/8 mile asphalt on Sunday. 

Saturday featured a New Oxford vs. Winterport Bracket Bash, with racers from Winterport and New Oxford going head-to-head for Pine Tree State bragging rights. 

The track also completed all of their points eliminators on Friday night.

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Winterport Dragway racers returned from the Bracket Bash and ran the full slate of points eliminators on Sunday.  

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There were some interesting storylines at this weekend’s events.

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Kaylee Genualdo pulled off an interesting double on Sunday at New England Dragway when she took the win lights in both the Jr. Dragster A and the Jr. Street eliminators. 

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The Iannotti Brothers Select Car Top Sportsman Series had a solid doubleheader weekend, with 26 cars on hand for Saturday’s race as part of the Jet Cars Under The Stars, and an 18 car field on Sunday. Wayne Horton was the winner on Saturday, while Mike Sawyer earned his first trophy in TS in Sunday’s race.

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The Darnell Family’s Shockwave Jet Truck always puts on a great show at the starting line, but it turned in some relatively disappointing timeslips both Friday night at LVD and on Saturday at NED. This same truck ran 193 mph at the 2020 Jet Cars Under The Stars, but only mustered 169 mph on Saturday, and didn’t even break 150 mph (144 mph) on Friday. We won’t speculate on what caused the slower runs, but it was clear that the fans noticed the difference. 

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New England Dragway benefitted from the excellent weather and the pent-up demand and saw a record spectator turnout for the Jet Cars Under The Stars, with more than 7,800 fans paying their way in. Kudos also have to go out to the track staff for putting on one of the most well-run major events that this photographer has experienced at that track, ever. Saying that it went off “like clockwork” doesn’t do it justice. It was more like “if Rolex made an atomic clockwork.” 

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As an added bonus, spectators who arrived at Lebanon Valley Dragway early for the NY State Jet Wars on Friday got to witness a staging lane marriage proposal by Keith Billets to his girlfriend Jasmine Weider (she said yes!). Congratulations to Jasmine and Keith!