Kris Whitfield Racer Blog – April 2019
Looking back at the Spring Fling Million
It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t already been said about the Spring Fling Million in Las Vegas. For the past week it’s been the buzz of bracket racing, and deservedly so. The week leading up to the event was seemingly a mass exodus of racers from their homes, coming from thousands of miles in all directions to converge on the city of Las Vegas.
The event itself was everything it was billed to be, becoming the highest paying bracket race in the world (for now). After the event social media was a constant feed of praise for the atmosphere and execution of the 4 days of racing, again deservedly so.
Kris Whitfield March 2019 Racer Blog
As expected, record payouts drew a record number of participants to the Las Vegas event as the most talented racers in the world converged to compete. As if adjusting to the level of talent wasn’t difficult enough, the sheer number of racers forced the event promoters to condense the race format by eliminating time runs and buybacks.
Every first round was essentially a “blind round” to begin the race day and with several hours in between the subsequent laps things didn’t get much easier. For that reason, seeing so many familiar “big names” in the late rounds of each day’s race was that much more impressive.
As far as my own racing performance, the weekend was more forgettable than anything. Often when someone loses to a tough opponent we hear them say “I just pulled in the lanes wrong”….well at the Vegas Million it’s hard to pull into the lanes “right”!
My cars were decent and fairly predictable, and I’m not sure I had anything worse than an .018 reaction time in competition (minus one round with mechanical failure). But that still wasn’t good enough to get past 3rd round at any point in the event.
Kris Whitfield February 2019 Racer Blog
In fact, my best performance was a 3rd round loss every day (hardly up to the standards that I like to perform to). Not once was I able to squeak by with any sort of minor mistake, and even some solid laps with no mistakes didn’t cut it, which again speaks to the level of competition at this event.
As we are only a few days away from the start of race season and local points series at our home track, I can’t help but look at the local racing ahead of us as a chance to “sharpen my tools.” Possibly add some tools to the tool bag, and ultimately be more competitive at the large scale events like the Spring Fling Million in the future.
With the bigger picture and long-term goals in mind, I can’t help but feel excitement over the possibility and potential that 2019 has in store!
About the Author: Born and raised in Colorado, Kris Whitfield began racing juniors at age 8 and currently pilots a 2004 Undercover dragster and a ’27 T Super Gas roadster. He has 16 track championships as well as 2 NHRA national event wins. With seven years experience working race-operations at Bandimere Speedway and with a life spent in the sportsman pits, Kris offers DragChamp readers a unique and relatable perspective.
For the 2019 season, Kris will represent sponsors Go Fast Energy, Phantom Racing Graphics, DJ Safety, DMP Awnings, Nationwide Productions, Armed Forces Racing, NGK, Precision Specialties, Premier Diversified Insurance, and This is Bracket Racing Elite.
You can connect with Kris on Facebook @Whitfieldfamilyracing or email at Kris@dragchamp.com
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