Rustin Mayse

At just 18 years of age, and in just his second full season behind the wheel, Frost, TX high school student Rustin Mayse engineered one of the greatest year-end runs in recent history to knock off touring bracket racer Luke Bogacki and earn the 2006 DragRaceResults.com Series BTE Super Pro Championship. Mayse, who started the season with respectable showings at several Division 4 events, was a long-shot title contender entering the DragRaceResults.com Series Oklahoma Round-Up at Thunder Valley Raceway in September. That event, however, kicked off an unprecedented run of 15 consecutive round wins within the series, as Rustin not only claimed the Super Pro victory in Oklahoma (on the only day of competition at the rain-shortened event), but followed it up two weeks later with another title at the DragRaceResults.com Rattlesnake Nationals at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson, AZ.

That second win, in Tucson, would prove the pivotal win in the national standings, as Mayse defeated Bogacki (who had made the journey across the country despite being ineligible to earn points at the event, in an effort to block Mayse) in the final round. While both competitors knew they squared off in a key round at the time, neither would understand the weight of that battle until nearly two months later. After another two events of give and take between the two competitors, Mayse and Bogacki ended in a dead-heat tie for the series championship, with both competitors totaling 37 points over the course of the series. Mayse took the championship on the first tie-breaker: Event wins, with his two victories (the second of which he defeated rival Bogacki), to Bogacki’s one.

For his championship, Rustin Mayse took home a new Race Tech 4-link Dragster, complete turn-key with an all aluminum Brodix 555 cubic inch engine from Nesbitt Performance Engines. The beautiful machine, valued at $60,000 has already been put to good use, as Mayse entered the machine in competition at Prescott Dragway’s Thanksgiving event, running 4.70, and advancing to the quarterfinal round of eliminations (he went on to win the event in the same American Race Cars Dragster that he used to win the DRR title).

“First off, I want to thank all of the tracks that make the DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series possible,” said Mayse. “Every event we competed in was top notch. Our deepest gratitude goes to Chris Barker and Danny Sons for giving bracket racing a whole new meaning; racing for a complete turn-key dragster. For those of you who don’t run the series, I recommend it for any bracket racer throughout the country. We would also like to thank each of the series sponsors involved in the assembly of the Race Tech Championship car for making it such an awesome prize.”

The DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series Race Tech Championship Dragster included products from the following manufacturers: Race Tech Race Cars, Nesbitt Performance Engines, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Weld Racing Wheels, Dino’s Custom Paint, Figspeed.com, B&M, Bill Taylor Engineering, Milodon, TCI Automotive, Moser Engineering, K&R Performance Engineering, Auto Meter, Mallory, Accel, Mr. Gasket, Aeromotive, Advanced Product Design, Fel-Pro, CSR Performance Products, Percy’s, Jeg’s, Goza Racing Products, Hedman Hedders, Nitroplate, Federal-Mogul, and Impact! Racing.

As the DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series made it’s way to the final event of the 2006 season, the Pro Bracket Masters Championship at South Georgia Motorsports Park, Mayse held a 3-point lead over Bogacki, but had just one event remaining on his points ledger, to Bogacki’s two.

In Thursday’s event, Bogacki quickly closed the gap, and tied the championship battle before falling in the fourth round of competition. On Friday, Mayse outlasted Bogacki by one round, as Bogacki was ousted from competition in the 2nd stanza, and Mayse advanced to the third round. With neither racer willing to claim the sub-par finish for their points total, the stage was set for a shootout. The season long, nationwide series: which had taken both competitors all across the country, would be decided on the final day of the final race.

Both Bogacki and Mayse entered the Sunday finale with 36 points, and one race remaining to claim. The battle came to an anti-climatic end in the second round, however, as Bogacki went -.003 on the tree, eliminating him from title contention. Several pairs behind him, Mayse also lost in the second round, leaving the two drivers dead-locked once again at 37 points. Mayse, however, would get the nod on the series’ first tie-breaker.

The championship was not yet settled, however, as the two leaders faltering left the door open for third place Robbie Mayse (Rustin’s father) and fourth place Drew Phillips to steal the title. The elder Mayse, who needed to advance to the seventh round to win the championship, fell in round four, leaving only Phillips with a chance to knock off Mayse for the title. To do so, Drew Phillips would have to win the event, which would tie him for the lead with Mayse and Bogacki. The event win would have then given Phillips two wins along the series, to again push the tie-breaker to event runner-ups with Mayse: in which Phillips would have had the edge. All the eighteen-year-old student could do was watch, as Phillips continued to win round after round, edging closer to the title. Finally, in the sixth round, Phillips was defeated by fellow top ten points finisher, and eventual event winner Kevin Rodden, which clinched the national title for Mayse, and sent the $60,000 DragRaceResults.com Championship Race Tech Dragster back to Frost, TX.

“I first off want to say to Luke that I was just grateful to be part of such a tight points race down to the end. Luke is a great guy on and off the track. To be honest, I was afraid that the race could create a little tension between he and I, seeing as he has been a friend of the family and handles all of the marketing needs for our racing team--but Luke was a complete professional throughout the season, and right down to the end. There were several other talented and accomplished competitors that gave me a scare, including Drew Phillips and Kevin Rodden. We had begun to let ourselves celebrate when Luke lost on Sunday, because the only racer with a legitimate chance to pass me for the championship was my Dad. But then Drew kept going rounds. I’ll admit I was sweating bullets by the time he ran Kevin late in the race! My hats off to all those guys, along with my father who could have taken the championship himself, as well as Dennis Cameron Jr. and Sr., A.J. Ashe, and everyone who chased the series this season. If it weren’t for doing battle with such an accomplished group of competitors, it wouldn’t mean near as much to me as this title does.”

While Mayse’s back-to-back victories at Noble and Tucson obviously were the springboard for his championship, he says the turning point of his season came much earlier in the summer.

“I would say the turning point was actually at the DragRaceResults.com event at Texas Motorplex in August,” explained Mayse. Up until that point, I’d had a pretty rough year. I’d gone some rounds here and there, and had runner-upped at the DRR race in Abilene--but that was in Dad’s car. In my car I was struggling on the tree. There were times where I would be .060 on the tree, and I kept blaming it on myself for about four months. Right before that race at Dallas, we (myself, my Dad and my Uncle Monte) decided we’d make some changes--even if it was just for my peace of mind. We swapped out the delay box, transmission, and converter when we put our new 572 in that week. The next week at Dallas I didn’t have a banner weekend, but I staged the car for fifth round both days, and considering how tough the racing is here in Texas, that gave me back some of the confidence I had been lacking all season. I’d say that was the biggest factor in the season--and that confidence in myself and our teams equipment set the stage for our success at the end of the year.”

Mayse didn’t claim a single point in the DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series until late June, at the tenth event of the season-long series: the Black Gold Bracket Nationals in Tulsa, OK. There, Rustin claimed a fourth round loss in Saturday’s competition, and a fifth round loss on Sunday. He added a semi-final finish two weeks later at the Longhorn Bracket Nationals on his home track, Texas Raceway. His two fifth round finishes at the Texas Stampede at the Texas Motorplex put him into contention for the Division 4 title, and set the stage for his dominating year end run. Back-to-back victories at the Oklahoma Round Up and Rattlesnake Nationals gave Mayse a lead he would not relinquish, despite his 1-point final claim at the Pro Bracket Masters Championship.

“First off, I’ve got to thank our marketing partners: TCI Automotive, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Mark Horton and the staff at American Race Cars, Milodon, Impact! Racing, Auto Meter, Comp Cams, and Advanced Product Design,” said Mayse.

“And beyond those quality manufacturers, I’ve got a lot of people I want to thank personally: A huge thanks to my Uncle Monte Mayse. Without Monte, we’d be at the track without any cars! Thanks to Randy Tanksley for all his help on the cars and transporting them to the track occasionally. Thanks to Scotty Richardson, who has taught me 99% of everything I know in sportsman racing. I also want to thank David Hughes and his family, Dennis Cameron, Sr. and Dennis Cameron, Jr. and their family, Edmond Richardson Motorsports, Ron Watson--who assembled the 572 engine I’ve run since summer, Lynn Lawson, and Luke Bogacki with Bogacki Marketing Solutions. Most importantly, I want to thank my family for helping me juggle racing and trying to be the best high school student I can be. Thanks to my Dad for giving me not only the opportunity to race and compete, but for giving me all the tools to be successful. We’ve got the finest machinery available, and I tell myself everyday that if I can’t win with what we’ve got here, then I don’t need to be racing.”

Rustin Mayse plans to defend his 2006 DragRaceResults.com Series Super Pro Championship in 2007 behind the wheel of his American Race Cars dragster. The number one will undoubtedly bring a huge target on the Texas youngster, as competitors across the nation will take their shot at the championship next season. Stay tuned to DragRaceResults.com as details of the 2007 DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series will be announced in the coming weeks!