The first annual “Unc’s Fall Brawl” was an awesome truck drag racing event held at Kuhnle Motorsports Park in Thompson, OH. Held on October 6-8, 2023, this event is only about an hour from the house for me, versus going to the track up in Onaway, MI, which is just over 400 miles. Speaking with a couple of the drivers, they really liked the track that Kuhnle Motorsports built, and I was told that the venue is bigger in area than Onaway, too. Kuhnle has made some improvements to the area and changed some things – they listened to the folks who suggested the changes.
After hosting their first event back in the early summer (called Unc’s Semi Stampede), the fine people at Kuhnle Motorsports Park learned a lot. Unlike that event, there was no truck show during The Fall Brawl – just racing! But once the racing started, it was non-stop action throughout the day, and all three days of the event. The racing stops for a half hour each day for a lunch break and then it’s back on. This event is really something to see in person, with all the smoke, and watching the truck’s front left wheel come off the ground (some come off the ground as high as two to three feet)! Many of the trucks run so hot they have flames coming out the stacks at either end of the track.
After the Semi Stampede was held on June 30th through July 2nd, there was a strong interest with many of the racers to have a second event – and sooner than later (they did not want to wait an entire year). After a few days of hammering out the details and figuring out a cool name, the news hit the street. October 6-8, 2023, were the dates selected for the first annual Unc’s Fall Brawl. The autumn event featured more than 80 entries, and I was told that attendance was over 5,000 people for the weekend. And considering the crappy weather that weekend, that was a fantastic turnout.
Friday the 6th, day one, was nice, with cooler temperatures, and plenty of sun. It was a shorts and t-shirt type of day. This first day is a practice day, and the perfect time for everyone to check out who’s who and figure out who were the racers to watch throughout the weekend. This is also the best time to get used to the track and conditions, and make all the final adjustments to your equipment, if needed. There were a lot of new entrants in each class from the summer event, which made for some great racing. Cooler weather makes for more horsepower, and with the highest temperature peaking at just 69 degrees, almost everyone’s truck was operating at its peak performance.
Saturday the 7th, day two, was the first day of actual racing. Unfortunately, some rain showers came, along with the possibility of a thunderstorm, and temps dropped to the low 50s. Racing started a few minutes late, and the rain didn’t let up until around 11:30 AM, then it was mostly cloudy for the rest of the day. There was a large crowd of fans in the stands on Saturday, maybe even more than at the inaugural event in June.
Overnight, the temps dropped to 46 degrees and more rain came. There was a tractor and semi-truck sled pull scheduled for Saturday night, but due to the rain and hail, it had to be canceled after the second pull. This was very disappointing after watching the drag racing all day and seeing the trucks hauling in the pulling tractors and trucks for the night’s upcoming festivities. Sadly, many of them were never even unloaded. Hopefully next year!
Sunday the 8th, day three, was the final day of racing. Rain wasn’t so much of an issue as the day before, so there was a lot of great racing – and other excitement – to be witnessed. Jeffrey O’Rourke was coming to the finish line and blew a turbo. His truck caught fire, and Jeff and his passenger were seen bailing out of the truck while it was still rolling! A lot of people and other drivers rushed to the scene to help out as much as they could. It was awesome to see the competitors helping each other.
Some other “incidents” included Melvin Classen breaking his drivelines throughout the course of the weekend. He probably went through six or seven of them during this event, and could replace them in about ten short minutes, and then be back at it again. Adam Devine of Boswell, PA was racing his yellow 1979 Marmon conventional, powered by a Cat 3406B. Adam won 1st Place in the “C Mechanical Bobtail” class at Unc’s Semi Stampede in the summer, but he ended up breaking his transmission on Saturday at the Fall Brawl. Neal Dams (featured in our October 2023 edition), who got distracted by someone shouting something at the starting line, ended up breaking a yoke on the drive axles of his purple 1999 Kenworth W900L with a CAT 3406E under the hood.
During this event, there was a new class added that wasn’t part of the event in the summer – Loaded Diesel Pickup Trucks. There were 18 entries in this new and exciting class. Some of the entries were stock-looking trucks, but most of them were highly modified rigs. After the awards were handed out, there was more racing, with some grudge matches taking place. One of the more interesting grudge matches included an all-electric Ford Lighting F-150 pickup against a wicked fast 1998 Kenworth W900L. It was an exciting race, all the way to the finish line, and it was so close, it was hard to tell who won from my vantage point. I think it was the Kenworth, but either way, it was a totally fun impromptu race to watch!
Our congratulations go out to the top finishers in each class. Mark your calendar for next year’s exciting truck racing events at Kuhnle Motorsports Park. The Semi Stampede is scheduled for June 21-23, 2024, while the Fall Brawl is set for September 21-23, 2024. We hope to see you in Thompson, Ohio, for both of these fun events. This event’s winners were…
A CLASS BOBTAIL:
1st Stephen Carano
2nd Maxime Latulippe
3rd Peter Wagg
A CLASS LOADED:
1st Peter Wagg
2nd Maxime Latulippe
3rd Jeff Byrom
B CLASS BOBTAIL:
1st Maxime Gervais
2nd Jeffery O’Rourke
3rd Ray Murphy
B CLASS LOADED:
1st Justin Nevius
2nd Maxime Gervais
3rd Michael Osterico
C CLASS BOBTAIL:
1st Robert Gervais
2nd Sylvain Naud
3rd Bill Page
C CLASS LOADED:
1st Sylvain Naud
2nd Robert Gervais
3rd Tyler Dieringer
C MECHANICAL BOBTAIL:
1st Alex Carano
2nd Robert Gervais
3rd Ted Ellis
C MECHANICAL LOADED:
1st Ted Ellis
2nd Alex Carano
3rd Steven Householder
LOADED DIESEL PICKUPS:
1st Dale McConnell
2nd Jimmy Hawn
3rd Guy Fleming
FREE FOR ALL BOBTAIL:
1st Peter Wagg
2nd Maxime Latulippe
3rd Stephen Carano