My pick for Racer of the Week is Tyler Brooks, from Prophetstown, Illinois. I found Tyler when I was looking through one of Jay Wilson's albums on the Quad Cities Drag Racer's Page on Facebook. I was immediately fascinated by his awesome orange '81 Monte Carlo Mod/Pro hot rod. I decided to feature him, I sent him the graphic and he accepted. Thanks, Tyler!
Tyler Brooks got hooked on bracket racing when he was in high school and all his buddies would run at the battle of the high schools races at Cordova International Raceway, and then he started racing high school points races and just continued working his way into some bigger classes. He said once you get the bug you can't stop.
He bought the Black Monte off a good friend named Derek Snodgrass for 600 bucks, and over the years he's been upgrading it. As it is now, it's been painted hugger orange with white stripes Tyler said he's glad to be past that stage of the rebuild, but the results speak for themselves. It's not only a great race car, it's also top show-quality.
The motor is a 406 cubic inch small-block Chevy with a powerglide transmission and pro brake with a safety shield. It has a 9-inch rear end with 4.11 gears, and an 8-point cage. Tyler's best ET is a 10.60 at 124mph, But usually the car runs 10.80s to 10.90s. Some accomplishments are a battle of the high schools win and a runner-up spot in a few bracket races, but he's still hunting for that first race win, and he's getting close!
His goals are to win his first race outright and he said he sure would love to have an Iron Man or Wally but he added, who wouldn't! Got that right, Tyler!
He sends special thanks out to his mom and dad, Ariel Hamstra, Craig Adams, Bob Cramm, Larry Black, Derek Snodgrass, and Roger at OTR Tire.
Tyler, we look forward to hearing about your upcoming win with that fine hot rod, and we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!