Wheeling, West Virginia’s Travis Braden is the winner of the 52nd Snowball Derby held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola (FL) on Monday. Braden, who was second at the finish line, was awarded the top spot after Stephen Nasse was disqualified when his car failed post-race inspection.
The official finish shows podium finishers as Braden, 14-year-old Jake Garcia in second and Nova Scotia’s Cole Butcher in third.
| Pos. | # | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26b | Travis Braden |
| 2 | 35 | Jake Garcia |
| 3 | 53b | Cole Butcher |
| 4 | 30 | Jesse Dutilly |
| 5 | 48 | Preston Peltier |
| 6 | 51s | Chandler Smith |
| 7 | 22 | Casey Roderick |
| 8 | 18 | Hunter Robbins |
| 9 | 36 | Dan Fredrickson |
| 10 | 53j | Boris Jurkovic |
| 11 | 119 | Dalton Zehr |
| 12 | 12G | Derek Griffith |
| 13 | 91 | Ty Majeski |
| 14 | 9C | Jeff Choquette |
| 15 | 43 | Derek Thorn |
| 16 | 81 | Giovanni Bromante |
| 17 | 7d | John DeAngelis |
| 18 | 2 | Derek Kraus |
| 19 | 54c | Matt Craig |
| 20 | 9m | Brad May |
| 21 | 51a | Michael Atwell |
| 22 | 20m | Cole Moore |
| 23 | 75 | Jeremy Doss |
| 24 | 16 | Lucas Jones |
| 25 | 26p | Bubba Pollard |
| 26 | 10 | Kaden Honeycutt |
| 27 | 54g | David Gilliland |
| 28 | 112 | Augie Grill |
| 29 | 57 | Josh Berry |
| 30 | 14c | Connor Okrzesik |
| 31 | 7 | Corey LaJoie |
| 32 | 21p | Jeremy Pate |
| 33 | 11 | David Rogers |
| 34 | 15 | Rodrigo Rejon |
| 35 | 4 | Kyle Plott |
| 36 | 78 | Corey Heim |
| 37 | 51n | Stephen Nasse |
The decision came about three hours after the race finished – after plenty of back-and-forth in technical inspection. While Braden’s happiness morphed into elation, Nasse’s win was up in smoke, disqualified for a titanium violation with his brakes.
Nasse posted a statement on social media following the DQ:
“The brake calipers had titanium brake caps over the pistons in the calipers,” Snowball Derby technical director Ricky Brooks told Speed51 of the ruling. “That’s a distinct no-no in the rule book. It says blatantly, in black and white, no titanium allowed anywhere on the car. There are other parts of the rulebook that specify you can put titanium valves or whatever. That part of the rulebook states that you cannot have it on the race car.
“There’s a reason they were there. They don’t hold the heat. They were drilled to keep from holding the heat going into an aluminum piston and aluminum caliper. There is an advantage to it. Did it help (Nasse) in this race? Who knows. It’s like any other DQ we have. It’s all about the rulebook. If we don’t go by the rulebook, we stand for nothing.”
Track officials took the Tom Dawson trophy – topped with that legendary snowball – and awarded the hardware to Braden.
It’s Braden’s to cherish for a lifetime.