BACK-TO-BACK! TEAM BIR DEFENDS ET FINALS TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS!
Event: 2026 D5 East Summit Racing Equipment ET Finals presented by Hoosier Racing Tires
Date: Sept. 17-20 2026
Location: Tri-State Raceway - Earlville Iowa
Team BIR Battles the Rain to Defend Both ET Finals Team Championships
The 2026 Division 5 Eastern Summit Racing Equipment ET Finals presented by Hoosier Tire was contested September 17–20 at Tri-State Raceway in Earlville, Iowa, and for Team BIR, it was a weekend that tested everyone’s patience, determination and ability to keep going.
After bringing home the Team ET Championship, Index Team Championship and seven individual class championships in 2025, BIR returned to the ET Finals looking to defend both team titles and bring as many individual championships home to Brainerd as possible.
Mother Nature had other plans.
It was a very wet weekend in the Iowa cornfields, with rain affecting every day of the event and ultimately pushing the completion of the race into Monday.
Race of Champions Starts the Weekend on a High Note
Thursday’s test day was plagued by on-and-off rain, with only about a dozen cars getting a pass before the day was eventually called a rainout.
Friday finally provided a window of opportunity. The track dried enough in the afternoon to get every racer a time trial and complete the Race of Champions.
Team BIR put four racers into the finals of the six Race of Champions classes — a pretty good showing for the Brainerd crew.
Drew Schalm brought home the first big win of the weekend for BIR, taking the Jr. Street Race of Champions title.
BIR also had finalists in three other ROC classes:
Joe Howell – Pro ET finalist
Joe Schmall – Super Pro finalist
Grant Pesola – Sportsman finalist
Having Team BIR racers represented in four of the six ROC finals was a strong start to the weekend.
Saturday Washes Away the Main Event
Saturday was scheduled to begin the main event eliminations, but the rain had the final say.
There were zero cars on track all day, forcing the entire elimination schedule to be pushed back.
Sunday started gloomy as well, with damp conditions and more intermittent rain. Eventually, the track was dried and eliminations got underway. Several rounds were completed before darkness arrived, leaving the classes in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
That meant one more early morning for the racers.
Monday Finish
Monday morning brought another gloomy Iowa sky, but thankfully, the rain stayed away.
The remaining rounds were completed, and Team BIR continued to put racers deep into eliminations.
In Bike, Brad Harder came heartbreakingly close to another BIR championship. Brad lost in the final by just .0003 seconds — three ten-thousandths of a second.
That was about as close as it gets, with the loss coming just short of a Golden Ticket to Las Vegas and a shot at a national championship.
Nathan Olson made his second consecutive Pro ET final. After finishing runner-up in 2025, Nathan once again found himself in the final round and finished as the Pro ET runner-up for the second straight year.
Gabe Killian also represented Team BIR in the High School final, making it all the way to the championship round before coming up short.
While individual ET class championships weren't quite in the cards this year, Team BIR racers consistently went deep into eliminations — and those rounds mattered.
BIR Racers Earn Event Awards
The weekend also brought some special recognition for two BIR racers.
Brad Baklund was awarded the Best Engineered Car for the event, recognizing the engineering and workmanship that went into his race car.
And Jimmy Paulson was awarded Best Appearing Motorcycle, adding another piece of hardware for the BIR contingent to bring home from Iowa.
Congratulations to both Brad and Jimmy on the well-deserved recognition.
Back-to-Back Team ET Champions
The ET Finals team championship is earned one round at a time. Every elimination-round win by a team member is worth one point toward the team total.
With Team BIR racers continuing to win rounds throughout the weekend, Team BIR accumulated enough points to defend the Division 5 Team ET Championship for the second consecutive year.
That means the 75th Anniversary Diamond Wally is coming back to Brainerd for the second year in a row.
It wasn't the individual class haul BIR enjoyed in 2025, when seven individual championships came home to Brainerd, but the team once again showed the depth of the BIR racing program.
A whole lot of rain. A lot of rounds. And another Team Championship.
Team BIR Defends the Index Championship
The BIR Index Team delivered another championship as well.
BIR racers filled the 5.80 Index final, with Mike Sterling defeating Brad Baklund in an all-Team BIR championship matchup to claim the 5.80 Index championship.
The 6.50 Index final featured another BIR racer, with Kevin Hemenway Jr. finishing as the runner-up.
And the 7.50 Index final was yet another all-Team BIR affair.
Kevin Hemenway Sr. took the 7.50 Index championship over Aaron Hoefs, winning a double-breakout final by just .005.
With those results, Team BIR successfully defended the Division 5 Index Team Championship and brought another Wally back to Brainerd.
Two Championships, One Very Wet Weekend
There won't be any trips to Las Vegas for BIR racers from this year's ET Finals, but there are still two very important trophies heading back north.
For the second year in a row, Team BIR is the Division 5 Team ET Champion and the Index Team Champion.
Those championships don't come from one racer having a great weekend. They come from an entire team going rounds, collecting points and continuing to fight through whatever the weekend throws at them.
And this weekend threw plenty.
A rain-soaked Thursday. A shortened Friday. A complete Saturday washout. A soggy Sunday. A Monday finish. And barely enough weather window to get the event completed.
Huge credit goes to the Tri-State Raceway staff and NHRA Division 5 for keeping after it and finding every opportunity to get the race in. It took a tremendous amount of work to dry the track, keep the event moving and ultimately complete the ET Finals.
Team BIR may not have brought home the stack of individual Wallys we did in 2025, but we brought home the two that mattered most for the team — back-to-back Team ET and Index Team Championships.
The 75th Anniversary Diamond Wallys are headed back to Brainerd.
Two team championships. Two years in a row.
That's a pretty good way to close out the 2026 ET Finals.
Brainerd International Raceway (BIR), located in Brainerd, Minnesota, is one of the Midwest’s premier multi-discipline motorsports facilities. Home to the NHRA Nationals, BIR hosts drag racing, road racing, drifting, autocross, performance driving experiences, and grassroots motorsports events throughout the season.
The facility features a championship drag strip, multiple road course configurations, dedicated drift infrastructure, and destination camping that has made BIR a motorsports tradition for generations of racers and fans.
For schedules, tickets, racer information, and event details:https://www.birmn.com
