When rain set in after round one of eliminations at Mike Beland’s Cash Days 4, the party simply moved under awnings and into trailers until the bad weather subsided. Karaoke was sung (was that really singing?), shots were drank, and good cleanish fun was had by all.
And when the sun shown again Sunday on Shelby, North Carolina’s Shadyside Dragway, hangovers were hydrated, turbos were spooled, and rubber was burned. THE hot event on the gasoline-burning, Harley-Davidson, motorcycle drag racing calendar ran on and its $25,000 cash payday distributed – mostly to two legends of the Grudge game.
Pro Bagger and Street Bagger
For the two top tier Pro Bagger and Street Bagger classes, Cash Days 4 looked much like a repeat of 3. At the end of the day, “Burnout Bruce” Emanuel was sitting on “Boosted Bob” and “Trailer Park” answering a thick phone made out of cash.
The Pro Bagger field boiled down to Emanuel on “Boosted Bob” and Khole Sellers from Gforce Racing. Sellers got an .056 to .101 jump at the tree, but (let’s change the name a bit here) “Bruceted Bob” drove around 5.02 at 152 mph to 5.30 at 139 for the win.
It was Bruce vs. Tony Boone in the Street Bagger final, and once again, Emanuel and “Trailer Park” took the win.
“Always an honor to run against Bruce Emanuel,” said Boone.
“First off, thank you to God for blessing me with the talent, strength, and opportunity to do what I love,” said Bruce. “Big shoutout to A1 Cycles for another successful race – Cash Days 4 was one to remember. I was able to take home the win in the biggest Harley Bagger grudge race of the year against a strong team at All American Cycles. Then doubled up and got it done in two Pro classes – winning Pro Bagger with the event’s quickest and fastest pass on Boosted Bob, and also bringing home the Street Class win on Trailer Park.
“None of this would be possible without my sponsors,” Bruce added. “Trailer Park Motorsports, Moonshine Harley-Davidson, Moonshine Horsepower, Vance & Hines Motorsports, and GRC Crankshafts. I appreciate everything y’all do. Special thanks to my best friend and the best builder/tuner in Harley Bagger racing, Cullen Gillis – couldn’t do it without you. Appreciate all the sponsors for the payouts, the staff for putting on a great event, all the spectators who came out and showed love, and Eddie Reed. We’re just getting started.”
True Street Bagger
Always displaying a much more quiet and humble persona in person than he does online, Bruce had a premonition that he wouldn’t sweep all three bagger classes this year. Sitting on last year’s winner “Moonshine” in the now sun-drenched lanes before the start of round two of True Street, he said, “There’s a lot of riders in this class this year.” And one of them was his teammate. “Dez is a good rider.”
True enough, Bruce lost to Dez Cue on “Noisey Boy” in the semis when “Moonshine” failed to grab third gear. “Had an .050 light to his .146,” reported Bruce. “Yep, I had a chance to sweep it again. Missed a shift. We gonna replace the transmission.”
Dez then had wheelie masterblaster Desmond “Kill Bill” Spaulding on the Hawes Racing Bike in the final, and this time it was Kill Bill with the win.
“I think my closest round was probably the finals against Dez,” said Kill Bill. “It’s just a lil’ True Street Road King from Hawes Racing. It’s a lil’ different from riding the Grudges sportbikes that I’m used to and known for riding, but it’s definitely just as exciting and competitive as the Grudge sportsbikes.
“I would like to thank Hawes Racing for reaching out and giving me an opportunity to try something different, also giving me an amazing bike to compete with. Would also like to think the guys that put on the event. Not sure of everyone’s name just yet, but it was amazing event.”
Non-Bagger
No one’s yet caught up to Jason Crisp’s new-for-last-year build, as he again won Non-Bagger. He even raced the same final round opponent: A1 employee Andrew Hefner. Crisp took the tree with an .035 to Hefner’s .067, and ran a 5.53 at 126 mph to Andrew’s 5.71 with a turbo-pumped 132 mph trap speed.
“We pretty much showed up with the same bike from last year,” said Crisp. “Made a few small changes and hoped for the best, as we hadn’t done any testing prior to Cash Days. I was pretty consistent low 5.5s and knew if anyone was gonna beat me, they’d have their work cut out for them.
“I want to thank my wife and son for their help all weekend, and my father for the help building and maintaining it.”
ET Bracket Race
Robbie Bryant took out Cash Days 3 Gamblers Race winner Byron Cass in the ET Bracket Race final.
“It was my first time coming to this event,” said Bryant. “My nephew and I were supposed to be in Maryland for the XDA race, but it was canceled due to rain. We had looked Friday for somewhere that was racing because we were itching to get on our motorcycles. We found out Shadyside had an event going on so we hooked up to the trailer and headed out at 11:45 pm Friday to make the four and a half hour trip.
“The racing on Saturday was fast paced. Made it down to 12 motorcycles before the rain came and the race was canceled till Sunday.
“Sunday afternoon came and we went back to the lanes to pull chips and see who would race who. This chip draw came with controversy on how things were done on bye runs. My nephew should’ve had the bye run being he had the best light the round before on Saturday. They don’t do that there, they put a bye chip in the bag and if you’re lucky enough to get that chip you have a free pass to the next round. Everywhere else we race the person that gets the bye is the person who did their job and cut a good light on the tree.
“My nephew Wesley and I pulled each other for the third round and we are riding the same motorcycle. Since it was my motorcycle, Wesley let me get a free pass into the next round. I ended up going on to win the event.
“This is my second time at Shadyside and my second win at that track. My first win there was at the Hogs Gone Wild event a few years back. All in all I had a good weekend of racing and I’ll probably be back to see if I can take another win at Shadyside.”
Gamblers Race
Cass also runnered-up in Friday night’s Gamblers Race, with Bryce Creek taking the win.
“After three years in a row of being put out in the finals or semifinals by Byron Cass, I finally got it done Friday night in the ET Gamblers Race in the finals against him,” said Creek. “I ran a 7.07 on a 7.05 dial against his breakout 5.91 on a 5.97 dial. It was a reaction time win! DFH (that’s Donnie F*****’ Huffman) always pounded in my head ‘Don’t be late!’ and it shows.
“Thanks to all of our season sponsors: Man O’War Harley-Davidson of Lexington, Kentucky, Metal Supermarkets of Lexington, 317 Cycles, All Pro Contractors, Huffman Performance & Service of Lakeland, Florida, and R&R Cycles of Lakeland. “Cash Days 4 was a success for Shadetree Racing. See you all in the lanes at a track near you!”
Shutdown Area
Rain didn’t stop the wild-style events of the Old Town Revival (OTR) Spring Fling. The Minibike Misfits races, Hippy’s Minibike Hillclimb, Rebel Spirit Burnout Pit, WIFMIX Freestyle Stunt Shows, Hot Rod Row, Run What You Brung, and live music just got sloppier and more fun than ever.
“Even though the rain came through Saturday afternoon, we still had a great night and finished up strong Sunday,” said promoter Beland. ‘Nothing can stop the highest paying, lowest cost race of the year! Cash Days 5 is booked for 2027 so don’t miss it! The only way to lose is to stay home!”
This story was originally published on May 5, 2026.
The post Grudge Legends Score Cash Days 4 Bagger Wins at Shadyside Dragway first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
