For 2008, Robinson teamed with longtime friend Luke Bogacki to field a Stock Eliminator entry. The car is a ‘68 Nova that Robinson and wife Cassie had bracket raced for the last few seasons.

“Luke and I devised this master plan last season to make the Nova into a Stocker. It’s my car, and Luke is driving it in IHRA, and a handful of NHRA events. Brian Rogers built us a motor, and Matt Tinnin did the necessary chassis work to make the car competitive. We’ve struggled thus far--Stock has been more of a learning curve than either of us thought coming in, but we’re making progress.”

It was that Stock Eliminator project that brought Bryan to State Capitol Dragway in Baton Rouge last weekend.

“Luke wanted to run Stock and Hot Rod in Baton Rouge, and didn’t have a way to haul the two doorcars. So I brought the Nova down Friday, and I entered Luke’s dragster in Top Dragster.”

Then Robinson, in his first appearance in IHRA Top Dragster competition, rolled thru a massive field of Top Dragster entrants to win Saturday’s IHRA Pro-Am event. After a competition bye run in the opening round when Ken Thibadeux was unable to make the call, Robinson knocked off an all-star cast of competitors: Matt Levatino, Jeff Miles, John Angelle, and former IHRA Summit Super Series World Champion J.J. Brock to make the final round. There, he would face off with red-hot local favorite Robert Cool, who had also advanced to the final in Quick Rod.

“Cool was on a roll. We knew he was holding a bunch, so we set up a little fast and I just tried to drop to dead-on. He’s so much faster than we were (6.90’s to 7.40’s) that I had a hard time picking him up in the dark. I really just drove to a spot and got on the brakes. We were both under, so I was really just lucky that it worked out.”

Both drivers left the starting line with matching .016 reaction times, but Robinson pulled out a slight double-breakout victory with a 7.434 on his 7.44 target to Cool’s 6.969 on a 6.98.

“I’ve got to credit the car. Luke’s CSR Performance Products American Dragster was excellent all day--and we were in the right place at the right time. I also want to thank Butch “Austin Coil” Daugherty, Wendell Dunaway and the Hamlins, who helped us change a ring & pinion in the Stocker on Sunday, and Kate Tetreault for their help at the track.” Robinson also thanked his wife Cassie, his co-workers at BTE, as well as Bogacki and the marketing partners associated with his CSR Performance Products Dragster.

Those partners include CSR Performance Products, Mickey Thompson Tires, Jeg’s Mail Order, Bill Taylor Engineering, American Race Cars, Huntsville Engine & Performance, Rockett Brand Race Fuel, Moser Engineering, Advanced Product Design, Milodon, Goza Racing Products, Auto Meter, K&R Performance Engineering, B&M, Figspeed.com, Dixie, ISC Racers Tape, Hedman Hedders, Nitroplate Coatings, Nitrous Express, Brodix Cylinder Heads, K&N, AFCO, and TD Performance Products.

The Top Dragster victory was the second for the CSR Performance Dragster this season, as Bogacki earned the T/D title at the Sportsman National event in San Antonio.  That, along with a handful of strong showings on the divisional level, have him in the top 5 in national points standings early in the 2008 campaign. 

With a quarterfinal appearance on Sunday added to his winning performance a day earlier, Robinson also has a solid early score in Top Dragster points. “Luke is already trying to talk me into going to a few more races and chasing the division,” he laughed. “I’m not real motivated about it, but you never know.”