Gainesville, FL: 26-year old racer Luke Bogacki has had some phenomenal moments in his racing career that spans back to 1993. In 1998, at just seventeen, Bogacki collected three wins at his home track, Texas Raceway, during the annual Labor Day Landslide weekend; culminated by a Race for a Dragster victory that landed him his first dragster. In 2001, he owned the Friday portion of the annual Million Dollar Race Weekend, claiming the days Twin 20 $20,000 victory as well as the Mullis All-Star Shootout; amassing some 14 consecutive round wins against the toughest competition in the country. He left the IHRA AC Delco Nationals in 2003 with his first national event victory (in Hot Rod), and a runner-up finish in the prestigious Moser Axle Mania Shootout-he made both final rounds at the wheel of two machines he had never driven prior to that weekend! In 2004, he became the only competitor in the series long illustrious history to sweep the Tenn-Tuck Triple crown, winning all three $10,000 main events in the first weekend of the series. Last season, he appeared in four final rounds in one day at the DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series event at Abilene Dragway, an event that cemented his run to the series championships.
Though Bogacki, who now resides in Woodville, AL, is obviously no stranger to the winners circle, he has never had a day quite like he did at Gainesville Raceway last Saturday. There, he drove his familiar CSR Performance Products Dragster and Mickey Thompson Tires Vega to what is arguably the most impressive performance of his career to date.
Following a Sportsman victory in Fridays opening event, Bogacki, the defending DragRaceResults.com Bracket Series Champion in both CSR Super Pro and Sportsman, went on a seemingly unprecedented blitz in Saturdays main event. Bogacki entered both of his competition vehicles in the $10,000-to-win Super Pro class, and his championship Vega in the Sportsman category. 19 round wins later, he had done the unthinkable: Bogacki took win and runner-up honors in the Super Pro category, and the victory in Sportsman!
Throughout the event, Bogacki was unconscious on the starting line. In Super Pro competition, he posted one .014 reaction in the Mickey Thompson Vega, and one .011 reaction in his CSR Performance Products Dragster. The remaining 11 times he left the starting line with lights in the .00s. In Sportsman competition, which does not allow the use of a delay box, he was slightly more human; posting reactions ranging from .005 to .023 before slipping to a .039 in the final round.
As the event wound down, Bogacki squared off with perennial bracket hitter Brendan George in the quarterfinal round, with Bogacki at the wheel of his dragster. There, he used a .002 reaction to take a huge advantage on the starting line and parlayed it to an easy win with a 4.77 on his 4.73 dial-in. In the second pair of the round, multi-time Division 2 E.T. Champion Dave Triplett defeated Nicole Markwart. Bogacki returned to the track in his Vega to take on defending Division 2 Super Comp Champion Kurt Damron in the last pair of the round. There, Bogacki took the slight starting line advantage despite his worst reaction of eliminations, .014 to .020, and posted a dead-on 6.10 run to defeat Damrons .01-over 4.62.
The run with Kurt was probably the biggest round of the day, said Bogacki. First off, hes a great racer in a great car-so you know you have your hands full coming in. But what made the round even more important was that he was carrying the bye run. Had he beaten me, hed have the bye into the final the next round, and Id have to beat Triplett in the dragster, then come back and run Kurt again to win the race. Since I was just .002 in the dragster, I figured Id get the semi-final bye in it if I could beat him. Then, Id just have one round left to have both cars in the final-rather than two rounds to get the win. Luckily, he slipped up a little bit, and I was able to get past him.
As he had figured, Bogacki did earn the semi-final bye run in his dragster, meaning that he would challenge Triplett in his Vega in the other semi-final pairing. There, Bogacki used another stellar reaction time, .002, to take a lead he would not relinquish. He slowed to a 6.129 on his 6.10 target, to hold off Triplett by .011 and advance both cars to the final round.
Meanwhile, in Sportsman competition, Bogacki rolled thru an all-star cast of bottom bulb competitors including last years number two series finisher Bob George, Chip Rollins, and Brady Kelly to square off with Jon Siegel in the final round. There, despite a vulnerable .039 reaction, Bogacki got the automatic victory when Siegel fouled with a -.002.
The more this sinks in, the more amazing it is to me, said Bogacki. Ive been real fortunate in racing; Ive been able to double-up on several occasions, and Ive run myself in the final a few times too. But to do both in one day-to not lose a round-especially against the level of competition we had at Gainesville
Thats a really special day, and the rarity and significance of that isnt lost on me.
Bogacki thanked CSR Performance Products and Mickey Thompson Tires for backing his American Race Cars dragster and Vega respectively. He also thanked associate marketing partners Jegs, Bill Taylor Engineering, American Race Cars, and Huntsville Engine & Performance Center.
My focus has changed this season-and Im not going to attend enough DragRaceResults.com Series events to compete for the championship. The heart of the series has moved West, and I cant justify the travel expenses to make a run at it. Regardless, its nice to come in here and prove that the championships last season werent a fluke. Now hopefully I can carry some of this momentum into the IHRA and NHRA events weve got coming up. I want to thank Whitney Wesson, who served as my pit crew and good luck charm this weekend for all her help; and I want to thank each of my marketing partners for their support and continued faith in our program.
In addition to those marketing partners listed above, the Bogacki Motorsports team includes Moser Engineering, Rockett Brand Race Fuel, Milodon, Nitrous Express, ISC Racers Tape, Auto Meter, K&R Performance Engineering, Hedman Hedders, TD Performance Products, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Advanced Product Design, Goza Racing Products, Nitroplate, K&N, AFCO Drag Racing, B&M, Figspeed.com, and Dixie Performance Products.
