Touring sportsman competitor Luke Bogacki is having a great season, even by his lofty standards.
The Woodville, AL based racer came into last weekend's IHRA Northern Nationals with ten major
victories under his belt already in 2009. Thus far this season, Bogacki has claimed national event
victories in the 8.90 category in both NHRA (Atlanta) and IHRA (Baton Rouge), the IHRA All-Stars
title in Top Dragster, a $10,000 bracket race (the Tenn-Tuck series in Bowling Green), a $10,000
Footbrake race (the World Footbrake Challenge in Bristol), and a pair of $5,000-to-win bottom bulb
bracket races. He also entered the event as the defending champion in the Quick Rod category,
having driven his ThisIsBracketRacing.com American Race Cars Dragster to the Northern Nationals
title in 2008.
Bogacki came into the weekend with two seeds in the prestigious Moser Axle Mania Shootout, an elite
event featuring 32 of the top finishers from the 2008 IHRA campaign squaring off for a whopping
$51,000 purse courtesy of Moser Engineering. Bogacki endured a disappointing effort in the event,
falling in the first round of competition with both of his entries.
Later in the weekend, however, Bogacki would continue his dominance of the 8.90 category at the US
131 facility, driving the same car that took him to victory in 2008 to it's 12th consecutive Quick
Rod round win in Martin and claiming back-to-back Northern Nationals crowns. Bogacki began
eliminations by posting a perfect 8.905 to knock off Chad Bayus. He then got a pair of breaks in
rounds two and three, as Tim Irwin red lighted by a heart-breaking -.001, and Leo Zynda had
mechanical problems. In the quarterfinal round, Bogacki used a great .008 reaction and 8.909 to
defeat NHRA Top Ten finisher Brina Splingaire and earn a bye into the final round. Waiting in the
final was Division 3 ace Chuck Siegler. Siegler laid down a respectable .020 and 8.904 run, but was
trumped by Bogacki's perfect .000 reaction time and 8.917.
"I was really disappointed in myself after the Moser Axle Mania Shootout. I felt like I had a great
opportunity there, with two dragsters in the race; but I didn't do a good job and I got beat first
round with both cars. Then, I made a solid run in Stock in round two that came up on the losing
end, so Quick Rod was my last chance to make a decent weekend out of this. I was pretty pleased
with my driving for the most part, and I got the breaks when I needed them. I know I sound like a
broken record when I say this, but it's a game of thousandths of a second. When those thousandths
go your way you look like a hero, when they don't you look like an idiot. This weekend the
thousandths fell my way."
The victory marked Bogacki's third 8.90 class national event win of the 2009 season (2 in IHRA
Quick Rod, and 1 in NHRA Super Comp), and the 7th IHRA national event title of his career (6 of
which have come in the last two seasons). Bogacki's .000 final round reaction and .007 margin of
victory was just another example of his nearly impeccable final round record in 2009; he has posted
eleven victories with just one runner-up finish.
After the Northern Nationals, Bogacki continued his northern summer tour in Stanton, MI at the
World Super Pro Challenge, where he advanced to the semi-finals in Thursday's opening $5,000-to-win
event. From there, he plans to attend the NHRA national event in Brainerd, MN before putting on his
"instructor" hat to teach a pair of driving schools in Gulfport, MS and Prescott, AR the following
two weekends.
Luke Bogacki features ThisIsBracketRacing.com as the major sponsor on each of his competition
vehicles. ThisIsBracketRacing.com is a sportsman racing website that features an online driving
school for subscribing members. Bogacki himself is the head instructor, posting monthly
instructional columns for readers. He is joined on the site by a group of winning racers who have
contributed instructional columns; including Jared Pennington, Jeg Coughlin, Jr., Danny Waters,
Jr., Brian Folk, Peter Biondo, and Troy Williams, Jr. In addition to ThisIsBracketRacing.com,
Bogacki also receives support from several marketing partners, with whom he credits much of his
continued success. Those partners include Brodix Cylinder Heads, American Race Cars, Huntsville
Engine and Performance, JEGS, Bill Taylor Enterprises, Mickey Thompson Tires, Figspeed.com, B&M,
K&N Filters, Auto Meter, K&R Performance Engineering, ISC Racers Tape, Milodon, Goza Racing
Products, Moser Engineering, Dixie Racing Products, J&J Engine Diapers, Ohlins Shocks, Hedman
Hedders, Nitroplate Coatings, Advanced Product Design, Nitrous Express, Rockett Brand Racing Fuel,
Admax Racing Oils, CSR Performance Products, and DragRaceResults.com. Bogacki also thanked Brian
Horton for supplying his dragster for Bogacki to drive in the Moser Axle Mania shootout, and his
girlfriend Jessica for her help throughout the weekend and endless support.
