Drag Racing News

Woodville, AL: Two weeks ago, Luke Bogacki kicked off the NHRA Division 2 campaign with a Super Comp victory at the wheel of his ThisIsBracketRacing.com backed American Dragster at the Lucas Oil Divisional event at Bradenton Motorsports Park. A week later, the young racer nearly one-upped himself, as he drove the same machine to a runner-up finish at the second Division 2 LODRS event at Gainesville Raceway, and added another runner-up finish in Stock Eliminator at the same event.

Bogacki wheeled through six tough rounds of competition in the Super Comp category, running his overall round win streak to 13 before falling to good friend and noted sportsman competitor Troy Williams, Jr. in the final round. Along the way, Bogacki knocked off noted sportsman competitors Mickey Whaley, former two-time NHRA World Champion Ed Richardson, John Taylor, and more. Bogacki, who is the head instructor of his own ThisIsBracketRacing.com website (essentially an online driving school for sportsman competitors) put on a clinic of his own at the starting line. Following a mediocre first round reaction time of .018, Luke then posted six consecutive reaction times that varied from .005 to .010 to close eliminations.

Meanwhile, Bogacki was also mowing through the Stock Eliminator field in a ThisIsBracketRacing.com backed Chevrolet Nova owned by friend and former NHRA Super Gas World Champion Bryan Robinson. In it, Bogacki escaped a close first round matchup with the 9-second AA/SA Challenger of Doug Duell, then advanced past Peter Noriega and a heads-up A/SA battle with Grace Howell to advance to the quarterfinal round. There, he survived despite his worst reaction time of the event (.058) when Bill Feist was unable to run his dial-in. Multi-time IHRA event winner Jim Marshall fouled in the semi-final round, forcing Bogacki to prepare for his second heads-up A/SA confrontation of the day against the much faster machine of Robbie Shaw. There, Bogacki got a significant jump at the starting line (.013 to .097), but spun the tires and was unable to hold off Shaw’s 10.12 charge, forcing him to settle for runner-up honors in both categories.

“It was a good day,” laughed Bogacki, “with a crummy ending.”

“Troy Williams, Jr. and Robbie Shaw are two of my closest friends at the race track, so if I had to pick two guys to lose to, they’d be at the top of the list. I knew that Robbie had a significant performance advantage in Stock, and it really would’ve taken a miracle to win that round: he’s not the type driver that’s going to screw up and give you anything, so that wasn‘t a particularly dramatic encounter. And a final with Troy, what can you say there? He’s one of the best that’s ever sat behind the wheel. I don’t care how confident I was coming into the round, when you sit back and think about it, I’m certainly not going to beat him any more than he beats me. I had the tree, but he did a lot better job of being disciplined and sticking to his game plan than I did, and his win light came on as a result.”

With his phenomenal early season performance, Bogacki is the early leader in the NHRA Super Comp standings both nationally and in Division 2, and is near the top of the standings in Stock Eliminator as well.

“Obviously I’m ecstatic with this start to the season,” he said. “I’m a little disappointed because I feel like I left a little on the table in the final of Super Comp, but it’s still a great start. We’ll just keep working, and keep trying to improve. I’ve got two excellent cars right now, so hopefully this streak of momentum and good fortune will continue.”

Bogacki thanked a number of marketing partners in addition to ThisIsBracketRacing.com for their role in his excellent start and continued success. Those partners include American Race Cars, Huntsville Engine and Performance, Advanced Product Design, Ohlins Shocks, Dixie Racing Products, Auto Meter, Hedman Hedders, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Sunset Racecraft’s Billet CNC Throttle Stop, K&R Performance Engineering, Goza Racing Products, B&M, Moser Engineering, Rockett Brand Race Fuels, Figspeed.com, K&N Filters, Frankenstein Racing Heads, ISC Racers Tape, DragRaceResults.com, Nitroplate, Mickey Thompson Tires, J&J Performance, BTE Transmissions and Converters, JEGS, Sparco, Milodon, Nitrous Express, PimpMyCrew.com, and Todd’s Extreme Paint.

"I also want to thank Brett Murphree, Adam Davis, Jeff Adkinson, and everyone else who pitched in to help me prepare for the heads-up runs in Stock.  Having both cars in late, I never would've been able to pull that off without their help.  Also thanks to my girlfriend Jessica, who couldn't be there for either event; which I know is killing her!  She's a huge part of anything I do."