“ I REALLY DON’ T THINK WINNING SUPER-CLOSE RACES IS A SKILL. TO PUT YOURSELF IN THAT POSITION AND MAKE A GOOD RUN TO BE IN A CLOSE RACE IS ONE THING, BUT TO CONSTANTLY HAVE THE WIN LIGHT COME ON? THERE’ S SOME GOOD FORTUNE INVOLVED THERE.”
would have rather have lost to … he even bought dinner after he whipped me; can’ t ask for much more than that!”
A four-hour drive on Monday reunited Bogacki with Jessica and Gary at the airport in Anaheim, California, where they would spend the night before visiting the West Coast home of Mickey Mouse for a fun and relaxing family outing.“ The opportunity to make a living doing something that I’ ve always loved, and to share it with my family, and have opportunities to do stuff like visit Disneyland along the way is both awesome and unique,” Bogacki acknowledges.“ I know we’ ve got it good, and I do cherish this time in our lives.”
Once the Disney experience was over, though, like any good gambler, Bogacki turned his attention back to his true purpose back in Vegas: winning the big money. Unlike most high rollers, however, he wouldn’ t be betting at the neon-soaked casinos downtown. Instead, like 230 other entrants he would wager a pair of $ 2,000 entry fees for a chance to win the all-eighth-mile K & N Spring Fling Million, the annual Peter Biondo and Kyle Seipel production at The Strip. And with Jessica competing in her Super Comp dragster, too, it promised to be a busy time.
On Wednesday, opening day for the Spring Fling, all three of the Bogacki rides were eliminated in the second round of racing. The next day Luke and his Corvette were again ousted early, but both dragsters fared a little better, with him making it into the last 20 cars and Jessica reaching the final 10 before being eliminated.
“ The first day we didn’ t do any good at all and I just felt like I was putting a ton of pressure on myself for various stupid reasons. So I was kind of down on myself,” he admits.“ The second day, my wife and I both did pretty good, so I got up a little bit of momentum. But still— and it’ s all a matter of how you look at things— The Million is the big day and at that point we’ ve won a thousand dollars and we’ ve already got a seven-thousand-dollar tab.”
So with Friday’ s main event, the race for The Million, remaining on Bogacki’ s to-do list, he approached it with measured confidence.
“ At any of the big-dollar bracket races, but specifically The Million, you go in thinking you’ ve got great equipment, feel like you’ re as talented as anybody, but at the same time you just know that the margins are so razor thin and there are 230 entrants and nobody puts the two-thousand dollars in thinking they’ re just donating,” he emphasizes.“ Everybody feels like they’ ve got an opportunity to win and then the way it plays out throughout the day, there will be a handful of races decided by a thousandth of a second, two-thousandths of a second, and people want to give you credit when you win, like,‘ Oh, you’ re the man!’ but in reality that’ s a lot of coin flips. I really don’ t think winning super-close races like that is a skill. To put yourself in that position and make a good run to be in a close race is one thing, but to constantly have the win light come on? There’ s some good fortune involved there.”
Lady Luck obviously rode shotgun with Bogacki on Million Day, as he drove like a champion while his car performed well enough to reach six entries in the quarter finals, from which Bogacki emerged with a no-pressure, coveted bye run in the semis to compete in the big-money final. Once there, his opponent, Texas racer Michael Pennington, left with a. 012 light, just two-thousandths of a second ahead of Bogacki. However, 660 feet later the win light was shining over Bogacki’ s K & N-backed machine, thanks to an oh-so-slim. 0003 advantage at the stripe.
Predictably, Bogacki downplayed his own role in the $ 230-grand win— easily the biggest single-day payout in a 23-year career that’ s seen more than $ 1.5-million in race purses come his way— going so far as to say he wasn’ t driving at his best.
“ It’ s funny, and nobody believes me when I say this, but I drove better at that race a year ago. I was double-oh every time I staged, but it just didn’ t work out. And then this year, it’ s not like I was awful and my car was fantastic, but on paper I didn’ t make as many good runs as I did a year earlier. It’ s just right place, right time,” he insists.“ It’ s funny, I just woke up that morning and I wish I could explain to myself how or why so that I could try to duplicate it, but I just woke up with a good feeling. I don’ t know if you ever feel like you’ re just going to win and outdrive everybody, but I always kinda’ feel like I’ m going to be competitive. And at the end of the day I feel like I’ ll be happy with my driving for the most part— but that doesn’ t mean anything in this sport. I even told my wife that morning, I just have a feeling
79 it’ s going to come together and it’ s going to work out somehow and by gosh, it did.”
For most bracket racers a win in The Million would be a life-changing event, a step up to another plane, even if only for the boost to their bank account. For Bogacki, the money is admittedly great, but even more so he appreciates what it means on a personal level.
“ There were two things that really made it special for me,” he wrote in his DragRaceResults. com posting.“ Number one, I got to share the moment with Jessica and Gary. The Spring Fling staff arranged for the winner to get two nights in a plush suite at the Cosmopolitan. At first, I didn’ t really like the idea of leaving the track; I wanted to soak it all in. In retrospect, I’ ll never forget the memories made away from the facility with the people who matter the most. We felt like we owned the town for a night— and we didn’ t care that people around us must have been wondering what we were doing with a black-kneed three year old in a ritzy steakhouse after midnight— we were just enjoying our moment as a family. It was awesome.
“ The second thing that stood out, and what I think really makes it special, is the realization of just how many people were paying attention and how many people were genuinely happy to see us get that win. There was a time, early in my career where I really fed off of recognition. I was always a pretty insecure kid, so a part of me needed to hear other people recognize me for success. I’ m happy to say that I’ m much more at ease these days and that stuff isn’ t nearly as important to me as it used to be. But it’ s still really special to be so overwhelmed by friends and acquaintances that are truly happy for you and what you’ ve accomplished. It’ s an incredible feeling that I’ m extremely grateful for.”
Going back a few weeks, Bogacki’ s Huntsville experience was just the latest of countless lessons he’ s learned since first strapping into one of the country’ s earliest Jr. Dragsters back in 1993, a car built by his bracket-racing father, Gary, and in which he won first time out at Texas Raceway in Kennedale, just five miles away from home at the time. A born natural, by the time his first year as a driver was over Bogacki had scored another dozen race titles, including the inaugural NHRA Division 4 Jr. Dragster championship event for his age group.