Dirt
Class Is
in Session
Known as one of the best
sportsman drag racers of all
time, Luke Bogacki is shifting his
focus from winning every round
to helping others start winning
By Allyson Johnson
A
s a two-time NHRA world cham-
pion, five-time NHRA division cham-
pion and 14-time NHRA national
event winner with more than 50
big-money bracket racing wins, Luke Bogacki
has seemed to conquer just about anything that
can be conquered on a racetrack.
Starting in Jr. Dragsters in 1993, he’s raced
many cars and classes over the years, but is best
known for his wins in Super Comp, Super Gas
and bracket classes. He’s won nearly $2 million
behind the wheel of a race car and captured well
over 300 event titles. But these days, winning
more races isn’t his top priority. He’s still racing,
but he’s shifted his focus to help other racers im-
prove their skill and learn how to win like he has.
Luke, tell me about This is Bracket Racing.
This is Bracket Racing is a platform where we
provide tools to help our members and customers
understand the sport of drag racing: from funda-
mentals to its intricacies, in seemingly every aspect
of our complex sport. Learning never stops, even
for me. I’ve had more than 10,000 runs down the
racetrack, and I still learn something for every
single run. We have video tutorials, live chat Q&As,
written tutorials, and more from me, Kevin Bran-
non (2015 NHRA Super Comp world champion),
and Justin Lamb (five-time NHRA world cham-
pion), and we bring you exclusive interviews with
some of the best racers in the country.
This is Bracket Racing has been around for
more than 10 years, but something a little bit
newer is the ELITE community in TIBR. What
started that?
Our This is Bracket Racing ELITE member-
ship launched in 2016, and is actually full right
now. It started through a free Facebook group I
created during the offseason to focus on reaction
time. Basically, I said, “Here’s how I practice reac-
tion time,” and I gave people challenges to do each
day. We had more than 2,000 people that were
part of the group, and around 1,000
people were actually participating
and doing the reaction time chal-
lenges. This made me think, “What
can I do for these racers?”, which is
what led to ELITE.
Members have the opportunity
to ask questions to their peers, par-
ticipate in a weekly practice tree
challenge, learn pretty much any-
thing you can think of from finish
line strategy, the business of drag
racing, to the mental psychology of
competition.
This year we hosted our first live
event for members, Elite Fest, at I-57
Dragway in May. We’re hoping to
do it once each year. It’s a driving
school-type event with a seminar
day and an on-track day.
We’re not accepting new members
right now for ELITE, but enrollment
will be open from July 26 to August
3 for anyone interested in joining.
Do you have a favorite memory
at the racetrack?
It would be easy to say some of the bigger wins,
like at Indy (the U.S. Nationals), or the Spring
Fling Million, but my favorite memory was actu-
ally one that I lost in the finals. Of course, it was to
my wife, Jessica. It was at I-57 Dragway in 2010,
and was just an incredible day for both of us.
You really seem to have won just about every-
thing a racer can dream of. Is there anything
left on your bucket list?
If you would’ve asked me a couple of years
ago, I would have said no, there isn’t anything
left. But now there’s more and more big-money
bracket races popping up that are really paying
a lot of money. So, I’d definitely like to win some
of those. But if my career ended today, I’d be very
happy with DI it. DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Making up for Lost Time
Blue Oval campaigner
Bill Skillman is savoring his
time behind the wheel
By Kelly Wade
N
26 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
HRA’s SAM Tech Factory Stock
Showdown saw a pair of early stand-
outs in 2019 – and the two drivers
had something very obviously in
common: their last name.
The Skillman family has been involved in drag
racing since the 1960s, with Ray Skillman lead-
ing the charge. Ray’s grandson, Drew, launched
hard into his career, doubling up with both his
first and second national event wins on the same
day in Stock and Super Stock and then moving
Issue 146