By Jim McCombe
Warm temperatures and mild headwinds made for nearly ideal conditions during the Bracket Drag Races at Infineon Raceway, Nov. 16. Nearly 230 drag racers from all over Northern California and beyond convened on the Sonoma Valley drag strip for the second-to-last bracket drag race event of the 2008 season. The final bracket drags event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 30.
The first round of eliminations in the Super Pro class featured 32 cars, but it boiled down to San Leandro's Ted Seipel with his "Helmet City" 56 Austin Healy and the 41 Willy's pickup of Stockton's Dennis Paz, who was looking for back-to-back class wins. Seipel took the head start with a .027 light to Paz's near perfect .001 RT that saw Seipel running a perfect on-the-dial 11.440 at 112.17 mph that forced the "Paz Performance" Willy's into a too quick 10.644 (10.66 dial) at 121.63 mph. Semifinal round honors went to Rohnert Park's Mike Eling in a 65 El Camino and to Santa Rosa's Tom Johnson driving a 70 Camaro. Steve Casner of Sheridan picked up the Vault Security Systems $100 cash bonus for the best combined package in round one with his win over Napa's Larry Ball that had Casner perfect on the tree with a .000 RT and a winning 7.428 ET (7.41 dial in).
Former track champ Jeff La Salle returned to his winning ways and outlasted a tough 41 car field for Pro ET honors. The Santa Rosa cabinet maker had his 67 Dodge Coronet running like a fine-tuned Swiss watch and was able to beat the ever-improving 74 Chevy Luv truck of Jorge Valencia in the semis, which set up a final round meeting with Willow's Alan Rutter behind the wheel of his 72 Duster. Rutter's tardy .139 RT was no match for LaSalle's better .040 giving LaSalle the all important win with a 10.563 (10.48) at 115.65. St Helena's Mike Mitchell (72 Vega) was rewarded with the Vault Security Systems best package award of $100 put up by John and Ruthie Ledford of Vacaville in round one with his win over Fallon Nevada's Eric Doukas that totaled .30.
In Sportsman ET, it was Novato's Joe Doyle in his trusty 65 Nova and the 72 Oldsmobile of Santa Rosa's Michael Scheuer meeting up in the final. Scheuer decided his own fate drawing a red light allowing Doyle to take the victory lap with a 12.029 (12.31) at 111.43. Scheuer proved that he was also capable of running under, posting a losing 13.911 (13.95) and on the brakes speed of only 95.57. The 70 Nova of Napa's Gary Vellenoweth was the lone semi finalist.
The Motorcycle final pitted 2008 Infineon Raceway track champion Jeff St. Germain of San Jose and his 78 Kawasaki against Wednesday Night Drags standout Doug Love of Novato on board his street ridden 01 Triumph. Love's slower bike left first using a .033 RT to St. Germain's .085 and that was all Love needed taking the win light with a 13.015 (12.95) at 100.49 to St Germain's game 9.280 (9.25) at 138.58. Petaluma's Randy Monte took his 96 Buell into the semi's before being eliminated by Love.
High School class honors went to Napa's Nikole D'Adamo and her B&G Tires 69 Camaro. D'Adamo, who was the Division 7 Summit ET Finals runner-up, bounced back with a win over Napa's Michael Byrne and his 78 Datsun 280Z. Byrne squeezed the light a little too tightly resulting with a -.105 red light. D'Adamo used a nice .032 RT on her victory run which netted her a 12.169 effort (12.14) at 109.14, while Byrne had to settle for runner-up honors going 15.780 (15.50) 87.00.
Super Comp (8.90 index) was led by the Uyehara front motor dragster of Steve Casner who led all qualifiers with a perfect and matching index run of 8.900 in the first session. Howevers Casner was not around for the final which paired up Napa's Wally Jacks and his 90 Ron Fry chassis dragster against Pleasanton's Kyle Seipel and his Stone Chevrolet/Helmet City 06 Racetech entry. Seipel was a bit better on the tree, .012 to Jack's .026., but the win light came on in Jack's lane, who scored a perfect 8.900 ET at 174.39 just edging out Seipel's 8.920 at 162.22.
Former Fairfield resident Eric Doukas, who now lives in Fallon, Nev., decided to make the long tow to Infineon Raceway to test the new motor in his 65 Pontiac LeMans and compete in the 63-car field of the Trophy class. After six rounds of intense racing, it came down to 17-year-old High School racer DJ Opperman of Napa and his 99 Eclipse Mitsubishi. Opperman received a huge handicap head start using a .078 RT to Doukas.072 light, but Doukas was able to come from behind and survive the double break out 10.499 (10.56) 122.23 that forced the young Opperman to run further under his 18.45 dial with a too quick 18.344 at 75.77. DJ's sister Jessica made to the semifinal round in her 69 Camaro before being eliminated by Doukas, which prevented an Opperman family final.
In ICRA club competition, once again the day belonged to John Tobias of Castro Valley driving the all steel 55 Pontiac of Pete Aljian. Tobias, with backing from Tobias Motorsports and Tyler Brayton Racing, lined up against the 96 Chevy Impala of Pleasanton's Eric Duemling. Duemling looked good at the start with the better light (.084 to a .135) but he took a bit too much stripe at the finish line going 14.749 (14.79) at 92.78 to the Pontiac's fast closing 9.756 (9.67) at 130.27. Ted Rivas of Discovery Bay took his show quality 71 Chevelle all the way into the semifinals before bowing out.
The final event in the 2008 season will be held on Sunday, November 30, and will feature the King of the Track runoffs, which will pair up the 2008 track champions from the Super Pro, Pro ET, Sportsman and Motorcycle classes. Gates open at 8 a.m. For more information, call 800-870-RACE.
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