CLASS RACER FORUM - Bogacki DQ

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- - Bogacki DQ (https://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=19674)

I was at the race and spoke with him Thursday night. He was parked in the sandbox next to a buddy and he didn't look like the million dollar man by looks of his equipment (other than the fine Super Comp dragster). He couldn't have been a nicer guy and I really enjoyed the conversation. He seemed more concerned with avoiding a heads up race with a faster class car than the legality of his ride.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHRA 5037 (Post 135150)

He seemed more concerned with avoiding a heads up race with a faster class car than the legality of his ride.

BINGO!!! Give the man a prize. He has pegged the reason "legends" in bracket racing think they can jump over into class racing without regards to the rules. Since the bodies looked the same, he probably thought no one would ever send a car in the lower half of the field to teardown. He could just waltz in and use his driving skills to win a national event. WRONG. Kudos to the tech dept for a great catch.

Mr Super Sport, Stock and Super Stock is a money bracket, do you not understand that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Janes (Post 135202)

Mr Super Sport, Stock and Super Stock is a money bracket, do you not understand that.

You are correct. It is a money bracket.....with silly rules like correct carb, correct heads, correct pistons, and correct lots of other things that are not required on a bracket car. That gentlemen is the difference in racing S/SS and racing in the ET brackets.

Once again my hats off to the tech dept for nailing this one! Some racers know exactly what they are doing but do not think they will get caught.

In 5 years I'm sure it won't matter as the bracket Super Stock. Stock and .90 cars will be gone from the NHRA National Event circuit. All you have to do is pay attention to IHRA's (Top Dragster & Top Sportsman) newer classes and what the ADRL is doing and that is where we will be.

The ADRL in St Louis had over 110,000 fans for their weekend race and had 65K on Saturday in which fans had to be turned away due to fire codes. Now we all know why NHRA is PO'd and why they are not making the money they want

Super Sport just drop in the 582 and hook up the nitrous:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Super Sport (Post 135189)

I think you misinterpreted my words...he didn't appear to be concerned with the legality of his ride because he didn't think there was an issue. In fact, he indicated that his car was slower than someone in his class and wanted to avoid him if possible. I can't read his mind and determine if he knew the car was in the wrong class but I will say he was on a three week trip and I doubt he would drag a car across the country if he knew it was in the wrong class. Or maybe he would, heck if I know. I do know that he lost to a doorcar in Super Comp on Friday so I am sure he didn't have a fun time at Brainerd.

I hope no one shows up with the wrong year radiator cap and valve stems on there cars.. Hate to see someone get dq'd.. LOL

You guys crack me up.. If you guys worried half as much about actually racing, and not trying to catch someone else doing something class racing might actually be something new people would want to do..

Kinda makes me glad I dont have a stocker now..

I don't think it's something to laugh about, for the most part the S/SS racers spend a lot of time money and effort to make Class legal cars. It's not for everyone however everyone seems to want to play. Being expected to know the rules of your class is not too much to expect. This doesn't even affect me since I don't have a Stocker however it seems to be a growing trend for the Touring (for lack of a better word)racers to want to come in and see if they can beatup on the Class racers. But hey that's OK we're all just out racing and if you don't like competion then you're in the wrong place.I don't know Luke never met him but I'm sure he's not out trying to cheat anyone.I was told a long time ago when starting out in Modified that you must pay your dues, maybe he just paid some. Joe

luke is a stand up young man!

So he called a '68 a '70? Is there any really good way to tell them apart other than a '68 still says Chevy II and a '70 says Nova? If it wasn't my car I probably couldn't really tell either.

The 100' away easy ID is a 1970 Nova has fender vents.

The posts below indicate a real lack of passion in the sport of Stock and Superstock drag racing. Is it "don't know" or is it "don't care"? Either way, it's not hard to see the demise of the sport. The guys that knows were the ignition key is inserted on a '68 Nova are the passionate ones. The guys that think this is nothing more than a bracket race are the ones that should have nothing more than that, a bracket racer. To them it's the national event lime light more than the purses attached that draws them to this sport. So what if you have to turn a blind eye to a few items. Our society has become that way so it really shouldn't be a big surprise. Doesn't mean it's right, just the way it is.

Big Show, take a look at the class guide and engine specs. You will find a few differences between 68/69/70 are classes allowed to run, engine cubic inch, cylinder bore size, exhaust valve size, head cc, piston dome cc, piston dome height, and head gasket thickness. Even the accepted piston list shows a difference between years.

But details like that don't matter to some because he is a "stand up young man".

P.S. to FLEMING....No mention of radiator cap specs could be found but I believe there maybe a rule on valve stems.

This thread has become ridiculous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshow2966 (Post 135307)

So he called a '68 a '70? Is there any really good way to tell them apart other than a '68 still says Chevy II and a '70 says Nova? If it wasn't my car I probably couldn't really tell either.

as someone said earlier, the ignition swicth is in the dash rather than the column AND the door lock knobs are in a different place.
i'm sure there's other stuff but that's what I remember...

Not getting involved I know the differences .
68 has it's own dash as mentioned before ign. in dash like 67-68 camaro
68&69 taillights have seperate lense for backup &70 up backup in center of tailights
68&69 have short side marker lights.look same as 68-69 camaro 70 up have long side markers
68&69 have different front bumper have small square turn/markers in there own opening
70 up have long openings w/turn/markers behind opening.
68-69 have front side marker lights w engine size in half of it.
as mentioned before inside door locks on 68 I think are down in armrest?
I JUST STATING DIFFERENCE I KNOW IN NOVA's
Mike Taylor 3601

Mannymen: What's the cost of tickets to an ADRL race?... I don't know .... I was just wondering? ... You seem to want to compare ADRL attendence to NHRA races. So let's compare apples to apples. And to do that, in this economy, you have to compare ticket costs, wouldn't you say?

Jim, the tickets are fairly cheap and can be free, but the point is Gen Y doesn't want to see the 11-12 second bracket cars and .90 throttle stop classes, which are a majority of the NHRA show. Let alone they don't want to pay the $40 plus ticket prices. They want cheap/free entries to the races and want to see big Nitrous explosions and meltdowns. They can relate to buying nitrous for their imports and can relate to crashcar Nascar. There may be hope as I drug my nephew down to MPR to look at the Challengers being built by Mike in which he was very interested in. Hey man I don't want this to go away either, but the writing is on the wall. Pro Mods, TD and TS are probably more poplular than the Comp, .90, SS and Stock classes for Gen Y and can easily become fillers.

I don't mean to high jack this post ...and what you're saying is fine, However, What do you think the attendance at Indy would be if NHRA gave out FREE tickets? How many people would be turned away? I just try to keep everything in perspective. JB

Jim,
I hear you. I wish NHRA would do something about the prices. In return hopefully more fans will show up and the return of sponsors lost. They are offering some discounts.

Well while I was looking at the for sale section I noticed a familiar name at the bottom of the screen.

CLASS RACER FORUM Statistics http://classracer.com/classforum/images/misc/stats.gifThreads: 14,605, Posts: 104,647, Members: 8,265
Welcome to our newest member, Luke Bogacki

Thats interesting. I would have thought he was here already.

Steve

I met Luke a few years, very nice stand up guy. His motor was not Illegal his tech card was. All I can say is Luke if you need a car to drive let me or Mike know. That wagon is deadly consistant. And since its a Crate motor car in IHRA year doesnt matter. For you racers that have bitched about someone personally you dont know about you better be careful. He will be in the other lane one day.

Wow, good to see so many people keep up with what I’m doing! Lol
I’ve gotten about a dozen calls over the past two days telling me I have to read these message boards. I would’ve posted sooner but I just got home from Brainerd: my phenomenal weekend just got better once I left the track. My truck broke down and I spent the better part of a day in Nowhere, WI.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a fan of message board forums; I don’t think many positives can come from this discussion (except to possibly keep other racers from making a mistake similar to mine). Additionally, my blood pressure rises at the thought of this whole situation, and I’d rather not relive it. So, while I feel the need to make a statement, an explanation of sorts, this will be my only “post.” It’s already in the past as far as I’m concerned, and I’m not going to spend any more time dwelling on it.
The Nova that I drive in Stock has an aluminum headed 396 Chevrolet. It’s advertised horsepower is 375, and NHRA has factored it to 405. That is a legal combination in 1968 and 1969, with a natural class of A/SA (meaning with it I can run AA/SA, A/SA, or B/SA in NHRA competition). In Brainerd, I wrote the year model on my tech card as a 1970. In 1970, the 396 combination wasn’t even offered. There was a (somewhat) similar 402 motor (factored at 405 as well), but with the 402 the ‘70 model’s natural class is B/SA, which means that it’s not eligible to run AA/SA. The tech officials caught the discrepancy (or were made aware of it by another competitor; I have no idea) after the final qualifying session. I was called to the tech trailer and after a brief discussion and review of the classification guide I was informed that I had no options at that point, and was promptly disqualified from the event.
This was nothing more than a boneheaded mistake on my part. The car is a legal AA/SA car, with a legal AA/SA combination: I’ve run AA/SA at 4 of the 6 NHRA events I’ve run with the car over the last two seasons. I simply wrote the wrong year model on my tech card. I know what you’re thinking: how could you make such an ignorant, stupid mistake? Believe me, I asked myself the same question for 1500 miles coming home. I didn’t realize I’d done it until the tech card & class guide was shown to me in the tech trailer (as I was being disqualified). The only explanation I can give is that Bryan (Robinson, the car owner) and I had reviewed the classification guide and discussed it a few months ago; reviewing the different possible combinations that we could run by making fairly minimal changes to alter the year model (which is pretty common in Stock by my understanding). I’ve only been able to run the car a handful of times this season, so the information wasn’t fresh in my mind. Apparently, I got it all mixed up in my little pea-brain.
I’m extremely upset with myself, and embarrassed for making such an ignorant mistake. Doing something like that anywhere is bad enough, but to do it at an event so far from home, where I felt I had a good chance to do well, was very disappointing. Not to mention the fact that I let Bryan down, and all of our marketing partners and the many people who‘ve helped to make the car competitive. Had I had any doubt in my mind I would’ve referenced the classification guide or consulted a tech official; it just never occurred to me that I’d made the mistake. I wasn’t trying to misrepresent the car. I wasn’t trying to “pull one over” on NHRA or the other racers. I was running a legal combination in the correct class, I just wrote the wrong year on the tech card.
This is my mistake, and I take full responsibility for it. With that being said, in my mind the punishment was severe for the crime. I was running a legal AA/SA combination in AA/SA. It was accepted at tech as a AA/SA combination, and I made four time trials at AA/SA weight and qualified against a AA/SA index, I simply wrote the wrong year model on the tech card. With the response from NHRA and other racers, you’d think they found my delay box (that was a joke for those of you who take the written word very literally). But, again, that’s my outlook; and that’s coming from a racer with a bracket racing background. To the class racers (and obviously to the NHRA officials), it’s a bigger error than it is in my mind. Regardless, I made the mistake; it was caught; and I faced the consequences of my actions. End of story.
As was posted previously, class racing has a lot to do with attention to detail. Love it or hate it, that’s what makes Stock and Super Stock what it is. Obviously in this instance I lacked that attention to detail and I certainly feel like I’ve paid the price. I have no one to blame but myself, and all I can do at this point is try to be more careful in the future: dot my i’s and cross my t’s, and have an overall better knowledge of the combination. Live and learn.
So, for those of you who want to poke fun at me for my ignorance and stupidity, I can’t fault you. Believe it or not, you’re laughing with me, not at me. I screwed up. 1500 miles of consideration have brought me to that conclusion!
For those of you who see this as an opportunity to bash me over unrelated issues; hey I guess you’re entitled to your opinion. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
One thing I can guarantee was accomplished over the weekend and with the continued discussion: A pretty good racer was given a lot more motivation to be successful in NHRA Stock Eliminator. I have a great support group: and a lot of people who are a lot smarter than I am are already paying attention to the details to make sure those t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted (I‘m not naïve enough to think that we won‘t be under a microscope after this episode). We’ll be a constant fixture in Stock Eliminator, and we will be successful.
Luke Bogacki

Luke, that was a very good post you addressed the issue and took responsability for a mistake. I believe that is all anyone could ask for we all make mistakes and as I was taught you have to take responsability for them. Well done. Joe

Luke, you are a nice guy and a dedicated racer. I was glad I got a chance to meet you in Martin. Everyone makes mistakes and we should all take responsiblity for our mistakes (which you have done, hats off to you). Seems to me this technicallity could have been corrected and no harm no foul, we are just sportsman racers you know ...

What I don't understand is if it was this mistake why would NHRA not just let him fix the tech card? That is what should of happened in my opinion. I had a simalar issue at the Brainerd divisional race a few years ago. MY combonation got 4 horspower over the winter and my car no longer fit into I/SA I did not realize this but tech informed me after the last qualifying pass that I was in the wrong class. But unlike what they did to Luke they let me change to H/SA since I was over the legal weight for H/SA they just adjusted the qualifying sheet to reflect the change and let me race. In my case commen sence was used I guess they don't use that at national events.

Quote:

Originally Posted by novassdude (Post 135452)

If the mistake was caught BEFORE he made any runs I'm sure a correction could have and probably would have been made.But since he made runs it affected his qualifying position therefore the DQ was
imposed.Makes sense to me.

Ya gotta love this guy.Great post and good luck in your racing endeavors.P.S just dont pass the scales after a round win.I mean I would never do that................Again!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez (Post 135476)

He was in the right class with only the year of the car needing changed. It would not effect qualifying because he was in the correct class just the wrong year claimed. As he said they had been running it as a 69 that is a legal AA/SA combination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by novassdude (Post 135504)

If that's the case then to quote Emily Latella "Never mind"...........................................

This was an unfortunate mistake. We've all made them and suffered the consequences. The fact Luke personally came on here to address the situation speaks volumes about him as a person. I unfortunately didn't get the opportunity to meet Luke at Brainerd. I saw the car but not the driver.

I do know that the website Luke runs is a great benefit for any driver. If you haven't checked it out do yourself a favor and take a look. The short time I've been a member the has already been a great benefit to me and the membership has paid for itself.

Rick Ryan

What year is the car actually? 68-69-70 are all different styles...ie...tail lights, grills.....or does that not matter anymore?

Probably one of the best bracket racers in the country will probably get a little miffed about all the attention and FOCUS on Stock next year.
We are all about to be "schooled". And you thought Fletcher and Biondo were a handful....this will be fun to watch.
He has a real skill for turning on the little light on his side of the guard-rail.

A clerical error and you get the boot after dropping $270.00 entry fee, seems like a trival error since the car is completely legal. Like a quote I heard in a an old war movie, :it might have been better to not awaken the sleeping dog"... should be interesting in the coming months.

Good Luck "Cool Hand".

BTW: You all should join his website..www.thisisbracketracing.com..no wait, on second thought please don't.

Luke, The same thing happened to Lawrence Line at Brainerd in 2007, he entered SS/MA with his 1985 Monte Carlo stocker and ran three time trails and was DQ, at time his hp was 255, he listed his car as 1985, but it didn`t fit in SS/MA, But if he had list it as 1984 he would have been ok, Tom

Luke,

"A classy post from a class racer." Good luck in the remainder of your 2009 racing season.

Mike Ferstl
SG SR 6091

Yearssssssssssss ago at probably my 1st or 2nd national event (Gators) I classified my car as a 72 instead of a 71 on the tear down slip. Dave Danish started questioning me repeatedly "what year is this car" I kept thinking he was trying cross me up just to toss me. When I figured out what he was doing I answered him with the coreet year and he said " change this and your good to go". Sure gave me a break that day! Common sense prevailed.

You sure it was Dave Danish that gave you a break?? That would be a first in our book!! He was a thorn in our side for years (with the prodding of a frustrated nearby engine builder)!! 1988 & '89 were very difficult years for us, and Dave (self-proclaimed "God"), made sure of it!

Positive Thats what I had been told and could'nt figure out is question to me He gave me a break!

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevy620 (Post 135547)

ok!

Well... I still haven't seen or heard the answer...... what year is the "True" - "Real" year of Luke's Nova?

I guess ....NO ONE, including Luke (obviously), Knows what year his Nova is?????????????