Bogacki’s Double Titles Cement His Legacy, Inspire a New Wave of Racers

Luke Bogacki had the unique experience of becoming the first driver in history to win both the IHRA SuperSeries Top and Mod World Championships at Alabama International Dragway.

The 44-year-old from Illinois has been racing since he started in a Junior Dragster at age 12. He actually coaches some young bracket racers and serves as a mentor to them.

But when he heard about younger drivers calling him their racing hero after his unprecedented accomplishment, he was truly humbled. 

“Like everyone in my area, I grew up trying to emulate Scotty Richardson,” Bogacki said. “There are the Hefler brothers, Tommy Phillips, and my dad, who are heroes to me as well. To have that come full circle with these kids, that means a lot.”

Bogacki, who calls I57 Dragstrip his home track, doubled up and received two commemorative big checks, each worth $25,000, along with two special IHRA Ironman trophies and an IHRA Gold Card.

He drives a silver 1974 Chevrolet Vega originally built by Don Hardy Race Cars and equipped with a 383 engine.

“He built the Pro Stock cars back in the day,” Bogacki said. “He built this one for Modified, so it’s been a race car its whole life. I’ve owned it since 2004. About seven years ago, we stripped it down and redid it.”

Bogacki’s run to the Top championship included some incredible reaction times. He went .007 in the quarterfinals to dispatch Jeff Bowman. It gave him a bye in the semifinal round, as Scott Hessler defeated defending World Champion Scott Wallace.

With the championship on the line, Bogacki had a .008 to .054 advantage over Hessler at the start. His winning pass was 6.513 seconds at 104.43 mph.

 “It was just my day. I didn’t drive particularly well on the bottom bulb, but it just fell into place,” Bogacki said. “It’s pretty cool to get two here. Just to be here on this stage is an incredible accomplishment.”

On the Mod side, Bogacki used another quick start to edge talented teenager Grace Varner in the quarterfinal round. After a nearly identical reaction time against Bailey Pichette in the semifinals, Bogacki advanced to the championship with a 6.504-second run at 106.85 mph on a 6.50 dial-in.

Bogacki went down the track with a 6.821-second pass at 81.51 mph after a .034 reaction time to beat Joe Barney in the final. Barney, who won Friday’s Race of Champions, triggered the red light with a -.005 start before he powered down the track in 6.353 seconds at 96.83 mph.

He talked about what the IHRA SuperSeries World Finals, being a gathering of track champions, division champions, and IHRA Sportsman Spectacular winners, means to the grassroots racers.

“What the IHRA does is incredible to put on this race for the weekly warriors and what we’ve done all season,” Bogacki said. “To come out on top here is very cool.”

Photos by: Hobbie Lee ProPhotography