Kyle Seipel loves his bracket racing lifestyle

Passion Play
Kyle Seipel loves his
bracket racing lifestyle
BY NATE VAN WAGNEN
A
s a driver, California’s Kyle
Seipel is one of the most accomplished racers in the history of
NHRA’s Pacific Division with a
stunning 22 Division 7 titles. As a
promoter, he is co-host to some of
the richest races in the bracket racing world: the
Spring Fling races at Bristol and Las Vegas. Seipel
is deeply passionate about the sport, and it shows
through his work on and off the track.
A passion for drag racing runs in the Seipel
family, as Kyle proudly points out his parents’
longstanding involvement.
“Believe it or not, my dad has bracket raced the
same car since 1958. My mom has run two differ-
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ent drag strips out here in Northern California
since 1982, so we’ve been doing this for a long
time, that’s for sure. My dad is 79 and my mom
is 73, and she’s still the drag
strip manager at Sonoma
Raceway. Those two people
love drag racing more than
anyone else I’ve ever met.”
Kyle followed in the footsteps of his father, Ted, when
he started racing at age 12
and the father-and-son duo
competed as a four-car team
during the late-‘80s and early-1990s. Seipel’s résumé
boasts 10 NHRA Lucas Oil
Series Division 7 championships and 12 Division 7 E.T.
Finals titles, all acquired
before he turned 30 years old. Racing in Super
Comp, Super Gas and Super Stock, Seipel won six
of those titles as double-ups in three consecutive
seasons. His success isn’t limited to NHRA competition, though; in 2007 Seipel defeated close
friends and hugely successful sportsman racers
Jeg Coughlin, Jr. and Peter
Biondo in the late rounds
of the Thanksgiving Bracket Nationals to take home a
$45,000 pay check.
For the past decade or
so, Seipel has competed on
a limited schedule, but he’s
still a serious player whenever
he shows up to race. Driving
for Justin Lamb and his Henderson, Nevada-based family
operation, he started off 2015
with a win in Stock Eliminator at the Phoenix national
event. The second-generation
driver also won in Top Dragster and runnered-up
in Stock at the Las Vegas divisional and Sonoma
Nationals, joining an exclusive list of drivers who
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have won at the national level in five different
classes. Lamb joined him in the winner’s circle
at some of those races, too, so the partnership
has proven to be a successful one.
“It’s a cool deal. They give me two cars that are
probably some of the best vehicles out at the track.
We try to help each other as much as possible. We
race four to five cars at every event, including the
Comp car Justin drives for a team out of Canada. Justin’s sister, Ryen, also races. We work real
well together as a team. Justin was able to win at
Sonoma, also. He won at Phoenix, too. I get just
as much satisfaction seeing him win as I do if I
get in the winner’s circle,” Seipel says.
As if driving two of the top-contending sportsman cars on the West Coast isn’t enough, Seipel
also co-promotes the Spring Fling bracket races with Biondo. Six years ago, the best friends
went into business together to promote the first
Spring Fling at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee. A
second event was added in Las Vegas two years
ago to give West Coast bracket racers a chance
to compete on a big stage with even bigger prizes.
“We spend about nine months a year trying
to get as many manufacturers as possible to
support the race. We
were fortunate this year
that, on top of the prize
money we guarantee
regardless of car count,
we had over $50,000
worth of manufacturer
giveaways to give away
to the racers at both
events. That’s something we’re very proud
of. We do as much as we
can to give good value
to the manufacturers
and the racers.”
The 2015 Spring
Fling races were considered a resounding success
by everyone involved, with 388 entries at Bristol
and a whopping 480 cars entered at Vegas. The
Sin City event is expected to grow even more next
year, due in part to Seipel and Biondo’s latest
creation, the Spring Fling Million. Four of the five
days will be contested as they have in the past, but
Saturday’s race will have a 100-percent-guaranteed payout of $100,000 to the winner, $50,000
to the runner-up and $1,000 round money starting at the third round. The purse will increase
accordingly with the car count, hence the Spring
Fling Million title.
“Five years ago, if Peter and I sat down at dinner
and said we were going to have a million-dollar
bracket race we both would’ve thought we were
completely crazy. We tested the market to some
extent this year where we had a $2,000-to-enter
bracket race that was $50,000 to win. We took
32 entries and very well could’ve taken 70 or 80
cars. We used that as a gauge to see if this type of
high-dollar event could work on the West Coast.
“It’s definitely a gamble,” Seipel admits. “We’re
taking a proven product and we’re altering it
somewhat. One day is going to be completely
different than what we’ve done in the past. We
believe in the racers and the racers seem to believe
in us. We’re willing to take that gamble.”
As much as it is a business venture, putting
on the Spring Fling races is a passion project
for Seipel, one from which he enjoys immense
gratification.
“I would say promoting the races gives me a lot
more satisfaction (than racing). I’ve been racing
since I was 12 years old, so a little over 30 years,
and I’ve been fortunate enough to have some
success. That being said, when you put your heart
and soul into something for nine months with
your best friend, it’s very gratifying when it goes
well,” he says.
“It sounds kind of weird, but it’s real similar to
having a baby. You work nine months, you don’t
know how it’s going to come out, and when you
open the gates and you see hundreds of racers
come into the track within the first couple hours
... I’ve shown more emotion then than I ever will
winning a race.”
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July 2015
DragIllustrated.com
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