AUBURN – Going from zero to 172 miles per hour in under nine seconds is still a rush for Regis Lepage, but what really gets his wheels spinning is the split-second decision-making of drag racing.

For Lepage, the challenge of making a strategic move in the last 100 feet of a quarter-mile track is a head game that has kept him in the driver’s seat of a dragster since the early 80s.

“I took an avocation and made it a vocation,” said the 49-year-old Auburn resident. “It was a hobby for a ton of years.”

Not anymore. This is serious business for a guy who became a motor head after watching dragsters take it to the limit at Oxford Plains Dragway nearly 30 years ago. He is now ranked 30th out of 1,400 competitors in the National Hot Rod Association.

He recently won the Super Comp title at the 35th Annual NHRA MAC Tools Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. Besting a field of 120 entries, Lepage drove his 170 mph S-10 Chevrolet through seven rounds of competition to win the event. This was the first national event victory for the 30-year drag race veteran.

Lepage and his wife, Carolyn, spend 20,000 miles a year traveling to events up and down the Eastern seaboard and as far west as Chicago between March and October.

Lepage’s fascination with muscle cars began when a boyhood friend invited Lepage to watch dragsters roar down the track at Oxford Plains Dragway. The fast cars instantly fueled his desire to get behind the wheel of one of those monsters of speed.

“I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen,” recalled Lepage. “It hit me and I fell in love with it.

“I started hanging around cars and reading magazines. I soaked up the magazines and went to the races when I could. I had ridden dirt bikes when I was young.”

But dirt bikes would never be a substitute for his growing passion for those fire-breathing dragons of metal. In 1978, he and a friend purchased their first car. His friend drove while Lepage was the crew chief for three years. They eventually bought another dragster three years later.

“I took a couple of years off and bought another car and drove myself, and I haven’t stopped since 1984,” he said.

The business consultant, who was vice president of Lepage Bakeries before selling his end of the family business, now leases a shop at Motor Home and RV Super Center – his primary sponsor.

“The goal is to make money for sure,” said Lepage. “The reality is purses, as in any sport, are not enough. Sponsorship is the key.

“In drag racing, very few guys who do it do it to eat. It is not lucrative enough. The business side is tough.”

Although Oxford Plains Speedway was next door, Lepage was never curious about taking his chances on an oval track.

“The guys I hung with were more into muscle cars,” he said. “I started to drag race and that did it for me.”
Head games
Life in the fast line never gets old for Lepage.

While it is still a exhilarating to reach a speed of 172 miles per hour in a matter of seconds, it is the strategy of drag racing that keeps him on the hot rod circuit.

Lepage races in two divisions of the NHRA – Super Gas and Super Comp – and those divisions have their own time indexes. Getting to the finish line first is obviously the objective in any drag race, but drivers have to complete the quarter mile on or just slower than 9.90 seconds in the Super Gas or 8.90 in the Super Comp.

That’s where strategy often prevails. In that last 100 feet, Lepage says he will make a crucial decision to step on the pedal or pull up, and no clock is allowed in any dragster during a race.

“Reaction time is critical,” explained Lepage. “The race is still who gets their first. That’s why it is such a head trip. I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t difficult. I really enjoy the challenge.”

Lepage considers himself lucky to have only one major accident compared to other veteran drivers in the sport.

“They (drivers) get in over their heads and they try to save it,” said Lepage. “I am not a hero. When I get into a situation, I just bail.”
Times have changed
It wasn’t long before his wife, Carolyn, a hydrogeologist, joined him on the road and eventually became his crew chief.

Like her husband, Carolyn became a fan of drag racing at a young age when her brother raced at New England Dragway.

She is now responsible for helping with tune-ups, computer downloads, checking the weather from their personal computer, keeping an eye on the tires and helping with strategy. She also drives the rig that gets them to and from each event.

Carolyn also provides moral support, making sure her husband stays focused and calm, and eats before each race.

“One of the aspects (of drag racing) is the social aspect,” said Carolyn. “We have made a lot of friends on the tour. People pitch in to help you and you help pitch in and help them.”

Over the years, drag racing has become a family sport. NHRA events have expanded from four to 23, and many of those competitions receive national coverage from ESPN and ESPN2.

About 55 years ago, Wally Parks, who became the editor for “Hot Rod” magazine, founded the NHRA in southern California in 1951 to legitimize the sport and keep young dragsters from getting killed in unorganized street races.

Much as change since Parks established the organization. Serious dragsters now use computers to check their engines and weather before each race.

“It’s not your dad’s drag racing. It’s not like it was 50 years ago,” said Lepage. “It has become very sophisticated.”

And that is what has kept Lepage speeding down the quarter-mile track for the past 30 years.

tblasi@sunjournal.com

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