Northern California drag racers enjoyed another exciting evening on Sonoma Raceway's drag strip as the Top the Cops winning officers were crowned and a special appearance of more than 25 elite corvettes during Wednesday Night Drags, July 12.
The Wednesday Night Drags program, which is in its 29th year, gives drag racers the opportunity to drag race on Sonoma Raceway's world-famous quarter-mile drag strip. The objective of the program is to give people, from teenagers to working professionals, a safe, legal and controlled environment in which to race their vehicles, as opposed to using city streets or back-county roads.
Racing is featured in six classes. Timed runs begin at 3:30 p.m. with racing spanning from 4-10 p.m. Anyone with a driver's license can compete, providing their vehicle or motorcycle passes a simple technical inspection.
Officer Marc Renspurger from Napa CHP and Deputy Jack Neely from Sonoma County's Sheriff's Department took top honors for best reaction time (Renspurger) and best overall performance (Neely) in the Top the Cops competition for the 2017 season.
Class winners from the evening included Fairfield's Ron Manley (Jackpot); Novato's Gregory Atamaniuk (Gear Jammer); Novato's Doug Love (Motorcycle); Windsor’s Lenny Celiberti (Comp Rod); Rodeo's Douglas McCay (Sport Street); Forest Knoll's Todd Prose (Street); Novato's PJ Femenio (High School);Cotati's Nick Bulbitz (Corvette Automatic) and Cloverdale's Dan Baptist (Corvette Manual and Vette King of the Hill)
The Wednesday Night Drags and Top the Cops will resume August 2 as over the course of the next two weeks the drag strip will be prepared for back-to-back weekends of top-tier drag racing beginning with the NHRA Division 7 Drag Races, presented by Korbel, July 21-23, followed by the 10,000 horsepower fire-breathing racing machines from the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series at the Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, July 28-30.
The Wednesday Night Drags and Top the Cops will resume August 2. For more information, visit www.sonomaraceway.com/track/you-can-race/ or call 800-870-RACE (7223). For track weather conditions, please call 800-870-RACE ext. 209.
