Carl’s 4 Wheel Drive and Performance Center presents Bracket Series Races 5 and 6 with Additional Verge Series Recap 

Last Updated on May 19, 2025 by WWTR

By Jeremy Rosenstengel

If you were looking for a place to get your adrenaline junkie need for a speed fix last weekend, WWT Raceway was most definitely the place to be. The pit area was packed with our local St. Louis bracket racers, the staging lanes were at capacity, and we also were lucky enough to have Verge Series contenders who traveled in from all over the country in search of that big $$$$. It was truly a great weekend. Speaking of Verge, what a great national series that draws racers from around the country with their $10,000 grand prize money that demands a super-fast, deadly consistent race car. I do not think that Verge people all knew what hit them when they ran into a local WWT Raceway buzz by the name of Shannon Beimfohr Micheletto. Shannon has just been amazing this year. Coming off her LAST FEMALE STANDING win at the TB Promotions Twin 50’s race, Shannon and the whole Beimfohr clan took home the $10,000 Happy Gilmore big check this weekend. Congratulations to Shannon Beimfohr Micheletto and family. We also saw great wins by other local big-name St. Louis racers like Eggleston, Ratulowski, Zeuner, Phillips, Tignor, Albeitz, Beach and Bogacki (but not the Bogacki you were thinking it was, this is the one finding his first win). It was a great weekend and one that will have lasting memories for our St. Louis racing community. Here is how it all went down!!!

SUPER PRO

Saturday’s Super Pro race saw veteran racer Mike Tuff Paw Eggleston, who was racing both his Chevy II in Pro and his dragster in Super Pro, defeating Kentucky racer Leanne Morgan in her beautiful wheel-standing S-10. Morgan had been tough as nails all day long delivering double zero lights in several previous rounds. Eggleston was in his usual form as well delivering .001 light in the quarter-final round and another .001 to the red on his bye run in the semi-final round. Mike was riding a razor-sharp edge, and he knew it. The thing that most people could not see was that Mike, who normally is known for his flawless equipment, was struggling all day long with mechanical gremlins. Going into the final round, Mike did his burnout over the line and the dragster had a needle and seat stick and Mike’s dragster died just on the other side of the tree. Mike cranked and cranked on the engine, but it would not start, and fuel poured out the side of the carburetor. The tension was defiantly mounting. Mike, being a veteran, knew how to kill the fuel pump. Got the dragster started, cycled the fuel pump on and off while staging the dragster, cut the light he needed and laid down a near-perfect full pass to defeat Morgan. This was a hard-earned, experienced driver knowing how to overcome adversity kind of a win for Mike Eggleston. Great job to both drivers!!!

Sunday’s Super Pro race came down to two seasoned St Louis racers in the finals Jon Tignor and Brian Cook. In a field that was throwing down perfect .000 reaction times one after another by the likes of Leanne Morgan, Amanda Miller, Ed Wiggins, and Mark Horton, you knew the race was going to be tough. In the end, it came down to Tignor laying down a .001 light to Cook’s .005 light in the finals with both racers on the brakes hard at the stripe Tignor being one over and Cook being 3 over to secure the victory for Tignor. Wow, what a great race, and great job by both the finalists. 

PRO CLASS

Pro Class in the last year plus has been dominated by the Ratulowski clan. This weekend was no exception. 

Saturday’s race saw John Ratulowski vs dominant motorcycle racer Janie Palm on her bad boy Hayabusa. John took advantage of his .013 reaction time and one under run to defeat Palm with her .003 red light on a dead-on-the-dial pass. Janie made her way to the finals by defeating Jessie Garcia using her .006 reaction time to find the victory. John defeated Joe Renaud in the semi-final using a starting line advantage over Renaud who was driving his backup car. Congratulations to John on his hard-earned victory. 

Sunday’s Pro race would see the semi-finals with all three Ratulowskis still in as well as David Scheer. John Ratulowski would defeat Danny Ratulowski taking advantage of a .004 reaction to Danny’s .015 red. Mike Ratulowski erased a starting line deficit to put his car dead on to defeat Scheer in a very close stripe. The all-Ratulowski final saw a very dominant performance by Mike Ratulowski. Mike was 11 better than John on the starting line, and Mike put his car dead on the dial-in with a one compared to John who put his car dead on the dial-in with a zero…. Wow, that is some great driving. The difference in the final ended up being the 11 thousandth on the starting line advantage that Mike Ratulowski took advantage of. Great race by the entire family, congratulations to Mike Ratulowski on the hard-fought win in a great family affair. 

VP RACING LUBRICANTS SPORTSMAN CLASS

Saturday’s VP Racing Lubricants Sportsman class saw veteran racer and high school sponsor Steve Zeuner win in a dominating fashion. Steve matched up against Bobby “Knight” Meyer, the high school standout in the S-10 who had found his way to his first-ever non-high school final. Zeuner took a huge starting line advantage all the way to the stripe and put his Dodge truck one over at the stripe to secure the win. Meyer is a great up-and-coming young racer, and it was great to see him shine in the Sportsman showdown. Meyer had to beat the veteran Jim Pearson in the semi-finals and Zeuner had to take out Jim Brouckaert to find his way to the finals. Congratulations to Steve Zeuner on his win.

Sunday’s Sportsman race saw multi-time champion Luke Albietz defeat Brad Bouckaert by taking advantage of Brad’s .033 red light. Luke had to defeat Bobby Meyer in the semi-finals to make his way to the finals. Brad had to best young Luke Beach in his quest to reach the finals. Congratulations to Luke Albietz on his Sportsman final win.

COMMERCIAL SAFE AND LOCK SUPER PRO BIKE

Saturday just seemed to be Dale Stewart’s day. Dale found a way to defeat multi-time champion Phil Humphry in a great final round. Dale was behind on the starting line putting up a .029 light to Phils .017 off the start. Dale and Phil both pushed super hard, and no one would lift in the finals forcing a double break out in which Stewart would be second across the line but secure the victory. Humphry would defeat DeAndre Lewis in the semi-final to make his way to the final as Stewart had the competition bye in the semi-final. Congratulations to Dale Stewart on your victory.

Sunday would see Phillip Humphry, who was the bride’s maid the day before with his runner-up finish, not wanting to repeat that finals performance. Phil Humphry found himself in Sunday’s finals against Charles Willis Sr. Both drivers were very on edge at the starting line as the finals saw a double red light start with Phillip Humphry going .004 red to Willis’s .012 red giving the true start victory to Humphry. Willis had to defeat Steven Davis in the semi-finals to make his way to the finals. Congratulations to Phillip Humphry on your hard-fought victory.

JUNIOR THUNDER

Saturday was a great day for both Damon Habeberger and Brayden Hearn. The only two competitors in this class battled it out and they both seemed to get better as the day went on. In an amazing final, Damon took advantage of a .018 reaction and 32 over the dial-in to defeat Brayden who was .004 reaction time but 95 over the dial-in in the loss. Great job off the tree by both competitors. 

Sunday saw the field increase to six cars. Sunday turned out to be a day that one young man from a generational racing family who loves to travel the country race will surely never forget. The very first win, numero uno, the one you will never forget and the one that gives you that very first taste. The one that shows you, hey, winning is better than losing and is really fun. Well, this was it for young Jack Bogacki. Jack defeated Callie Sutton in the fourth-round final with a nine over the dial-in to her 15 over the dial-in with both having a reaction time that started with a 2 or a 3. But none of that mattered. That was just the culmination of a spectacular day for young Jack. It was a day that he got to taste a bunch of the really cool things our sport has to offer. He got to race his brother first round, which happens all the time to all of us, having to race our friends or family. But this time he won. He had to race yesterday’s winner second round where there will not be a buyback. But this time he won and put up a .008 reaction time in doing so. He earned the best words in drag racing, you have a bye to the finals because of your stellar performance with the .008 reaction time. Then Jack did what he had to do no matter what it took good, bad or ugly to earn the win in the final round. That is one heck of a day of racing for that young man. A hard-earned victory that will be etched into his brain. The one that wakes you up and makes you realize why we put in all the hard work and effort. Pretty cool stuff. That’s right, not the Bogacki you thought was going to win with Mom running Verge and Big Brother racing in the same class, but still cool.

JUNIOR LIGHTNING

Saturday’s finals pitted Karson Elkins against champion Sarah Stewart. The 16-car field was especially competitive on Saturday and had seen Karson throwing down .003 lights in earlier rounds on the way to the finals. Karson was up to the challenge on Saturday defeating the champion Sarah with a .029 reaction in the final and putting the JR dead on with a zero. Wow, that is a lap that would win a lot of Pro rounds. Great job Karson on your Saturday victory.

Sunday’s finals saw Kaley Paynter taking on Stetsun Taylor. Kaley took advantage of a .020 reaction time and went one over with a four to defeat Stetsun who was .031 on the tree but ran four thousandths under the dial-in on the break-out victory. Kaley also had to defeat Jack Bogacki in the semi-finals while Stetsun earned the competition bye to the finals. Great job by Kaley and a great win.

MARINE COIN COMPANY JR STREET

Saturday late-night finals saw young Jacob Phillips piloting the Racin Jason Phillips Mustang with Jason riding shotgun vs Braxon Petus. The finals saw Braxon just missing the tree and turning the red light on to secure the win for Phillips. Phillips secured his trophy, and his finish line celebration included a photo from the front of the Mustang with a nitrous burst blasting out across the hood in celebration. Jacob also was on the single in the finals on Sunday. Great job Jacob.

RANKEN TECHNICAL COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL ELIMINATOR

The finals of high school matched Luke Beach was in the finals against Conner Hanion. Luke used a .031 reaction time and matched that with a two over 11.71 on the 11.69 dial-in to outlast Connor who ended up going 4 under the dial in a very good effort to try to catch Luke. On an interesting side note, I did not witness this, but it was relayed to me by someone else, Luke was forced to walk away from a late-round semi-final this weekend and forfeit the round to participate in some high school-related activities, I believe they call it graduation. Congratulations to Luke Beach on your hard-fought win!!!!