KYLE SEIPEL
SEIPEL AND BIONDO LAUNCHED THE FIRST K&N
SPRING FLING AT BRISTOL DRAGWAY IN 2010 AS A
TRIO OF $20,000-TO-WIN BRACKET RACES. TEN YEARS
LATER, THE DUO HOLDS THREE EVENTS AT TRACKS
FROM COAST TO COAST WITH WINNERS TAKING HOME
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.
be billed $500 on the spot and two payments
of $500 every other month with the final $350
paid at the gate, or you could be billed $250 on
the spot and get six payments every month. We
fine-tuned that and we were very worried that
something would go amiss on that because we
had never tried that before.
Anyways, a couple minutes before we went live
we had a ton of people on the site, so we were
very excited. Right at noon Eastern, the orders
start going. Within the first 30 seconds we had
90 entries. We refreshed again and had 140. As
soon as you could refresh it was skyrocketing.
We had an issue with the site where it took too
many entries. We wanted a 385-entry cap. Well,
the web guy mistakenly set it up to allow 385
entries per payment plan method, not 385 entries
combined. Once we got to that number, instead
of it shutting down the site like it was supposed
to, it kept allowing more and more orders.
How did you fix that issue?
We sat here for hours trying to figure out what to
do. Do we allow all these entries to race and do we
pay out like a million dollars? But we spent a year
and a half on this business model and we really
thought the model we came up with was truly the
best model, so we decided to only allow racers to
have one single entry, which is what they used to
do like at Moroso. None of our competition could
do this, but we were in a great position where we
could. We had to call up about 80-100 racers and
say, “Listen, I’m sorry for the problem, but you’re
only going to be able to race one car. Would you
still want to race in our event?” Every single one of
those racers decided, “Yep, it’s a very prestigious
event. I’ll be fine with just doing one car.” We’re
still higher than where we want to be, around
450 entries. But we’re still doing the payment
plans and we don’t know how much attrition is
going to happen.
What’s preventing you from raising the advertised win-
ner’s payout?
If we would have kept all the entries we had on the
original oversell, we surely could have advertised
a higher winner’s payout. But after taking out
double entries, we will be down to a manageable
car count and it’s too early to tell exactly where we
will end up on race day. Peter and I have always
been more on the side of under-promising and
over-delivering. With that said, if we end up 50-
plus entries higher than we originally anticipated,
and the event goes as planned, we could very well
surprise the racers and add to the purse.
You and I spoke in 2016 for a DRAG ILLUSTRATED round-
table story about the state of bracket racing and one of
the topics was the way big-money bracket races were
popping up left and right. That trend has continued to
the point where bracket racers around the country can
race for large sums of money at least once a month, if
not every couple weeks. But even with that increase in
competition, the Fling races have continued to do very
well in terms of racer participation and manufacturer
support. How do you and Peter continue to raise the
bar in what’s become a crowded market?
After each race, Peter has a whole sheet of notes
– and I do also, but he’s the ramrod behind this –
and we’ll go over those notes after the event. Like
when we drove home for eight hours after GA-
LOT, we talked about everything that went well,
but most importantly, how things can improve.
From the racers’ perspective, I think if you talk
to them, they’ll say it was a very smooth event,
but internally, we know there’s a lot of things
we can improve upon. That being said, we spent
an eight-and-a-half-hour ride home going over
everything Peter made notes on so we could
make the races smoother internally, which in
turn makes the event look even better externally.
Using that analysis, that’s what we’ve done
for all three events. We try to make them better
all the time. For the racers, we increase payouts
when we feel that we can and we try to get more
and more racer appreciation giveaways. At our
events we always have at least $50,000 in give-
aways. I think the most important thing is we’re
always fine-tuning our business model at each
event to where we try to make them the best we
can. From the racer’s perspective they might think
we can’t make this any better, but internally we
know that we can and I think that’s what sepa-
rates us from the pack.
We pretty much spend nine or 10 months a
year working on three events, whereas most of
our competitors put on, let’s say, eight, 10, 12
events. We’re staying at the very small number
and trying to fine-tune those the best we can so
we give the racers the best experience possible.
I think that’s pretty much the separation. We
probably have enough demand to go to five or
six events, but we’re keeping it at three for the
time being so we can still fine-tune each one and
make them the best events possible.
Do you think you and Peter will ever add another race?
I could see us possibly going to a fourth
event in two or three years. I think we have
enough demand.
Peter and I both have fairly young kids. I have a
13-year-old and a 5-year-old. He has a 2-year-old
and a 4-year-old. We want to go to more events,
but for the time being we want to focus on fam-
ily life. I sense going to another event in two or
three years.
Finally, where do you see your personal racing endeavors
going from here? You’ve won a total of 22 NHRA Division
7 championships, as well as NHRA national events in five
different classes. What’s next on your radar?
Well, my personal racing, quite honestly, I see
that slowing down. This whole ordeal I’ve been
through puts things into perspective. When I’m
gone racing, my wife runs the show by herself
while my daughter and son are playing competi-
tive soccer, swimming or playing baseball. I want
to enjoy those times more with them. With what
I’ve been through, I’ve pretty much made the
decision that I’m still going to race here and there,
but I think I’m going to pull back a little on that
and focus more on the Sonoma races, the Flings
and focus a little more on family vacations and
that sort of thing.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
82 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
DI DI DI
Issue 145