One need not look very far in the sports pages (or web pages) these days to find extensive coverage of high school athletes who are drawing the attention of college and professional sports teams, and garnering themselves no small amount of praise (or scrutiny) from the hordes of sports writers.  But if you look just a bit further, a few layers beyond the “ordinary”, you’ll find a form of student-athlete who does more than simply pass a football or field a ground ball.  A student athlete who’s “Middletown dreams” reach out beyond the end zone or the outfield.  Enter the world of siblings Brenda and Brandon Seraphine: Students. Athletes. And drag racers.

One need not look very far in the sports pages (or web pages) these days to find extensive coverage of high school athletes who are drawing the attention of college and professional sports teams, and garnering themselves no small amount of praise (or scrutiny) from the hordes of sports writers.  But if you look just a bit further, a few layers beyond the “ordinary”, you’ll find a form of student-athlete who does more than simply pass a football or field a ground ball.  A student athlete who’s “Middletown dreams” reach out beyond the end zone or the outfield.  Enter the world of siblings Brenda and Brandon Seraphine: Students. Athletes. And drag racers.

At 17 years old, high school senior Brenda Seraphine carries a pretty impressive list of credentials that no doubt leaves many of her classmates at Fullerton High School scratching their heads and wondering just how she does it.  As an honor student at Fullerton High, Brenda certainly knows her way around the books.  In addition to her academic accolades, she is also the Cheer Captain of her school’s varsity cheer squad.   (Who says cheerleaders aren’t good in school?)  But when the text books close and the lights on the football field go down, Brenda’s work isn’t done.  Rather, it’s really just starting, if you ask her.  You see, Brenda has been the pilot of a high-powered Rislone Engine Treatment-sponsored Junior Dragster for four years, and is no stranger to the challenges of a dragstrip; in fact, she was the 2007 track champion at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, CA.  If you don’t find that impressive, you might want to check your pulse.

Brenda’s younger brother Brandon certainly isn’t one to slack off either, as he too is an accomplished drag racer already, at age 14.  The freshman football player who also attends Fullerton High, pilots a Bar’s Leaks Rear Main Seal Repair-sponsored Junior Dragster, and isn’t shy when it comes to winning either.  In 2008, Brandon clinched the NHRA Division 7 Jr. Dragster championship, and enviable feat considering the sheer number of competitors in the division and the level of intensity that goes along with any Jr. Dragster points chase.

While a Jr. Dragster may seem like a far cry from its much larger, faster, and louder brethren, the Top Fuel Dragster, the route a Jr. Dragster driver must take to become a champion isn’t all that different.  In fact, the Seraphines compete on a number of the same drag strips that professional NHRA drag racers do at televised national events.  How many times has a high school basketball player set foot on the hardwood floors of Madison Square Garden? Jr. Drag racing provides young racers, who are athletes in their own right, a chance to show their skills on a much larger stage than many other sports allow.

“Its hard to imagine life without drag racing being a part of it,” says Brenda.  “I love doing well in school, and cheerleading is definitely a huge part of my life. But there is something about racing that I really can’t describe…it’s a thrill that’s hard to explain, and the satisfaction I get out of it is unlike anything else!”  Her brother Brandon echoed those sentiments: “A lot of kids think that racing is about putting stickers or a loud exhaust on your car, but its not like that at all.  The friends I’ve made at the track and the lessons racing has taught me about being a winner and about sportsmanship really are priceless. Not to mention I’m only 14 and I get to drive a race car!”

The Seraphine’s have been charging forward and carving their own path down the drag strips of the west in 2009, with both of the young drivers racking up a number of wins to their credit.  Brenda and her Rislone dragster picked up a major win in Barona, CA at a prestigious NHRA Division 7 event, in addition to defeating her brother in the final round at Speedworld Raceway in Wittman, AZ earlier this year.  Not one to be left out, Brandon has piloted his Bar’s Leaks machine to a pair of wins and a runner-up at Barona Dragstrip in Lakeside, CA this summer, earning him a second-place spot in the points chase for track champion honors with only three races left in the series.  Brandon has also racked up three runner-up finishes in the SCEDA series (www.sceda.com), and sits second in points there as well with only a few races left in the SCEDA season.

While points standings and final-round wins are two of the most critical and easily-measured stats in the drag racing world, spending quality time together at the track is quite likely the most important stat to the Seraphine family.  “Being high up in the points chase is really nice and all,” said father Jeff Seraphine. “But really, at the end of the day, its about all of us being together at the track as a family with so many of our good friends and having a good time.  This is what Brenda and Brandon enjoy doing, and I can’t imagine not being there with them for the whole ride.”
 

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