Ron Pappel, patriarch of Pappel Family Racing, says he caught the racing bug while working on cars in high school. Pappel\'s two children, Jim, 22 and Rochelle, 15 have inherited their father\'s talents and love of drag racing. \"My kids started driving very young. Rochelle started racing a junior dragster at 8 years old and has been the highlight of our team. Jim began driving at 13 years of age in junior dragsters and now drives a Pro Class Vega,\" says Pappel. In addition to their racing team, Ron and his wife Karen also own and operate a car dealership in their hometown of Eugene, Oregon.
Special thanks to everyone who supported our team through out the 2009 season. We are excited and looking forward to what the year 2010 will bring in NHRA drag racing for the Pappel Racing Family.
Happy New Year and get ready for the NHRA 2009 Drag Racing Season! The Pappel Racing Team is fired up and ready to go race. This year is expected to be very busy and fun. Rochelle will be racing at Woodburn Dragstrip as the defending Track Champion in the Junior Fast class. She will be driving the Half Scale dragster with a Cheetah Methanol aspirated motor. Jim will run at Woodburn Dragstrip in the Pro Class driving the ’74 Vega with a 383 c.i. stroker engine. Ron will be running at Woodburn Dragstrip in the Sunoco Fuels Championship Series and Land of the Leaders Series powered by a big block Chevrolet. Hope to see you there!
