Tax Bracket Racing -- Frank Cicerale

Besides a driver, the next most important ingredient to a successful team is the crew chief. The crew chief is the one who makes sure that all the mechanical parts of the car are kept in top shape and that the car goes down the racetrack quickly and safely. Frank Cicerale has been the crew chief for the Tax Bracket Racing team since it was founded, and he has enjoyed much success during his tenure.

Frank originally started his racing career while back in high school in the late 1960’s with a 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396. After a lengthy layoff, he got back into drag racing when he bought his current car, a 1965 Chevrolet Nova that he ran in Pro and Super Pro eliminator. He enjoyed limited success with the car, making it to one final round. After a blown motor sidelined his efforts in 1989, Frank again went on a hiatus from drag racing. That hiatus ended in December of 1993, when he bought a Jr. Dragster for sons Frankie and Vinnie as a Christmas present. Then it was off to the races.

Frank tuned Frankie and Vinnie to numerous successes since they started racing in 1994. As a crew chief, he has captured six Island Dragway track championships (1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, and 2005), the 2002 Old Bridge Township Raceway Park Jr. Dragster D Class Championship, and four one-two points finishes (1997, 1998, 1999, and 2004). Frank made the transition to the full size ranks with son Frankie in 2000, and tuned him to a Super Comp win and seventh place position in Super Comp points in 2002, and the Division 1 Street Eliminator championship the same year. The 2003 season marked the final transition as Vinnie graduated out of the Jr. Dragster ranks and into the full size wars. In their first season working together in a full sized race car, Frank tuned Vinnie to the NHRA Sportsman World Championship and the Division 1 Street Championship in 2003, Vinnie's rookie year. In 2004, Frank got his first track championship with a full size car when Frankie drove his Chevy Nova to the title over Vinnie in Street Eliminator at Island Dragway, and scored another a year later when Vinnie took home the Island Dragway Street Eliminator track title. He also guided Vinnie to a second place finish in Division 1 Super Street points in 2006, and came within one round of watching Vinnie win a divisional the same year.

For 2009, Frank will once again help his sons compete in the local bracket program at Numidia Dragway. He will also work the numbers on the team’s new Super Comp dragster, which will make its way back to the track after it’s one and only appearance in 2007. Frank is looking forward to getting back to his car soon and having the same fun that his son’s are now enjoying, though behind the wheel of his new toy, a 1969 Chevelle SS396 that he plans to run in Pro. Until then, however, with Frankie piloting the Super Comp dragster and his 1968 Chevy Nova, Vinnie driving the wheels off of Bob DiMino’s S-10 truck, and Frank turning the wrenches and dialing the cars, the Tax Bracket Racing team is going to be tough to beat in 2009 and beyond.