Drag racing a family affair for Petaluma clan

Meet Petaluma’s drag-racing family, the Perivolarises.

Marko, 23, is the driver; Lela, 21, is the “dialer/tuner” or chief mechanic; their father, Nick, is the mentor, racing coach and also a mechanic.

The one thing the father-daughter-son combo at LM Competition share among the 50 or so races they compete in each year - 14 at NHRA drag strip events and lower-tier races across the U.S. - is a family bond.

That means everybody counts on each other to help Marko get to victory lane.

“Everything we experience - from the ups and downs - and everything we learn, we all learn it together,” Marko said. “Every race, one race at a time, is always done together.”

All their dad Nick - who was a dirt-track racer himself - ever wanted to do was get his kids into doing something they liked.

“It really didn’t matter if it was racing, basketball, soccer, softball - I always liked to do whatever their passion is,” Nick said. “He did a little bit of basketball when he was younger and he watched me race growing up. He wanted to try it.”

Marko and the family haven’t looked back since. The Perivolaris clan is deep into?racing, with what appears to be a long-term commitment to a motorsports lifestyle that not only brings them together but requires time and energy as a one-family operation traveling to different regions to race one or two times a month.

This weekend, the family is at Sonoma Raceway ahead of today’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals. Marko attempted to qualify for the Super Comp and Super Gas finals but was eliminated from contention on Saturday.

Even though racing isn’t what most kids might choose as a sport, Nick never complained about the passion his children chose to follow.

“I told them as far as they want to go, we’ll take it,” Nick said. “They’ve done the rest, really. I just sit on the sidelines, just helping this along. It’s those two who have really worked hard.”

Marko started as a dirt-bike racer and transitioned to drag racing, getting his start during Wednesday Night Drags at Sonoma Raceway. Marko’s dad soon knew his son was hooked on racing.

“After I got my driver’s license, several of my friends suggested that I bring my street car out to the Wednesday Night Drags - and as soon as I did a few times, I’ve been doing it ever since,” Marko said.

These days, Marko may steer his Super Gas vehicle (a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro roadster body) or his Super Comp dragster down a quarter-mile strip, but its his sister’s responsibility to make sure it goes the entire length without the engine blowing up or the vehicle malfunctioning.

And Marko’s been just fine with her tuning up his dragsters; she’s the only crew chief/mechanic he’s ever had, with some motivation from dad.

“She was a little bit younger (when Marko started racing) and I said, ‘You know, you should learn about how to be part of it so you guys can do it together,’” Nick recalled telling his daughter. “In my wildest dreams, I couldn’t have had it happen better because they work so well together ... it’s pretty exciting for me to stand on the sidelines and watch.”

Lela wasn’t sure there was a way for her to get involved at first. And then came the day that she challenged her father to guess Marko’s “dial-in” elapsed time for the first round of an event.

She said her dad accepted the challenge after she tried to convince him the car wasn’t going to perform the way he thought, but rather to the time she was suggesting.

“He’s like, ‘Well, if you’re going to contradict me, we’ll just see. We’ll see who’s going to be right,’” Lela said.

She was right.

“It kind of gave me some confidence and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she said. “I felt like I was a part of the team and it kind of just grew from there.”

Nick remains happy the sibling tandem is enjoying success. In addition to racing, Marko and Lela also work as mechanics on other dragsters, including their competitors’ vehicles, which may sound weird to a sports fan but is a common practice in racing.

“When they have good equipment and you have good equipment, it all boils down to how well you execute,” Nick said.

The elder Perivolaris reiterates that he’s just standing back and watching how it all goes down.

“It’s not often you see a 21-year-old girl running the values with her 23-year-old brother,” Nick said. “It’s pretty impressive for me to stand back and watch how methodical they’ve become, their whole program - and when they work on other people’s cars as well.”