Greenbrae Man Tinkers With NASCAR Stars

Greenbrae's Mike Desrosieis lives just a few blocks from the house where he grew up; he still keeps tabs on his old friends; and he still loves tinkering with cars. Obviously, Desrosieis doesn't stray far from his roots, so it wasn't so strange to see him working in the garage Saturday at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway.

Desrosieis worked hard to prepare the engine of the No. 1 Esef Apparel Chevrolet for a knock-down, drag-out fight in Saturday's Thunder Valley Casino 200. Driver Jim Inglebright, a longtime friend of Desrosieis, put on a thrilling show as he fought to a sixth-place finish after taking — and giving — some hard knocks.

If it has a motor, Desrosieis has probably taken it apart and put it back together again in his garage. The Redwood High grad has worked with race cars, motorcycles, even jet skis during his career as a mechanic.

"I used to race motorcycles, but I mostly finished in the middle of the pack. I realized I wasn't going to make money as a rider, so I decided to work on the engines," Desrosieis said.

He and Inglebright used to race 125cc motocross bikes against each other in the early '90s. Inglebright was a tough competitor, according to Desrosieis, until he hurt his knee. Inglebright, who lives in Fairfield, raced bikes for nine years before moving over to stock cars. He has eight career NASCAR Southwest Tour and three West Tour wins.

Desrosieis spends considerable time on the hill overlooking Infineon Raceway's road course. He primes the engines for some of the area's top go-karters, including Inglebright.

Desrosieis has also crossed paths with Marin sports car driver Memo Gidley and Los Gatos native AJ Allmendinger, who will be in the lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway. He also helped Manteca brothers Alex and Scott Speed. Scott has made assaults on Formula One, IndyCar and NASCAR. All of them have starred on the go-kart course.

"I've worked with a lot of guys and seen them move on. It's great to see them succeed," Desrosieis said. "I'm proud of them."