Dirt
‘Big Chief’ Talks NHRA,
Mended Fences &
190MPH Street Racing
s the first round of Pro Stock eliminations are
set to begin during the 47th annual running of the NHRA
Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in
Englishtown, New Jersey, a crowd is starting to assemble
in the staging lanes. Amidst a slew of racers, crewmembers, fans and officials – including familiar faces like Dave
Connolly, Shane Gray and Alex Laughlin –
stands a distinctly out-of-place Justin “Big
Chief ” Shearer, doing his best to ignore
the fans shouting his name from the tower
hospitality suites above and respond to
every person in his face for a photo or
autograph request while carrying on conversation with some of Pro Stock racing’s
biggest names.
“Can you make your way over to the
Funny Car pits after this?” asks one NHRA
official. “There are some crew guys over
there that would really like to meet you.”
Even for the ever-adjusting Shearer, a
lifetime opportunist who has long since
hung his hat on making the most out of
any situation life deals him, it’s a bit of a
head-trip. Despite having fully embraced
and become well acclimated to the level of
fame associated with being the main character on one of television’s top unscripted
television series, he’s quick to admit that
it’s hard to believe he’s on the hallowed
grounds of Old Bridge Township Raceway
Park as an invited guest, posing for photos with men and women who are
touring, professional race car drivers.
Though news broke on Saturday, June 11th, 2016, that the primary
reason for Shearer’s trip was to film a PSA for NHRA and arrange for
the reissuing of his competition license from the sanctioning body, when
candidly asked to explain what he’s doing in Englishtown this weekend,
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his response leaves a lot to the imagination.
“I’m not 100-percent sure yet, to be honest,” says Shearer.
At it’s core, the New Jersey meet-up between the ultimate outlaw racer
and drag racing’s premiere champions of safety, is about reconciliation.
“I’ve been in talks with NHRA forever,” continues Shearer. “We’ve been
going back-and-forth for a lon g time. Basically, we went at it on Facebook. They sent us [Street Outlaws cast
members] a nasty letter, and I punched
back with social media. And I think they
took the brunt of it, they took the brunt of
the blows, and I think they’ve been pretty
salty about it. It was a weird situation. Not
ideal for anyone.”
The highly publicized, much criticized
ordeal between the two groups left many
of the stars of Discovery Channel’s hit reality television show with revoked NHRA
competition licenses and their fans fuming. Cleary, perception of the show by
NHRA’s higher-ups has changed. And
while any and everyone Drag Illustrated spoke to at NHRA remain vehemently
opposed to illegal street racing, they also
recognize that the show – in its current
form – is actually a far cry from what it
portrays and romanticizes.
“All of a sudden – things have changed,”
says Shearer. “They’re in a bit of a different
place now. They changed networks, had
some changes in management – there are
some different people involved with different perspectives now. I don’t know
everything that has changed, but I know the relationship is getting better.
“So, they invited me to come out this weekend, basically, to just enjoy the
race and see what all they have going on here,” continues the Oklahomabased prize racer. “I’ve never really spent like a full weekend at an NHRA
race, done the whole deal.”
Issue 111
PHOTO: KEVIN COX
A
By Wes Buck