CHUCK GROSPITCH
Professional crew member Chuck Grospitch knew since a young age that he wanted to become a crew chief on a nitromethane-chugging Funny Car or Top Fuel dragster. He dabbled in the local bracket racing scene in his native northern Ohio in his late teens before starting work as a Funny Car crew member in 2012. Since then, Grospitch has worked on Steve Harker’ s 2014 NHRA world championship-winning Top Alcohol Funny Car team, John Force’ s PEAK Antifreeze Funny Car, Jonnie Lindberg’ s alcohol flopper, and a local supercharged Pro Mod. His latest move brought him to Don Schumacher Racing, where he currently serves as the supercharger specialist on Leah Pritchett’ s Top Fuel car.
“ I’ ve always wanted to learn more and more and be able to do any position or job on a car,” claimed Grospitch, 25.“ Through all of this I’ ve been bouncing around to different positions; doing cylinder heads at Force’ s then moving to short blocks, doing clutch and bottom end on an
alcohol car. Everything I’ ve done has always been a move to where I’ m doing something new so I can‘ build my toolbox’ essentially. My ultimate goal is to one day be an assistant crew chief or crew chief and a driver. Between being in the seat of a car and knowing the ins and outs of the car, I think that builds a well-rounded crew member or crew chief at some point.”
Grospitch came one step closer to his goal of driving a fuel car this summer when he took over the seat of Randy Meyer’ s proven A / Fuel dragster at the Noble, Okla. NHRA regional event. He drove the nitro-injected machine to a 5.28 at 272 mph to qualify number one, then improved to a 5.27 to win first round of eliminations. A starting line advantage over former Top Fuel driver Spencer Massey wasn’ t enough to get the semifinal win, but the outing was a considerable success for the rookie driver. Grospitch hopes to continue his Top Alcohol Dragster driving career in 2017, taking advantage of occasional off weekends during the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Series tour with Pritchett.
“ I’ m going to continue working at Schumacher’ s, but I have goals to race more next season. I got my feet wet getting my license last year, and my goal for this year was to run a race and get that experience. I set a new goal for each year. My goal for next year is to run at least two more regional races just to get more seat time and build my comfort level in an A / Fuel car one step at a time. Our schedule doesn’ t really allow me to race an A / Fuel car full-time or at national events so I have to squeeze those in on off weekends.”
It’ s a demanding schedule, but the long hours and grueling work are worth it for Grospitch.“ That’ s what it all comes down to – I love drag racing. I’ m always hungry to do more and more, to win, and to keep moving up.” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI
PHOTOS: NATE VAN WAGNEN, DRAG ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVES
JIMMY DANIELS
Many racers who have been fortunate enough to claim victory at the prestigious NHRA U. S. Nationals count winning the‘ Big Go’ as the highlight of their racing career. In 2010, Jim Daniels achieved that dream by winning the famed Hemi Challenge, a headsup competition featuring‘ 68 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda factory race cars. Six years later his son, Jimmy, entered the event with the exact same‘ 68 Dart with which his father won the event. The apple didn’ t fall far from the tree. Daniels’ Hemi-powered machine ran consistant
8.40s to march through one of the toughest fields in the history of the Challenge. Jimmy Daniels earned his first NHRA championship Wally in the SS / AH class and received a nice hunk of change from Mopar.
While the youngest Daniels, who’ s now just 20 years old, technically got his start in Juniors, he only competed in a handful of races before he turned 16 and graduated to Stock and Super Stock, running a couple of Camaros locally at first and then on a national level. When his father was ready to give up his seat in the Dart last winter, Jimmy jumped right in. He admits they struggled with the car, which they changed from a four-speed back to an automatic. They took the car almost completely apart and readied it just in time for Indy.
“ It was an awesome experience,” Daniels said of his big win.“ I can’ t even describe it, really. It was just awesome to be able to win that race several years after my dad won Indy in the same car. It was even the exact same motor. I want to thank anybody that’ s helped me along my drag racing career. Anything that anybody’ s ever told me, I appreciate and I’ ve learned from it. I can’ t thank my father enough for giving me the opportunity, letting me drive his car, and the Bartons for providing us with really good horsepower. It’ s a whole team effort.”
Daniels followed up his Indy win with another win at the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic, proving his success was no fluke.“ Dad’ s given me the confidence to drive the cars and taught me things over the years. I’ ve also learned a lot from David Barton, as well as Ray [ Barton ]. Those two are really the ones that have impacted my driving and learning the most, especially with the Hemi car.”
Daniels may be a bit of anomaly in the stock categories, where the average age is often well above his 20 years. He’ s proving that his generation doesn’ t always need the shock and awe of the nitro categories to spark an interest in the sport. It’ s this love of stock class racing that earned Daniels his 30 Under 30 spot.
“ Racing is not always easy,” Daniels stated.“ I take it as a challenge. My approach is to never give up, no matter how bad the weekend could be. Keep digging and eventually one of the races is going to come out in my favor.” – LISA COLLIER DI
November 2016 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 101