Hutter ’ s racing career started with late-model racing at his native northern Ohio ’ s short circle tracks , competing in regional series that opened doors with NASCAR teams in the south . James Finch of Phoenix Racing hired him to drive one of his ARCA entries on the big speedways before moving up to a limited NASCAR Busch Series schedule . Eventually , the driving opportunities dried up and Hutter was tired of moving around the southeast to work as a fabricator and over-thewall tire changer in between driving gigs , so he moved back to Chardon , Ohio to work with the expanding family business .

Since Hutter ’ s father , Ron , was building massively successful engines for mountain-motor Pro Stock team owner Billy Dingman , the Hutters decided to build their first drag car upon Matt ’ s return . They started with a bracket car and moved up to a faster bracket car before reaching that car ’ s limitations . Then came the opportunity to buy their current car , a former Erica Enders wind tunnel test car built by Jerry Haas . A nitrous-fed small block was dropped between the frame rails , but the combination proved to be costly and ill-tempered , so Matt coaxed his father into switching to turbochargers for the 2016 season .

“ We tried to run nitrous up until this year , and every now and then there were little hits of success , but overall a lot of inconsistency ,” Hutter admitted . “ We took a step back at the end of 2015 and looked at our options and decided that turbos would be the way to go . It was a little bit of

a learning curve , but about halfway through the season we hit on some stuff in testing .”

Whatever it was that Hutter found during testing worked well for the rest of the season . “ We won two races , set the ET mark for a door car in the series with a 3.91 and had to split one final . We were up at Empire Dragway and the program just ran late and they ended up splitting it . But we had lane choice going into the final there . So of course , being a racer , you ’ d like to think that would have been your third win ,” Hutter laughed .

Hutter is quick to credit the racer mentality

he and his father developed in the circle track racing world , a Talladega Nights-esque “ first or last ” attitude that anything less than first place isn ’ t good enough , for being a driving force behind the team ’ s championship finish .

“ That ’ s just the way we race ,” said Hutter , who admits his desire to win caused his fair share of wrecks during his oval racing days . “ And not to say everybody isn ’ t like this but we ’ re just always looking for an edge , always looking for wherever we can nitpick or pick up the next little bit of power or get the car a little bit lighter or how we

PHOTOS : COLE ROKOSKY