Drag Illustrated Issue 125, September 2017 | Page 26
Dirt
“Just to see the excitement
and the raw emotion, for me it
was pretty surreal,” Stroud says.
“Honestly, it took a while for it all
to sink in. I was a crew guy with
Eric Dillard when he won Indy,
but this is obviously different with
me tuning it. For everything to
come together like it did, it was
pretty unreal.”
It was the latest experience
in a drag racing life that has in-
cluded one incredible memory
after another for Stroud, who
began working at Pro Line Rac-
ing in 2013. But his journey in
drag racing started much, much
earlier. His father raced motor-
cycles, but Stroud jumped into
Pro Mod when he was 10, “doing
the tire pressure and hanging
with my dad.”
Stroud experienced the Pro
Mod boom in the early 1990s,
staying involved in the sport
throughout high school, offering
his services for anyone willing to
take him on. It turned into an
impressive list, as Stroud latched
onto the likes of Scotty Cannon,
Al Billes, Brad Personett and even
Pro Stock’s Brian Gahm, doing whatever he could
to learn more about the sport.
“I’ve been fortunate to learn under some great
people,” Stroud offers. “I got in so young and was
able to help anybody, just for the experience. To
be successful out here, you have to be out here.
I’ve been lucky enough to get some good op-
portunities and work with so many big names.
They’ve all taught me something and I definitely
appreciate it.”
But Stroud has made his own luck, putting in
long hours at a young age. He started working
with Roger Burgess’ R2B2 operation in 2010 as
their Pro Mod team made the transition to turbos,
meeting Steve Petty a year later. The turbo guru
has had a major impact on Stroud’s career, and
that relationship has only strengthened at Pro
Line. Seeing Petty’s success with Coughlin and
many others, Stroud has picked up on a number
of things that have made Petty a top tuner.
“A lot of it is mindset,” says Stroud, who is also
a crew member on Jose Gonzalez’s successful
outlaw turbo car. “It’s about understanding the
mindset of how he got to where he’s at with a
particular tune-up. He’s always looking at the
little things, the minor details, and that’s what
makes a difference. Those little things will jump
out at you if you don’t expect it.”
With Frigo struggling to find consistency, hav-
ing also suffered a horrific crash in Houston in
2016, the decision was made to go in a different
direction after Norwalk this year. The role of
crew chief went to Stroud, who had more than
two months to get things settled before Indy. The
team tested twice before the U.S. Nationals, but
Stroud couldn’t have predicted that type of ini-
tial success.
“Once we had a good run at 5.80 (in a first-
round win against Stevie Jackson), I felt like we
had a good handle on it,” Stroud says. “We just
tried to keep it in that window and not overdo it,
and that worked out.”
That initial success will be tough to replicate
in the loaded NHRA Pro Mod class, but Stroud
is passionate about the process. The plan is for
him to continue to work with Gonzalez as a crew
member and be Frigo’s crew chief for the 2018
season, and, taking a page from the mentors who
have taught him, Stroud is simply dedicated to
learning as much as he can.
“You can always make it better, and a little faster
here and there,” Stroud adds. “There’s a lot of stuff
for me to learn. As a tuner, there’s a lot more I
can learn to make the whole package better.”
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26 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 125
BRANDON STROUD