Drag Illustrated Issue 133, June 2018 | Page 81

DAN FLETCHER
THOMAS FLETCHER it because you’ re going to lose way more than you win and you have to be able to deal with it or you’ re going to lose your mind.”
It’ s a sketchy balance – at best – and Fletcher is well-aware of that. There have been plenty of inner struggles just to reach this current mindset, with Fletcher jokingly saying he’ s finally matured and grown up at 54 years old. But it’ s also a mantra Fletcher has had to repeat to himself over and over through the years. Fletcher has never been a numbers guy, but rather a victories guy, and he couldn’ t leave the track fast enough when he lost in the past.
Now, his sons’ defeats eat at him more than his own losses, not that losing has ever gotten bearable. Fletcher won’ t allow it to be so and if it gets to that point he knows it’ s time to be done.
“ You have to not be able to stand losing,” Fletcher believes.“ That’ s what drives one to win, is the hatred for losing. You just can’ t absorb it. You can’ t take it. It drives you crazy.
“ But then again, you can only be Bill Cowher or
someone that’ s so intense for so long you explode or burn out. It’ s a balancing act, it really is, but I’ ve gotten a lot better.”
Instead of burning out, Fletcher has maintained an unbelievable consistency in his array of cars, averaging somewhere in the range of 5-6 wins every year. The numbers and accomplishments from that consistency are surreal. Most of the wins have come in the pair of Camaros he races in Super Stock and Stock, with 81 of those victories coming in one of those two classes for Fletcher, who has more than 150 career final round appearances.
Oddly enough, his landmark 100th victory came in 2017 at Chicago in a Super Street Chevrolet Nova that Timothy usually campaigns. Fletcher has also won at 22 different national event facilities – all but Norwalk and Epping – knocking off 23 different world champions in the process. His most recent win, No. 103, came at the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, driving a Rick Braun-owned Cobalt Comp car he’ s raced for years.

Fletcher’ s passion isn’ t quite the same as

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are much much more more palatable palatable..
PHOTOS: RICK BELDEN
“ I found myself traveling a lot on my own and that really sucks,” says Fletcher, who has been married for 28 years.“ I don’ t enjoy being by myself a couple weeks on end. The last few years now, though, my wife has been able to travel a lot more with the kids being older, so that’ s helped out the last few years.
“ It just makes it so much better. It gives you some feeling of normalcy as opposed to you being on your own just feeling like a strung-out junkie being on the road, just all worn out and beat up. That’ s helped a lot the last few years. That’ s been a big thing.”
It’ s brought back memories of when Fletcher first started his journey, parading his family across the country, the nomadic life of a professional sportsman drag racer. But there are no regrets, instead lifelong memories of victories and vacations with the people he treasures most.
Fletcher fondly recalls heading to Orlando to start the year, racing at the points meet the week
before Gainesville. In between, it included a stop at Fort Wilderness –“ the greatest campgrounds in the world” – at Disney World, just one of many annual destinations he enjoyed with his family. Sure, there was intense pressure to win and perform to keep food on the table and bills paid, but Fletcher knew the risk is well worth it. He has a lifetime of memories to prove it.
“ We’ ve been at the track our whole life,” Fletcher explains.“ That’ s all I ever wanted to do and that’ s all my kids have ever wanted to do. My kids have seen the world and back 10 times. I think that would have been highly out of the realm of the norm if they would not have gone to the races.
“ Racing was a means to an end and it was my way to pay the bills, but I look back at it, if I would have put in as many hours at Xerox as I did racing, I would have never seen my kids. We were together all the time. The winning, all that is well and good, but being together, that’ s what it’ s all about.”
TIMOTHY FLETCHER
Somehow, Fletcher never missed a basketball game or a soccer match, even in the last handful of years when his daughter starred in college. He managed to watch her final collegiate soccer game late last year, even as it meant missing the national event in Las Vegas with entries already paid for. Through the intense desire to win, Fletcher has maintained priorities, not because he has had to, but because he’ s wanted to.
“ It’ s been logistically hard and I’ ve jumped through a lot of hoops to do it, but I was at virtually every 4:30 p. m., seventh-grade basketball game. I got to the things that a 9-to-5 wouldn’ t
June 2018
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