Drag Illustrated Issue 140, January 2019 | Page 71
THE
CHAMPIONS
ISSUE
THE FUTURE
BELONGS TO
How the 2018 NHRA Funny Car world champion pushed through
obstacles and adversity to achieve the ultimate drag racing dream
J.R. TODD
By Josh Hachat
W
PHOTOGR A PH BY RICK BEL DE N
alking into the Indiana
Convention Center, the site
of the annual Performance
Racing Industry trade show
in downtown Indianapolis,
it quickly becomes clear that
things are forever different for
J.R. Todd.
The newly crowned NHRA
Funny Car world champion is
greeted by fans at nearly every
turn, getting congratulated and receiving handshakes as he makes his
way down an aisle. Todd grabs a seat for an interview, tucked away in
the corner of the D rag I llustrateD booth, but even then fans duck in
repeatedly and throughout an hour-long interview, each one bringing
Todd a great deal of joy.
Some mention Todd getting his own street name – J.R. Todd Lane – in
his hometown of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, after winning the world title,
while others are simply satisfied to rub elbows with a world champion.
Meanwhile, Todd has made sure to take it all in, content to bask in
the surreal moments that have already made up his time as a world
champion. “Within the last month, people walking by and saying,
‘What’s up, Champ,’ like that doesn’t get old at all,” Todd says. “That’s the
coolest part I’ve noticed. You get recognized a little more than the past.”
This new star status is something Todd is still getting used to since
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
clinching his first career world championship in Pomona at the NHRA
World Finals in November, but he’s gladly doing it with a smile on his face.
Todd has never been one for the spotlight, but he’s working his way
out of that and the time may never be better for the 37-year-old driver to
become the next big thing in the sport. He’s young, he has an undeniable
driving talent, he hosts a popular podcast with Kalitta Motorsports
teammate and longtime friend Shawn Langdon and he’s got the look –
full beard, sunglasses – that screams bona fide motorsports superstar.
He’s here to prove that a racer’s racer, a guy who works hard and races
harder, and has overcome considerable adversity in the process, can
make a name for himself in the sport, but it couldn’t happen without
first becoming a world champion.
“We always thought of him as a championship driver, but now he
has just the proof with the ring and the check,” says Langdon, the 2013
Top Fuel world champ.
Thanks to an incredible run in the Countdown to the Championship,
where Todd won three of the six races and went to five finals, that’s
now the case and, almost suddenly, Todd’s profile and ascension in the
sport is on a meteoric rise. Todd is ready to embrace that, especially
as he joked about what the alternative was like a season ago when he
made his Funny Car debut. “Guys didn’t know who I was last year. I
was getting confused with Antron Brown a year ago,” Todd says with
a laugh. “Now that’s not the case.”
It most certainly is not and Todd is not complaining.
Driving a Top Fuel dragster a week out of high school, Todd always
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Dr ag Illustr ated