Special Section
KYLE HARRIS KNOWS HIS CHARLES JONES INDUSTRIAL LIMITED ’32 BANTAM ALTERED ISN’T EXACTLY WHAT EVERYONE IMAGINES
WHEN THEY THINK OF A TRADITIONAL TOP DRAGSTER. WITH ITS SHORT 125-INCH WHEELBASE AND ROOTS-BLOWN, METHANOL-
BURNING ENGINE, IT ISN’T ALWAYS THE MOST CONSISTENT COMBINATION AVAILABLE. BUT THE CANADIAN DRAG RACING VETERAN
HAD HIS MIND SET ON MAKING THE SETUP WORK, AND AFTER A THIRD-PLACE POINTS FINISH IN HIS FIRST FULL SEASON IN LUCAS
OIL ELITE TOP DRAGSTER COMPETITION LAST YEAR, IT’S SAFE TO SAY HARRIS IS ACCOMPLISHING WHAT HE SET OUT TO DO.
“At the first race, everybody probably
thought we were crazy for trying to
run an Altered in Top Dragster
because these cars are normally
pretty volatile,” says Harris, who
made his PDRA debut at the inau-
gural World Finals at Virginia in 2014
before returning for a full season in
2018. “When we were down there
for the first time trying it out, I was
all over the racetrack trying to get
the car set up. The track was just so
stuck and I had to get it right. When
I got it right, that’s when we started
to be competitive and I think we
gained a little bit of respect from the
42 PDRA660.com
teams we were racing against and
they opened up to us.” tion that powered the ride when a
Funny Car body covered it.
Harris’ Altered started life as an
alcohol Funny Car campaigned by
three-time IHRA world champion Rob
Atchison. Harris was a crew member
with Atchison from 2001 through
2008, so he was familiar with the
chassis when he bought it from
Atchison and had Richard Hartman
at Horton Race Cars convert it into
its current form. An Atchison Racing
Engines-built AJPE 481X engine with
a 14-71 blower sits between the frame
rails, closely resembling the combina- “The Altered always interested me,”
Harris says, “and I just thought, if
given enough time and resources, I
could probably put something to-
gether that looks pretty cool and is
fun for me to drive – which it is. It’s
definitely a handful.”
Last season, Harris drove his Altered
to semifinal finishes at the season-
opening East Coast Spring Nationals
and the late-season Drag Wars, both
at GALOT Motorsports Park, placing
him solidly in championship conten-
tion going into the Brian Olson Me-
morial World Finals at Virginia.
There, he posted a runner-up finish
and ended the season in third place,
just six points behind Nick Hamilton
and just over four rounds behind
world champion Chaz Silance.
A third-place finish was a strong
foundation for another champion-
ship chase this season, but the mem-
ories that left the biggest impres-
sions on Harris were made in the
pits, not on the track. “It was super
validating to finish in the top 3,”