“GROWING UP IN THE SPORT, OUR DAD’S LAST RACE CAR
WAS A TOP FUEL DRAGSTER. I LOVED NITROMETHANE, LOVED
WORKING ON THE CARS, MAKING THE NOISES GOING TO BED,
MAKING THE NOISES WHEN I WOKE UP. I WAS ALL ABOUT IT.”
I definitely don’t feel like there’s any pressure.
As a young kid racing Street Eliminator at Na-
tional Trail Raceway, I loved the sport. I knew I
was hooked from well before I ever got behind the
wheel because I was fortunate enough to help on
my dad’s race cars as a real youngster and then later
on my brother’s cars as a teenager. I knew I loved
the sport. My father raced professionally, and his
last car was a Top Fuel dragster, so you know, kings
of the sport, first one to the finish line’s a winner.
When my brothers started racing, it was brack-
et racing, a completely different format of racing.
I really enjoyed following their wins and their
losses and, mathematically, looking at a time slip
and figuring out why you did win. That part of
the racing I really enjoyed at a young age. Fast
forward and I knew I wanted to race. It was just
a lot of fun, that challenge of taking the several
years of processing the sport at that level and
to put it into action behind the wheel. And that
was just amazing.
July 2019
Where did this love of Pro Stock come from,
and how has that passion been able to stay
there for more than two decades?
Honestly, growing up in the sport, our dad’s
last race car was a Top Fuel dragster. I loved ni-
tromethane, loved working on the cars, making
the noises going to bed, making the noises when
I woke up. I was all about it. Getting into brack-
et racing and then sportsman racing with my
brothers, that changed quite a bit. But as I got
behind the wheel and raced some Street Elimi-
nator locally and then some Super Pro in a tube-
chassis-style car for a couple of years, and raced
in Super Stock for a couple of years in tandem
with some Super Gas racing, I was just intrigued
with Pro Stock cars.
At National Trail Raceway, they hosted the
JEGS Super Gas Wednesday night races once
a month. There were a couple of guys back in
the day that had 4-speeds in their car and I
just loved them. They just sounded good. That
was more that sound of a Pro Stock car. So I
kind of just fell in love with the door cars at
that part in my driving career and things just
progressed. My brother Troy got started into
Pro Stock and I really enjoyed going along with
him and following all of what goes into a Pro
Stock effort. I won’t say I saw myself racing in
Pro Stock at that point, but, as a family, we had
an opportunity to run two of the same and we
started that in late 1997.
My father, who was just a master – a master
father, master businessman – and an unbeliev-
able race team owner, manager, and crew chief
at every level, he had put together a program
for us to run in Pro Stock and a partner in Dick
Maskin from Dart Machinery. He was fresh off
a world championship with Jim Yates and it just
seemed like an amazing opportunity. I got behind
the wheel of one of Troy’s old Cutlasses that was
still in our shop. We brought the Cutlass out, I got
my license and went to our first race, you know,
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