Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 87
KELLAN FARMER
■ AS THE SON of Race Tech Race Cars founder Russ Farmer,
26-year-old Kellan Farmer understands the ins and outs of building
race-winning, championship-caliber race cars. But this season, he also
demonstrated that he’s equally capable of driving them.
Farmer, who grew up racing Jr. Dragsters and eventually a bracket
dragster, started the year with a chip on his shoulder. He’d heard racers
claiming that Race Tech cars are great for bracket racing, but not so ideal
for consistently performing in the rapidly growing world of fast bracket
racing in Top Dragster and Top Sportsman.
“We said, ‘Well, we know that’s not true,’” Farmer, the shop foreman
at Race Tech, begins. “We know we can lay it down and be consistent at
it, so we decided we were going to build something and go chase NHRA
or PDRA. I went out to the GALOT [PDRA] race in the spring. We had
just finished this car. We had built it to show everybody what we can do.”
Farmer proceeded to win the race, starting off a PDRA Elite Top Drag-
ster world championship chase that saw him add a runner-up finish at
the PDRA Northern Nationals. Later, Farmer’s nitrous-assisted dragster
was taken out of commission in a test session. He finished the season in a
turbocharged dragster borrowed from customer Phil Unruh, ultimately
clinching the championship at the World Finals.
“That was very rewarding,” says Farmer, who won a $15,000 race at
the 2018 Spring Fling. “We really got our point across, especially since it
was my first season running that fast. You can’t really tell me that it was
driver experience. I’m pretty much going to count most of my wins to
that car and how consistent it was. It proved our point, and just having
all our hard work pay off made it worth it.”
Defending his title and going for a double-up next year is very much
on Farmer’s mind, but as he explains, he has a race car in pieces and a
borrowed car that he’s giving back. He has all the parts needed to rebuild
the nitrous car, though his forced experiment with the twin-turbo setup
has him considering that as an option. But before anything happens on
his own car, Farmer insists on tending to the needs of his customers.
“I can’t say for sure what I’m going to do because it all de-
pends on work flow and how I can get everything done, but the
plan is to chase the PDRA points again,” Farmer says. “But keep-
ing Race Tech going is the priority.” – N AT E VA N WA G N E DI N DI DI
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CODY LANE
■ CODY LANE'S 2019 story is one of resurgence. The 28-year-old
earned his first NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 6 cham-
pionship this year as a follow-up to an exceptionally challenging 2018.
En route to Pomona for the NHRA season-opener last year, a battery
shorted in the Hancock and Lane team’s ‘73 Corvette Stocker and ignited
a fire in their trailer, damaging all three of their race cars.
The Corvette was a build he and his dad, longtime Sportsman racer
Jeff Lane, had partnered on, and it was up in flames before it even made
its debut. The assorted damage put a tremendous damper on 2018, but
they rebuilt throughout the year and came back swinging.
Lane reached the semifinals at this season’s opener in Pomona and
sealed the deal with his first Stock Eliminator win – yes, in the Corvette
– in Phoenix two weeks later.
“There have been a lot of pretty cool moments for us,” Lane says. “My
dad and I have doubled-up twice, once at the Phoenix division race and
once at the Settle national. But 2019, in general, has been the highlight
of my career.”
In addition to Super Stock and Stock, the North Bend, Washington,
resident added Comp to his repertoire in Seattle with a B/SMA ‘10 Cobalt
and won with the car at the Las Vegas national event. It’s the same car
he saw his father crash in Pomona at the end of their challenging 2018.
“That was probably the scariest moment of my life, watching my dad
crash and the Cobalt end up on its lid,” Lane says. “To come back in 2019
and win in both those cars, just for this team and these guys that don’t
stop – it’s really hard to put into words how special that is.”
The team is also on the forefront of cutting-edge technology, having
had a major hand in the eCOPO project with General Motors and suc-
cessfully debuting the car at SEMA and on-track.
“So far, we’re doing pretty good,” Lane says. “As for the future, ev-
ery year we start with the goal of winning a world championship,
and to be honest, I think I’d rather see my dad win one first. We’ve
been close so many times, and I think of him as one of the best in
the business. My hope is to see him win the world championship
and to follow suit. A double-up would be great.” – K E L LY WA D DI E DI DI
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December 2019
DragIllustrated.com
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