Using a “ run what ya brung ” format , the field consisted of everything from NHRA-legal nitro Funny Cars to alcohol-burning nostalgia Funny Cars and even a turbocharged Funny Car . The quickest 32 cars on the property got to race in eliminations , with eight-car A , B , C and D fields evening the playing field .

The weekend also included the quickest and fastest Fuel Altereds in the world . The Farris family brought out their “ War Wagon ” entry driven by Kebin Kinsley , and NHRA big-show nitro guys Richard Hartman and Tim Wilkerson made the trip with their Summit Racing Equipment-backed hot rod . Both teams attempted to break the 4-second and 300-mph barriers over the quarter mile . Hartman broke both barriers , running a 4.92 at 296.28 on Friday and a 304.53 blast on Saturday . Kinsley left with the speed record , though , oneupping Hartman by . 06 with a 304.59 mph pass .

A few weeks after the record-breaking weekend , Drag IllustrateD sat down with Graves to get the story behind the incredible numbers in

the pits and on the scoreboards .

You ’ ve been building momentum with the Funny Car Chaos series for a few years now , drawing pretty solid fields at normal races . But how did that turn into over 60 Funny Cars for the season opener ?

It was kind of a perfect storm – the venue , the date , and people being ready to get out and do stuff because of COVID and the offseason . The Texas Motorplex is obviously a place that can handle an event of that size and teams know they can go fast at Billy Meyer ’ s house . That attracted a lot of the first-time racers , I think , knowing they could come and run hard . But it was also the first race of the year and everybody ’ s been cooped all

winter . Everybody was ready to go . I think it was just a perfect storm . When we booked the race as a normal Funny Car Chaos race , I figured we ’ d get 40 cars , but they just kept coming . We were adjusting on the fly weekly .

What did it take to expand the show from the normal 16-car field to a 32-car show with A , B , C and D fields ?

We had so many people step up , whether it was $ 250 or $ 2,500 . We raised over $ 20,000 from people who wanted to qualify more cars . That ’ s how we were able to add the C field and D field to qualify 32 total cars instead of just the 16 . How can you have 68 Funny Cars on the property and qualify 16 of them ?

That support was from our marketing partners like our title sponsors , Spell Paving Services , Entech Oil , and Red Line Shirt Club . But we also had fans giving us money to put in the purse . I don ’ t know of any other drag racing series in the world that has fans coming up and handing you hundred-dollar bills and saying , ‘ I want to help on the payout .’ That made a huge difference in being able to send 32 cars home with tow money or hotel money .

You grew up going to races at the Texas Motorplex as a young fan and eventually photographer and crew member . How meaningful was it for you to see your vision come together at a track that means so much to you ?

Totally Goosebump Nationals . I ’ m standing in

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOE MCHUGH