CHRISTOPHER DODD has only ever known a life of racing . Born into drag racing with a father who was devoted to the sport , the young Texan made his first appearance at the dragstrip when he was just a handful of months old . When Dodd turned 8 and got his first Jr . Dragster , his destiny was set in stone .

Sean , Dodd ’ s father , raced in the highly competitive and very fast world of Comp Eliminator , but when Dodd was about 10 years old , his dad took a step back and primarily focused on his family . At that time , their Jr . drag racing program really ramped up , and they had a fair amount of success . As Dodd approached the end of his Jr . career , the family invested in a Super Comp dragster .

“ I ’ ve always liked Super Comp ,” says Dodd , the 2019 JEGS Allstars champion . “ It ’ s an appealing class with super tight competition – I love it .”

Super Comp appeared to love him right back as Dodd reached his first national event final at his home track , Texas Motorplex , in 2014 . Two years later , he won his first national event in St . Louis . To date , he has five wins in eight final rounds , along with an assortment of division wins , and does it all while maintaining an active role in the family business , Premier Pools Inc .

Dodd had a dream ending to the 2020 season , winning his first national championship to cap off a year that had been riddled with a weird , jagged schedule and a race car that had given him fits between extraordinary performances as he tried to uncover a dodgy little gremlin .

Persistence was key , and in 2021 , that same determination quickly translated to continued success .

At the time of print , the 25-year-old had already sealed the deal on the 2021 Division 4 Super Comp championship , and it was down to the wire for a second consecutive national title as the NHRA tour headed to Pomona for the season finale .

“ What I ’ m most proud of in my career so far is winning the Super Comp world championship last year ,” says Dodd . “ That was awesome , and to win the Division 4 championship that same year was pretty incredible , to say the least .”

Looking to the years ahead , Dodd intends to continue Sportsman racing , both in Super Comp and Super Stock , and he isn ’ t opposed to hopping in a Comp Eliminator car one day ,

too . He ’ s also planning on expanding his skillset during the offseason .

“ Over the winter , Dad is going to teach me how to race a 5-speed car ,” Dodd reveals . “ I would love to get behind the wheel of a Pro Stock car one day . We ’ re just going to start practicing , in case the opportunity is ever available to hop in one . But I don ’ t know . I see myself racing Sportsman classes for a long time .” – KELLY WADE DI

COUNT SPENCER Hyde as someone who made the most of his situation in 2021 . With the Canadian border closed due to COVID-19 , Hyde ’ s plans to race in Pro Boost in the PDRA and Pro Mod in the Mid-West Drag Racing Series were unfortunately put on hold .

The Canadian , though , made due in a major way racing at home , recording the quickest Pro Mod run in Canadian history and winning the championship in the FuelTech Pro Mod Drag Racing Series in its inaugural year . While it wasn ’ t the year he initially expected , Hyde thrived nonetheless .

“ It was a year where everything fell into place ,” Hyde says . “ It was a great year and it was nice to see Canadian cars that run strictly in the United States race up here all year . We had some pretty awesome competition and that was pretty neat to race against some of these guys .”

Driving a ’ 69 Camaro previously owned by Bubba Stanton and Jason Scruggs , Hyde started the year with a roots blower but made the change to a screw blower and dominated the rest of the season , going as quick as 3.67-seconds at 204.50 mph .

That led to a number of wins , a championship and warding off the likes of Ray Commisso , Kenny Lang and Eric Latino in impressive fashion .

“ We ’ ve always had some strong cars up here , but they didn ’ t always run much up there , so for them to run up in Canada this year and for us to be the benchmark , that was pretty cool ,” Hyde says . “ I ’ ve always dreamed of running beside them and now we were able to be on top .”

The 30-year-old Hyde is a lifer in the sport , starting in Jr . Dragster and moving through the Top Dragster , Outlaw 10.5 and Top Sportsman ranks before moving to Pro Mod in 2017 . That was the realization of a lifelong dream and things just keep getting better for the hard-working talent . Barring any border issues , Hyde has plans to try and run some PDRA , NMCA and MWDRS events in 2022 , but ultimately , he ’ ll look back fondly on a memorable 2021 season .

“ I ’ d love to go try those series next year , but we had a lot of fun this year and to win the title made things even better ,” Hyde concludes .

– JOSH HACHAT DI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY AUTO IMAGERY , BRENNAN SHORTALL

100 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 172