ON THE RADAR

Everybody is going to remember the burndown in Topeka , whether or not they remember anything else from that race .” – KELLY WADE

BOBBY BODE ▼

■ It ’ s not often you see Bobby Bode without a smile on his face and it ’ s not hard to see why . He made his Funny Car debut at 18 years old , mixing nitro racing with living the college life at Arizona State . It ’ s safe to say he ’ s the only Sun Devil business major dabbling with 11,000-horsepower Funny Cars , and Bode , the son of veteran driver Bob Bode , has made the most of it .

He was licensed in St . Louis last year , made his debut — and qualified for eliminations — in Houston last October and won his first round of racing earlier this season , knocking off Terry Haddock in St . Louis .

There ’ s a long way to go , but Bode has shown immense potential , stacking up a number of Jr . Dragster wins . He ’ s also licensed in Super Comp and drove a Top Alcohol Funny Car at the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School , but the dream was always to go more than 300 mph .

He done that and then some throughout the 11 starts in his extremely young Funny Car career , going 3.891 at 322.04 to qualifying third in St . Louis this year .

That marked a huge step forward for Bode , who also qualified ninth at the U . S . Nationals this year and 11th in Las Vegas , which were additional highlights in the nine races he attended during the 2021 NHRA campaign . The mix of college and nitro isn ’ t a conventional one , but this has always been the young Bode ’ s dream and he ’ s just getting started .

“ I ’ ve been working my whole life to get to this point ,” Bode said earlier in the season . “ My mom and dad have been a great support system for me , and I wouldn ’ t be here without them . I just always had a need for speed growing up , and it ’ s just incredible .” – JOSH HACHAT

KELLY KUNDRATIC ▲

■ Like so many other second-generation racers , Kelly Kundratic has been around the sport for most of her life . She grew up racing up and down the East Coast with her father , longtime sportsman racer and Lucas Oil distributor Jeff Kundratic , mainly racing the family ’ s JKR Racing Products Monte Carlo in Super Street .

This year , the 28-year-old started making major steps towards her next goal , competing in NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster . She teamed up with driver and car owner Marina Anderson , a 2018 30 Under 30 honoree , to serve as a crew member on Anderson ’ s A / Fuel dragster at a handful of races this season to earn the chance to license in her car .

Kundratic , who serves as the Team Pennsylvania Foundation ’ s director of agriculture policy and programs , took advantage of the opportunity to work remotely this year , traveling from her

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NHRA / NATIONAL DRAGSTER

28 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 172