“ Once you are in the Countdown , all bets are off . That is when the best teams in the world step up . It is really satisfying to step up and get hot at the right time .” - JUSTIN ASHLEY

BILLY THE KID : Engine builder Billy “ The Kid ” Albert loads a tuneup for the Pro Nitrous Camaro he drives for Stan Nance . In just a handful of 2021 appearances , Albert ran with the big dogs in Pro Nitrous , even reaching the semifinals at the PDRA Summer Shootout .

NATURALLY ASPIRATED : Red Deer , Alberta , Canada ’ s Barry Daniluk carries the front clip to his allmotor ‘ 68 Camaro as he loads up after a day of racing at DragWars . Daniluk prefers a massive , naturally aspirated engine to do battle with the nitrous-fed and boosted hitters in PDRA Top Sportsman .

SPORTSMAN STANDOUT : Steve Furr , the outgoing world champion in PDRA Elite Top Dragster , heads to the staging lanes to make a pass at PDRA DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park .

TROPHY COLLECTOR : Veteran racer Davey Boyd stands beside what is quite possibly the winningest race car that frequents Tennessee ’ s Buffalo Valley Dragway . Boyd bought his ‘ 65 Plymouth Satellite as a junker in 1971 and turned it into a race car with the intentions of selling it , but after he went to the finals his first time out he decided to hang on to it a little while . Fifty years later he ’ s still collecting wins lights at Buffalo Valley , and has probably thrown away over 300 trophies after he ran out of space to store them .

THE MOTTO : Katie Buttera , founder of Apple Girl Art and granddaughter of the late , legendary hot rodder “ Lil ’ John ” Buttera , shows off her Krista Baldwin Racing shirt as she goes to back up Baldwin from a burnout .

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TARA BOWKER , JOE MCHUGH AND VAN ABERNETHY

46 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 172