30 UNDER 30 • 2021
son McGaha . But I think with the younger faces coming in , it ’ s bringing a little more excitement and it ’ s bringing everyone ’ s A-game out . The . 040 , . 050 , . 060 reaction times don ’ t really win races anymore . That stinks to say because I ’ ve been on the bad side of it . I ’ ve been . 040 and lost , whereas 5-6 years ago that would win with the power I have . But everyone is so tight and everyone ’ s stepped up their game and everyone has fire in their eyes to beat each other . I think it ’ s great . GLENN : Yeah , the more young people that get into it , the healthier it ’ s going to be . If you go look at it and 75 percent of the people in the class are 55 or older , you wonder how much longer is everyone going to do this . But when you look at the class and the average age is like 30 , it shows some longevity . There ’ s a lot of drivers who are just now beginning to enter their prime . There ’ s going to be a lot of years ahead as long as everything else in the class can be sustained .
Who knows what the future holds . I know there are a lot of good drivers who are having a lot of fun driving right now and want to continue driving . As far as a young , healthy class , I think this is the pinnacle and a prime example of what other classes can look to . STANFIELD : Sure , and I think that ’ s important to drag racing ’ s longevity , to continue to inject youth into it , even in the fuel ranks as well as Pro Stock . I think Pro Stock ’ s done a good job . There are a lot of people like myself – Dallas , TJ , Mason – that don ’ t have the money to go out and compete ourselves , but people have given us the opportunity to hop in the car . I think it ’ s good whenever people that don ’ t necessarily have the money but are talented like Dallas and myself have the chance to run a car .
Is there something else that can be done – whether it ’ s from NHRA ’ s side or the team side – to continue attracting new , young drivers to Pro Stock ? COUGHLIN : I think it would be nice if we had some help from NHRA to find some sponsorship dollars . I think if we had some help from NHRA – and they do help us with statistics to share with people who would become potential sponsors – but it would be neat if they ’ d share a little bit I guess , but I don ’ t really know what more can be done .
You can outreach to other motorsports or to other classes . You could look around in Comp and see the younger crowd racing and go to whoever ’ s sponsoring them and say , “ Look , for this much more you could run a Pro Stock car and
AARON STANFIELD HAS BEEN ON THE PRO STOCK SCENE SINCE 2014 , BUT HIS JANAC BROTHERS RACING CAMARO IS THE BEST CAR HE ’ S EVER DRIVEN IN THE CLASS . be exposed to this many people on a weekend .” It is tough , but it ’ s a really good question .
KORETSKY : It ’ s all about the return on the investment for the teams and the drivers and the sponsors . We ’ re just constantly getting shafted by the TV time . The sponsors need the TV exposure . [ The TV broadcast ] caters to Top Fuel and Funny Car . I get it , people want to see the flames and the blowups , but there ’ s a lot of diehard people out there that want to watch Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle and even Pro Mod . But [ NHRA ] doesn ’ t really care about it .
It ’ s hard to get sponsors when you show them that we get 30 seconds of TV time . They don ’ t want to hear that . It ’ s tough , it really is . We ’ re fortunate with Lucas Oil on board as a big supporter . We support their product and we use their product with our company , so that helps out a lot , but they want to see the TV time . They need to see the TV time .
And we should be racing for more money . I don ’ t know where all the money goes . I know the last year or so the pandemic has been tough . I get it and everyone understands it , but they cut the purses like there ’ s no tomorrow . If they paid us a hundred thousand to win a weekend it probably still wouldn ’ t be enough , but to go out there and race for – I don ’ t even know what we ’ re racing for anymore , 10 , 15 , 20 grand – it ’ s kind of like a kick in the ass , like you guys aren ’ t worth really anything to us .
And that ’ s all my opinion , that ’ s how I feel . I feel like we need to get more love on the TV side and on the marketing side of it . We ’ re out here trying to generate sponsorship to do it too , just like Top Fuel . GLENN : I think one of the things that would really help at least in the Pro Stock class – it ’ s gotten a lot better , especially in recent years – is the amount of attention that Pro Stock is given . I know everyone loves the fuel cars – they blow up , it ’ s excitement . But maybe if there were more classes on the technical aspects of Pro Stock to try to help the younger crowd understand exactly how technical and how finicky and touchy and amazing these cars really are .
I don ’ t know if there would ever be some way to get other manufacturers or maybe some different body styles in . I know that ’ s one of the common complaints that I see online , that everyone hates that it ’ s just a bunch of Camaros out here . But you really gotta hand it to GM for supporting this class as well as they have . The reason that there ’ s all Chevys in here is just because of the amount of support and availability of parts that there is . It ’ s not that a Dodge can ’ t run with us . I believe that if somebody put the amount of money and time and effort into a Dodge or Ford , it could run just as good as the Chevys . I know that may not be a common belief , but I believe it can . STANFIELD : I think Pro Stock is as healthy as it ’ s been in a long time . I really think the main thing is being able to pay the entertainers a little bit
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