FOR MORE than 10 years , Kyle Christ has been toting his video camera to the racetrack to capture racing action . In the beginning , he was simply recording passes for his father , Tim , who built cars out of his Coast Chassis Design shop and needed to review the final products in action . Now , Christ spends nearly every weekend of the year at the dragstrip filming footage for the masses .

“ I started in 2009 ,” says Christ , 23 . “ My dad built an Outlaw 10.5 Mercedes , so I started with that and Nate Pritchett ’ s Mustang that my dad built . My dad told me what he wanted to see . That ’ s how it started . Then I made a YouTube channel and here we are .”

Christ ’ s YouTube channel , Straight Line Media , now has over 4,000 subscribers tuned in to watch clips and compilations from PDRA and MWDRS races , major radial and grudge races , and other events throughout the eastern U . S .,

specifically Christ ’ s native Florida .

Along with publishing content on his own pages , which have 36,000 followers on Facebook and 15,000 on Instagram , Christ provides video

content for PDRA , MWDRS , and Menscer Motorsports . Menscer is also one of his season-long coverage partners , along with Coolshirt Systems and Doorslammers 2 .

“ I couldn ’ t do this without my parents , of course , and all of my coverage partners ,” says Christ , who ’ s also crewed on a handful of Pro Mod cars out of Florida . “ I also really appreciate all the viewers for supporting me over the years .”

As of early November , Christ had attended 35 different events this season , not including local test sessions he attends for clients like Justin Swanstrom and Fletcher Cox . He has even more events still on the calendar , but his goals for the future include being able to cover even more races each year .

“ I ’ d like to get to the point where I can hire more people to do what I do for me so I can cover more than one event per weekend ,” Christ says . “ If there ’ s a PDRA race and a grudge race on the same weekend , I ’ d like to be able to pick one and send someone to the other one . I just want to cover as many races as possible .”

– NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

SOME OF Brian Inouye ’ s earliest memories of the dragstrip are from the late ‘ 90s when he started tagging along with his father , Byron , and the Hirata Motorsports A / Fuel dragster team . Inouye was only 5 or 6 years old , but the experiences made a lasting impression on him . He continued going to races with the team and started washing parts and putting body panels on the car , dreaming of one day being in the driver ’ s seat then occupied by Dave Hirata .

“ Ever since I was a kid , I wanted to stand on the gas in one of these A / Fuel cars ,” explains Inouye , who turned 30 this fall . “ They sound cool , they shoot header flames and they go 280 mph if everything goes well . I ’ d wanted to do it for years .”

Inouye worked with the Hirata team through high school and college , all the while plotting his move to the driver ’ s seat . He earned his Super Comp license at Frank Hawley ’ s Drag Racing School , and in early 2018 , he upgraded his license in Dr . Jerry Powell ’ s “ Medicine Man ” A / Fuel dragster . Since then , he ’ s entered a couple races in Powell ’ s car and three races in Hirata ’ s car .

“ I think one of the reasons why I ’ ve been able to acclimate myself to driving A / Fuel cars is because I ’ ve worked on them for so many years ,” says Inouye , a senior mechanical engineer who designs machining processes for OEM distributors like Honda and Harley-Davidson . “ It ’ s given me that background , that feel of what ’ s right , what ’ s wrong , what sounds good , what

doesn ’ t sound good . I think having that technical knowledge before you ever get in a car has been a huge help for myself . It ’ s made me more comfortable and it ’ s helped me get out of some bad situations early on .”

Inouye also got to make his front-engine Top Fuel dragster debut this summer when he drove the “ Frantic Fueler ” entry at Chris Graves ’ inaugural Nitro Chaos at Eddyville Raceway Park . He was offered the opportunity by another one of his father ’ s longtime friends , Dave Daunheimer , and he ’ ll get to build on the opportunity in 2022 when he runs both Nitro Chaos events .

The driving opportunities over the last couple years have moved Inouye into the forefront , but

he ’ s proud of his origins as a crew guy and fully plans to continue working on cars , whether he ’ s driving them or not .

“ First and foremost , I ’ d say I ’ m a crew guy at heart ,” says Inouye , who stresses his appreciation for the Hirata family , Daunheimer , and his father for the roles they ’ ve played in his racing path . “ Obviously , the driving is exciting , but I don ’ t think crew guys get enough credit as is . That ’ s what I ’ ll always do no matter what . I ’ m the car chief on Hirata ’ s car and love working with other teams too . As of now , I ’ m going to do both the Nitro Chaos races in 2022 in the front-engine Top Fuel car and I hope to do at least 3-4 races in the A / Fuel car .” – NATE VAN WAGNEN DI

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TARA BOWKER , JOE MCHUGH