EARLY A DECADE ago , Mac Brosnan took a leap of faith and dropped out of college during his senior year to start his own business . Now , at age 29 , he is making waves throughout the import racing community .

“ I ’ ve dedicated the last eight years to import drag racing ,” says Brosnan . “ The whole reason I started my shop is because I wanted to make a name for myself doing something I actually love to do , rather than just get a job to pay the bills .”

Brosnan originally opened his shop , Command Performance , in Connecticut . However , when the offer arose four years ago for him to merge with The Shop Houston in Texas and become a co-owner , he jumped at the opportunity . In 2022 , they expanded again , moving into a brand-new 13,000-square-foot facility .

“ Being down here in Houston , it ’ s year-round ,” Brosnan says . “ There ’ s no winter , and there ’ s so many more people . We do a lot of street cars , but we primarily specialize in Nissan GTRs – anything from regular bolt-on cars to ones that make over 2,500 horsepower .”

Brosnan ’ s love for drag racing began long be-

fore he opened his shop , however . At age 13 , he began racing a Jr . Dragster on the condition that he keep his school grades high enough . Once he received his driver ’ s license , he immersed himself in the street car world , eventually leading him to buy the 2009 Nissan GTR he currently races .

“ I got the car when I was 23 , and started street racing it ,” recalls Brosnan . “ The car ’ s called ‘ Kimbo ,’ after Kimbo Slice . I used to only race it on the street , and Kimbo started as a street fighter . It progressed to a race car in 2018 , and it ’ s just gotten more and more wild . It used to be a good car ; now it ’ s a drag car .”

Many of the changes to his car over the years have been born out of necessity . With only 3-4

events per year tailored to the factory combination GTRs come with , Brosnan knew he needed an upgrade to better represent his business . Using the VR38 engine platform with a Turbo 400 transmission , Brosnan won the GTR Unlimited class this year at TX2K23 .

“ Drag racing as a business is tough ,” Brosnan says . “ We ’ re pushing these cars to the absolute limit , and I wanted to make the car something that could be competitive in other events . We ’ re making over 2,000 horsepower on stock blocks . We ’ ve got two more in the shop right now that we ’ re doing the same thing on .”

Further adjustments are on the horizon , as Brosnan recently switched from twin turbos to a single-turbo setup to fit the rules in the highly competitive X275 class . He made his class debut at the Haltech World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway , and with plans to end the year at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in Bradenton , Florida . From there , the possibilities are endless .

“ The biggest part for me is racing with my friends ,” says Brosnan . “ I would love to be in a Pro Mod eventually . But I have such a love for import stuff , it might end up being a Pro Import car . Honestly , I think that ’ s the next step . I want to stick with the VR38 platform , because of how much power they make , and how efficient and reliable they are . As long as I can advance my career enough to allow me to do what I love to do , that ’ s the goal for me .” – CRAIG COOK DI

IKE PRYKA found his place in drag racing when he began taking photos of his family members competing at the dragstrip . He was 12 years old when his dad purchased a bracket car and began taking Pryka to the track .

“ I would go to the races with my dad and my uncles and my cousin , and I would take pictures of them racing , just because I thought it was cool and , you know , something to do ,” says Pryka .

From there , his passion for photography and the sport evolved into an opportunity for Pryka to get behind the wheel of a Mustang when he was 16 years old . His experience of growing up at the track , racing , and taking photographs , turned into a full-time opportunity in 2018 with Motion Raceworks and TBM Brakes . Now Pryka is the lead Website Manager and Photographer , handling social media , marketing graphic design , product photos , and event photos . Of course , the 29-year-old is happy to switch the many hats he wears and helps out with customer relations and

sales from time to time . However , his main passion still lies in event photography .

“ Those are a great thing that we provide to get back to the industry ,” explains Pryka . “ I travel to many events around the country to shoot photo galleries of each race , and then we post them on the Motion Raceworks Facebook page . We ’ ve been doing that for three or four years now just as a way to say thank you to our existing customers and welcome new customers by treating them with a photo of their car and making them aware of the brand .

“ We ’ ve definitely made a pretty big impact on providing quality photos and memories of the racers at certain events and certain times .”

Looking back , Pryka is grateful for those early connections , especially with the late Bob Curran .

“ Bob Curran set me up with my first media pass for an NMCA race and with that , I got connections with Mike Galimi and Scott Sparrow , who were editors of Fastest Street Car at the time ,” explains Pryka . “ Those two guys really helped me out , spread my skills , and set up the right connections with the right people , and that led to working for 1320 Video . I did some freelance stuff for Drag IllustrateD back in the day and tons of other companies , like Garrett Turbo , Dragzine , LSX TV – basically anybody and everybody I could freelance for back then I did .”

One thing led to another , which included an award from the National Muscle Car Association for his Outstanding Sportsmanship and Contribution , and Pryka was getting noticed for his hard work and passion for the sport .

“ When I got that media credential for the NMCA , from there , it kind of grew from one thing to another ,” says Pryka . “ All the hard work was able to get me to a job where it ’ s now a full-time job where I get to do cool stuff and travel the country , talk with customers , take photos , and hang out at the racetrack and get paid .” – KAYLA ZADEL DI

152 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 185