with a friend on a blown alcohol hydro boat, and his children found that they quite enjoyed the sound and the fury of race engines.

Eventually, the family transitioned to racing on land, and they never looked back. They entered the Jr. Drag Racing Series with no previous experience and learned by trial and error. Persistence and an ongoing enthusiasm for competition drove the family deep into the heart of Sportsman racing, and for

Justin, it became a way of life.

In addition to his gleaming collection of series titles, Justin’ s list of accomplishments includes 31 national event wins and 34 trophies racked up at the division level. The hard-charging, focused driver did what only two had done before when he doubled with both Stock and Super Stock championships in 2017, and he logged his name in the record books again as one of just 30 racers to have claimed two wins

at one NHRA national event with Stock and Super Stock victories at the spring race in Las Vegas in 2018. Seven division titles complement his five world championships.

Justin has continued to compete in NHRA’ s Sportsman series and bracket races, but in recent years, the tables have turned somewhat as the driver who learned so much from drag racing greats such as Peter Biondo and Kyle Seipel has taken on a role of instructor alongside three-time world champion Luke Bogacki in the This Is Bracket Racing Elite program. Ahead of the 2025 season, Justin and Drag Illustrated contributor Kelly Wade had a conversation diving into what continues to fuel the accomplished racer and invested coach.

For readers that don’ t know, tell us a little bit about where this whole drag racing thing began for you. My dad didn’ t race, but he was always into fast stuff. He and two partners had a blown alcohol drag boat, truck, and trailer and all the stuff, and they did that for years. After that ended, we were at a car show one day and there were Jr. Dragsters there – at the time, they were pretty new on the West Coast. My dad said,“ Well, shoot. Let’ s try