“ I’ ve dreamed about this moment over and over and over again, and then to actually live it right now, right here, is truly special.”— JUSTIN ASHLEY, NHRA U. S. NATIONALS TOP FUEL WINNER

IN THE LANES: Marques Hatton, a 2021 DI 30 Under 30 honoree, and DJ McCain, who appeared on the 2019 30 Under 30 List with brother and tuner Ryan, catch up in the staging lanes at South Georgia Motorsports Park during No Mercy 16.

POWER OF PRAYER: God Speed Ministry’ s Tammie Smith leads Dane Wood and his Wood Motorsports Pro Nitrous team in a pre-race prayer in the staging lanes at PDRA DragWars at GALOT Motorsports Park.

PDRA LIVE: After a season of pre-race Facebook Live shows previewing each stop on the PDRA tour, the PDRA Live team takes to the stage at the World Finals for an on-site broadcast. From left to right, PDRA announcer Scotty Gore, PDRA series director Tyler Crossnoe, JRC Photos’ Darrel Jackson Jr., DI’ s Nate Van Wagnen, and Straight Line Media’ s Kyle Christ- the last four of which are past 30 Under 30 honorees.

POWER COUPLE: Multi-time, multi-series championship-winning tuner Jeff Pierce, a 2016 DI 30 Under 30 honoree, poses for a quick photo with his wife, Samantha, during a busy weekend at the PDRA World Finals.

SWANGANG: Justin Swanstrom, a 2021 DI 30 Under 30 honoree, gets suited up to make a lap in his screw-blown“ Money Bag” Camaro. Beyond running multiple cars out of his camp, Swanstrom also put on his own event, SWANFEST, this fall.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TARA BOWKER, KAITLYN WARD, RICK BELDEN, MILISSA MARTINI, TOM MACHT, AND NHRA

62 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 197