Drag Illustrated Issue 202, September / October 2026 | Page 116

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Anderson Dick and Luis de Leon
Anderson Dick( left) and Luis de Leon have helped make FuelTech one of the defining technology companies of modern drag racing.
Dick founded FuelTech in Brazil in 2003 after developing his own electronic fuel-injection system while studying electrical engineering. The company quickly became a force in South America, but its push into the U. S. market required a different level of development. After connecting with Pro Line Racing in 2012, FuelTech began building what became the FT500 platform specifically to meet the demands of highhorsepower Pro Mod racing. By 2014, FuelTech USA was established in Georgia, and the brand’ s presence in American drag racing began accelerating rapidly.
De Leon became a central figure in that expansion. Now FuelTech’ s COO, he has combined technical knowledge with a hands-on approach to customer support, working directly with racers and tuners at the track. That philosophy has helped FuelTech systems become commonplace in Pro Mod, radial racing, and other high-horsepower applications, controlling everything from EFI and ignition to data acquisition and power management.
FuelTech has continued pushing the technology forward with integrated ECUs, advanced traction-control strategies, ignition systems, sensors, and increasingly sophisticated data tools. Just as importantly, Dick and de Leon have consistently reinvested in racing through sponsorships, racer support, and major event partnerships.
From a tiny operation in Porto Alegre to an international company with nearly 200 employees and a major U. S. footprint, FuelTech’ s growth reflects Dick and de Leon’ s shared philosophy: develop the technology, support the people using it, and put resources back into the sport that made the company possible. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Chad Head
Chad Head has spent virtually his entire life around professional motorsports, but his influence today is felt most clearly from behind the scenes.
The son of veteran Funny Car racer and tuner Jim Head, Chad grew up in drag racing before carving out his own path through NHRA event operations and even a few years as Director of Operations with IndyCar. He returned to drag racing in 2009 with Alan Johnson’ s Al-Anabi Racing nitro team, gaining experience managing the people, budgets, and logistics behind one of the sport’ s premier teams.
Head also spent time behind
the wheel, driving nostalgia Funny Cars before taking over his father’ s NHRA Funny Car in 2013. He reached multiple final rounds over the course of a few years before stepping out of the seat.
Since 2017, Head has served as general manager of Kalitta Motorsports, overseeing an operation that fields two Top Fuel dragsters and a Funny Car while managing the personnel, sponsor relationships, and countless logistical details required to keep one of NHRA’ s leading organizations competitive.
Head is also vice president of the Professional Racers Owners Organization, working alongside PRO president Alan Johnson to give NHRA’ s professional team owners a unified voice on competition, safety, and business issues.
Head’ s résumé is unusually wide-ranging, making him one of the people increasingly relied upon
to help navigate not only Kalitta Motorsports’ future, but the direction of professional drag racing itself. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Dustin Hart
Harts Turbo founder Dustin Hart turned the drag racing world on its head a couple years ago when he unleashed the Harts Charger centrifugal supercharger.
Hart’ s family comes from the tractor pulling side of motorsports – his father, Randy Hart, founded Harts Diesel & Machine in 1996. Designing high-performing turbos in the drag racing world was one thing; a top-of-the-line billet centrifugal was an entirely different challenge.
After three-and-a-half years of testing, refining, and multiple designs, Hart finally had a product that displayed the efficiency, reliability, and repeatability needed to compete at the highest levels in the sport.
“ We were coming in from a different world, and we had to learn what it takes to make a centrifugal live in drag racing. We knew it wouldn’ t happen overnight,” Hart says.
Since becoming available to the masses, the Harts Charger has made its presence known everywhere. Available in an NHRA-legal 136mm format, as well as 140mm and 144mm options, the combination won the 2026 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod( Aaron Stanfield), the 2025 / 26 DI Winter Series points championship( Peter Norton), 2025 IHRA Pro Mod Mania( Randy Weatherford), 2025 Snowbird Outlaw Nationals( Jason
PHOTOGRAPHS BY FUELTECH, LUKE NIEUWHOF, RICK BELDEN, COURTNEY PAULSHOCK, KAITLYN WARD
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