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and supercars, but its footprint has grown into something much larger: a platform Johnson has repeatedly used to put meaningful resources back into drag racing. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Craig Liberty
Craig Liberty grew up around a family business focused on making race cars faster. As the son of Liberty’ s Gears founder Joe Liberty, Craig is still pushing the boundaries to give drivers the competitive edge they need on track while continuing to push the overall sport forward. Craig joined the company in the early 1980s and over time has become involved in every corner of operations. When his father retired in 1999, Craig took over as president while also serving as its lead engineer, personally overseeing projects moving through the Michigan facility.
Under his leadership, Liberty’ s Gears has expanded its global footprint while remaining deeply connected to its drag racing roots. Their transmissions have found homes in everything from sportsman bracket cars to Mountain Motor Pro Stock and Pro Modified machines. During a time when racers began moving away from traditional clutch combinations, Liberty responded by developing purpose-built transmission technology that, paired with equally strong torque converters, are able to survive the increasingly extreme demands of high-horsepower drag racing.
The same innovation continues today, and Liberty’ s Gears remains heavily involved with top PDRA competitors while also supporting the sport in various partnership roles, including a title sponsorship for the PDRA Pro Street class.
More than 50 years after his father started the company, Craig is carrying the Liberty name forward. Rather than simply preserving the reputation Liberty’ s Gears has built, Craig remains focused on what he does best: engineering what comes next. – MADELYN ZARON
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Kurt Johnson
When race cars unleash thousands of horsepower onto the pavement, the surface beneath them has to be ready for the challenge. For years, Kurt Johnson has been one of the trusted experts the drag racing industry turns to when it comes to preparing racetracks to handle that kind of power.
A former United States Marine, Johnson built an unusually diverse motorsports résumé that includes serving as Operations Director at Don Schumacher Racing, working with NHRA and its Safety Safari, directing operations at Lucas Oil Raceway, and managing Summit Motorsports Park. Currently, he also serves as the track prep specialist for Tony Stewart Racing Nitro. Along the way, he developed an expertise in track surfaces, concrete, traction compounds, equipment, and event operations.
In 2015, Johnson launched Total Venue Concepts, turning that knowledge into a business that has become a vital resource for racetracks worldwide. TVC provides everything from track preparation and surface renovation to equipment fabrication, facility consulting, and project management. Johnson’ s expertise has been tapped for major projects at facilities including the historic Pomona Raceway, where TVC performed grinding and polishing ahead of the NHRA Winternationals.
His impact extends to innovation as well. Johnson helped develop Summit Racing’ s Pro Trac traction compound and TVC now works with VP Racing Fuels on traction compound development. As race cars continue getting quicker and more powerful, Johnson’ s knowledge only becomes more valuable. His work quite literally provides the foundation upon which modern drag racing performs. – MADELYN ZARON
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Larry Crispe
Larry Crispe’ s impact on drag racing is literally built into the racing surface. Crispe began at Bandimere Speedway picking up trash under the bleachers as a teenager before becoming one of the track’ s key leaders and technical minds. During more than four decades at the facility, he helped oversee major construction and developed equipment that changed how racetracks are prepared, including the tire rotator, rubber scraper, race car pusher, and an early racetrack cooling system. Those innovations spread well beyond Bandimere and are now used across major sanctioning bodies and facilities around the world.
Veteran Funny Car owner and tuner Jim Head has credited Crispe’ s tire rotator as a major breakthrough in the evolution of modern track preparation, allowing track crews to lay down consistent rubber and recover racing surfaces more effectively after oildowns and other issues.
Crispe’ s expertise has also made him a trusted consultant on timing systems, facility upgrades, and track-prep programs. Even after Bandimere Speedway closed, tracks and sanctioning bodies continued calling on him for technical support, including NHRA’ s track-operator education programs and Maryland International Raceway’ s recent renovations.
In 2025, Crispe’ s contributions were formally recognized with induction into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame. – NATE VAN WAGNEN
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Mark Beatty
Mark Beatty has spent more than 30 years in motorsports, but his influence has often come from understanding what racers, tracks, series, and sponsors each need from the other.
His career includes years with V. Gaines’ Western Motorsports oper-
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY NMCA, JOE MCHUGH, LUKE NIEUWHOF, RICK BELDEN, NHRA |