Very few people outside his central Florida area had ever heard of Josh Hart when he burst onto the national stage with his 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel rookie victory in the Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway outside the Florida city of the same name.
With a shop located about 20 minutes from Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing, both of them in the Ocala area that is less than an hour from the Gainesville drag strip, Hart has built a team focused on taking his 11,000-horsepower dragster to the Winner’s Circle at every NHRA national event. To date they’ve recorded two wins – both in 2021 (as a part-time competitor) at Gainesville and in the second Charlotte event during NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship – making Hart and his eponymous team intent on earning a national Top Fuel title in one of NHRA’s most difficult categories.
During his first full season of racing in 2022, Hart raced to a pair of final round results and qualified for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs, finishing seventh, ahead of some of the sports bigger names: Clay Millican, Shawn Langdon, Doug Kalitta, Leah Pruett and eight-time Top Fuel titleholder Tony Schumacher. That result whetted his appetite for more success and, perhaps, a national championship.
That run for the title starts in March at the same Gainesville drag strip where Josh Hart first found professional success. The entire NHRA national event season starts in Gainesville at 54th Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals, where Hart and crew chief/team partner Ron Douglas will be looking to cement their success in a strong manner.
To ensure success, Hart announced he and TechNet have enhanced their partnership for the 2023 season and beyond. TechNet, part of the Advance Auto Parts Inc. family of companies will continue to support Hart’s racing endeavors, as they have since he raced in NHRA’s Top Alcohol Dragster class. “Advance Auto Parts has been with me throughout my career in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Fuel,” Hart advised.
“They are an amazing company to work with, and the TechNet Professional Automotive Service team is the best in the business. We will be doing a lot of exciting things in 2023 and, most importantly, we are focusing on making another run for the Top Fuel championship. Their support is invaluable and we are thrilled to be working with them again,” he said.
As part of the Advance Auto Parts family of brands, TechNet Professional Automotive Service features a network of more than 15,000 repair shops across the United States and Canada. TechNet shops are locally owned and focus on delivering exceptional customer care and service. Shops that choose to be part of TechNet Nation employ highly skilled and trained staff. These shops have access to quality parts from Carquest, DieHard batteries and other leading brands. Shops also participate in important charitable initiatives in the communities they serve, including Brakes for Breasts.
In a season finale that saw many top-rated and championship-contending teams fall in the first round during the 57th Auto Club Finals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif., Josh Hart solidified his seventh-place season-long result with a semifinal finish, vanquishing Doug Kalitta and 3rd generation racer Krista Baldwin before losing an exceptionally tight race to three-time champ and fellow team owner Antron Brown.
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