The Maynard family’s association with the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) Top Fuel category is growing. Already owners of the dragster driven by eight-time champion Tony Schumacher, together with an affiliation with Funny Car standout Tim Wilkerson, the affiliation grew during this weekend’s Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals.
Justin Ashley, who won Mission Foods’ #2Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge for the second time this season at Joliet, has aligned with the Maynard family and is now racing under the Maynard Ashley Racing banner, a new organization. The combination of JCM Racing and Max Out Motorsports was announced by the team prior to final qualifications at the Joliet, IL track on Saturday. While fans and participants in the sport are familiar with JCM’s activities, Max Out Motorsports LLC is a newly formed partnership between Justin Ashley, Dustin Davis and Jim Epler.
Davis, of course has been the source for many of Ashley’s equipment and has helped him acclimate to the challenges of the sport. Former racer Epler has been instrumental in providing marketing for the New York-based driver. “Combining JCM Racing with our existing organization is a beneficially strategic move for our Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel team,” Ashley stated. “Our two organizations share the same vision for long-term and sustainable success. We will focus on maintaining a great culture with the goal of winning on and off the track, while providing world class results for our sponsors, fans and teammates.
“I am more excited today about this overall partnership than I have been since I started in the sport,” a scant four seasons ago. Ashley, the 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year, realizes that this affiliation is “a blessing. The fact that Joe, Cathi and their team have decided to join forces with us, I feel, validates our team and all that we’ve been working for,” since his first season of competition.
Ashley has contended for NHRA’s Top Fuel championship the past two seasons as an independent, single-car team albeit with a Toyota technical partnership with AB Motorsports, Antron Brown’s self-owned team. As he and the squad utilize the business, racing and military experiences of U.S. Army veterans, led by the Maynard and Lehman families, the goal is to use JCM’s resources and expertise to completely reshape the way business and racing can combine.
“Cathi and I are very pleased to bring our family’s passion for the sport and drive for excellence into the Maynard Ashley Racing partnership,” Joe Maynard confirmed. “This relationship will provide greater opportunities for our JCM Racing team, our racing partners and sponsors, our Driver Development program and veterans of all ages. Justin is,” he understands, “a young and highly-skilled driver/partner that represents all that is positive for Maynard Ashley Racing, Max Out Motorsports and JCM Racing.”
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