This year’s NHRA players were on hand to talk wins, losses, new team members and more at day one of the race industries family reunion in Indy.
The prominent NHRA stage at this year’s Performance Racing Industry show was busy from the 9AM opening bell through to the show’s 5PM close on the first of three days at this racing industry trade gathering.
Emphasizing that it’s not only what happens on each race track that is dominant in each weekend’s proceedings; drag racing’s no-barriers pits are what bring new people into the sport, as fans, as participants and as partners to racers.
Antron Brown, the three-time Top Fuel champion who launched AB Motorsports in 2022, wanted to remind everyone that it was his own experiences as a child at Englishtown, New Jersey’s dragstrip that influenced his life choice to become a member of the drag racing community. Meeting his racing heroes up close and personal at their hospitality areas enabled him to learn more about the sport and get even more hooked on it.
That ideology brings Factory Motor Parts and its FVP battery brand to AB Motorsports in 2023, placing the FVP name prominently on the sides of Brown’s Matco Tools dragster; the company intends to use Brown’s team’s hospitality center to enhance its relationship with at least 1,300 guests and clients during NHRA’s 21 events. “We’ve had a great experience working with NHRA and their team, and we’re very proud to join Antron’s team as we continue to invest in the sport of drag racing and grow the FVP brand,” noted Clay Johnson, senior vice president of sales. “Antron’s values and vision align effortlessly with our brand,” he said.
This time last year, Camrie Caruso had just announced her first year in Pro Stock, driving a Camaro for her family team. They were all new to the class, but adapted exceptionally well, as Caruso earned her first No. 1 qualifier in only her fifth race and went to a final round. She qualified for every race but her early season prominence in the class dissipated as the Countdown to the Championship playoffs began. She started the playoffs within the top 10 – there were 15 total eligible drivers for the Countdown in the Pro Stock class – but fell to 12th by the time the season finale Auto Club Finals were complete in Pomona. Still, she believes she and her team learned a lot and will be stronger in 2023. She goes into her sophomore season having earned NHRA’s Rookie of the Year award for her exceptional efforts.
Last year at this show, Ron Capps announced his new eponymous team in NHRA’s Funny Car division. At the time, he’d just clinched his second championship with Don Schumacher Racing, who were shutting down all but Tony Schumacher’s Top Fuel team for the 2022 season. Capps went on to be the first back-to-back Flopper champion in 20 years, as he earned his third title in the difficult class. At the same time, as he was victorious in Pomona, he also was relieved to have found a manufacturer who believed in his efforts to produce wins and championships.
Capps brought Toyota its first title in the Funny Car division and was the only champion for the manufacturer this year, despite having such luminaries as Top Fuel titleholders Steve Torrence and Antron Brown, together with Brown’s technical partner Justin Ashley. In Funny Car, Capps said he was assisted in his conversion to Toyota’s new GR Supra body by Kalitta Motorsports’ Jon Oberhofer, driver J.R. Todd and DC Motorsports’ Del Worsham, together with driver Alexis DeJoria. What did he like most about the new car? He said the visibility in the GR Supra is superb and it was something new for him to be able to see the whole track, something he couldn’t do with the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat he previously drove.
Alex Laughlin has raced NHRA’s Pro Stock and Top Fuel in the Camping World Drag Racing Series. Now he’s going to attempt to throw his estimable hat into the Funny Car ring, racing Jim Dunn Racing’s Dodge Charger in 2023. While he hasn’t licensed yet for the class – that’ll happen over the winter, likely at either Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside Phoenix or on The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – the Texan realizes this is a very different animal from the two cars he’s been racing in the past.
“I watched John Force at Pomona when his body blew off and saw the destruction. These things are daunting,” he said. With no preconceptions, but knowing how difficult the Flopper can be to drive, Laughlin is looking forward to the challenge of racing this car Ian 2023. What he does know is the Dunn Family’s cars “go down the track” and are always presented well.
When Tony Stewart Racing began its nitro squad with Stewart’s wife, Top Fuel racer Leah Pruett and three-time Funny Car champion Matt Hagan, the latter’s squad was already in place, led by Dickie Venables. Pruett’s team, on the other hand, was pretty much brand new. She did announce that they’re going to be intact for the 2023 season and believes that will make a big difference in how they’re able to perform consistently, knowing their driver and knowing the tools in place.
Starting a new team from scratch is never easy and both Stewart and Pruett were very much aware of that fact. They knew it was going to be tough to earn wins in the first year with Neil Strausbaugh taking on his first role as crew chief, and they were right. The duo are hoping that the experiences they’ve had in 2022 will give them a better foothold to earn those elusive wins in 2023.
Buddy Hull joined the NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel category in 2020, working initially with Terry Haddock equipment and then purchasing Tim Wilkerson’s dragster equipment to run in 2021 as he learned the series, the tracks and the competition. Hull did well in his first two seasons, well enough to earn the interest of a new sponsor for the 21-race 2023 campaign.
Not only will his engines be fueled by nitromethane, Hull’s captured the attention of Methanol Moonshine, the Australian take on an American icon that was introduced to the U.S. market over the past year. Methanol Moonshine and Buddy Hull Racing have entered a new relationship for the 2023 season, where the moonshine maker’s logo will adorn the sides of Hull’s rail, along with the front and rear wings. The company joins solar experts Vertex, who are roofing and general contractors.
Hull and Methanol Moonshine founder, Wade Aunger, met at last year’s Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals outside Indianapolis, arguably the biggest drag race on the planet. The duo hit it off immediately. “I was impressed with Buddy when we met in Indy,” Aunger said. “I knew from the second we sat down that this was a good match.” Hull’s first race – of eight planned so far – will be the final contest at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park outside Phoenix.
Elite Motorsports had another announcement today at the show, taking sportsman driver Jerry Tucker to drive the eighth Pro Stock Camaro in Elite’s fleet. The Oklahoma racer has competed in everything from sprint cars, midgets and has been a constant in the Lucas Oil NHRA sportsman ranks. He’ll work on earning his Pro Stock license in January to be prepared for March’s 54th annual Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.
Tucker and Elite owner Richard Freeman have been friends since childhood. “The really cool thing with Jerry is that we grew up together. He’s drag raced in several different classes and it’s going to be cool to see him have this opportunity to work with our team and learn from them.” Tucker said that Pro Stock is his favorite category: “I’ve always wanted to drive one and Elite Motorsports is the best team in the class, so I’m pumped to be joining them.”
Tucker joins five-time and reigning Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, runner-up Aaron Stanfield, Troy Coughlin Jr., 2017 Pro Stock champ Bo Butner, together with the Cuadra family team of Fernando Cuadra, Fernando Cuadra Jr. and Cristian Cuadra.
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