{"id":14419,"date":"2015-04-23T16:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-23T23:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=14419"},"modified":"2015-04-24T13:21:25","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T20:21:25","slug":"vandergriff-racing-becoming-nhras-newest-superteam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/vandergriff-racing-becoming-nhras-newest-superteam\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandergriff Racing Becoming NHRA\u2019s Newest Superteam"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"15BobVandergriffLarryDixonPHOTO\"<\/a>
Larry Dixon’s Top Fuel dragster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bob Vandergriff has an eye for talent. The three-time NHRA National Event Top Fuel winner is now a car owner, and he’s put together a team of drivers and crew that could rival any nitro team in the pits. Success\u00a0is the only motto\u00a0in the Vandergriff\u00a0camp, but the road this season has been a little rocky.<\/p>\n

\"15BobVandergriffLarryDixonHEADSHOT\"<\/a>
Larry Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-time Top Fuel champion, Larry Dixon and rookie sensation, Dave Connolly, headline the racing team. But Dixon suffered a spectacular qualifying crash at the Gagornationals and has struggled to recover. His advance\u00a0to the finals in Las Vegas has allowed Bob Vandergriff Racing to\u00a0cautiously\u00a0project a season of success.<\/p>\n

However, Vandergriff still wants to build up his team and with C&J Energy Services support, his goal is getting closer every day. \u00a0So\u00a0after five races how does this\u00a02015 team measure up?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot up to par, but improving,\u201d said Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cWe have too many high expectations for our team.\u00a0 There are some of things we’ve done to improve our overall performance and raise the level of competitiveness of our team.\u00a0 \u00a0We obviously had a little bit of adversity that we\u2019re recovering from, but we do see signs of improvement.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to the next few races to capitalize on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Vegas, Dixon reached his 109th<\/sup> final round appearance and\u00a0defeated Tony Schumacher with the lowest ET of the race in the first round, running a brand new car.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a new car we have Larry in and it acts differently than the other one, so it\u2019s taken us a few runs to tune it up to speed,\u201d said Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cWe struggled with it in qualifying there, but on Saturday night we all got together and made some decisions on how to maybe change our approach a little bit.\u00a0 First round, the thing responded.\u00a0 That was a positive for sure.\u00a0 Anytime you can go out and row low ET of the race first round and beat Tony Schumacher, it\u2019s pretty uplifting for the team and puts a smile on everybody\u2019s face.\u00a0 It kind of gives you hope you\u2019re going in the right direction and all the hard work is going to pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"15BobVandergriffBobandDavePHOTO\"
Dave Connolly and Bob Vandergriff<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vandergriff also\u00a0has a new apprentice in Dave Connolly, a Pro Stock driver who has amassed 26 wins to his\u00a0credit. But Top Fuel is an entirely different animal and Vandergriff had his eye on this young talent for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I decided to get out of the car and replace myself, obviously you look for the best possible candidate,\u201d said \u00a0Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cA lot of factors go into that as far as the different situations.\u00a0 Driving the car is one thing, someone you can build a car for the future is something else. \u00a0When I sat back everything kept pointing at Dave Connolly.\u00a0 Obviously, he\u2019s a very impressive driver and has a great resume, so far.\u00a0 Probably not on everyone\u2019s radar screen as a Top Fuel driver just because he was pretty solidified in the Pro Stock category.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t bother me. I’d been\u00a0watching him drive over the years.\u00a0 I knew he’d be good in anything we put him in.\u00a0 It certainly wasn\u2019t a concern about him stepping into Top Fuel. He was my first choice.\u00a0 There was no reason to look anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building a two-car team takes time and after a few defections in the beginning, all the loyal players are in place.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>
Dave Connolly’s Top Fuel Dragster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve got all the people.\u00a0I was talking with Josh Comstock, the CEO of C&J Energy Services, when we were in Vegas and he asked me what I thought,\u201d said Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s a big supporter of our program.\u00a0 I told him finally we have all the right people in place, we have all the right parts and pieces and there isn\u2019t any reason we can\u2019t compete at the top level now.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good feeling.\u00a0 From a crew chief standpoint, we\u2019ve got two guys on each team (Larry Dixon\u2019s – Mike Guger, Joe Barlem and Dave Connolly\u2019s – Kurt Elliott, Jason McCulloch) that work really well with each other.\u00a0 They all bring a variety of different things to our team now.\u00a0 They complement each other attitude’s with what they are good about, so I don\u2019t think there is anything that should hold us back from competing with the top teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

With growth comes setbacks.\u00a0 At the recent race in Gainesville, \u00a0Vandergriff had a scare of his life when Dixon\u2019s car broke its front nose during the third qualifying round, hurling the driver\u00a0approximately 600 feet in the air down the track before landing hard, and coming to rest in the shutdown area.\u00a0 The new car owner couldn\u2019t believe what he had just witnessed.\u00a0 Seeing Dixon emerge from this\u00a0crash was a huge relief to Vandergriff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a pretty difficult position to be in,\u201d said Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cEspecially after 20 years of being in the car and not standing on the starting line.\u00a0 People have always told me that it’s tough, watching me run. Like my son Josh.\u00a0 He wanted to almost throw up sometimes standing on the starting line watching me.\u00a0 I never knew. \u00a0 I never understood that side of it, always being in the car.\u00a0 I can tell you now standing up on the starting line watching two guys drive my cars, it\u2019s really difficult.\u00a0 It\u2019s a whole different environment and a whole different feeling for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne minute you can tell the thing was on a really good run.\u00a0 He [Dixon] was driving away from Doug Kalitta and you could\u00a0tell this one was going to be a good one and then all of the sudden things are flying through the air.\u00a0 Being so far away from it you have no idea.\u00a0 What part is he in and what\u2019s the condition that part is in?\u00a0 I\u2019m standing there helpless.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty helpless feeling in especially as a team owner. I feel completely responsible for those two guys driving those cars.\u00a0 For that to happen under my watch is\u00a0pretty difficult. \u00a0That\u2019s not something I would ever want to do again.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a former driver, Vandergriff knows the ups and downs of\u00a0the business.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he has a lot of patience with his young driver, Connolly and knows that all he needs is just more seat time.\u00a0 He\u2019s a natural in the cockpit and deadly as ever at the starting line.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to understand, I don\u2019t care what kind of car you\u2019re driven in the past, getting into a Top Fuel dragster is a whole different ball game,\u201d said Vandergriff.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe some people thought that he\u2019s been in a Pro Stock car and he\u2019s been close to 215 miles per hour.\u00a0 To see him get into that dragster and hit the throttle the first couple of times and seeing his face and him realizing that this is a lot different than he thought it was going to be.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care who you are.\u00a0 It\u2019s a learning curve.\u00a0 He\u2019s done really well.\u00a0 On our part, we haven\u2019t exactly given him the most consistent race car, yet.\u00a0 We\u2019re working on that starting with a few things.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen some bright spots here recently with the car\u2019s performance.\u00a0 Now, the times he has gone up and down the racetrack, he just keeps getting better and better.\u00a0 He\u2019s a natural, a real killer on the starting line.\u00a0 It\u2019s ridiculous to watch, his time slips and his reaction times, they are so consistent.\u00a0 You see a lot of guys that are all over the map, some good ones, some medium ones, some not so good ones.\u00a0 He is just about the same on every freaking run, so obviously, it\u2019s not a fluke.\u00a0 Once we give him a race car that\u2019s consistent and competitive, he\u2019s going to win a lot of races.\u201d<\/p>\n

We wondered if,\u00a0seeing his two talented drivers having so much fun, \u00a0Vandergriff ever misses the driving part?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I haven\u2019t,\u201d Vandergriff said.\u00a0 \u201cI haven\u2019t missed it at all right now.\u00a0 For me, it\u2019s always been kind of a means to an end.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always been interested more in the business side.\u00a0 Being the driver just opened a lot of doors for me to do the business stuff.\u00a0 From a driving standpoint, I had done it for 20 years.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to give me a new experience in the car. \u00a0Actually, I\u2019m kind of excited about teaching and watching and see someone like Dave Connolly progress into the star he is going to be at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe laugh.\u00a0 Larry Dixon, he always feels that I\u2019m neglecting him and we joke about it.\u00a0 It\u2019s because I don\u2019t have to worry about him.\u00a0 He\u2019s a three-time world champion, he\u2019s won 62 races.\u00a0 The last thing I need to worry about is Larry Dixon driving that race car.\u00a0 He does such a great job in the car.\u00a0 That\u2019s one thing that\u2019s out of my mind.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to feel like I have to be over there on top of Larry\u2019s team and have to be on top of that.\u00a0 Honestly, he doesn\u2019t need any help.<\/p>\n

Dave is progressing so quickly in that car.\u00a0 It relieves a lot of pressure and stress off of me because he\u2019s doing such a good job.\u00a0 He\u2019s really progressing quickly to where it\u2019s something else I won\u2019t have to worry about.\u00a0 I am excited about the direction of our team.\u00a0 I think we have two great drivers in the cars.\u00a0 Great people working on them and I think we\u2019re ready to make some noise here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New car owner Bob Vandergriff has a solid team of talented drivers and crew. He’s poised to take this team all the way to championship, if they can just work out the kinks.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3399],"tags":[1461,2502,1690,907,251,73],"class_list":["post-14419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-nhra","tag-2015-nhra-mello-yello-drag-racing-series","tag-bob-vandergriff","tag-bob-vandergriff-racing","tag-dave-connolly","tag-larry-dixon","tag-top-fuel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/15BobVandergriffDaveConnollyFeature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-3Kz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14419"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14471,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14419\/revisions\/14471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}