DEAN ANTONELLI
Co-Crew Chief: John Force Racing (Ashley Force Hood)
Antonelli is a product of a system that has won 16 NHRA Funny Car championships in the last 20 seasons. Although he grew up around racing as the son of the late Joe Antonelli, driver of Funny Cars and fuel altereds including "Nanook," the native of Tucson, Ariz., has spent his entire professional career at John Force Racing, studying the sport under the tutelage of All-Star crew chiefs Austin Coil, Bernie Fedderly, John Medlen, and Jimmy Prock. Antonelli served as Team Leader on John Force’s Castrol GTX High-Mileage Ford Mustang before taking the helm of Force Hood's Funny Car in 2007 and directing her to the 2009 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals title. With tuning partner Ron Douglas, Antonelli led Force Hood to a second-place points finish in 2009. His wife, Kelly, is Marketing Director at JFR, Inc. |
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LEE BEARD
Team Manager: Don Schumacher Racing
Beard has spent more than 30 years in drag racing. He has earned more than 50 wins as a crew chief in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks during his career. Beard began his career as an owner/driver in Top Fuel in the early 1970s. He has tuned for some highly successful drivers, including Jerry Ruth, Gary Ormsby, Pat Austin, Ed McCulloch, Cory McClenathan, Cruz Pedregon, Kenny Bernstein, Whit Bazemore, Rod Fuller, and Antron Brown. In 1989, he tuned Ormsby to the Top Fuel championship, and his cars have set national records in both Top Fuel and Funny Car. He was voted Crew Chief of the Year and Person of the Year in 1989 by Car Craft Magazine. |
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DONNIE BENDER
Crew Chief
Bender served as crew chief at Don Prudhomme-owned Snake Racing from 2006-2009. In his first two seasons as crew chief, he guided driver Larry Dixon to finishes of seventh and fourth place in the Full Throttle Series standings. Bender left Doug Kalitta's Top Fuel crew at the end of the 1999 season, where he was responsible for all computers and timers. Before racing, Bender worked in the oil industry for 10 years dealing with pipeline equipment. |
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KENNY BERNSTEIN
Team Owner: Kenny Bernstein Racing (Brandon Bernstein)
While he is largely known as one of only two drivers (Gary Scelzi) in NHRA history to win championships in both nitro categories and as the first to surpass the 300-mph barrier (Gainesville 1992.), Bernstein also has left his mark in racing through his skill as a businessman. Bernstein, who returned to competition as a driver in 2007 for one year after retiring in 2002, continues to be the mastermind behind the team. The team will enter into a new chapter during 2010 as Copart replaces longtime sponsor, Budweiser. Bernstein, a six-time NHRA world champion (1985-88 FC, 1996, 2001 TF) has owned teams on the NASCAR and Champ Car circuits as well. He also was voted No. 6 on NHRA’s 50 Greatest Drivers list in 2001 and filled in for son Brandon in the Budweiser dragster in 2003 after an injury sidelined the young driver. |
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KEN BLACK
Team Owner: KB Racing LLC (Greg Anderson, Jason Line)
After first getting involved in drag racing as a part-owner in the late '90s, the Las Vegas-based Black struck out on his own in 2002, founding the KB Racing Pro Stock team. Using the same principles that helped him build Vegas General Construction into a multi-million dollar business, his organization quickly developed into one of the most successful Pro Stock teams in the NHRA, winning 76 national events entering 2010 as well as four consecutive Full Throttle Series championships with drivers Greg Anderson (2003-2005) and Jason Line (2006). From 2006-2008, Black also fielded a Top Fuel team, helping former Top Alcohol Dragster racer Hillary Will become the 11th female in NHRA history to win a national event with her Top Fuel title in Topeka in 2008. Black's towering stature and trademark cowboy hat make him a starting-line fixture at tracks across the country. |
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NICK BONINFANTE
Co-Crew Chief: Kalitta Motorsports (Jeff Arend)
Boninfante is in his second stint at Kalitta Motorsports. He first worked for the team as a clutch specialist on team owner and drag racing legend Connie Kalitta's Top Fuel team in 1991 and 1992. From 1993 until 1996, Boninfante served as clutch specialist on Scott Kalitta's Top Fuel machine and won back-to-back world championships (1994-1995). Boninfante rejoined Kalitta Motorsports in August of 2008 as co-crew chief on the Doug Kalitta-driven Top Fuel dragster. Boninfante has worked with several NHRA contenders including Ron Capps, Doug Herbert, Bob Gilbertson, and Bruce Litton. He helped guide Litton's dragster to the 2007 IHRA Top Fuel championship. |
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VICTOR CAGNAZZI
Team Owner: Cagnazzi Racing (Jeg Coughlin Jr.)
Cagnazzi's approach to building a successful NHRA Pro Stock team mirrors the same principles his business team used to drive $70+ million annually in sales at his family's New York City-based high-tech business - applying the right people, resources, and technology to a goal, then working to reach and exceed those goals. After attending the New York Institute of Technology, Cagnazzi worked for his father's Long Island, N.Y.-based business. Partnering with his three brothers, the four spent two decades growing ISG into a successful computer infrastructure-and-software design and supply distribution company. Cagnazzi is a blend of high-powered business executive and sportsman. Complementing his corporate achievements, which include Entrepreneur of the Year in New York City, Cagnazzi has always been a racer at heart. Cagnazzi spent much of his youth competing in amateur drag racing events around the region. As his business interests grew, so did his involvement in the sport of drag racing. In the early 1990s, Cagnazzi took steps towards a career as a professional drag racer and team owner. Since 1992, he worked his way up through several amateur and professional classes at the dragstrip, building a first-class team of engine, aerodynamic, and chassis experts. Cagnazzi built a headquarters for his racing team in Mooresville, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte. In 2007 he earned his first Full Throttle championship with Jeg Coughlin Jr., and the two repeated in 2008. His company also provides motors to select competitors in the Pro Stock class. |
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AUSTIN COIL
Crew Chief: John Force Racing (John Force)
Coil has directed John Force to 14 NHRA Funny Car championships in the last 20 seasons. That makes 16 NHRA Funny Car titles for the Chicago native who, before joining Force in 1985 won back-to-back titles (1982-83) with his own Chi-Town Hustler entry driven by Frank Hawley. The Chi-Town Hustler, a car in which he was partnered with fellow Chicagoans John Farkonas and Pat Minick, was one of the dominant Funny Cars on the match-race circuit in the 1970s. When sponsorship of the Chi-Town Hustler dried up in 1985, Force came calling with an offer that brought Coil to California. The Coil-Force collaboration has produced 126 tour victories and made Coil the Car Craft Magazine Funny Car Crew Chief of the Year 12 times. Coil also won seven races with Hawley. Coil leads the highly regarded tuning staff of Bernie Fedderly, John Medlen, Jimmy Prock, Dean Antonelli, and Ron Douglas. |
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BRIAN CORRADI
Co-Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Antron Brown)
One of the younger elite NHRA tuners, Corradi will team with former NHRA Funny Car champion Mark Oswald to call the shots on the Matco Tools dragster. Last season, their first in Top Fuel, Corradi and Oswald tuned Brown to a category-best six Top Fuel wins, including a sweep of the Western Swing. The Matco Tools dragster also earned seven No. 1 qualifiers and 13 top speed of the meet awards. The Ohio native cut his teeth in the high-speed sport working for (Dean) Skuza Motorsports. Corradi also has worked with Jim Dunn Racing, Frank Pedregon, Whit Bazemore, Mike Ashley, and Melanie Troxel. He is married to Jackie. They have two sons, Nick and Sean. Corradi's hobbies are racing, hunting, and riding quads. |
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CHRIS CUNNINGHAM
Crew Chief: Tasca Motorsports (Bob Tasca III)
Cunningham joined driver Bob Tasca III in 2008 after logging years with Worsham Racing. He has more than 25 years of experience in the field of drag racing mechanics. Cunningham started his career with Gwynn Racing and has since played a vital role with several teams, including those of Alan Johnson, Whit Bazemore, and Jerry Toliver. After a lengthy career as a line maintenance mechanic at US Airways, Cunningham now concentrates on drag racing full time. |
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TOMMY DeLAGO
Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Matt Hagan)
DeLago has worked with names such as Connie Kalitta, Darrell Gwynn, Bob Gilbertson, and Don Prudhomme Racing in his years of experience in the assistant crew chief and crew chief position. He'll bring knowledge from those teams to Hagan, who enters his second season as an NHRA Funny Car driver. |
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RON DOUGLAS
Co-Crew Chief: John Force Racing (Ashley Force Hood)
After more than 10 years of working with a number of veteran drag racers, Douglas accepted an entirely different challenge and point of view when he was hired in 2007 to work with the then-rookie crew chief-driver tandem of Dean "Guido" Antonelli and Ashley Force Hood. Douglas, who had crewed for such drivers as Cruz Pedregon, Doug Herbert, Dean Skuza, and Don Schumacher Racing, proved to be a perfect partner for Antonelli at John Force Racing. Similar leadership views and personality traits allowed Douglas and Antonelli to bond instantly. Their chemistry helped Force Hood become the first woman to win an NHRA Funny Car race in 2008 and the first to win the Mac Tools U. S. Nationals in 2009, a season in which she finished second in points behind brother-in-law Robert Hight. |
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ROB DOWNING
Crew Chief: Ken Black Racing LLC (Greg Anderson, Jason Line)
Downing will continue his tuning efforts in 2010 for the three-time NHRA Full Throttle world championship car driven by Greg Anderson and the 2006 Pro Stock championship-winning car driven by Jason Line. Downing joined the KB Racing LLC team prior to the 2003 season and guided Anderson to a then record-breaking campaign. The team earned 12 victories and established 19 track records en route to the 2003 championship before upping those numbers to 14 wins in 19 final rounds with 15 No. 1 qualifying awards in 2004. In 2005, he again tasted championship glory with Anderson and in 2006 helped Line realize his championship dream. Downing started his drag racing career with Mark Pawuk's Pro Stock entry in 1998. After spending one season as a crew member, he was promoted to crew chief in 1999. Downing stayed with Pawuk through the 2002 season, earning two victories in six final-round appearances. In 2001 Downing was honored as the Pro Racing Crew Chief of the Year by Car Craft Magazine. Downing graduated from the University of Nebraska with a mechanical engineering degree in 1993 and worked as a project engineer until he started working on the NHRA circuit. |
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JIM DUNN
Team Owner/Crew Chief: Jim Dunn Racing (Paul Lee)
A pioneer of the sport of drag racing, Dunn began racing in Southern California in the 1950s, first as a driver and later as one of the most experienced and dedicated team owners and crew chiefs in the business. The Long Beach, Calif., native guided Kenji Okazaki and Frank Pedregon to victories and is regarded as one of the most respected mentors in the sport. Dunn earned two victories as a driver and eight wins as a team owner/crew chief. Dunn retired from driving in 1990 to focus his efforts on his duties as crew chief and team owner. |
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BERNIE FEDDERLY
Co-Crew Chief: John Force Racing (John Force)
Fedderly, a member of the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame, shares with tuners Dale Armstrong, Leonard Hughes, and Rahn Tobler the distinction of being one of only four crew chiefs to have won NHRA series championships in both Funny Car and Top Fuel. Before coming on board with John Force and Austin Coil in 1992, Fedderly won the 1983 NHRA Top Fuel championship with driver Gary Beck and car owner Larry Minor. He first came to prominence in 1980, when he and fellow Canadian Terry Capp combined their talents to claim the Top Fuel championship at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis. From there, Fedderly moved to the Larry Minor team in 1982, serving as crew chief for Beck and for Funny Car driver Ed "Ace" McCulloch. Coincidentally, Fedderly began the 1992 season with Minor and driver Cruz Pedregon, who beat Force for the championship that year. Fedderly and Coil guided Force to his 14th NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car world championship in 2006. |
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MIKE GREEN
Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Tony Schumacher)
In his first full season as crew chief for Tony Schumacher he was able to lead to the U.S. Army team to its sixth consecutive Top Fuel championship and the seventh title for Schumacher. Green joined Don Prudhomme’s Skoal Racing Funny Car team 10 races into the 2001 season and departed shortly after the 2002 campaign began. He went to work on the Darrell Gwynn-owned Top Fuel dragster driven by Andrew Cowin for the remainder of the '02 season. With Green on board, Cowin ended a lengthy winless streak in eliminations and was the runner-up once and a semifinalist four times. Before the end of the '02 season, Green was inked by Prudhomme to rejoin the Skoal Racing team to make the tuning decisions in 2003 for the Funny Car driven by Tommy Johnson Jr. Green began his career in 1986 and in 2008 made the move from Prudhomme's camp to Don Schumacher Racing, where he was at the helm for Cory McClenathan. |
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BYRON HINES
Team Owner: Vance & Hines Motorsports (Andrew Hines, Eddie Krawiec)
When Byron Hines got back from his tour of duty in Vietnam, he quickly found a career in racing. Hines met up with Terry Vance and the two have formed one of the most successful programs in drag racing. Hines helped tune Vance to 24 victories. Hines also put some time in as a rider, earning one victory (Topeka 1992) in less than two seasons of competition. The duo formed Vance & Hines Motorsports, producing engines for several NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle teams as well as equipment for motorcycle racers all over the world. Once Vance retired, the two stayed in the industry and continued to produce winning results. Hines helped guide his oldest son, Matt, to three NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championships and 30 wins in seven seasons of racing before Matt retired after the 2002 season. With Hines playing the role of engineer and tuner, the Vance & Hines team introduced Harley-Davidson into drag racing in 2002 with GT Tonglet as the lead rider. The youngest Hines, Andrew, made his racing debut mid-way through the 2002 season. Andrew won three consecutive Full Throttle Series world championships — the first championships for a Harley-Davidson entry (2004-06). The first Harley to have factory support, the Screamin' Eagle Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson team, features Andrew Hines and Krawiec on the V-Rod squad. |
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MATT HINES
Crew Chief: Vance & Hines Motorsports (Andrew Hines, Eddie Krawiec)
After spending a highly successful seven years competing in the Pro Stock Motorcycle category, Hines made the transition to assistant crew chief in 2003, helping his father tune his younger brother's Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson V-Rod. As a racer Hines became the first NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle racer to earn the NHRA championship in three consecutive seasons (1997-99). He earned 30 career wins in 47 final rounds along with 44 No. 1 qualifying awards. Hines took the victory at the final race of his career (Pomona 2 2002) before dedicating his time to engineering improvements for the V-Twin entries. With his help, the factory Harley-Davidson riders have earned 17 wins as well as three consecutive series championships from 2004-06 and one in 2008 (Krawiec). |
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MARK INGERSOLL
Crew Chief: J & J Racing (Allen Johnson)
Like so many of NHRA's greatest tuners, Ingersoll went to the track first as a child, where he watched his father Buddy win multiple titles in several sportsman categories. Ingersoll began his first full-time job with an NHRA Full Throttle Series team in 1992, with Steve Schmidt. He started with "odds and ends," like driving the team truck. In 1995, Ingersoll became his crew chief. He worked with drivers Darrell Alderman and Scott Geoffrion before joining current driver Allen Johnson in 2001, where he took the helm for Richie Stevens Jr.as well. Ingersoll has plenty of experience behind the wheel too, with thousands of testing and competitive runs to his credit. In 2007, he was voted Best Crew Chief, Other Than My Own by Pro Stock drivers polled by National DRAGSTER. He will serve as co-crew chief with Jeff Perley. |
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ALAN JOHNSON
Owner: Alan Johnson Racing/Manager: The Al-Anabi Racing Team (Del Worsham, Larry Dixon)
The 2009 NHRA Full Throttle season was the first in Alan Johnson's second stint as an NHRA team owner. Johnson remained a dominating force in NHRA racing as the Al-Anabi Top Fuel and Funny Car teams both made the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs and combined for eight wins in 12 final-round appearances. Larry Dixon's Top Fuel team finished the season just two points away from taking the championship in its inaugural season. Before starting his current team, Johnson emerged as one of the most innovative and successful crew chiefs in NHRA Top Fuel racing. He ended his crew chief career after earning a fifth consecutive Full Throttle Series Top Fuel championship with driver Tony Schumacher. Although 2008's ending was one to remember, the 2006 campaign will be forever remembered for "The Run," a final-round, national record-setting run at the last race on the final pass that gave the U.S. Army team the championship title. The memorable 4.428-second pass is widely regarded as the greatest single run in NHRA history by many drag racing historians. Johnson joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2003 after the Tony Schumacher-driven U.S. Army dragster struggled in the first nine events of that season. The hire immediately paid off as Johnson guided the Army dragster to a win in his first event. Schumacher earned the Top Fuel trophy four times in 2003 en route to a third-place finish in the final points standings with Johnson's help. Johnson and Schumacher earned a record 10 Top Fuel victories en route to the championship in 2004, and then the duo won nine races in 2005 on the way to another world title. The 2007 season was another miracle finish for Schumacher, who claimed the inaugural Countdown to the Championship title on the final run of the final race of the year. While serving as team owner and crew chief, Johnson also guided Gary Scelzi to three NHRA championships (1997-98 and 2000) in the Team Winston Top Fuel dragster. During the early 1990s, he and his late brother Blaine dominated Top Alcohol Dragster competition, winning four consecutive championships and five straight NHRA divisional crowns. Away from the track, Johnson owns and operates Alan Johnson Performance Engineering in Santa Maria, Calif., which specializes in building cylinder heads for automobile, motorcycle and boat racing teams. |
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CONNIE KALITTA
Team Owner/Crew Chief: Kalitta Motorsports (Doug Kalitta, David Grubnic, Jeff Arend)
A lot more than elapsed times have changed since the days when Connie Kalitta raced a 1951 Willys on an abandoned Michigan airstrip for pink slips. One of only a handful of racers from the early days still active in the sport, he has had a front row seat for some of the more significant developments that have helped shape the sport of drag racing. While flatbed trailers and front-engine dragsters have been replaced by semis and 7,000-horsepower nitromethane-burning machines, one thing remains the same — Kalitta's desire to win. In addition to 22 NHRA final rounds with 10 wins as a driver, Kalitta also has three Full Throttle Series world championships to his credit. The first came in 1977 and the other two came as team owner of Kalitta Motorsports when his son, Scott, earned NHRA Top Fuel titles in 1994 and 1995. Tragically, Scott died after a racing accident in Englishtown in 2008. Continuing the family name will be Connie's nephew, Doug Kalitta, who will be at the wheel of the camp's Top Fuel dragster. The uncle-nephew duo has combined for 30 victories, finishing second in the points standings in 2003, 2004, and 2006. When he is not at the track, Kalitta keeps busy running Kalitta Leasing and Kalitta Air. Based at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Mich., Kalitta Air transports cargo worldwide, utilizing several B-747s. Kalitta Leasing specializes in buying, selling and leasing aircraft and aircraft related equipment. |
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FORREST LUCAS
Team Owner: Morgan Lucas Racing (Morgan Lucas, Shawn Langdon)
Lucas began his foray into Top Fuel racing midway through the 2004 season when his youngest son, Morgan, took over the seat of drag racing legend Joe Amato's rail. Within a year, the Lucas family bought the operation outright and began racing under the Lucas Oil Products banner. In 2009, the group picked up title sponsorship from GEICO Powersports, an arrangement that continues in 2010. Together with his wife, Charlotte, Lucas founded Lucas Oil Products in 1980 and has since grown the company into a leader in the oil and lubricants industry. He also has become a prominent sponsor across the sports world, including the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team. |
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ED McCULLOCH
Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Ron Capps)
As a driver, McCulloch was one of the best ever, producing 22 victories — 18 in Funny Car and four in Top Fuel. Six of his victories came at the prestigious Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, five of those in a Funny Car. Today he is one of the most experienced crew chiefs in the sport. In 2006, he simultaneously received chemotherapy treatments and tuned Ron Capps's Brut Dodge Charger to within points of a Funny Car championship. He and Capps advanced to the Countdown to 1 in 2007, again just shy of their first world championship title together. He joined Don Schumacher Racing in 2005 after spending much of the previous five seasons tuning the Funny Car driven by Ron Capps for lifelong friend Don Prudhomme's Skoal Racing team. There, McCulloch produced five victories in three seasons. In 2002, McCulloch guided the Green Skoal team to its third consecutive top 10 finish in the Funny Car standings. |
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JASON McCULLOCH
Crew Chief: Al-Anabi Racing (Larry Dixon)
McCulloch came to the Al-Anabi Racing team in 2009 after six highly successful seasons with Don Schumacher Racing, where he was the assistant crew chief for current team owner Alan Johnson, who was then the crew chief on the U.S. Army Top Fuel dragster driven by Tony Schumacher. In his first season as crew chief, McCulloch guided Dixon to a second-place finish in the battle for the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel championship and was just two points away from winning the title. McCulloch directed the team to five wins in nine final-round appearances in 2009. He gained experience in the sport in the 1980s when he served as crew member for his father Ed's team, owned by Larry Minor. Dixon was also on that team as a member of the crew, and it was the first full-time job in drag racing for both. Ed is currently crew chief for Don Schumacher Racing's Funny Car entry, driven by Ron Capps. |
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JOHN MEDLEN
Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Matt Hagan)
After spending most of the 2007 season organizing and managing the John Force Racing safety initiative named for his son Eric, Medlen returned to competition as crew chief to Funny Car driver Mike Neff in 2008, guiding him to a season that earned Neff rookie of the year status. Medlen, who won an NHRA Full Throttle championship in 2003 with former driver Tony Pedregon, relocated to Indianapolis in 2007 to oversee the work of the Eric Medlen Project and guide the development of both a Ford-branded BOSS 500 engine for use in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes and an in-house chassis in which Neff won the season-ending Auto Club Finals in 2009. After beginning the 2010 season with John Force Racing, Medlen moved to Don Schumacher Racing in March to serve as a co-crew chief alongside Tommy DeLago on the Matt Hagan-driven Funny Car. A former race car and race boat driver, Medlen is best known as a designer, fabricator, and tuner. In the mid-1980s, he began building clutch systems of his own design for several Top Fuel teams. He later developed one of the first multi-lever clutch systems and a fuel volume control device. As a crew chief, he has won 33 NHRA tour events in both Top Fuel and Funny Car, winning six times in three full seasons with Eric, who in 2007 succumbed to injuries suffered in a testing accident in Florida. |
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MIKE NEFF
Co-Crew Chief: John Force Racing (John Force)
Neff, who has excelled as both driver and crew chief, has put a promising driving career on hold to partner in 2010 with legendary crew chief Austin Coil. Working with Coil, the most decorated crew chief in history, Neff has been assigned the task of putting John Force’s Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang back into the winner’s circle. Neff’s driving victory at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona applied an exclamation point to his two seasons behind the wheel and put him in unique company as just the seventh man to win Funny Car races as both driver and crew chief. Notably, the 42-year-old was the first to do so in reverse order. The other members of that club, including Ed “the Ace” McCulloch, Mark Oswald, Jim Dunn, Leonard Hughes, Leroy Goldstein, and Dale Emery, won first as drivers before later securing victories as crew chiefs. A native of Hemet, Calif., Neff grew up racing dirt bikes and off-road trucks. He grew up with the sons of former team owner Larry Minor, with whom he raced off-road trucks. That relationship would prove pivotal because when Minor decided to return to Top Fuel racing on a limited basis in 1991, he signed Neff as a crew member to work with, among others, Dan Olson, currently NHRA’s Director of Top Fuel and Funny Car Racing. Neff was a full-time mechanic on the Funny Car in which Cruz Pedregon ultimately beat Force for the 1992 NHRA world championship. He worked on that car through the 1994 season, but in 1995, he moved over to the Top Fuel dragster then driven by Cory McClenathan. As a Cory Mac crew member, he celebrated 22 victories over six years and a 1997 sweep of the challenging Western Swing. Neff moved to Don Schumacher Racing in 2001 as assistant crew chief on a Funny Car driven by Whit Bazemore. He got his own car a year later, serving as crew chief to six-time IHRA Pro Comp champion Scotty Cannon, who subsequently gave up the seat to Scelzi. In four-and-a-half years with Scelzi, he went to 18 final rounds and won 11 times. Ironically, it was Neff’s work as crew chief to Gary Scelzi in 2005 that ended JFR’s streak of 12 straight Funny Car championships. |
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JIM OBERHOFER
Crew Chief: Kalitta Motorsports (Doug Kalitta)
Oberhofer has been with Kalitta Racing for over 20 years, serving as crew chief, handling team manager duties, and dealing with daily operations. He is a second-generation drag racing enthusiast whose father campaigned a Jr. fueler as well as a Top Fuel dragster in the 1970s. Oberhofer got his first job in drag racing in 1983 when he was hired by Kalitta Motorsports to be a part-time crew member. His brother Jon also is a crew chief for Kalitta Motorsports. |
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JON OBERHOFER
Co-Crew Chief: Kalitta Motorsports (Jeff Arend)
Oberhofer, like his brother Jim, crew chief on Doug Kalitta's Top Fueler, has been involved with NHRA Drag Racing for most of his life. While growing up in Plano, Texas, Oberhofer watched his quarter-mile heroes, including his dad, Dave, who spent some time behind the wheel of a front-engine Top Fuel rail, and dreamed of someday pursuing his own drag racing ambitions. Oberhofer, just like his brother, has worked his way from the bottom-end up. |
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TODD OKUHARA
Co-Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Cory McClenathan)
Okuhara has been building race cars since his childhood. Born and raised in Hawaii, where Okuhara's father owned a machine shop, he spent much of his high school days rebuilding engines. The training began to pay off in 1993, when Okuhara relocated from Hawaii to build short blocks and work on cylinder heads for famed Hawaiian tuner Roland Leong. Since then, Okuhara has paved his way to his own success in drag racing. He moved over to work for Don "the Snake" Prudhomme in 1994, for Snake’s Final Strike tour. He continued in Top Fuel from 1995-96 working on Larry Dixon's crew. He made the transition to the Funny Car class in 1998, tuning for Ron Capps as an assistant crew chief. Okuhara remained with Prudhomme Racing until mid-season 2005, when he joined Don Schumacher Racing, to be assistant crew chief for Whit Bazemore's Matco Tools Funny Car. For 2006, Okuhara remained the assistant for the Matco Tools Iron Eagle Dodge Charger R/T for the first six races, then was promoted to crew chief beginning in Atlanta. Eight races later Okuhara claimed his first win as a crew chief, when Whit Bazemore defeated Ron Capps in the final round in Seattle. He also tuned Super Comp champion and former Top Fuel driver Jack Beckman to a win and both ends of the national record at the end of 2006 before replacing Mike Neff at the helm of Gary Scelzi's ride. |
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MARK OSWALD
Co-Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Antron Brown)
Known as one of the more talented members in the drag racing circles, the former NHRA Funny Car champion will again team with Brian Corradi to tune Antron Brown's Matco Tools dragster in 2010. The Cincinnati native has been involved in drag racing for four decades as a driver and crew chief. Oswald collected 23 NHRA wins in the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories and is one of 14 drivers to have won races in both nitro categories. Driving for the famed Candies & Hughes team, Oswald won the 1984 NHRA Funny Car championship. Last season, he helped tune Brown to a category-best six Top Fuel wins and a third-place ranking in the Countdown to 1. |
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JIMMY PROCK
Crew Chief: John Force Racing (Robert Hight)
In 2009 Prock guided Robert Hight to his first Funny Car Championship and the 16th Funny Car championship for John Force Racing, Inc. Prock joined an exclusive fraternity in 2001 when he directed veteran Gary Densham to Funny Car victories at Memphis and Dallas to become just the 10th crew chief to win races in the sport's top two categories. He enjoyed his biggest day at the 2004 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, where he directed Densham to the double-up bonus as winner of both the U.S. Nationals and the Funny Car bonus race. After guiding Densham to eight wins in four years for JFR, Prock has won 14 times in his five seasons with Hight, who was the 2005 Auto Club Road to the Future winner. Prock distinguished himself as a Top Fuel crew chief, first with Cory McClenathan during his "Cinderella run" of 1992 and later with five-time NHRA series champ Joe Amato, with whom he won 18 times. A Detroit native, Prock grew up in drag racing as the son of 1970s and 1980s Funny Car driver Tom Prock. |
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DON SCHUMACHER
Team Owner: Don Schumacher Racing (Tony Schumacher, Antron Brown, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan, Cory McClenathan, Jack Beckman)
Remembered as one of the most fierce match racers to ever compete in a Funny Car, Schumacher was also one of the early stars of organized competition, winning the 1972 Coca-Cola Cavalcade of Stars Championship, the 1973 AHRA World Championship, five titles — including the 1970 U.S. Nationals — and nine IHRA event titles. His popular Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car, dubbed Stardust, held countless records in all of drag racing's arenas. As a car owner, Schumacher's record was even more impressive. His engine, clutch, and aerodynamic advancements made his Funny Cars the leading performers in the country, and his safety innovations, such as roof-mounted escape hatches, reduced the threat of fire-related injuries at a time when many Funny Car drivers suffered serious burns. In 1974, Schumacher retired from the sport to develop his family business, Schumacher Electric Corp., one of the world's leading manufacturers of battery chargers. He returned to the sport in the 1990s with son Tony behind the wheel. In July 1998, the duo introduced a new Top Fuel team with sponsorship from Exide Batteries. In 1999, the combination proved successful when the team won the NHRA Top Fuel championship. In 2000, the team unveiled the U.S. Army as their new sponsor and remains one of the most competitive teams on the circuit. They are now seven-time and defending Full Throttle Series world champs. |
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PHIL SHULER
Co-Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Cory McClenathan)
This South Carolina native raced motorcycles before transitioning to crewman on the NHRA Full Throttle Series with Scotty Cannon in 1999. He rejoined the multicar operation at Don Schumacher Racing after several years with John Force Racing and is currently the mind behind the power of Cory McClenathan's ride. |
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ROY SIMMONS
Crew Chief: Cagnazzi Racing (Jeg Coughlin Jr.)
Behind every championship driver is a championship-caliber crew chief, and in the case of four-time titlist Jeg Coughlin Jr., that man is tuner Roy Simmons, who has led Coughlin to multiple Pro Stock titles. Raised in the Denver suburb of Morrison, Colo., Simmons got the drag racing bug at an early age, but it was his aptitude as a machinist that solidified his motorsports career. Simmons took the knowledge he gained working on Patriot missile warheads, military tank parts, and atmospheric research equipment to make naturally-aspirated Pro Stock race cars go quicker. His first big job in racing had him fabricating parts and working on the crew of former Pro Stock racer Mark Rodenburge. Soon thereafter, he was crew chief for Pro Stock Truck campaigner Todd Patterson, which ultimately led to his job at Team JEGS in 2001. Together with Nick Ferri, Simmons started an in-house engine program for Team JEGS, where he worked closely with family patriarch and drag racing legend Jeg Sr. The effort paid handsome dividends as Coughlin captured the '02 title. Separated again in 2004 when Coughlin joined Don Schumacher Racing and Simmons went to Victor Cagnazzi Racing, where he was eventually reunited with Coughlin once again in the fall of 2006 under the VCR umbrella. The pairing produced back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008. |
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TODD SMITH
Crew Chief: Kenny Bernstein Racing (Brandon Bernstein)
Smith, son of two-time NHRA Comp Eliminator world champion Charlie Smith, began his career racing motorcycles. He moved to the NHRA circuit in the 1980s, working his way up the crewmember ranks to the title he holds now. Todd has worked with several professional drivers and tuners, including driver Cory McClenathan and Kalitta Motorsports' founder and legend Connie Kalitta, as well as Don Prudhomme. |
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GARY STOFFER
Crew Chief: (Karen Stoffer)
Although Gary Stoffer backs his wife Karen as tuner of her Geico Suzuki Pro Stock Motorcycle, Gary's racing memories stretch "as far back as I can remember," from bicycles, to motorcycles, to cars. In the late 1970s, Gary became hooked on drag racing when he saw his first Super Chevy Show at Orange County Raceway. In 1986, Gary began bracket racing on a motorcycle and has been involved with NHRA since. He currently races a 1968 Pontiac Firebird Super Gas entry in five to six events per year. |
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RAHN TOBLER
Crew Chief: Don Schumacher Racing (Jack Beckman)
Tobler has many wins and championships to his name, including his most recent one in 2008, when he guided driver Cruz Pedregon to the Full Throttle Series world championship. Tobler has been involved in the sport of drag racing for more than three decades. Tobler, who worked for Kalitta Motorsports in 2004 and switched to Pedregon's stable three years later, got his start in racing with the Stevens & Venables Top Fuel team in 1971, working his way up from tire-wiper to mechanic. In 1976, he joined forces with Marvin Graham, who won the 1974 U.S. Nationals Top Fuel title. The duo of Graham and Tobler captured the Professional Drivers Association (PDA) Top Fuel championship in 1976. A year later, the Los Angeles native went to work for Shirley Muldowney's Top Fuel team. As Muldowney's crew chief, Tobler tuned the first lady of racing to 18 victories and three Top Fuel championships. Tobler also wrenched Muldowney to eight AHRA and three IHRA event victories and an AHRA Top Fuel championship in 1981. |
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DICKIE VENABLES
Crew Chief: Al-Anabi Racing (Del Worsham)
Venables joined the Al-Anabi Racing team as Del Worsham's crew chief prior to the 2009 U.S. Nationals. After joining the team, Venables led the Al-Anabi Funny Car to a victory in just his fifth race with the team. Venables is a two-time NHRA Funny Car champion having won a title in 2007 as a crew chief at Pedregon Racing and in 2003 as an assistant crew chief at John Force Racing. Venables earned his racing stripes working with some of the biggest names in the sport, including Shirley Muldowney, Don Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Connie Kalitta, and Gary Ormsby. Although he always fancied himself as a "dragster guy" having worked primarily on Top Fuel dragsters, he acquired a new appreciation for Funny Cars in 2000 when he signed on to work with John Force Racing. In 2002 when co-crew chief John Medlen was sidelined for one race for medical reasons, Venables distinguished himself by directing Tony Pedregon to a wire-to-wire victory in Seattle that paved the way for the team's run to a second-place finish in the Funny Car points standings. He helped Medlen guide Pedregon to the 2003 NHRA Funny Car championship and made the move to Pedregon Racing in 2004. |
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JIMMY WALSH
Crew Chief: Morgan Lucas Racing (Morgan Lucas)
Walsh worked his way to the top of straight-line racing the old fashioned way -- by starting at the bottom and handling every crewman's job until he was the one making the calls. Most of his early work came during his two decades with Joe Amato, where he was an integral part of Amato's five NHRA world championships. After Amato retired, he helped a variety of other drivers win national events and he spearheaded six-time champion Kenny Bernstein's return to Funny Car racing in 2007. Considered by his peers to be one of the most prepared crew chiefs in the sport, Walsh has been the man in charge for more than a decade and continues to give his driver, Morgan Lucas, a very competitive race car each weekend. |