It’s a beautiful day here at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois for the Jegs Nationals. The sportsmen racers are on the track going through their first round of eliminations and the pro categories will be hitting the track later this afternoon.

Ray Skillman is on the property behind the wheel of his Mustang. The Skillman racing team brings an armada of cars to race in the sportsman ranks along with Drew’s Pro Stock Camaro.

During the for the 2018 season, the NHRA announced they would allow Pro Stock racers to use an engine in their car that doesn’t match the body of the car. Many Pro Stock purest were not happy with this choice, and it wasn’t clear how many racers if any would take advantage of this new rule. So far the only racer to give the hybrid engine model a try has been Mark Hogan, who decided to put a new Hemi between the fenders of his Pontiac Pro Stock machine.

Hogan was paying attention to the potential rule change, and as soon as it became a reality he sprung into action to secure the new powerplant for his Pro Stock program.

“When they changed the rule in December I was aware of a Mopar racer who had a lot of Pro Stock motors sitting around. We talked during the offseason about buying one and finally got the details worked out for me to get one. I didn’t have any spare motors before and we had run the same motor for 9 years. We wanted to try something different to see if we could go faster with this change.”

Making the change was a big leap for Hogan before he took delivery of the new Mopar mill he had never seen or worked on one of the engines. Over the course of his career, Hogan had always been a GM man and even used a GM engine when the change to fuel injection was mandated. Since that engine was well-worn at 9 years old, the switch to Mopar power gave him the opportunity to get a newer engine at a great price.

Running at the Topeka event Hogan struggled to get a handle on the new engine combination. Coming into the event this weekend the team is ready to try something new to get the car to respond.

“We learned there that the tune-up was way off for the fuel injection and needed work. We’re trying another setup to get the engine closer because it wouldn’t even get 200 at the last event. The fuel curves were just a mess and really needed to be tweaked. We’re trying a tuneup that is a better base to get us in the ballpark, “ Hogan says.

Even with these early struggles, Hogan remains very optimistic they will get a handle on everything and tap into the potential of the new engine package.

“I think this motor has even more potential than the previous motor, it’s just a matter of getting a handle on everything. Our goals and expectations are to be within a tenth of the fast guys and win a round of racing. We’re so far off right now there’s a lot of potential we need to get out.”

The JEGS Allstars race during the JEGS Nationals is the biggest collection of sportsman heavy- hitters you will see all year on the NHRA tour. The top-tier racers come to Joliet to represent their respective division in this battle of the best and getting an invite to this is a huge honor. David Rampy is a multi-time sportsman champion and he’s rolling into the 2018 JEGS Allstar race ready to win.

Being a crafty veteran, Rampy knows what it takes to win an NHRA national event and the Allstar race can pose an issue for some racers, but not Rampy. This event is just another day at the office for Rampy but with the added bonus of a bigger payday. “We really don’t change anything when it comes to this event. If anything, it might add more pressure because you want to do well for yourself, and you want to do a good job representing your team,” Rampy explains.

The weather has been a bit of a challenge for all the racers this weekend, including Rampy. The anticipated conditions have changed significantly so it has forced him to change his gameplan.

“We listened to the weatherman which is something you should never do and it’s already changing things for us. It was supposed to be really cool all weekend and that’s not the case at all. We have to make some adjustments based on this that we weren’t expecting but that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Rampy is fielding two cars this weekend, his Super Stock Camaro and Competition Eliminator altered and each car reacts differently to the changing weather conditions.

“When it comes to the altered it’s a bit more tricky than the super stock car so you have to be on your toes. It’s not a huge deal but it’s important to stay ahead of the weather and track. You’ve got a good race car, we have one, but with our index makes it hard for sure. Since it’s so tough it makes us and the car look bad but it’s not running terrible, it’s just that hard of an index, “ Rampy says.

TJ Zizzo may only run a limited NHRA Top Fuel schedule but you wouldn’t know it by his attitude and performance on the track. The Route 66 Raceway is practically in Zizzo’s backyard so this race is a way for him to showcase his racing abilities to his hometown fans. With more corporate backing that ever Zizzo plans on putting his dragster in the show and go some rounds when eliminations begin.

“We just renewed with Rustoleum so we’ll be burning nitro with them through 2021 and that’s great for all of us. This will probably be our only event of the year it looks like. We’re just to busy working on hot rods and cars at our shop to get back out much. Thankfully we’ll be able to do his for another four years when we get time again with the help of Rustoleum.  I will be missing my daughter’s 8th-grade graduation, I’m sad to miss it, she’ll get over it but we’re here to win,” Zizzo says.

What many don’t realize is that while Zizzo may be busy at his shop working on cars, it doesn’t mean he isn’t getting ready for his next NHRA event. His dedicated crew shows up to the shop to help him get the dragster ready when they do have time to make an appearance on the Mellow Yellow series.

“Just because we’re not out racing doesn’t mean we’re not working on the car. That’s why when we do come out after being gone for eight months we’re right in the middle of the pack and running better than some full-time cars. When we come to an event we have the correct funding to do what we’re doing, trust me,” Zizzo explains

To make sure Zizzo can get is sea legs back the team tries to give him a car that won’t be a bucking bronco for the first qualifying shot. Even with a conservative tuneup, Zizzo was able to run a stout 3.80 pass his first time on the track, more importantly, the run was smooth and right down Broadway. With that kind of data after their first run and being solidly in the field, Zizzo and his team can really turn the wick up on their hot rod.

“I found out last year at this event how much I enjoy winning again. We don’t come to an event to just qualify, our goal is to win. We have more parts and pieces than we’ve ever had our entire career, we have plenty of heads, engines, blocks, blowers, you name it we’re ready to do what’s needed to win,” Zizzo says. 

Friday Pro Qualifying Wrap Up

The conditions at Route 66 Raceway changed dramatically throughout the day and that had a profound impact on the pro teams final qualifying session Friday. During the night session, the weather made a huge swing towards the cool side, the wind picked up, and the recipe for horsepower was on the table. Every crew chief in the pits were licking their chops at the opportunity to get a crack at the track and play some ET home run derby when it was their turn to make a run.

The factory hot rods of the NHRA Pro Stock class can be tricky to tune based on the weather and, Greg Anderson was able to take advantage of what Mother Nature provided Friday by securing the number one spot. Anderson’s 6.546 blast at 211.03 put him on track to pick up his fifth pole of the year in Pro Stock.

“I think this weather caught us all a little off guard. We didn’t expect it to cool down like this. It was a neat change because every time stuff like this happens. When the temperature goes down and the humidity goes down it makes these Pro Stock cars come alive. We love that. You’ve got a great racetrack and you can crank the screws and give it everything you’ve got and run fast,” Anderson said.

Don Schumacher Racing funny car pilot Matt Hagan lept to the number one spot on Friday Night with an impressive 3.917 run at 326.79 MPH. That put Hagan over teammates Ron Capps, who had to bounce back from a massive explosion in the first round of qualifying, and Jack Beckman who landed in the third spot. Hagan’s team has been working towards catching the performances of the Force camp in 2018 and feels they now have a real chance at putting up some big numbers.

According to Hagan, he knew crew chief Dickie Venables was ready to throw the kitchen sink at his Mopar-backed funny car and he was ready for one heck of a ride. “

“I could see the wheels turning in Dickie’s mind and I was pulling myself in tight because I knew if we could get past the tree that we would make a good run. I think there’s been a lot of stuff we’ve had to change the last few races to get where we are right now, but it’s always difficult in a Funny Car no matter what the conditions are or what the track is. You’re always relying on so much stuff to go right when you get in one of these cars,” Hagan explains.

Defending event winner in Top Fuel Steve Torrence had a stellar Friday night qualifying session when he not only went to number one but also reset the track record on both ends with his 3.677 hit at 333.58 mph. Torrence is currently leading the Top Fuel points and this gives his team even more confidence coming into Saturday that they have one heck of a racecar that could go the distance on Sunday.

“It kind of surprised me a little bit because I saw a lot of cars smoking the tires a little bit. I was just hoping we’d go 3.70 or something and be in the game. But with these conditions, you either go out there and smoke the tires or go low e.t.. Our crew chief Richard Hogan has done a really good job doing some different things in the bell housing and it’s really coming around. I think that surprised me to see the 3.67, but I was glad to see it. Chicago has always been pretty fast, and we were able to go through there and go 3.76 on the first lap and then build on it, “ Torrence says.