MESA, Ariz. — Living up to his self-proclaimed nickname of “super part-timer,” Lincolnshire, Ill., NHRA Top Fuel racer T.J. Zizzo swept qualifying sessions at his home-state races, in May at Joliet (near Chicago) and in September at Madison (downstate near St. Louis).
“Our all-volunteer team, we compete out here because we love the sport of NHRA drag racing. We’ve come out here and qualified No. 1 twice now,” he said. “I know nobody is going to believe me, but we should have been No. 1 qualifier at the U.S. Nationals, too. We had a blower belt come off, and we were far ahead of Brittany Force before that happened. We switched blower belts, went to a different manufacturer and here we are, No. 1 qualifier again.”
He was third-quickest qualifier at Indianapolis. And all of this happened in races with overflow fields, in just four planned appearances this season. He didn’t get any automatic spots in those events because the fields weren’t full. He had to battle to make the field of 16 in each case.
Zizzo and dad Tony, who he said has been pursuing a Wally trophy for 44 years, made significant changes to their operation, mostly with upgraded equipment, three years ago because “we knew we had the knowledge to go faster – we just couldn’t go any faster. We weren’t competing at the same level as everyone else. We were using a 1999 car.”
Don Schumacher, a longtime friend and neighbor, intervened and helped with parts and more. “Now when we stage our car,” Zizzo said, “we have the same equipment as the person next to us. The 16 of us who are qualified for the show, any one of us can win.”
This could be the year of the underdogs.
Doug Foley, another Top Fuel part-timer who surprised at the 2022 Gatornationals with a runner-up finish, reached the final round at the fall Charlotte race this September. He lost in the showdown against Antron Brown, but not before he advanced past an extraordinarily talented line-up of Tony Schumacher, Justin Ashley, and Clay Millican.
Unfortunately for Foley, it came in his last race of the year as his search for funding starts all over. Foley, of Mooresville, N.C., competed at eight of the 20 races on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule, but he said he isn’t interested in continuing to race unless he can be competitive.
And, as Shakespearean character Hamlet said, “there’s the rub” – the Foleys and the Cameron Ferrés and Cody Krohns and the Lex Joons and the Terry Tottens and the Kyle Wurtzels et al – they could continue putting on a strong show for the fans, if only they had enough money to support their programs. They’re underdogs capable of being overachievers.
Dan Mercier is another one. The engineer from Montreal and his all-French-speaking crew have made quite an impression. The only Top Fuel team owner-tuner-driver in drag racing’s modern era, Mercier came on strong this year. In combined efforts at Joliet in May and Reading, Pa., in September, he beat a string of champions — Tony Schumacher, Doug Kalitta, and Steve Torrence — who represent 13 Top Fuel titles. Since his season debut in April at Charlotte. Mercier has improved from 19th to 14th in the standings. That put him out of Countdown contention, but it’s remarkable nonetheless to move up five positions in just eight scattered appearances.
By trade, he’s an engineer, and he owns and operates three companies in addition to his race team and employs more than 900 workers.
One company is a civil engineering firm, another a manufacturer of signage for road-construction projects, and the third a business that centers on renewable energy semiconductor manufacturing.
He said he plans to expand his crew after 2026 to “maybe 14, 15,” and he said he’s serious about chasing points.
Pleasanton, Calif., resident Ron August, in his lone Top Fuel appearance so far this year, knocked off current class champion Doug Kalitta at nearby Sonoma, Calif., and rode a bye into the semifinals.
The Top Fuel class doesn’t have the market cornered on underdogs who overcome. Bobby Bode, the recent Arizona State University graduate, tunes and drives the Funny Car he has driven to several quarterfinal finishes.
Chicago firefighter Chris King, New Jersey landscape-company owner Joe Morrison, Northern Illinois excavator and pub owner Justin Schriefer, and Port of Los Angeles shipping-container mechanic Alex Miladinovich are racers we’d like to see more, cheer on more, and celebrate with more. We got to enjoy their successes 2024 — but not enough.