Sometimes the most logical decisions are the toughest to make. Just ask NHRA Pro Stock joint venture team owner Rick Jones.

Jones will embark on a new in-house engine program for 2010 and in doing so will abandon his Mopar program for GM. His son and driver, Rickie Jones, will pilot a new Pontiac GXP at next year’s NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

Together, Monte Bailey and Rick Jones, partners on several projects, have recently purchased a former NASCAR engine building shop in Mooresville, N.C. Rickie Jones Will Drive Pontiac in 2010 Powered By New In-House Engine …


Sometimes the most logical decisions are the toughest to make. Just ask NHRA Pro Stock joint venture team owner Rick Jones.

Jones will embark on a new in-house engine program for 2010 and in doing so will abandon his Mopar program for GM. His son and driver, Rickie Jones, will pilot a new Pontiac GXP at next year’s NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca.

Together, Monte Bailey and Rick Jones, partners on several projects, have recently purchased a former NASCAR engine building shop in Mooresville, N.C.

“This is new page in our lives and being involved with Larry Morgan Racing has been very good for Rickie and I. He has been a really good friend and customer of mine for years. This is a huge undertaking to make,” said Jones, who has used Morgan engines since returning to NHRA competition last season.  “We have to basically start from a clean sheet of paper and build our own program while also switching brands at the same time. We have some really talented people heading up our program and I feel like we are up to the challenge.”

Jones believes that if the new engine program can produce top-shelf horsepower levels, that Rickie can hold his own against the best the class has to offer.

“On the western swing we had one quarter final and two semi finals finishes. And most of those wins can be attributed to his superior driving,” added the proud father.

One wonders as the in-house engine program blossoms, if a turn-key Pro Stock factory is in the works considering Jones’ RJ Race Cars is one of the leading suppliers of Pro Stock cars.

“You never know what the future might bring,” Jones said. “Now we can control our own destiny in everything we do. We can build our own cars and build our own engines.

“But we have faced the reality that it is going to take a lot of work to get the engine program off of the ground. We purchased a turn-key engine shop and it’s up and running at this moment. It will take us some several months to bring these projects up to speed and into the real world. We have the patience and determination to make it work.”

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