HART PULLS OFF TOP FUEL TRIUMPH IN HIS FIRST PRO RACE AT GATORNATIONALS

Written by Susan Wade, photos by Roger Richards    Mon, 2021-03-15 19:00

 

Debuting Top Fuel driver Josh Hart likened his Sunday task of facing current and three-time class champion Steve Torrence in the Amalie Oil Gatornationals quarterfinals as “a David and Goliath situation.”

The Biblical David sling-shotted a stunning upset. But David had to face only one Goliath. Hart had to battle four of them at Gainesville, Fla.

“True story,” Hart said with a laugh that definitely was tinged with relief.

But along with help from crew chief Ron Douglas and their team, Hart knocked them all out. His line-up was fierce: six-time IHRA champion and always-dangerous Clay Millican, NHRA dominator Torrence, 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year and lightning-quick leaver Justin Ashley, and finally 2013 Top Fuel champion Shawn Langdon.   

Hart won with a 3.826-second elapsed time at 323.66 mph on the 1,000-foot Gainesville Raceway course to become the fourth NHRA racer to win in his first professional appearance. He is the first since Darrell Russell did so 20 years ago at the traditional season-opener, the Winternationals at Pomona, Calif. The others were K.C. Spurlock in Funny Car in 1990 and Gary Scelzi in Top Fuel in 1997.

“A shoutout to Ronnie Swearingen. Swearingen will understand this – we worked together for years,” Douglas said in celebration. “We ‘Spurlocked’ ’em, Buddy. For us to get to come out and do it with Josh is awesome. He and [wife] Brittanie are two of the best people you could ever meet. They’ve given us free reign to build this thing [the Burnyzz/Technet Dragster] as we saw fit, and they’ve been very supportive and great. And Josh clearly can drive the car.”

He proved he can do that, for sure. But Hart preferred to deflect the praise. Instead, he credited his team: “Ron Douglas is awesome. And the group of guys, they’ve done it all. That’s where the real magic happens. Ron’s almost like the Babe Ruth of drag racing – he was almost calling his shot, which was kind of creepy but he was doing it. It was awesome.

“The guys [crew] and Ron Douglas, they did a fabulous job,” he said. “And once you know you have a good, solid car underneath you, it’s OK after that. You just focus on your lights and go rounds.      

“It’s something absolutely to be proud of. We own everything, my wife and I. It’s turned out really, really good, not from an appearance standpoint, but these guys are the real deal. They don’t just look the part,” Hart said, surrounded by his mechanics in the pits.

“Steve Torrence was super-nice to me in the staging lanes. We had a good conversation,” Hart said. “He said, ‘Just kind of run your own thing, man.’ That’s what I did, and it worked out for me.”

Hart, though, was under no delusion that every start will turn out this successfully.

“I know they’re not this easy all the time. I won Indianapolis back to back in my alcohol car [Top Alcohol Dragster], then I got my butt handed to me when I got too comfortable. So no, drag racing’s not like that – you have to keep really working at it,” he said.

Douglas, whose last trip to the winners circle as a tuner, was in 2018 at Sonoma, Calif., can attest to that. He said, “It’s been a tremendous amount of work [for] me and the entire team all winter, especially myself and Dave Gaterell and Doug Wilson. Spent a lot of time at Ocala, at Josh’s, putting all this stuff together. To be able to come out and string a few round-wins together and get out of here with a win is a testament to the ownership, first of all, and the team that we are able to put together here.”

The fact they’ve come together this quickly is remarkable, considering that when Hart won his semifinal race, Douglas said, “I really haven’t gotten to know him. We’re in the honeymoon phase.”

Langdon, who ran a  4.244-second elapsed time at 219.08 mph in the final round, had hoped to accomplish several things. He wanted to give boss Connie Kalitta another Gatornationals victory – and a double-up nitro performance after teammate JR Todd won the Funny Car trophy. And Langdon, of course, wanted one for himself that would have completed the so-called Grand Slam of Drag Racing that includes the Winternationals, U.S. Nationals, and Finals. Todd accomplished it Sunday.

“We had a great car all day. I felt like we were going to get the win. I think we just had a little too much in the final,” the DHL Dragster said. “Congrats to Josh Hart.”

Hart said this biggest feat of his career, one that fans will talk about as the NHRA ages far beyond its 70th birthday, really hasn’t sunk in yet.

“Off to Atlanta [his next scheduled race]. That’s how I’m going to feel tomorrow,” he said.

But Sunday night, Hart was the toast of Florida among drag racing fans. He’s a businessman, who has a sprawling collectible-car enterprise that’s growing at the same rate his Top Fuel career is, just 30 miles down the road at Ocala. That’s where another drag racer has made a mark, as well. “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, one of the world’s most famous drag racers, is a friend and occasional client of Hart, and he gave the young pro a top endorsement. Garlits said his Burnyzz business, with its 14-bay garage and 15 employees and expanding services, is “top of the line and reasonable.”

So has this native of Fort Wayne, Ind., this Florida transplant, become one of the state’s favorite sons, like Garlits and Darrell Gwynn? Only time will tell, but he has vaulted into the region’s and the nation’s drag-racing lore.

Hart said Garlits’ shop and renowned museum “is about eight miles from [Burnyzz]. He’s actually taught me a lot. He’s helped me in the shop, and he sometimes comes for dyno tuning in my shop. He’s remarkable. He’s a living legend.”

And Garlits had stopped by Hart’s pit several times during the weekend to encourage and maybe offer advice.  And he offered his congratulations Sunday.

“Don Garlits was here a few moments ago, and he said, ‘Sometimes it’s just your day.’ I believe that today,” Hart said.

When “Big Daddy” Don Garlits tells you something, you’d better believe it.

 

 
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