TOP FUEL VETERAN T.J. ZIZZO PLANS LIMITED SCHEDULE AGAIN

Written by Tracy Renck    Wed, 2020-12-23 18:00

 

The 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule has been released.

However, how it will unfold is unknown because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Fortunately for veteran Top Fuel owner/driver T.J. Zizzo, the pandemic should not impact his limited schedule in 2021.

“This is an odd time,” Zizzo said. “It’s so stagnated out there. Corporations don’t know what they are doing. Race teams don’t what they are doing. Crew chiefs don’t know what they are doing. Team owners don’t know what they are doing. I thank God I don’t do this for a living. It’s a challenge out there right now.”
Zizzo, who made his Top Fuel debut in September of 2003, competed in four races in 2020 and he doesn’t see any changes for the coming year.

“We are absolutely just going to maintain our status quo,” Zizzo said. “Thankfully, we are surrounded by a wonderful company (in Rust-Oleum). Like I have said a million times, the reason our program works is we as a team, work for them every day. This is a partnership.”

The Zizzo family runs Zizzo Auto Body shop in Lincolnshire, Ill., just outside of Chicago.

A year ago, Zizzo competed at Indy 1, Indy 2, Indy 4 (the U.S. Nationals) and St. Louis. Zizzo compiled a 5-4 elimination round record and appeared in his first career final round at Indy 2, losing to Justin Ashley.

“We kicked a**, we did great,” Zizzo said. “I think if we were to compete at more events we would be even more of a threat, but that’s not what we are doing. That’s not the goal at all. I’m thankful I’m surrounded by good company. They have done extremely well. A lot of do-it-yourselfers painting a lot of things around the house, which has been wonderful.”

Zizzo acknowledged he’s busy these days with his own work – outside of drag racing.

“Right now, I’m still catching up from the whirlwind of racing a bunch in a short amount of time last year,” Zizzo said. “I have stuff from our body shop and all our other small businesses that we have. Everything kind of piled up and now I’m kind of trudging through those piles so I can get caught up. I want to get caught up with life in general in the big city to make sure when we go back out, we are competitive again.”

When Zizzo does return to the track in 2021 it will be with plenty of optimism.

“We have built such an inventory, it is pretty awesome,” Zizzo said. “We have built what is right for our team. NHRA did a great job last year. They were one of the best sanctioning bodies of all of motorsports last year. They did what they could. I love that NHRA is reaching out to us via zoom, meaning us Top Fuel and Funny Car, once a month. It’s awesome. They actually call us partners in the deal. That’s something different.

“It is all Top Fuel and Funny Car, and we go through the whole process and they tell us what’s going, and the cool thing is we get to hear what’s going on before the general public does which I think is important. Communication is at an all-time high, which is wonderful.”

 

 
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