There’s a rumor floating around out there in the drag racing world that Charlie Westcott Jr. is done competing in NHRA’s Pro Stock class.

Westcott Jr. confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com Friday that this is fake news.

“The plan is to get it (his Pro Stock car) back together and run it,” Wescott Jr. said. “I tried testing it this year and I didn’t like how it went and I’ve been working on it since then among my regular things that pay. It’s just a lot of work.”

In October of 2014, Wescott Jr. purchased the late Jim Cunningham’s Ford Mustang chassis – a Jerry Haas chassis - and that’s what he’s racing in Pro Stock. Westcott’s business – Militia Racing Products – based in Parma, Mich., is supplying the engine power. With his business, Westcott Jr. makes a lot of camshafts.

This season, Westcott Jr. did enter NHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment national event in Norwalk, Ohio, June 22-25, but didn’t compete in the event after a poor test session at 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Mich., the week of the race.

“I went to Martin (Mich.) and tested for two days and I had some issues,” Westcott Jr. said. “In the procedure of fixing the issues, I found some other bigger issues I needed to address and I’ve been working on that ever since. I’ve been really busy with work. I’m not going to be the guy who goes broke trying to race a Pro Stock car or any other car for that matter. I’m just doing it because I want to and I like the challenge. I still want to race it. I’m trying to and I’m waiting on some parts that will be here probably Monday so I can get the engine back together and try it again and see if it is any better or not. I had the engine back together, but then I’m basically working on a new direction right now with some things and I just haven’t finished it up yet.”

Westcott Jr. acknowledged he’s unlikely to race Pro Stock before the close of the 2017 season, and he doesn’t have a timetable for competing in 2018.

“I don’t really see how that’s going to happen,” he said. “I would have to go to Vegas (Oct. 26-29) or something and I would have to find something pretty big to make me want to drive 2,500 miles to Vegas. Everybody keeps asking me when I’m coming out and I don’t when I’m going to come out. I’m coming out when I feel like it. It’s not like I have any sponsor commitments. This is just something I wanted to do and I’m doing it and when it is ready, I’ll take her out and see what happens. It’s not the defining force in my life. I’m passion about it and I want to do it and see how it goes, but if I can’t get it figured out it is not like I’m a complete failure because I have a pretty successful business doing what I do.”

During the 2016 season, Westcott Jr. raced his Pro Stock car at Englishtown, N.J., Norwalk, and Chicago.

“After I raced those three events I’ve been working on it and I haven’t had it back out again,” Westcott Jr. said. “I still have everything and it is still sitting here and I work on and then I work on things (for my business) and then I work on my car some more. People don’t really realize what is like to have to design an engine from scratch and that’s what I had to do. When I bought (Cunningham’s car) I didn’t buy any of their engines or anything, I just bought the car and bought a bunch of new parts. So, it’s not like I even had a baseline. I had nothing. A lot people don’t realize that. They will say that car ran this time and I tell them I didn’t buy that stuff. I bought the car and one transmission and the rest of the stuff is all my design and my deal, it’s a lot of work and a lot of making parts.”

Prior to moving to Pro Stock, Wescott Jr. was a dominant force in the Mopar HEMI Challenge for over a decade.

“I still take care of Steve Comella’s engine and a couple of other guys I sell parts to, but I don’t know (about racing in the MOPAR HEMI Challenge) again. I can’t do that many things at once,” Westcott Jr. said. “I can hardly keep up with what I have going on now, I don’t need another project.”

Westcott Jr. said he did go to Martin Mich., this past Monday and helped Mike Moran. Moran is competing in NHRA’s Factory Stock Showdown in St. Louis this weekend at the Midwest Nationals.

“I went over and helped them with some suspension and just chassis-type stuff, he does the engines and I made some parts for his engine and I’ve got to know him the last couple of years and that was pretty fun to go over there and test that because I kind of felt like I knew what I was doing helping those guys,” Westcott Jr. said.