For the last few years, T.J. Zizzo has competed on a limited NHRA Top Fuel schedule.

Zizzo confirmed to CompetitionPlus he will be doing a handful of races in 2017, but he’s not happy with the state of the sport – especially for part-time teams.

“Our plans are to concentrate on other businesses because professional drag racing at its highest level is very expensive with escalating costs and not enough people paying attention to it,” said Zizzo, who made his Top Fuel debut in September of 2003. “I love the sport and I’ve tried my damnedest. So, we’re going to concentrate on our businesses and go out when we can.”

Zizzo said Rust-Oleum is still sponsoring his dragster, and he is looking at going to some new tracks this season that he hasn’t competed at in years past.

“We’re tired of racing the same old races,” Zizzo said. “We’re probably going to travel to different locations and try to see different parts of the country. We will go to Joliet (Chicago) because it is close, and we will probably venture out before that and after that. As long as our crew guys keep showing up here and enjoying what they are doing, we will continue to do it.”

A year ago, Zizzo was happy about his results in the four races he competed in – Chicago, Sonoma, Seattle and Indianapolis.

“We ran 70s all year long and the only reason we didn’t run in the 70s sometimes is because I was shutting off early,” Zizzo said. “We had a goal last year and the goal was to not oil the race track and we went down the track 26 times and didn’t put a drop of oil on it. We didn’t have major blow ups and we kept everything organized and ran well and were able to compete at a very high level for an independent team. We will go out there and try and give the independents something to cheer about. I’m just glad my dad (Tony), myself and all of our team members do not rely on NHRA to make a living because we would all be hungry. This is a sport that needs some help. It needs more T.J. Zizzos, Pat Dakins, Bobby Laganas, and names of old like Bruce Litton, whoever. It needs some more flair, there’s no flair from competitors out there.”

The primary source of income for the Zizzo family is its Zizzo Auto Body shop in Lincolnshire, Ill., a northern suburb of Chicago.

“We expanded our body shop from 1,300 square feet to 13,000 square feet this past year, and we have grown our business over 100 percent,” T.J. said. “Those are things that keep us going. The drag racing situation is there and I’m glad I get to dabble and I’m still proud to put on a fire suit. I have fun when I’m there and I love the fans. All that stuff is great, and I’m blessed to be able to still do it, but I haven’t seen much change in my opinion.”

Last week NHRA announced a change to qualifying at the six Countdown events in 2017. If a driver who qualified for the playoffs and is eligible for the championship does not qualify at a Countdown event in which two qualifying sessions were not completed, said driver will be guaranteed a qualifying position in the event’s final 16-car field.

That driver will be inserted into the ladder in the position of the non-championship eligible driver with the least amount of points entering the event. First round money will remain with the original qualifier. Round points will be awarded to the Countdown driver but qualifying points will remain with the original qualifier.

The changes in qualifying for a Countdown event don’t sit well with Zizzo.

“What if I called Rust-Oleum Saturday night and told them I’m the No. 1 qualifier at the World Finals and then I call them back on Sunday morning and say 'guys, I was No. 1 qualifier, but I got kicked out of the show and you are not going to get any TV time because Steve Torrence is No. 1,' ” Zizzo said. “How can you explain that to a marketing partner? It is impossible.”

Despite the cost and state of professional drag racing, Zizzo and his team’s passion for the sport is still alive and well.

“It’s passion for us and we are hopeful that things will get better in the sport at the professional level in the future,” Zizzo said.