Numbers to some people do not mean much.
For Joe Jackson, however, drag racing statistics are his livelihood.
The past 15 years, Jackson has run Nitro Joe’s DragRacingStats at his www.nitrojoes.com website. Jackson is based in Loudenville, Ohio.
Prior to compiling drag racing stats, Jackson raced competitively in Super Gas and Super Comp in the NHRA and Modified eliminator in the IHRA.
Numbers to some people do not mean much.
For Joe Jackson, however, drag racing statistics are his livelihood.
The past 15 years, Jackson has run Nitro Joe’s DragRacingStats at his www.nitrojoes.com website. Jackson is based in Loudenville, Ohio.
Prior to compiling drag racing stats, Jackson raced competitively in Super Gas and Super Comp in the NHRA and Modified eliminator in the IHRA.
“I raced for 17 years and I won a couple of national events and I had to quit racing for some health reasons,” said the 49-year-old Jackson. “I was doing this (keeping drag racing statistics) for kicks and giggles and it got bigger. It got real big. Jegs also is a big supporter of mine and they’re a big reason why I keep going.”
Surprisingly, there was no catalyst for Jackson to start running drag racing numbers.
“I have no background in mathematics or anything,” Jackson said. “I self-taught myself how to build the databases. I do everything in Excel now and originally I was doing everything in Access. Everybody told me I was crazy for doing the stats in Access because Access was really hard and they told me to get on Excel and it would be a lot easier and I started doing everything in Excel and it was a lot easier.”
Jackson keeps detailed stats for alcohol dragster, alcohol Funny Car, Top Sportsman, and Top Dragster drivers. He also runs numbers for Comp, Stock and Super Stock competitors.
“For the alcohol dragster, alcohol Funny Car, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster drivers, I do their reaction time, elapsed time, and mph stats and their averages,” Jackson said. “For Comp, Stock and Super Stock, I do their best runs. Whatever runs these cars make at divisional, national opens or a national event, they will go in my database.”
Jackson also puts out five issues out a year for Comp, Stock and Super Stock racers. Those issues come out in April, June, August, October and then there is a final issue with the end of the year statistics.
Those books/issues include where drivers made their best run, what round they did it, and the combination of their motor on the run.
“If you have made a run at an NHRA or IHRA division, national open or national event meet, you’re in my book,” Jackson said. “You can’t hide. I tell people you can run, but you can’t hide from me. A lot of people use my stats for even buying cars. They will give me a car number of what car they want to buy, and I can give them stuff for how many years they want stats back on that car. I have all of my stats from 1995 up. I burn everything on a CD when I’m done every year. I also used to do stuff for Top Fuel and Funny Car, but the demand was so small for the business I was getting out of it, it wasn’t worth it.”
Last week alone, Jackson was busy doing statistics for 10 races.
“I get all the information from the NHRA and IHRA after their races are over,” Jackson said. “What I do is put everything in an event log and I send it back to them so they actually know what everybody did that race. What I also do, like with my alcohol and Top Sportsman and Top Dragster customers, I email their stats to them, and I also I have a regular subscription deal for my book to go out. Actually everything I do is subscription-based, and everything is different depending on what class you want and all that stuff. People can just contact me at nitrojoes.com on information about getting a subscription. I never dreamed this thing would get as big as it did. This thing is a monster now. My wife helps me every once and awhile when I really get overwhelmed, but mainly it’s just me doing the stats, no one else.”
While Jackson has been crunching numbers, his father Bill Jackson and mother Mary Ann Jackson, are still racing competitively as this is their 46th year of competing. Bill competes in Super Gas and Super Comp and Mary Ann drives a dragster in Super Comp.
“I would probably get more done (with statistics) if my family didn’t race so much,” said Joe, who also is in the process of working on an all-time NHRA entry list from 1970 until the present for Comp, Super Stock, Modified and Stock competitors. “As soon as I leave to go to the races, I do not get much done. Monday morning my computer is fired up and my wife and my kids know not to even think about bothering me. Of course my kids are grown up now. I still consider this (keeping stats) a hobby. A guy has to like doing this or you are not going to do it. I told myself I would keep doing these stats until it starts not being fun anymore, and I do not see that being any time soon.”
