Dickie Venables was out to prove a point at the NHRA New England Nationals two weeks ago, but not the kind some might think. The four-time NHRA championship tuner, who also earned others serving as an assistant crewchief and crewman, learned a valuable lesson early in his career.
A crewchief must always trust the process.
Venables knew that when he left Tony Stewart Racing in January to take over as the tuner on Kalitta Motorsports’ Funny Car, there would be a process of adjustment. And, no matter how ugly it might look at times, he needed to keep moving forward with the same mettle that made him one of the most noted upper-deck-shot tuners.
“I knew, and we all knew; we sat down and we talked; this is not going to happen overnight,” Venables said. “I’m not going to lie; after a few races, I was getting frustrated. But everybody had kept the right attitude, kept working, and we got it whipped into shape.”
Throughout his career, Venables has tuned numerous nitro cars, including both Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters. However, when it comes to the floppers, they can be ornery and have a mind of their own, regardless of a crew chief’s logical approach.
Out of the gate, the team failed to qualify for the PRO Superstar Shootout, which in itself was no reason to panic. Then, in two of the first three events, the DHL Toyota, driven by J.R. Todd, lost in the first round. Then, at the NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide event, the team began consistently winning some rounds.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But one could easily envision a moment where Venables, alone with the Funny Car, in the Kalitta Motorsports shop in Ypsilanti, Michigan, doing his best Days of Thunder Harry Hogue impersonation, where he’s actually talking to the car, trying to will it, “to act right.”
“I feel like it’s just these cars; you can’t get mad at them and force it,” Venables continued. “You can’t get pissed off and turn the knobs to the right and left because they’ll throw it back in your face. They’ll blow up or do something like that.”
Who would have ever thought a massive explosion that cleared the top of the engine and cracked the body in two would become the impetus for the Funny Car to act, right? And no, it wasn’t Venables using the more is better approach in turning knobs that caused the explosion.
A faulty intake valve caused the Saturday Q-4 trainwreck in Epping.
“That was a mechanical failure,” Venables confirmed. “We’ve been doing it long enough to know you can only make it run good when it’s time. You can’t get pissed off at it when it’s not running good. Throw a lot of tuneups and, or a lot of clutch at it, and go out and make it; you usually don’t get away with that.
“So it’s one run at a time, I always say that. But it’s true. Even as frustrating as it was, I feel that with every run we made in this car, we learned something. There were a lot of things we had to learn because, in the beginning, I’m in a different element as far as the duties that I do up here.”
Venables said it took a few weekends before he and Oberhofer could begin adding a tuneup to the combination. They were still learning the steps of the dance with data and responsibilities.
“Fortunately, that’s been seamless,” Venables said. “These guys are better than most teams I’ve been around. That’s been a huge plus. So that takes the pressure off him and me to get our crap together and make the calls on the car. So I keep saying it’s a process, but it is. You just got to take it one run at a time; that’s the best way I can explain it.”
Amid the annual Eddie’s Lobsterfest, an event honoring the late Scott Kalitta, the crew worked feverishly into the night, preparing the Funny Car, which still bears Scott Kalitta’s name, to return to action in Sunday’s eliminations.
New England Dragway is a Team Kalitta favorite for another significant event, Eddie’s Lobsterfest – a New Hampshire staple for Team Kalitta. After Scott Kalitta passed away in a 2008 racing accident in Englishtown, N.J., the team debuted this event in 2009 in memory of Scott, naming it after one of his nicknames. When NHRA stopped racing at Englishtown, Eddie’s Lobsterfest moved to New England Dragway.
The team had a feast of their own. Starting from the No. 10 qualifying spot, Todd went to work methodically, working his way through eliminations, first by stopping Cruz Pedregon, Phil Burkart, and Alexis DeJoria before stopping Spencer Hyde in the final round.
If there was a team that needed a win, it was this one. Todd hadn’t visited the Winner’s Circle since March 2024, and Venables had just left the Stewart team, where, on the surface, it was an amicable parting, but whispers in the pits suggested all was not all hunky dory.
“We really, really needed it, for sure,” Venables said with a smile. “We’ve all been working our ass off to get everything squared away. I wouldn’t call it redemption; it’s just gratifying that we finally mainly proved to ourselves that we can get it done once we get everything whipped into shape. And it’s just one race, but it gives us confidence moving forward that as long as we do the right things with it, right or wrong, as long as we learn from the decisions we make, it’s there. It’s a matter of us pulling it out.”
Venables is quick to point out that he wasn’t out to prove anything, and the reason he wouldn’t call the victory redemption is that he didn’t need to redeem himself.
“I do this because I truly enjoy it, I put my heart into it, and I like to win,” Venables said. “Those guys, there’s no animosity there. Those guys, they’re good guys. They’ll do fine. It’s not about that; it’s about winning races.”
Venables understands that all too often, it’s the driver behind the wheel or the tuner who gets all the accolades, but he says it’s those who are in the trenches who make the stuff happen.
“I’ve always said it’s not a one-man game at all; it’s a team effort, especially in drag racing,” Venables said. “And it’s like Austin Coil said years ago, “It takes a hundred things to go right on a run, and all it takes is one to screw it up.”
And as Venable adds, “It takes a team to trust the process to get on the right track.”
