Money talks in drag racing, and right now it’s saying something loud enough for another 2025 NHRA Top Ten finisher to sign up on the entry list.
Paul Lee confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com he will race the IHRA Triple Crown Series opener at Maple Grove Raceway, giving the startup program another proven name before the first pair of nitro cars ever fire.
Lee becomes the second recent NHRA Top Ten racer to publicly commit. In this sport, entry lists usually tell the truth before anybody with a microphone does.
The Maple Grove race offers the kind of purse that gets attention in every pit area. Winners in each nitro category earn $150,000, while any driver who sweeps the three-race Triple Crown series becomes eligible for a $1 million bonus.
Money like that gets trailers moving.
The format is simple enough for racers to appreciate. Eight-car nitro fields are planned, and instead of the IHRA’s established eighth-mile course, fuel cars will race to 1,000 feet.
That mattered to Lee, who made clear he had no appetite for an eighth-mile nitro race.
“Yeah, we’re running at Reading. That’s our next race actually,” Lee said, using the longtime regional reference for Maple Grove. “Maple Grove. It’s my home track.”
That wasn’t small talk. That was the whole story in two sentences.
Lee said the money only made the call easier.
“Plus, it’s a million dollars. I mean, it’s all pretty much self-explanatory,” Lee said. “I mean, it’s $150,000 to win one race, $40,000 just to qualify. And you got a chance to win a million dollar bonus if you win all three.”
“I mean, come on, that’s like NHRA’s. I didn’t even come close to that. And it’s a two-day race and it’s my home track.”
No translator needed there.
Lee also tied the move to something racers understand better than outsiders ever will — home tracks are part of your identity.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, there’s a bunch of positives,” Lee said. “First of all, they took my home track, Englishtown, right? So my other home track was Reading, Maple Grove.”
“So that went off the NHRA tour too. The track never went away, but it went away for us. Even though Pomona’s my home track officially now, I grew up with Englishtown and Maple Grove.”
That line hits anyone who ever watched a place stay open while disappearing at the same time.
Lee said the return gives family and old friends a chance to watch him race where it all started.
“I raced there in Super Pro back in the day,” Lee said. “And all my family and friends are still living in New Jersey, and my families and my cousins and my nieces. That’s where I’m from. I’m from that area.”
“They all want to see me race and they would come to Maple Grove now. I mean, used to come to Englishtown, then Maple Grove.”
That still means something. Always will.
Lee was just as direct when race distance came up.
“Me, I’m not interested in eighth-mile racing,” Lee said. “I mean, to each his own, I’m old school. I’m a quarter mile, but I understand the thousand-foot why we did it and I’m okay with that, but I’m not interested in racing an eighth-mile.”
That won’t offend old nitro fans. Most of them were already thinking it.
Maple Grove’s history is part of why this announcement carries weight.
Lee didn’t speak about the place like another dot on the map. He spoke about it the way racers talk about places that helped raise them.
“Oh, of course, man. I grew up going to that track,” Lee said. “Englishtown was my true home track, but Maple Grove was my second, really, because it was so close.”
“I’ve been going Englishtown and Maple Grove since I was a kid. I remember going there and seeing Jungle Jim and Dodger Glen.”
Then came the kind of memory drag racers carry forever.
“When he was racing Dodger Glen and the Frantic Ford, they were racing and about half-track, front-end started coming up in the air and just shortly, but he never lifted,” Lee said of Jungle Jim Liberman. “I don’t remember who won, but I just remember goosebumps in my arms.”
“What a driver he was. Nobody could drive like Jungle Jim.”
That’s Maple Grove — noise, nerve, and memories that never cool off.
The question now is simple: who’s next?
With $150,000 to win, $40,000 to qualify, a shot at $1 million, and a two-day race at Maple Grove, more than a few teams are doing the math right now.
Lee already gave his answer.
“I expect more, yes.”
