Top Fuel racer Justin Ashley will make only one qualifying pass during the Texas NHRA FallNationals. For the rest of Friday and Saturday, the second-generation drag racer will observe Yom Kippur as part of his Judaism faith.
“Our plan is to make the first qualifying run and then we’re going to sit out the other three,” Ashley said. “I fully expect to go out there and make a run that’s going to stay in the show and we’ll see you on Sunday morning and we’ll compete for the event title.”
Yom Kippur is the most solemn of Jewish holidays. The purpose of Yom Kippur is to effect individual and collective purification by practicing forgiveness for the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God.
“I try and have certain principles in my life that are centered and based around faith and family and it’s too easy to lose sight of those things in the midst of everything,” Ashley said. “This is a priority for me, but more important than anything else, I really appreciate the unconditional support that I’ve gotten from everybody in our team to everybody at SCAG Racing and ownership to all of our other partners; that means more to me than anything else.”
Two decades ago, when his father, a Pro Modified pioneer and two-time NHRA champion Mike Ashley, was in the midst of a championship battle, he likewise sat out competing in the Texas Motorplex event on the day when Yom Kippur fell on a qualifying day.
“I’ll be spending tonight, from Friday night to Saturday night, fasting,” Ashley explained. “So I will not be drinking water or eating food for a 25-hour period of time, and during that period of time, I’ll also be at a local temple praying as well.”
Ashley comes into the weekend in second place, trailing Antron Brown by 34 points. He is 29 points ahead of third-place Shawn Langdon. He is a two-time Texas Motorplex champion.
