Who says you can’t have it
all?
David Powers is perfect
proof that not only is it possible to have one’s cake, but you can eat it
too…with some ice cream.
Powers is doing just that,
owning one of the top operations in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour.
He does it while also operating David Powers Homes, a luxury home-building company
in
How does he maintain both
businesses to the top of their respective games?
From successful
businessman to championship contending team owner …
Who says you can’t have it
all?
David Powers is perfect
proof that not only is it possible to have one’s cake, but you can eat it
too…with some ice cream.
Powers is doing just that,
owning one of the top operations in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series tour.
He does it while also operating David Powers Homes, a luxury home-building company
in
How does he maintain both
businesses to the top of their respective games?
The answer is simple and
to the point.
"I was born and
raised on a dairy farm (in Dubuque, Iowa)," said Powers, whose drivers —
Rod Fuller and Whit Bazemore — rank first and seventh, respectively, in
POWERade Series Top Fuel points. "I had the responsibility of milking cows
every morning and every evening. You had to get up about 4:30 in the morning,
milk the cows and get out to school. Then by 3:30, you did all your chores, ate
dinner and then it was time for bed. And then do it all over again the next
day, so a strong work ethic as a result of my upbringing on the farm was the
result.
"I always tell people
when they ask me (how I do it, running both companies) that this is a lot
easier than dairy farming."
That holds true for his
racing team, which in about three years has risen from the ground up to a
championship-caliber operation.
Fuller, a two-time NHRA
sportsman divisional champion, has enjoyed solid success since the team was
formed during the 2005 season. He’s scored five national event victories,
including winning twice this season. He’s also finished in the top 10 in each
of the team’s first two seasons and is the Top Fuel points leader after the
first 14 events of the season.
It’s been similar success
for Bazemore, who despite competing in his initial fray into the Top Fuel wars,
has raced like a veteran, advancing to one final round and is seventh in
points.
"This is one big race
team," Powers said. "It’s not two teams, it’s one big race team. It’s
people working together and we’ll feel we are developing that culture every
race.
"We have the No. 1
car in the nation and the No. 7 car in the nation. Three years ago when I
started this, I always thought if we would have been in the top 10 that would
have been a great accomplishment. But it’s the proof of what good people do.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"I think it’s just
the belief in ourselves and trying to extenuate leadership throughout the
organization that is positive. We always look at the glass as half full rather
than half empty. We look at each other of what are the plusses of each other
rather than what are the minuses. We try to focus on the positive. It takes
time, but its worked and allowed us to do great things."
And great things have
always seem to follow Powers. It even goes back to when he was a competitive
racer in the 1960s and 70s.
Powers, like most of the
youth from his area, developed a need for speed. He formed a team with John
Riley and the duo raced a series of fuel altereds during the early portion of
the 1960s. The team was top qualifier at the famed Drag News Junior Eliminator
before scoring a Top Fuel title on the UDRA circuit in 1964. The Powers and
Riley team then went on the match-racing circuit for the rest of the decade.
"I think my first
pass in a drag car was in 1958," Powers recalled. "My last one in the
early 1970s. We raced under the Powers and Riley (moniker), with a Top Fuel car
and a Top Fuel Funny Car. It was one of the few direct-drive Top Fuel Funny
Cars at the time, because my partner, John Riley, and I developed the first
reverser for Top Fuel cars.
"Back then, you did
one really competitive event, and the rest of the time you were (running) match
races. It was all about matching racing back then"
But by the early 1970s,
Powers had quelled his need for speed and left the sport to go to work.
He joined a home-building
company in Colorado before moving on to a
national home-building company in Chicago.
He was transferred to Houston
in 1989 before starting up David Powers Homes in 1994.
He has earned quite an
amount of success in the industry, serving on the Committee for Mortgage
Finance in Washington,
D.C.for 10 years and has also scored several industry awards.
Yes, he has become quite a
home builder. But something kept calling him back to the straight-line set and
in 2005 he decided to take the plunge.
"Darrell Russell, bless his soul, who lost
his life in St. Louis
(in 2004), he was a friend of mine," Powers recalled. "He encouraged
me and talked to me all the time about getting back into racing. I guess that’s
what brought it about, more than anything else.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"I liked going to
(the NHRA event in
I liked going to (the U.S. Nationals in
I went to
roots alive. I continued to (read) publications on motor sports, particularly
drag racing. I’ve always had a love for it. I felt it was the point in my life
that it would be a good thing to do and it has been"
But building from the
ground floor is never easy, so Powers used the same principles that he built
David Powers Homes and applied them to David Powers Motorsports.
"It’s like building
any good organization," Powers said. "It’s so important to understand
the group of people you put together and make sure they are a cohesive group of
people. It requires skill of them working together all the time to make them
better. Part of my philosophy of life is that you get a little better every
day."
It’s certainly been true
for the DPM, which has slowly but surely been a team to be reckoned with in the
POWERade Series.
The team, despite running
a limited schedule, scored one victory in three final rounds and finished in
the top 10 during its maiden season. It’s been a steady rise since.
A key ingredient to the
pie has been Fuller, who has molded quickly to the team concept. Some might
have questioned his experience at the time of his hiring, but Powers has proven
to been right about the
resident’s ability. And no one appreciates that faith more than Fuller.
"David took a chance
on me," Fuller said. "I was a Super Comp driver with little pro
experience and he gave me a shot. He put me through a series of IQ and
personality tests that big corporations use. That shows his vision and
commitment to the team and sport. He gives me and our team everything we need
to succeed and win and you can’t ask for more than that."
And they’ve succeeded by
leaps and bounds. Fuller scored two more wins last season en route to a
fifth-place finish in points last season, and he’s continued it this year,
winning twice and leading the points after 14 events. The addition of the
second car with Bazemore in the driver’s seat has added to that success. The
team recently enjoyed its first all-DPM final round. But it hasn’t been all
good. Their have been setbacks off the track, mainly corporate backing.
While the car driven by
Bazemore receives major sponsorship from Matco Tools, the car driven by Fuller,
despite its enormous success on the track, has done it this year without
full-time major corporate backing. Powers does have a limited sponsorship deal
with Wagner CAT, but that only covers handful of races. The remaining portion
of the schedule Fuller has been pilot to the "White Shark."
"It’s a tough
situation," Powers said. "We’re a prudent organization, and at the
same time, the team has never lacked for parts. They have the best parts all
the time. But between (financial partner) Tim Buckley and myself, we’ve been
able to make this happen. When I started home building, you don’t go out and
hang your shingle there and ask people to start buying homes from me without
seeing the value.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor’s website
"People in the
home-building side don’t buy homes off pieces of paper. They buy it from what
they can see. It’s the same in motor sports. A lot of people have the
misconception that you can go around with a proposal and say you are going to
do this and that, but the reality is that when you do it, (that’s where the)
real perceived value on behalf of the sponsor begins. I believe in that theory
very much. You have to show people what reality is and then let them decide
from that reality versus somebody else’s reality and who they ought to invest
with.
"We’re in this for
the long term, and we want to have a good race team. I believe if you look at
our short-term and long-term goals, we’ve met or exceeded every one of them
much sooner than we thought we would."
And Powers believes that
will lead to a sponsorship deal for his charter team.
"We’ve had opportunities
to bring on sponsorship, but the sponsorship was not compatible with
Matco," Powers said. "It’s very important that we recognize that
Matco was there first and we are going to treat Matco right in every way. It’s
not just about the dollars, but creating long-term relationships that we can
build upon.
"There were
opportunities, but they were not good matches for Matco. But we feel through
good business and the grace of God, we’re going bring the right people
together. It’s coming."
And it might come with a
Top Fuel title.
"That would be an
ultimate thing to have happen," Powers said. "It would be just an
awesome experience for all of our team, and when I say all of our team, I would
say (both) the Matco team and the Caterpillar team. It would be just a great
experience for our team and a true recognition of their skills, not only their
driving, but each and every member of the crew and every position they play in
the success of these teams."
