The plan was for Bob Bode to climb back in his seat of his nitro Funny Car at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 18-21.

Bode, who last raced late in 2020 season, confirmed to CompetitionPlus.com there has been a change of plans and his son Bobby will be driving instead in Brainered.

“He (Bobby) convinced me he wants to do it, and he’s going to drive,” Bob said. “I was supposed to, and I got all licensed and got all my paperwork because I have to drive within two years of the last time I drove. I was going to drive this one, but after Bobby’s good Houston run and a pretty good Norwalk (Ohio) weekend, he’s driving better than I probably would so it is hard to win the argument that he shouldn’t keep trying right now.

“My wife laughed and said flip a coin and see who will drive and I said that will not work. We are going to let him drive. He’s driving way better than I ever have so we will go with him.”

The thought of having Bob drive in Brainerd came about because of Bobby, 20, starting his junior year at Arizona State University in Tempe in the fall. Bobby is a business major. Bobby, however, now is able to fit the Brainerd race in his schedule.

“The plan for us now is to have Bobby run Brainerd and then Indy (the U.S. Nationals Aug. 31 through Sept. 5),” Bob said. 

This season Bobby has competed in five races in Pomona, Calif., Phoenix, Las Vegas, Houston, and Norwalk. The highlight so far was Bobby’s run to the final round in Houston where he lost to Matt Hagan of Tony Stewart Racing in the finals on April 24.

Bode lost a nailbiter to Hagan when he had a fiery explosion right before the finish line when the body of his Funny Car blew off.

After Bode’s Funny Car got repaired Bobby competed in Norwalk and he qualified No. 15 and lost to John Force in the first round on June 26.

“We feel pretty good about everything,” Bob said. “50 percent of winning a national event is luck and 50 percent is having a good guy in the seat and having a car that can go down the racetrack every time. We are so close on Bobby driving and so close on the car and if we pay attention to the little details the car will run like it did in Houston. If we don’t run that good, it is not the car it is we are not watching the details. That’s kind of what got us in Norwalk. We didn’t run as good there because we missed a couple of things in issues with rebuilding the car (after Houston) and it ran good on Sunday in Norwalk.

“We think we have got most of the issues fixed. We have gone over the car in the last six weeks and hopefully we have found out the little things that could keep us from getting down the track every time.”

Bob said his team still receives tuning advice from veteran tuner/driver Tim Wilkerson.

“Tim keeps us out of trouble and when we are lost, he helps us,” Bob said. “He gave Bobby all the parameters and Tim is good because he allows Bobby to make his choices and when we get in trouble Tim is standing there where we can ask questions. Bobby has tweaked different parts of the tune-up and some of them have worked and some of them haven’t. Sometimes Tim will come down and look at (the tuneup) and shake his head at it and other times he will say that’s pretty interesting. Like any tuner, sometimes Bobby looks really smart and other times it was like that was a bad idea.”

The elder Bode has enjoyed the process to this point.

“That has been fun,” Bob said. “I think that’s Bobby’s favorite part. We sat last week and just stared at the computers and the runs and data, trying to figure out the little things that will keep it going. It is promising. You don’t know until you get there, but our car should be as good as it has ever been, and Houston was our best. 

“We are hoping to find that again. Now, we have a couple new four bolt main blocks like the guys run. We also have some new internal parts and some of that is going to help us be more consistent is what we are told. We have our fingers crossed that it all works the way it is supposed to. Like every race we go to sometimes it all works, and we look great and sometimes some of it doesn’t work and we just have to regroup.”

Bob said he feels like Bobby is playing the most costly video game ever made when he’s doing the tune-up for the family Funny Car.

“You hit it right on the head,” Bob said. “When we are in there and he’s flipping through the runs and making notes I tell him ‘You know (Bobby) this is the most expensive video game around. He looks at me strange and he said, ‘What do you mean dad?’ I said, well every time you make a move there on that video screen it cost me $5000 to make that pass. So, it is a $5000 video game, so you better make the right moves. You can’t make too many wrong ones. We do laugh about it, and he gets serious with what he had to do.”

Bob won his lone nitro Funny Car national event in Brainerd in 2010 and he would love nothing more than to see Bobby duplicate that feat.

“It would be awesome if Bobby could win Brainerd,” Bob said. “Brainerd is a good racetrack for us. It is not the fastest one out there so the big dogs don’t run away from everybody there. If we have a good day like I had in 2010 it would be amazing for him. Every round we win is still amazing, but if he can ever put four together on Sunday, especially there, it would sure be a big thing for the family.

“I’m sure he would go to the Zoo (the renowned party campground at BIR). When I won in Brainerd in 2010, Del Worsham and Jeff Arend took me out after I won. I’m sure we would do the same for Bobby. Throw him on the golf cart and make him go have fun with all of us. It topped off the whole weekend for me (in 2010). Where else can you go on Sunday night and see all that craziness going on except at the Zoo at the Brainerd racetrack.”