Few people knew Sunday during the Amalie Oil Gatornationals just how special the moment was for Tripp Tatum to advance to the Top Fuel final round against fellow independent team owner Doug Foley. 

It was the first time each of them had reached the “money round.” One year after Josh Hart served notice that he would become part of the championship conversation (and a model for the sport’s business-to-business opportunities) by winning the 2021 Gatornationals on his first outing in a Top Fuel dragster, the Top Fuel class would have another first-time winner. 

But for Tatum, it went beyond that. 

Foley’s crew chief is Aaron Brooks, who is respected throughout the nitro pits. And Tatum offered some insight after defeating Brooks and Foley with a 3.700-second elapsed time and 330.31 mph on the Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway 1,000-foot course. 

“Fun fact,” Tatum said. “Aaron Brooks and those guys are such good people. He works on the car [Tatum’s dragster] and helps. His shop is 100 yards from mine [at Brownsburg, Ind.]. We’re all a pretty tight-knit family. There isn’t anything one of us wouldn’t do for the other. So that was a special moment, to race him and his guys. They did real good, too.” 

It is no secret that Tatum has a strong relationship with Torrence Racing, from team owner “Mama Kay” Torrence, drivers Billy Torrence and son Steve (the four-time and current Top Fuel champion), and key players Bobby and brother Dom Lagana. 

“I moved from Maryland to Indy about five years ago,” Tatum said, “and Bobby and Dom, the Capco family, they've been instrumental. I mean, this whole thing is with their help. Very blessed to be associated with them. And all the guys over there, every one of them has helped me in the pit in more ways than I can even tell.” 

His car mimics those of Torrence Racing. “It's a Lucas chassis. But they put the entire thing together. It's almost identical. It's just doing a little, few things different. It's R&D, trying things, testing,” he said. 

And the Torrence group has helped, has delivered a blueprint, for how Tatum can build a winning team. He is listening, and it’s paying off. 

“I’m getting spoiled with how good this thing runs,” he said of his dragster. “When it goes 295-plus [mph] to half-track, it’s pretty bad-ass.”  

Despite his faith in his car and in his support staff (including veteran tuners John Stewart and Tony Shortall – and Top Fuel/Funny Car master and close friend Tommy Johnson Jr.), Tatum said he was “speechless” Sunday night and that the victory “is kind of sinking in a little bit.” Replaying the run in his mind, Tatum said of Foley, “He was out on me. I saw him till 300-400 feet. I couldn’t see the [Christmas] Tree at all. I had a .192 light. I just couldn’t see it. So there’s a little luck involved there.” 

Tatum, who described himself as “very purposeful,” has been so preoccupied with logistics, personnel, and all the nuts and bolts of owning an 11,000-horsepower, nitromethane-burning Top Fuel dragster that his more serious nature has dominated. He didn’t stop long enough to visualize winning a race. 

“I keep busy. I can’t stop moving, [or else] I sit and think,” Tatum said, as if thinking too deeply about successes right now is a sign of certain disaster. “I never really thought about winning. I mean, it’s a lot of work. It’s so hard. It’s baby steps. As good as this car has run so early on, it’s been overwhelming. And that’s all because of the Capco family. It’s just been a lot to swallow. It’s a lot to take in. I’ve been oly six races in this thing, and it had career-bests in five of them.” 

He guessed that he has no more than 65 laps totally in a Top Fuel car – and, he said, “30-some of them were five-plus years ago, in the [Laganas’] Nitro Ninja [Dragster]. For me, it’s just laps [meaning he needs seat time]. “ This past weekend he found out his current car “ran good under trying circumstances. The racetrack was tough to get down.”

But he did, past Lex Joon, Billy Torrence, Mike Salinas, and finally Foley. 

While Foley (who ran a 3.806, 307.37 in against Tatum in his ProTecs Dragster) didn’t take home the trophy Sunday, he also won, in a sense. He vaulted his Foley& Lewis Racing program onto a bigger stage, proving that he can race against the likes of Spencer Massey, Clay Millican, and Justin Ashley and march into later rounds.

This was the first time since the 2020 Indianapolis 2 race (when Justin Ashley and T.J. Zizzo met) that two non-winners reached the Top Fuel final round – and only the seventh time in the past 25 years that has happened at any race on the tour. 

Many say that’s a harbinger of positive news for the class and the sport, with teams such as Tatum’s and Foley’s and Buddy Hull’s and Jim Maroney’s and Mike Salinas’ and Antron Brown’s and Justin Ashley’s and Clay Millican’s and a few others in the pipeline. Single-car teams, whether they have some affiliation with another organization or they are discovering their own path, point to a prosperous shift in drag racing. 

All Tatum said he knows for sure is that the Top Fuel class “is extremely competitive.” As for the class and sport overall, he said, “I hope it’s taking a step in the right direction. People are seeing what they can do and how they can do it. The way Top Fuel is now, there’s going to be more of this. There truly is.”

As for himself, he said, “I’m being led by who I feel is best in this business. They taught me a lot, and I think their model is a good one to follow.”

Whether Tatum will be able to follow this extraordinary achievement at the next Camping World Drag Racing Series event is unknown. That will be something to watch, whether Tatum will be disciplined and live within his means, pacing himself, or whether an impressed investor steps forward between now and the next three weeks, before the April 1-3 4-Wide Nationals at Las Vegas.

“One step at a time,” Tatum cautioned. “This as a huge step. We’ll see. Maybe a few doors will open. “I am a 100-percent self-funded car. When it runs this good, you want to run more. I feel like this car can be a contender. I just need to work on finding some help so we can run more races.” 

He said the Lagana brothers encouraged him to “stay within your means” and not let enthusiasm rule his business decisions. Of course, he said, he has toyed with the notion of going to keep the momentum rolling.

He knows the risks. And throughout Saturday and Sunday at Gainesville, he got a taste of the rewards.