BREAKING - HART OPTS TO RESUME IN BRAINERD

NHRA Rookie of the Year contender Josh Hart last competed at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. Hart opted out of the western swing in order to focus on the grand opening of his expanded business, Burnyzz Speed Shop.  He was planning to return to the Camping World NHRA Drag Racing Series this weekend at Topeka, but has opted to skip Topeka and return to the tour at Brainerd.

"We recently added  R+L Carriers with TechNet as our primary sponsors," said Josh Hart, Top Fuel winner early this season at the NHRA Gatornationals.  "I'm traveling to Indianapolis this week to work with Ron Douglas and the team so we are 100% ready when we return to the Camping World NHRA Series tour at Brainerd. I can't wait to be back at the track and running the remaining races." 

Hart's plan is to drive the TechNet Professional Top Fuel dragster at Brainerd, Indianapolis and Bristol with R+L Carriers the primary sponsor at all other remaining events.  

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It takes one to know one.

Successful independent single-car team owner Josh Hart gave kudos to fellow Top Fuel class newcomer Joey Haas for his final-round performance at Denver last month.

Hart won the Gatornationals to kick off the 2021 Camping World Drag Racing Series – and his Top Fuel career – this March. Haas debuted at last September’s U.S. Nationals. Just the same, Hart appreciated the statement Haas, driving Terry Totten’s Vita C/Strutmasters.com-sponsored dragster, made for the lower-budgeted privateers at the start of this summer’s Western Swing. In his lone appearance of the season and just his fourth overall, Haas fell in the final to Steve Torrence, who has been a tormenter to the rest of the Top Fuel field all year – still.

“That’s pretty awesome. I can’t express how hard it is to get that far with this level of competition,” Hart said of Haas’ achievement.

“Anybody that makes it to the final round, they definitely [deserve] the ‘Attaboy!’ They work just as hard. They’ve put in the time. It’s terrible to go all the way to the finals and lose, because you’ve put in just as much work as the other guy. But it’s still an honor to be there,” he said. “Torrence’s guys, they’re unbeatable. I mean, they’re an amazing group. They’re pretty epic. But we’re going to see what we can do about it.”

Starting with this next weekend’s Menards NHRA Nationals at Heartland Motorsports Park at Topeka, he’ll have his next chance.

The race will mark Hart’s return to Camping World Drag Racing Series action for the first time since the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio. Hart has raced at five venues (including Atlanta, Houston, and Charlotte, where he reached the final quad).

The Ocala, Fla., businessman said he plans to compete at every one of the remaining events on the 2021 schedule.

At Topeka and at the U.S. Nationals, Hart’s dragster will carry the TechNet/Burnyzz Speed Shop banner. But the R+L Carriers wrap that it had at Norwalk will be back on the car at the Lucas Oil Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., as well as at Reading, Charlotte, St. Louis, Dallas, and Bristol. Hart has not disclosed which sponsor will be his primary marketing partner at the final two races of the season, at Las Vegas and Pomona, Calif.

Only by opting out of the Western Swing did Hart tumble from Countdown to the Championship contention. He’ll enter Topeka ranked 11th in the standings, just 78 points behind No. 10 Clay Millican with three more chances to climb back into the top 10 and into title-eligible status. The Countdown fields in each class will be set at the conclusion of the U.S. Nationals the first weekend in September, at Indianapolis. 

Hart hasn’t been at the racetrack since June 27. But he certainly hasn’t been idle. Less than one month later, July 15, his Burnyzz Speed Shop was the center of attention at a so-called “soft grand opening” of his expanded operations in co-operation with the Ocala Metro Chamber and Economic Partnership (CEP).

"We have a lot of high-end customers that we would like to invite to our actual grand opening," Hart, owner-driver of the Burynzz Speed Shop and TechNet Dragster and co-owner of Burnyzz Speed Shop with wife Brittanie Hart, said. "A little bit more planning will be required for that. Brittanie has been flirting with December. With the CEP, we had a ribbon-cutting and local business owners checking out and seeing what we do. We were not expecting that great of a turnout. We had nearly 400 people at the event."

About 250 CEP members, along with Ocala’s mayor, county commissioner, and sheriff, attended to celebrate the new facility that was a $5 million investment over 14 months.

"I would say that Burnyzz's is super busy, anyway," Hart said of his multi-purpose business. "Car sales are off the charts, and we're having a hard time keeping the inventory. The service department right now, if you want to build a car, a six-figure car, from the ground-up with Burnyzz's, you would be on a waiting list for nine months before we could even start. Then you're looking at another six to eight months for a ground-up car. It's pretty crazy right now, but that's where we're at."

So far, at least three car clubs have taken the four-hour tour the Harts offer.

"They were blown away," Hart said. "Everybody who has come here has given us great feedback, and a lot of people are excited about it. Ocala is a small group of people and we're putting Ocala on the map. It's hot-rod heaven."

It’s also the home of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, who operates a museum and his International Drag Racing Hall of Fame from there and has a strong relationship with Hart.

This past Saturday, in a meeting between two decidedly different worlds of horsepower, Hart took his dragster to the World Equestrian Center at Ocala. Several thousand patrons had the chance to attend his eight-hour meet-and-greet and take a close look at his 11,000-horsepower race car with the R+L livery on it.

“The family that owns R+L Carriers also owns the World Equestrian Center," Hart said. "We decided that it would be a great place to announce that R+L Carriers will be supporting us throughout the rest of this season. We’ve secured sponsorship for the rest of 2021.”

"The World Equestrian Center has its Grand Prix, which is a horse show, starting [Saturday]. They parked the car right in front of the beautiful hotel in front of the grand stadium,” Hart said of his experience at the United States’ largest equestrian complex. The venue’s website described it as “a world-class, multi-indoor and outdoor arena facility offering state-of-the-art amenities to accommodate numerous disciplines within the equine industry.”

Hart participated in a similar meet-and-greet opportunity preceding the Norwalk NHRA event. Hart and R+L Carriers, which is headquartered are at Wilmington, Ohio, have agreed to have the company’s promotional rig at recruiting events before national events throughout the country.

At Norwalk, Hart and R+L Carriers hosted an open house designed to drive potential employees to the company and advertise that CDL-equipped drivers are being offered $28.72 an hour in wages, along with a $3,000 sign-up bonus. R+L Carriers is hiring over-the-road truck drivers, forklift operators, dispatchers, security officers, and clerical workers.

"It was something that I wanted to do for R+L Carriers," Hart said of the open house at Norwalk. "There were a lot of people that I interacted with. There are 600 employees at that location. R+L Carriers has about 16,000 employees across the country.

“Their truck was there, and it’s a heck of a promotional setup. It looks really nice. It was basically like a job fair. You could walk through their trailer, and it described how R+L Carriers got started and how they grew. Then, as you got inside the trailer, it was kind of like an exhibition, as you could see what the perks were, starting pay was -- a very attractive job offer. We did this to boost the morale of the company and recruit excellent new talent for them.”

Hart said, “In every race weekend where R+L Carriers will have the primary paint scheme, that rig will be present at the tracks. And we will be conducting the recruiting service every Tuesday before every national event. The goal is to build company morale and help them find drivers to fulfill their demands in their ever-growing workforce."

The appearance at the World Equestrian Center could be one of many for Hart, whose shop is about 16 miles to the east.

"I would say it's a very real possibility that we could have several events here,” he said. "It's a great way to mix our horsepower and their horsepower. It's a great way to generate exposure for the team by being out here. It's a pretty addictive sport if you get into it, and we're hoping that we can generate new fans at the meet-and-greet, as well."

Buymetalbuildingsdirect.com, which began its partnership with Hart’s team in April and in June significantly increased its agreement, remains an associate sponsor.