Drag racer Lenny Lottig is taking the next step in his career.

After completing in a full season in the 2022 NHRA Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown and finishing fourth in the points, Lottig was satisfied with his results.

Now in 2023, Lottig is going to drive in the Factory Stock Showdown class again and will compete in the new Factory X class.

“It'll be a Camaro, 'cause that's what I'm running in Factory Stock Showdown now,” Lottig said about his Factory X ride. “I've hired Tomi Laine and Dave Yediny from Bill Skillman since Bill retired from racing. In the summertime, I approached those guys at the end of their tenure with Bill, if they'd entertain the idea of helping myself and Jesse Alexandra, who runs in the Showdown class and also and has an FX car. So, we're going to be running out of our camp with Dave and Tomi and they will be helping us with the campaign.”

Lottig said he and Alexandra will each run Factory Stock Showdown and Factory X cars in the upcoming season.

In the Factory X class, Lottig is on the cutting edge since there’s not even a car that has been built yet for the class.

“Yeah, Geoff Turk is going to have his initial Factory X car on display during the 2022 PRI Show (this week in Indianapolis),” Lottig said. “He has his drag pack, which is partially completed, on display, which will be the first one. Mine and Jesse's cars will be from Jerry Haas, and they're going to be here sometime in midsummer.

“I figured I raced well in the Factory Stock Showdown class so why not Factory X?”

Lottig and Alexandra both have experience in the Factory Stock Showdown class.

“Jesse's been in the Showdown class for probably, I believe around 4, going on 5 years,” Lottig said. “I just got into it last year. I mean, I campaigned a car six out of the eight races, I missed the first two races last year because my car wasn't done. I started in Norwalk (Ohio) last year with my Showdown car, and then set up the car from the get-go. It had great success last year, I mean, we won a NMCA race in August, a factory super car, I think they call it an NMCA. I won that in August at the Norwalk, and then runnered up in the Factory Showdown against (Aaron) Stanfield at the St. Louis race last year. That was enough to really set the hook and say, ‘Okay, this stuff is worse than a... This is worse than a drug, it's so addicting.’”

With Laine and Yediny in the tuning fold, Lottig is upbeat about what the 2023 results will bring.

“Well, with the help of Dave (Yediny) and Tommy (Laine), we have extremely high expectations with the Showdown car, we're going to try to build (on) what we already have (for) the base on that there to try to stay competitive in the class,” Lottig said. “But the FX car, it's going to be, like I say, later in the year, so we're hoping we can kind of get on that learning curve and get on the top side of it. I would consider that the next step for me in the Factory X class. I mean, hopefully by Indy, we're going to be doing some serious testing (in the Factory X car). I surround myself with good people and that's why with having Dave and Tomi coming onboard makes me really excited for next year.”

When Lottig isn’t feeding his racing addiction, he runs his business ITI Trailers & Bodies Inc., in Meyersdale, Pa.

“I manufacture stainless steel tanks for anything fluid transportation, whether it's hazardous waste, municipal waste, drinking water,” Lottig said. “My company, we specialize in the, like I say, anything in the vacuum tank truck market.”