For 36 years, John Medlen became a student of the game, developing his craft as a nitro tuner. He’s enjoyed the ride so much that he hopes to spend the next 36 years mentoring aspiring nitro tuners on what he learned along the way.

One might consider Medlen as the nitro-tuning version of Mr. Myagi shaping the next Karate Kid of drag racing on how to kick the volatile cars down the track.

“I want to help the young guys learn by maybe what information of what to do and what not to do based on 36 years of trying and failing,” Medlen said. “I learned what worked and doesn’t work. The biggest thing is the hows and the why’s of it, why and how we got to our tuning parameters today, and where that all came from. Because if they don’t understand the hows and the whys, then it’ll be difficult for them to form other opinions later because they’re missing the foundation and the base. You can only get that by thousands of runs down the racetrack, and yep, this works, and nope, that doesn’t work.”

Medlen’s latest protégé will be Top Alcohol tuning and racing phenomenon Jonnie Lindberg, who was named Paul Lee’s new crew chief last week. He replaces Jason Bunker, who moved over to Cruz Pedregon Racing. Bunker worked in 2023 alongside Medlen.

Medlen considers himself an open book when it comes to mentoring. He admits he became a mentor long before his full-time days in drag racing were complete.

“Everybody has, at least those that I’ve seen in this industry, a very high regard for the sport and for the race cars,” Medlen explained. “I think that helping the guys and gals have an open mind raises their creativity and curiosity. I’ve had some of the most straightforward statements from people that are just learning turn a light bulb on and can lead you in a direction that maybe solidify what you thought about a particular set of circumstances. Sometimes, the simplest things they say help turn you in the right direction. 

 
 “So there’s no bad question in my book anyway. There’s no bad question from any crew member, and I always try to encourage that. I always try to encourage that you’ve got a question or see something unusual, ain’t no dumb questions.”

Medlen said he has had a lot of fun with those with whom he’s shared the tricks of the trade and said he did in working with Bunker.

“He’s an extremely intelligent guy, very easy to work with,” Medlen said.” We ended up being good friends over the whole thing, and he’s got a very, very bright future in this industry. He understands the mechanics of it, the aspects of it. He has a curious mind, and I enjoyed working with him. I don’t know that there’s nobody in my 36 years that I didn’t like working with. But young guys coming up, Jason is one on the emerging horizon. He’ll do really well with Cruz.”

One of the biggest lessons Medlen has learned to hold steadfast is the value of flexibility. He’s always of the mindset you’re never too experienced to learn, even from those you are teaching.

“It’s all about communication, questions and solving problems,” Medlen said. “There’s been many, many times, we’ll say, at the end of a day of racing during qualifying, that you have a concept of what you want to do tomorrow. You go to bed at night, and you sleep on it. You come back in the next morning and discuss it and think, I don’t think that was the right direction that we decided on last night. And through that conversation, decide we’re going to do a little different direction this morning. 
 
 “So all those people that I’ve ever worked with have always had a bit of information that heads you in the right direction. These things, Bernie used to say it very well. He says, “This is not an exacting science.” And that’s very true, but it’s not an exacting science because we haven’t uncovered all the parameters yet.”

But the one set of parameters Medlen has uncovered reveals that watching a new face in the game succeed is priceless, and it didn’t take 36 years in the business to realize that either.