PRO STOCK DRIVER JOHN GAYDOSH JR. RETURNING TO COMPETITION WITH HIS OWN TEAM
Veteran Pro Stock racer John Gaydosh Jr. has had an ambitious start to the 2021 year.
On the first of January, he opened his own business – Gaydosh Performance in Baltimore, Md. The business specializes in chassis work, engine building, and dyno services.
Then in the offseason, he bought a 2019 Camaro, that had never been run, from fellow Pro Stock racer Wally Stroupe and Gaydosh is moving towards competing in 2021 in NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series.
“I bought the Camaro from (Wally) Stroupe and I had Chris McGaha build me a motor and I’m coming out to play,” Gaydosh said. “This car I bought has never been to the racetrack. It was built for somebody else and the gentlemen who bought it had some health issues and Wally told me about the car and what we arranged for the price I couldn’t pass up. This is my opportunity to do it the way I want to and to come back and do it right.
“I have jumped in with both feet this year with my new business and my Pro Stock team. Who knows, maybe one day I will learn how to fly an airplane next?”
Gaydosh is sponsored by Weldon Pumps, MB Auto out of Indianapolis, Gaydosh Builder, Gaydosh Performance and Competition Products.
Last season began with Gaydosh driving a Camaro for Beaver Motorsports, owned by Mark Beaver. Gaydosh drove the Beaver Motorsports Camaro at the Indy 1 race July 11-12 and failed to qualify. He parted ways with the team after that race.
“From some of the things that happened last year with Beaver, I think I had something to prove,” Gaydosh said about why he came back to Pro Stock for 2021.
“Maybe it is foolish or whatever, I just thought I needed to do this for myself. We should be ready to rock and roll with everything we need.”
The 2021 NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series begins at the 52nd annual AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway March 12-14.
“I’ve been doing this long enough, I know how to do it and I know how to do it the way it needs to be done,” Gaydosh said. “Now, I have everything new that I need, and I think I should be in good shape.”
Gaydosh will make his first laps in his new Camaro at the CTECH World Doorslammer Nationals at Orlando (Fla.) Speed World Dragway, March 5-7.
“I will break out everything then and there in Orlando,” Gaydosh said. “We’re going to find out what we have got and what we need to do while we are there.”
Gaydosh competed in the NHRA’s Pro Stock class for 10 years before walking away from the sport after he competed at the 2018 NHRA Mello Yello Series event in Reading. Pa.
Following the 2018 Reading race, Gaydosh sold his 2013 Camaro to another racer based in Sweden.
“The biggest problem I’ve had in competing in the Pro Stock class is all my equipment has been six, seven, eight years old,” Gaydosh said. “All my cars were used. I have never had a brand-new car.
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