Veteran Top Fuel driver Rob Passey is back at it for another season.

The Salt Lake City, Utah, resident will make his 2022 debut at the Arizona Nationals, Friday through Sunday at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix.

“(We’re going to) drag our stuff out there and see if we can have a little bit of fun,” Passey told CompetitionPlus.com. “We're there to race.”
 
The last race Passey competed at was the fall race in 2021 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We've had Johnny West on board helping us out and last year we went to three or four races and finally the last qualifying session, the last run we put on the car, we finally found some gremlins and got (them) taken care of. And we're excited. 

“So, we really didn't change anything in the offseason. We just need to put some laps on it now. We feel like we can start putting the tune up on this thing and have it run. Johnny's got some other commitments coming down the road here, but we're going to run this race and he will be here helping us out.”

Following Phoenix, Passey said his team’s next race will be the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, April 1-3 in Vegas.

“We will run Phoenix, Vegas, and take a break,” Passey said. “We'll run Denver, Sonoma (Calif.) and then back to Vegas and possibly the World Finals in Pomona and it all kind of depends on a little bit of funding we can put together and how the car runs. I'm not afraid to go run the car, I just got to make sure I keep all the pieces in it, and we get this thing running as consistently as I'm hoping we can. Then I don't mind dragging it out and running five or six events a year and having some fun with it.”

This is Passey’s third time competing at Phoenix, with his other appearances coming in 2002 and 2009. 

“You work on this thing it seems like all the time and we have shop nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays all through the year, and I'm just anxious to get out of the snow here a little bit and go where the warm is,” Passey said.

Passey is realistic about his approach to his Top Fuel program.

“I would like to be able to have a big sponsor and go out and do this a heck of a lot more on a lot grander scale,” he said. “But we've tried for many years to beat the bushes and gotten close a couple of times to big deals over the years. Most of the time it's just some friends or some local guys around here help us out. And I'm going to try and make a little bit bigger push to get a few deals together. But, that's just a lot bigger pond to be swimming in and, I definitely would like to upgrade my program some to be a big touring car.

‘I don't really dream that big anymore, but I would like to be able to come out to the five or six (races) and have a car that we can consistently chip away with.”

Passey knows nothing will come easy in Phoenix.

“(We will take) all three qualifying hits if it needs it and we'll be a little bit careful,” Passey said. “If we're able to get in on one shot or two shots … But looking at the qualifying field and you know how this year's going to be, it's going to be fun and there's going to be a ton of stout quality cars out there. So, the one or two little spots for us guys are going to be tough to fight over. But we really love the challenge, and we love to run our hot rods. So, we'll give it a shot.”