When Alex Laughlin, the jack-of-all-trades drag racer, moved on from his ride in a fuel car, he wasted little time finding yet another avenue to fill his need for speed. Laughlin plans to drive the Geoff Turk Factory X Blackbird X Challenger, the seat recently vacated by Allen Johnson.
For Laughlin, Factory X represents the eighth different division he’s raced in less than a decade. It might have been the ninth racing if a motorcycle deal had worked out.
Factory X brings a high level of intrigue to Laughlin.
“One of the things being that I’ve got such a history in Pro Stock, and it’s so similar to a Pro Stock car,” Laughlin said. But one of my favorite things is anything with a blower on it, so to me, it’s the perfect combination of the two. It’s got a clutch with a five-speed Liberty and a supercharger screaming back at you.”
Laughlin has heard the old wives’ tales of “Once you go nitro, there’s no going back.” If it’s got four wheels and generates excitement and a challenge, count him in.
“I think that there’s definitely a misconception because the nitro stuff is in such a different world of its own; it’s not comparable to anything,” Laughlin said. “So it’s not even about how fast it is, it’s the acceleration and the G-forces that does to your body, versus in a Doorslammer, you actually do see the speed.
“The nitro stuff happens so fast, and it’s such physical pressure against your body that you don’t realize in any form how fast you’re going. The door car stuff you can kind of still process, if that makes sense.”
Laughlin is already experienced in the Factory X car, having subbed for Johnson in test sessions last season. He already has 20 laps under his belt.
The first run? It was like a case of deja vu for Laughlin.
“It sounds weird to say this, but it was like second nature, I guess just because of the experience that I’ve had in a Pro Stock car, and then just everything has its own personality, and for me, it just takes even just getting in the car, having it running, hitting the gas a couple of times, even if it’s just on the jack stands, and seeing how quick it revs, stuff like that,” Laughlin explained. “Something like a Pro Stock car won’t zip up quite as fast as like Geoff’s car that’s got the blower on it, and so it would be easy to go up there and swap feet for the burnout or something and just be way too high on RPMs.
“It’s just a combination of being able to adapt from one thing to another by hitting the gas pedal, looking at the RPM, seeing what it feels like and it sounds like. Your ears are a huge data logger alone to be able to adjust and adapt.”
For Turk, the choice for Laughlin with Johnson’s departure made the most sense.
“He loved driving that car so much, and he loves that car, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Turk explained. “Alex was a fantastic part of our effort last year. He was the first guy to really help us sort out some of the things that we were trying to figure out, and he helped us so much. Between races, he was the guy who came to our aid and, in one case, made time for us. And we went down to Texas and tested. We couldn’t be more excited to have him on the team as our driver.”
Turk said he is eternally grateful for the opportunity to race with Johnson, who took the only Dodge Challenger in Factory X to incredible performances.
“We’re going to miss him, and we really are incredibly appreciative of what he did for us,” Turk said of the past NHRA Pro Stock champion. “He was the first guy to go 202 miles an hour, the first guy to go out and win a Wally in the BlackbirdX. So we’re going to keep pushing hard to keep doing that, in part, to stand on his shoulders and build on that momentum.”
