On October 7, 2024, championship Pro Stock tuner Mark Ingersoll underwent a double lung transplant. Ingersoll suffered from the same hereditary lung disease that took the life of his father, Buddy, and he was put on a transplant list and was matched with a donor within 48 hours.
A testament to his dedication to drag racing, Ingersoll returned to the strip two weeks ago in Las Vegas. He’s back again this weekend at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway with the mission of helping Elite Performance rekindle the mojo that propelled the team to many championships.
“It feels good to be back out here,” Ingersoll said. “I wish we were running better, but we’re not, so we’ll see what we can do about it. I probably shouldn’t be right now, but I am, and I feel good enough to be here.”
Ingersoll said the doctors aren’t keen on him being back at the strip, but as he sees it, drag racing provides the best medicine right now. Plus, there’s only so much cabin fever a man can take.
“When I’m at home, I’m supposed to be by myself and just on and on.” Ingersoll explained. “It’s been going on over seven months now, so it gets old. I do a lot of looking on the phone and watch (the races), but you can only do so much? So I come here and try to make it better, but not yet. So we’ll get it. We’ll get it. I’m not worried about that.”
Ingersoll, a veteran of over 30 years, said he intends to continue racing “‘til I can’t do it anymore. I feel better when I’m here, honestly, than when I’m home. I get better exercise. You’re up and you’re doing something, and I feel good when I’m here. I went testing a couple of times with them and this is the first race, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Ingersoll admits his biggest challenge in returning is adapting the team’s once potent combination to the new mandated racing gas.
“We just got to do a better job,” Ingersoll said. “We’re not doing it right now. We will. We’ll get it. We always have and we always will, you know what I mean? Just threw a curve to us and we’re just learning. It’s seems like it’s really threw us a curve and we just got to figure out what it wants.”
One thing that he counsels those who are writing Elite Motorsports off is this team thrives in resilience. Ingersoll, a survivor in his own right, insinuates that one can count them out but at their own peril.
“They are the most resilient team I know,” Ingersoll confirmed. “That’s why I am here, and glad to be back.”
