It is not an easy life spending every waking moment on the road traveling from one corner of the country to the other, but it is the life that has been gladly chosen by brothers Bobby and Dom Lagana. Ever since catching the racing bug in the late 90s, the pair has been going nonstop in their quest for drag racing glory.

From their days hauling a multi-million dollar Top Fuel dragster on the bed of a ramp truck and struggling to qualify, to breaking the 300 mile per hour barrier and winning their first race, the Lagana’s have been a symbol for perseverance and have long been known as one of drag racing’s hardest working teams.

And on Monday night, the Lagana’s were officially recognized for their efforts.

Crew award caps incredible season for ‘Twilight Zone’ team

It is not an easy life spending every waking moment on the road traveling from one corner of the country to the other, but it is the life that has been gladly chosen by brothers Bobby and Dom Lagana. Ever since catching the racing bug in the late 90s, the pair has been going nonstop in their quest for drag racing glory.

From their days hauling a multi-million dollar Top Fuel dragster on the bed of a ramp truck and struggling to qualify, to breaking the 300 mile per hour barrier and winning their first race, the Lagana’s have been a symbol for perseverance and have long been known as one of drag racing’s hardest working teams.

And on Monday night, the Lagana’s were officially recognized for their efforts.

Over the past 10 months the Lagana’s have gone from championship afterthoughts to one of the elite teams as Bobby helped guide the Five Guys Burgers and Fries Top Fuel dragster to a record seven wins and a Nitro Jam championship with the Feld Motor Sports drag racing brand and Dom placed that same dragster in the final round at the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals two weeks later. Dom, in only his fifth start, bested three of the best drivers in the business on his way to his first career final. And for their efforts on that fall afternoon in Nevada, the Lagana brothers have officially been recognized as winners of the Top Fuel Full Throttle Hard-Working Crew award which was handed out at the NHRA awards ceremony Monday night.

In addition to the award, the team also received $25,000.

“It was an honor to be recognized for the hard work and dedication we put into this deal. This is all we know and we love every minute spent doing it,” Dom said. “This is the icing on an incredible season. With our big runner-up finish and Bobby’s championship, I don’t know that we could ask for much more. But I can tell you we will be back and ready to do this again next year, this time with even more momentum.”

The Lagana’s were nominated for the award immediately following their runner-up finish in Vegas and were thrilled to add yet another recognition to the growing list of awards in what will easily go down as the biggest year yet for the “Twilight Zone” racing team.

In addition to the crew award, Bobby was also recognized as the Nitro Jam Professional Driver of the Year at the Nitro Jam awards ceremony last month in Virginia. Dom is the crew chief for Bobby when he is not racing.

“We are blessed to do this. Even all those years with no sponsor, no money, going from race to race on that ramp truck, we were always lucky to be able to do this,” Lagana said during his acceptance speech in October. “And now we are at a higher level than we ever thought possible. I look back at how hard we fought to get to four seconds and now we are running with the best of them. It just shows that good things can happen to those that put in the time and effort.”

Their success this season helped the team gain extra notoriety around the garage, among the fans and in the media. To cap off their championship season, the brothers were the focus of a special behind-the-scenes episode of Nitro Jam on SPEED.

With the racing season officially over, the Lagana brothers will finally get some much needed time off before returning to the track in late January. Defending Nitro Jam Top Fuel champion Bobby Lagana will be back to defend his title beginning with the Palm Beach Nitro Jam at Palm Beach International Raceway in late January, while Dom will climb back behind the wheel at select NHRA events in 2011.

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