Veteran nitro Funny Car driver Bob Bode didn’t compete at an NHRA national event last weekend.

Yet, he still had one of his memorable moments unfold at the race track.

Bode, serving as a crew chief, watched his 14-year-old son, Bobby, win a Midwest Junior Dragster Super Series race April 9 at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis.

The race specifically was a $1,000 all-in race that every Jr. Dragster on the property competed in regardless of their age.

“I think there were 100 Junior Dragster competing in that all-in race when we started,” Bode said. “There 8-year-old drivers all the way to 17-year old drivers competing in this event. During the weekend, they run age groups and then the very last race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon everybody enters this all-in race.”

According to his Bode, his son won six rounds to claim the title.

“It’s one of those deals where you keep showing up and there’s less cars and less cars, and you are like ‘Wow, I can’t believe we are still here,’” he said.

The elder Bode cherished the moment of seeing his son reach Victory Lane.

“It was great to see him do so well,” Bode said. “His worst light during that race was an .041 light and during two rounds he had .001 lights. For me to stand on the starting line and watch him do that well was super. When he won the final, I was so happy for him because he really works hard at it. It’s a proud moment when you get through that many cars and your kid is still standing. It was cool. Each round got a little tenser and when he won in the final round, I was jumping up and down on the starting line.”

On Aug. 15, 2010, Bob Bode stunned the racing community by capturing an improbable victory at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd by defeating Jack Beckman out of the Don Schumacher Racing stable.

And, the elder Bode dealt with the same euphoria April 9.

“This is just as big a win to watch my son win,” Bode said. “He won $1,000 and it gave him a lot of self-confidence, just the like the Brainerd win did for me. Our Brainerd win was the best thing that ever happened in my racing life.”

Bobby, who is a freshman at Lake Zurich (Ill.) High School, received some humor when he went to school April 10.

“He started his driver education class Monday and the teacher told my son that he had never had a kid in his class who was already driving,” Bob said. “Then the teacher asked him if it was legal for him to do that? It was pretty comical.”

Bobby is no stranger to the Junior Dragster scene as he’s been competing in these ranks since the age of 8.

“He ran a 12.90 (second) car at 8, and then he progressed to an 8.90 at age 12 and this is our second year in the 7.90 class,” said Bode, whose son competes in NHRA’s Division 3. “Now, in this 7.90 class he races against all the kids until they turn 17 years old. Those 7.90 class Junior Dragsters run about 85 mph and they run to the eighth-mile.”

The younger Bode had already won six Junior Dragster races –five being NHRA Wallys.

“All the money he has won from age eight until now we put in a savings account and this put him over $6,000 in the account,” Bob said. “We are saving it so he can use it for his spending money when he goes to college. That way he will not be a broke college kid.”

The elder Bode acknowledged he is grooming his son to take his place in the family’s nitro Funny Car.

“When he turns 18, if he’s ready and we put him in some quicker stuff between now and then, I would love for him to try it that first year (drive the family’s nitro Funny Car). Even if he doesn’t do good, that’s OK because we are not out here to set the world on fire. I would like to see him just go to a race show up and try and qualify and just see how he does. By then, I think he will be ready. He’s good now, and we just have to keep working with him and have him go a little quicker each year as he gets closer to 18.”

Bob Bode said giving up his seat for his son would please him.

“That would make me happy,” Bob said. “I want to stand on the starting line and fold my arms like the crew chiefs and watch my kid run a nitro Funny Car. That would be way, way cool.”

The win by Bobby Sunday afternoon left his father off the hook for what happened earlier in the day.

“The crew chief screwed up for him,” Bob said. “The kid in the other lane had a red light so we won the round and Bobby had an .001 light, but going up there I forgot to take the tire covers off. He rolled into the lights and we realized the tire covers were on so I pulled him back and took the tire covers off and pushed him back into the top beam, but you can’t do that. You can’t roll him out of the beam and back into. They ran the race and we won, but then they came over and said I couldn’t do that and I said OK. It was my fault. I did it. We raced so much and we were busy and I didn’t take the tire covers off. I got in trouble for that, but then when we came back and did well together to win the $1,000 race, he forgave me. Thank God, although he will probably work me over for the next 10 years for leaving those tire covers on.”

The younger Bode returns to action April 15 when he competes at a local race at Byron (Ill.) Dragway.

“That will be an age group race for him and we will see how he does,” Bob said.

As for the elder Bode, the next race on his schedule is NHRA’s Four-Wide Nationals (April 28-30) in Concord, N.C.

“Our last event was in Las Vegas and we have all new stuff on the car, we have a six-disc clutch in there and we have all the stuff that should make us good and we just overpowered the track,” Bode said. “It shook on Friday and we smoked the tires twice on Saturday. We just didn’t figure it out quick enough and hopefully Charlotte is a little better to us.”