Competing against powerhouse big-budget nitro teams is a challenge, to say the least.

However, it is one low-budget racers, nitro Funny Car driver Dale Creasy Jr. and Top Fuel driver Krista Baldwin, accept with open arms.

At the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., Aug. 19-21, Creasy and Baldwin were rewarded for their hard work and perseverance as each clocked career-best elapsed times.

Creasy clocked a 3.967-second pass at 327.43 mph to keep eventual event champion Bob Tasca III honest as he came in with a 3.891-second ET at 330.63 mph.

Baldwin, the granddaughter of the legendary Chris “The Greek” Karamesines and daughter of the late Bobby Baldwin, clocked a 3.817-second effort at 319.52 in a first-round loss to Justin Ashley, who came across the finish line at 3.720 seconds at 331.94 mph.

“It was pretty awesome because we have been struggling the last three-four races,” Creasy said. “Every once in a while, we’d go down the dragstrip, and we figured some stuff out Saturday night. It worked. The 3.96 were pretty awesome, but the speed that’s pretty good as well. We had run 323 mph, but it was really moving. It was a good run. I can’t tell there was a difference between a four flat and a 396, but I knew when I crossed the finish line, and I just didn’t know what it was. Hopefully, we can keep that momentum going.” Baldwin concurred with Creasy.

“It’s absolutely astounding what we’ve done in the last year to turn this car around, to make it competitive, to make it so we can go to that next level,” Baldwin said. “It’s been really tough; I’m not going to lie. But the reward of going at 3.81 at 319 mph was just absolutely worth it. It’s a testament to, if I keep working hard and if my crew chief’s working hard, it’s here. I am going to ride this wave as long as I can. And it’s just exciting to know that the improvements that I’ve made over the last year, myself as a driver, but also the equipment that I’m using, finally, finally worked. We actually lost, but it felt like I won the round.”

Creasy Jr. and Baldwin are both entered in the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, Aug. 31 through Sept. 5 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

“It’s pretty good because they all know we can run well, and they, but know that they can’t back it down,” said Creasy about his mindset heading into Indy. “If they make a mistake and do our thing, we have a chance of beating them. It’s the competition. It’s the challenge of being able to do it. Plus, I like driving the race car. That’s the whole dang reason I do all this, so I can drive the race car.

“I mean, for me, that’s what it is. I’ve been asked about renting my car, and I thought about it, but I do all this work and hustling to get things moving so I could drive the race card with my guys, my brother (Steve) and my guys forever. The guys that I have there with me at least eight or ten years.”

Baldwin took a moment to what has led to her turnaround to post a 3.81-second pass.

“I bought better equipment, and I also brought in someone that can help tune the race car,” Baldwin said. “And so, when I brought in Scott Graham over the weekend (at Brainerd), he was able to help take all these new parts that I’ve accumulated over the last few months, he was able to put it together and put it down the track.

“It’s surreal that I’m actually at this point of my career, in such a small window of me actually owning the car. But man, I could not have done it without my best friends, Anthony Dicero and Jake Sanders. It’s usually the three of us in the shop, just hustling to get this car put together.”

Graham is no stranger to Baldwin. He helped tune her father, Bobby Baldwin’s Top Fuel dragster back in the day.

“Scott Graham’s actually the crew chief for Pat Dakin’s car, which Spencer Massey drives now,” said Krista, who is in her first year owning her Top Fuel team. (Scott) used to work with my dad on his car. And so, it’s very full circle that I get to have him on my corner now. Brainerd was the first time that he fully came on board. He’s still doing stuff with Dakin (and Massey is entered in Indy). But I call (Scott) my advisor.”

After what unfolded in Brainerd, Baldwin can’t hide her excitement to get to compete at the U.S. Nationals.

“It’s quite up there,” Baldwin said about her excitement level. “I’m not going to lie; it’s hard to sleep at night. Just the fact that we are so close to running a 3.70. In Brainerd, if I didn’t have a couple of parts failures on Friday, my team told me that we’d probably ran a 3.70 up there, but I’m excited to keep it going for The Big Go. I am so excited, especially with 25 cars entered. The sheer excitement of what The Big Go really is it’s truly shown right now, with 500 entries for the race, and there’s 25 Top Fuel cars. It’s going to be a blood bath, but I’m ready for it.

“It’s going to be that tough, and I’m really excited because I actually have a car that can go that fast, and I actually have a fighting chance to get into the race with the big dogs.”

Creasy knows the competition in Indy will be tough, but he’s ready to see what he can do.

“At this point, after the run at Brainerd, we have a better opportunity to qualify there now,” Creasy said. “If it continues to do what it’s doing. We have all the same parts, all the same clutch stuff. There’s no reason why it can’t unless we just do something silly. I try to make every race the same, even if it’s a match race. We go up there to do our best, and we go up there to win. The big teams might have more parts back in their trailer than we do. But when we go to the starting line, we all have one (opportunity). The chances of me out running a Matt Hagan or Robert Hight are slim, but if they’re not completely on their game our car is good enough now to give them a race.

“(We’ve) just been trying for the last couple years. Just little things, but stuff that we didn’t know about, things we need to service more often. We’re learning, and we get a lot of help from a lot of teams.”

Creasy and Baldwin will both have a tune-up for Indy this weekend as they are each competing in the 2022 World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova (Ill.) Dragway.

Creasy will be involved in a match race with Tim Wilkerson, Tim’s son, Daniel Wilkerson, and Jack Wyatt. Baldwin will match race against former IHRA champ Bruce Litton.

“We’ve had a good car in the past years,” Creasy said. “It’s really good to be consistent, and now that’s what we’re working on. Finally got it to go, and then we think we know what happened. We’re just going to try to continue out with what we’re doing. We’ve gone every year for a long time doing probably 15 or 20 years anyway, to this World Series of Drag Racing. We’ve been successful there, and we’ve had bad days there, so hopefully, this is one the better ones.”

Baldwin appreciates every opportunity racing has given her.

“The No. 1 thing is actually driving the car,” she said. “I sincerely love driving my race car. And that’s the fight. Every day, I think about driving that car. Every day, I imagine myself hitting the gas and going through the procedures, and actually going down the racetrack in my mind. Just because I think it’s non-stop, I think about it all the time. As a small-budget team, I also think of that as well. But, as the driver and owner and the person that pays the bills, believe me, it gets quite complicated in three seconds.

“Now that I have the chance to do it, I’m not going to hold back. I’m going to take this chance, and I’m going to run with it. One of the biggest things my dad always says, ‘We’re here for a good time, not a long time.’ So, this might pull out of the realm for me as quick as it came in, so I’m going to enjoy every last second of it.”