For more than 50 years, Paul Lee has been waiting for this moment.
Lee, who fell in love with drag racing at age 13 and has been piloting an NHRA nitro Funny Car since 2005, finally claimed his first Wally in the class Sunday.
Lee, piloting his own McLeod Racing/FTI Performance Dodge Charger, captured the coveted crown at the Arizona Nationals at Firebird Motorsports Park outside Phoenix.
In the finals, Lee clocked a 4.030-second elapsed time at 313.22 mph to defeat a tire-smoking Austin Prock, who came across the finish line at 4.507, 240.68.
“Man, I don’t even know where to start. It was 21 years ago was the last time I won a Wally at Englishtown, at my home track in New Jersey where I grew up watching ‘Jungle’ Jim Liberman and all my heroes and dreaming of someday standing here with a Nitro Funny Car Wally myself,” Lee said. “But after my heart attack in 2016, I wasn’t going to drive again. And after two years of rehab and the great doctors who helped me get back into shape where I could come back and actually do what I love, which is driving a Nitro Funny Car, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was 13 years old the first time I saw Jungle Jim at Atco Raceway. And a lot of people don’t realize this is a lifetime of work. It’s not just an overnight.
“I’ve been working towards this since I was 13 years old. Every day all I’ve ever thought about is not just driving a nitro Funny Car but winning. I’m not happy just being out here but winning this Wally. All those 50 years of hard work, you know what? It’s worth it. And it is a special day. We lost (Funny Car driver) Eric Medlen on this day (March 23, 2007). And we have a team prayer every Sunday and John Medlen (Eric’s father) leads us in the Sunday prayer, and today he asked for Eric to watch out for us. And you know something, our whole pit was calm all day. We just had a feeling that Eric was watching over us. And it’s a funny feeling. We were calm all day. Nobody was excited. Everybody did their job.”
Lee’s journey to the winners podium is amazing considering he cheated death less than a decade ago.
On Dec. 13, 2016, Lee suffered a heart attack known as a “widowmaker,” which resulted in complete heart failure. Fortunately, he was at home, and a quick-thinking companion called 911. The proximity of a rescue squad near his home saved his life.
Lee was rushed to St. Joe’s Heart Institute, where he received life-saving treatment, including stent placement. The incident caused severe damage to his heart. Despite his passion for racing, he had to withdraw from driving due to his weakened heart.
He didn’t race at all during the 2017-18 seasons while recovering. He returned to the cockpit in 2019, and now he is celebrating this improbable victory.
“I was very lucky. I just happened to be at home. I had a 100% heart failure, so my heart stopped,” Lee said. “I was very lucky. It was the day after the PRI Show 2016. I got home and I was working out in my gym, and I was so blessed and so lucky to be at home because I live right across the street from the EMT center, and they were at my house in four minutes and saved my life. So those guys are special, too. Literally, I don’t know why. I live right across the street, and they were at my house in four minutes. So, if that would’ve happened at the PRI show or anywhere else, I wouldn’t have made it.”
Thanks to legendary Connie Kalitta, Lee got back to do what he loved – driving a nitro Funny Car.
“There’s another reason (Firebird Motorsports Park) is a little special because two years after my heart attack, Connie Kalitta let me test the DHL J.R. Todd’s Funny Car here,” Lee said. “And that’s the first time I drove since my heart attack was two years after the heart attack. And here’s the first time I drove a car again, which I never thought I was going to get to drive a car again. I came out here and made three runs and my heart looked okay. So, I got to thank Connie Kalitta for giving me the shot again of coming out here and testing and getting my heart back in shape.”
Lee’s memorable victory march consisted of wins over Chad Green, Blake Alexander, Bob Tasca III, and then Prock. Lee qualified fifth with a 3.919-second elapsed time.
“Jonnie Lindberg (Lee’s crew chief) made some great calls today. It’s a very tricky racetrack out there,” Lee said. “It was definitely a crew chief racetrack. And, man, it makes it all worthwhile. John Medlen, God bless the guy. He’s the strongest man I know. I don’t know how he does it. He’s a blessed man, and he brings those blessings to our team, so we’re thankful for that.
“When we put Jonnie Lindberg and John Medlen as his mentor together and the right resources, it takes all that and the right team, and we’re blessed that we have all of our guys and girls from our team last year. No one left. And that’s pretty important in this sport is chemistry. Everybody does their job. Everybody comments on how well everybody just goes around, does their job, no talking, no drama, we have a heck of a team. And it was a long time coming, but it’s well worth it.”
Lee won Wallys in NHRA’s Top Alcohol Funny Car ranks, the last being at Englishtown in 2004.
“In 2005, we jumped into Nitro Funny Car” racing, Lee said. “Then we didn’t quite have the budget, so we did IHRA racing a lot, and then some NHRA racing and just trying to build a program based on the budget that we had.
“I didn’t take it 21 years, but I’m not going to quit. It’s my life. This is what I worked my whole life for, and my businesses are there. We have 150 great employees with our company, and they’re all right behind me every step of the way. The most important asset is your people, whether it’s a race team or your business. And without the people, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
The journey to Sunday’s celebration was still something Lee was trying to need time to absorb.
“The man upstairs knows everything, and He’s blessed us with a sport that we all enjoy and love to compete in,” Lee said. “I have a great team and great businesses. I saw a long time ago that I wasn’t going to be a professional driver. … My idols were Connie Kalitta and Joe Amato. They were the guys that I looked up and I knew, ‘If I can build a successful business, I can control my own destiny.’ That was my plan 40, 50 years ago, and this is the culmination of it. Today, in the final round, I said to myself, ‘This is what all that work has been for. This is it. This is the race of your life. You better make it happen, man. This is opportunity.’ No pressure.
“I felt zero pressure. It’s opportunity.”
Lee won a specialty race for the first time in his NHRA career on Sept. 1, 2024, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. That’s when he defeated Tasca in the final round of the Pep Boys Funny Car All-Star Callout, which was part of the 70th annual Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals.
Lee has been knocking on the door for this nitro Funny Car national-event win since last year, when he made it to his first two final rounds (Seattle, and the fall race in Las Vegas before losing to Prock each time).
Prock is the reigning NHRA nitro Funny Car champion on the strength of eight wins a year ago.
Sunday, however, was Lee’s time.
“He (Prock) wasn’t going to give it to us. You got to earn it with those guys, man,” Lee said. “Nobody’s going to give you anything out here. They whipped us the last two times and we said, ‘Hey, we can’t control what they do. We can only control what we do. So, let’s go out there and give it a shot and see what happens.’ And this time we came out on the good side. Thank God we came out on the winning side, so we’re appreciative of that.”
This win took decades in the making, but Lee is confident there will be more celebrations in the future for his team.
“I’m not out here just to race, I’m out here to compete and win,” Lee said. “I love to compete, and I love to compete against the best of the best out here, these drivers. And, yes, we won. And, of course, the ultimate goal is to compete for a championship. Whether we get there or not, that’s out of my hands. Basically, we can control what we can control. We want to be able to compete for a championship, and that’s our goal.”
Lee knows his team is the key to his success.
“Well, you can’t win without a horse. We’re high-speed jockeys. I’m a high-speed jockey. And some days you have Secretariat, some days you don’t, right? And that’s what it’s all about,” Lee said. “This is a mechanical sport and we’re a jockey, so I’m only as good as my race car. So, if these guys put a good race car under you, then I want to bang heads with the best of them.”
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