Aaron Stanfield doesn’t need much of a sales pitch when it comes to driving a race car.
If it has four wheels, he’s probably interested.
Pro Stock, Pro Modified and Factory Stock have already been part of the Stanfield driving experience. Top Fuel was sitting there waiting for him, and when Elite Motorsports finally gave him the opportunity to climb into one, he wasn’t about to pass.
Those watching Stanfield make his first runs offered an interesting observation. For a guy who had never driven a Top Fueler, he sure looked like a Top Fuel driver Stanfield wasn’t buying all of it.
“I don’t know about that. Got a long ways to go, but yeah, we had a good week. Yeah,” Stanfield said when told he already looked the part of a Top Fuel driver.
He might not be ready to call himself a Top Fuel driver, but Stanfield can now tell you what one feels like.
Stanfield made his first Top Fuel runs during an Elite Motorsports test at Indianapolis Raceway Park alongside teammate Erica Enders. Eventually, he got one beyond 300 mph.
For a driver who has spent years in Pro Stock and has also wheeled and won in a Pro Mod, the first surprise was where the Top Fueler delivered its biggest lesson and it wasn’t when he stepped on the gas.
Stanfield knew the Top Fueler was going to leave hard. He’d already driven cars that could get his attention at the hit, particularly a Pro Mod.
What happened later was different.
Before Stanfield could get to that part, there was the business of getting into the thing. Even that wasn’t quite like anything he’d done before.
“A much bigger fire suit,” Stanfield said. “And definitely I always get myself tight in any race car I ever drive, but that was a whole new level of being tight in a race car. So yeah, it’s definitely a different experience. There’s a lot more safety equipment, obviously a lot thicker fire safety, and definitely strapped in the car a lot tighter.”
Once they had him belted in, Stanfield concentrated on doing what he was told and not making the people who trusted him regret their decision.
“Yeah. 100%. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first run or the thousandth run, you want to be perfect,” Stanfield said. “And oddly enough, I felt freakishly calm. I was a little bit more nervous watching Erica run, and once it was my turn, I’ve had runs in Pro Stock competition that I’ve been more nervous for, believe it or not. I feel like that kind of played in my favor to think clearly and do a good job.”
The first run wasn’t supposed to be anything heroic.
Stanfield’s was instructed to leave the starting line and get out of the throttle somewhere around 300 feet. That was enough for a first taste.
He went into the run believing the moment he stepped on the throttle would be the eye-opener.
Top Fuel made him wait a little longer.
“The first hit, my goal was to try and make it to about 300 feet,” Stanfield said. “And just from not driving one, I’d have figured the first initial time you step on the gas, you would feel a really big shock of speed, of it sitting you back in the seat. But I made it to about 300 feet and the clutch was starting to come in, and that’s where I could really feel it pulling.
“I mean, obviously there’s nothing… You can be as prepared as you want, but there’s nothing that can prepare you for that. You just got to go feel it and not screw up in the process of feeling it.”
Stanfield had just found the part nobody could adequately explain to him. The first 300 feet were fast as he expected. Then the clutch started coming in.
A Pro Mod had already taught Stanfield plenty about acceleration at the starting line. The difference in the Top Fueler was that just about the time his previous experience told him the initial rush should begin settling down, this car was getting serious.
“No. It definitely leaves much harder than the Pro Stock car,” Stanfield said. “But when the clutch starts coming in at 400, 500 feet, half-track, it’s understated a little bit. It’s a pretty intense feeling. I mean, I loved it, of course.”
Stanfield wasn’t looking for a reason to get out. He wanted to see what happened next and his Pro Mod experience remained the best comparison, at least early in the run.
“I would agree with her on that,” Stanfield said after Enders compared the initial acceleration with a Pro Mod. “The Pro Mod car leaves quite a bit harder than the Pro Stock cars, but it wasn’t a… That part, the first 300 feet wasn’t a big learning curve or big having to adapt to the speed thing. It was further down the racetrack that I felt that way.”
Stanfield isn’t a braggart or one to boast about his accomplishments but when three numbers come up in the speed scoreboard and the first number is a three, it’s worth mentioning.
“I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say, but I did get it over 300 one run and made a pretty good lap,” Stanfield said. “So I did get a good feel of what that feels like. Still got a lot to go in the process and a lot more to do to get completely comfortable. But it was a great first.”
Stanfield was one successful run away when the dragster smoked the tires on his fourth attempt. Had that one looked like the run before it, he believes the licensing process would have been finished.
“I smoked the tires on my fourth run, and assuming I could have made a similar run to prior in the day, I could have achieved my license,” Stanfield said.
This doesn’t make this the beginning of Stanfield’s farewell to Pro Stock. Nobody was fitting him for a permanent Top Fuel firesuit when the test ended. He got an opportunity to drive one, and that was plenty.
For Stanfield, there’s another side to the experience that goes beyond sitting behind the engine and going 300 mph. He grew up in his family’s engine shop and where he’s used to knowing what is happening with the machinery and being around the people responsible for making it run.
A Top Fuel pit gave him something else to study.
“Those guys are badass, man,” Stanfield said. “I mean, they’re like machines. So it’s obviously… This year I’ve been more close to a fuel car than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve always watched it from afar, so it’s cool to see all the work that goes into it.
“I mean, they’ve got it down to a science and I definitely can respect it. I’m an engine guy myself and I work on cars myself. It’s always different when you’re used to working on cars and you watch everybody else doing all the work. It’s always different. But man, they’ve got it under control. I can tell you that.”
The guy who builds engines for a living could appreciate what was happening around him, even if nitro isn’t his normal language.
Stanfield’s world has been naturally aspirated engines, Pro Stock combinations and Factory Stock machinery. He isn’t suddenly looking to become a nitro engine builder. But he wouldn’t mind understanding more about what makes the people tuning them tick.
“I’ve always kind of been in that Pro Stock world, or naturally aspirated engines, or factory stock engines as far as the engine building world goes,” Stanfield said. “So I don’t know if I’ve ever had much of a desire. I mean, I would love to know more about what it takes to make the decisions and the calls and what the crew chiefs go through. That kind of stuff definitely interests me.”
Now that Stanfield has a taste of nitro, when posed with the question if he’d rather limit the experience to the long and skinny cars, his mind wandered toward the one with the engine in front of the driver.
“I would 100% drive a Funny Car,” Stanfield said. “The Top Fuel is, I would say, probably a good start to get used to the speed. But I could see how the Funny Car is probably a whole nother level of excitement.”
That answer shouldn’t surprise anyone who has followed Stanfield very long.
“100%,” Stanfield said. “He knows me. If it’s got four wheels, I’m in.”
For Stanfield, there’s another side to the experience that goes beyond sitting behind the engine and going 300 mph. He grew up in his family’s engine shop and where he’s used to knowing what is happening with the machinery and being around the people responsible for making it run.
A Top Fuel pit gave him something else to study.
“Those guys are badass, man,” Stanfield said. “I mean, they’re like machines. So it’s obviously… This year I’ve been more close to a fuel car than I’ve ever been in my life. I’ve always watched it from afar, so it’s cool to see all the work that goes into it.
“I mean, they’ve got it down to a science and I definitely can respect it. I’m an engine guy myself and I work on cars myself. It’s always different when you’re used to working on cars and you watch everybody else doing all the work. It’s always different. But man, they’ve got it under control. I can tell you that.”
The guy who builds engines for a living could appreciate what was happening around him, even if nitro isn’t his normal language.
Stanfield’s world has been naturally aspirated engines, Pro Stock combinations and Factory Stock machinery. He isn’t suddenly looking to become a nitro engine builder. But he wouldn’t mind understanding more about what makes the people tuning them tick.
“I’ve always kind of been in that Pro Stock world, or naturally aspirated engines, or factory stock engines as far as the engine building world goes,” Stanfield said. “So I don’t know if I’ve ever had much of a desire. I mean, I would love to know more about what it takes to make the decisions and the calls and what the crew chiefs go through. That kind of stuff definitely interests me.”
Now that Stanfield has a taste of nitro, when posed with the question if he’d rather limit the experience to the long and skinny cars, his mind wandered toward the one with the engine in front of the driver.
“I would 100% drive a Funny Car,” Stanfield said. “The Top Fuel is, I would say, probably a good start to get used to the speed. But I could see how the Funny Car is probably a whole nother level of excitement.”
That answer shouldn’t surprise anyone who has followed Stanfield very long.
“100%,” Stanfield said. “He knows me. If it’s got four wheels, I’m in.”
