The word is out. T.J. Zizzo’s performance secret to remaining a super part-timer is now public knowledge.
Zizzo races when he’s not racing.
Huh?
Zizzo’s tired Top Fueler, the one he raced before Don Schumacher set him up with a more modern chassis, is the race car he competes with when not on the NHRA tour.
Zizzo races his former Rust-Oleum-sponsored dragster on the practice tour and has developed a knack for lightning-quick reactions and low elapsed time simulations.
“I had it wired in this car so I could practice my reaction times,” Zizzo said. “And then, of course, Mike Kern, my crew chief, one of the smartest people I know, took it one step further so we could make it easy. You pull the brake, set the stage bulb, slam on the gas, and release the brake for your reaction time. It was just that easy.”
Zizzo, a lower-budgeted fan favorite, said the recently completed SEMA Show attendees love the concept.
It might be a nothing-burger simulator to more advanced race fans. Still, to Zizzo and a growing legion of new drag racing fans, the simple aspect of a wired-up race car that enables him to simulate runs without burning expensive nitro keeps him sharp and engages drag racing fans.
“Last year, we brought our car to SEMA, and all I had people do was sit in it, and they thought that was exciting like, ‘Oh my God, I never sat in something like this before,” Zizzo said. They didn’t even know what it was. So I’m like, “I’ll step it up a little bit,” and maybe next year my son builds a kick-ass simulator, like a driving simulator. And next year I will bring that too. I don’t know. We’ll see. We’ll take a show at a time and see how it goes.”
Zizzo admits he could come up with some elaborate marketing-inspired name but instead chooses to call it what it is.
“It’s a simulator,” Zizzo said. “It’s a reaction time simulator in a Top Fuel car. That’s all.”
For Zizzo, he readily admits race fans aren’t the only ones who get a blast out of sitting in it and hitting the tree.
Though race fans will never get the whole experience, Zizzo said his years of racing Top Fuel have enabled him to fully simulate the noise and mayhem of a nitro engine in his mind without one in reality.
“It’s nothing for me to do that,” Zizzo said. “But for someone who knows nothing about this sport, they’re like, ‘Holy crap. That was hard.”
“I mean, even the coordination thing, things that you and I take for granted; for me to climb in a car and press the gas and let off the brake at the same time, that’s nothing to me. But some people are like, ‘Holy crap, it’s like then you got to drive this thing?” It was cool. It was a fun experience, and I’m glad I could bring new people to the sport to at least to know what this thing is. I don’t know why more people don’t do stuff like this, but that’s just me wondering why our sport isn’t growing, and I kind of see why sometimes.
“People are all concerned about competition, and competition is great, but you got to entertain too.”
Zizzo admits the version he brings to the show is scaled down to a novice level, but when it returns to his shop outside of Chicago, it takes on a new life.
When the car is in his shop, it becomes a fully functional unit minus the fire-burning nitro engine. On an off weekend, he maintains the full Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule in his mind and in virtual reality.
“I go through the pass as I would,” Zizzo explained. “I let my foot off the clutch and pull the fuel on. I do all of that stuff. I didn’t want to make it so complicated for fans, so I made it easier for fans. But yes, in the shop, I go through every motion all the way to the finish line every time.”
In other words, if the Mission Foods Series runs on a Friday at 1 and 3 PM on the weekend, Zizzo is in his shop at the same time getting ready for his run. He makes his scheduled run and returns to his business as usual.
“I watch NHRA TV constantly when I’m not at the racetrack,” Zizzo said. “So I get to learn what everyone’s saying and doing, and I get to see people’s approaches at the starting line. And I learn stuff every day from the telecast, from Alan Reinhardt or anybody. Except I usually try to control my body and caffeine intake and food and all that stuff at the same time like I would do at the racetrack to be better.”
Zizzo gives credit where credit is due. The late Don Schumacher made all of this possible.
Back in 2021, Zizzo was fighting a losing battle, racing on a budget with repurposed quality parts and a chassis that was long in the tooth.
NHRA Hall of Fame driver and team owner Don Schumacher made Zizzo an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I’d been asking Rust-Oleum for years, ‘Hey, I want to build a new car so I could give you guys a show car to use,” Zizzo said. “Don smiles down upon me right now because since we got this new car, it’s been awesome. But since he has passed, we’ve been spectacular. And every time I pull the chutes, I go, ‘Thank you, Don,” every time.”
These days, it doesn’t matter if it’s the real deal or a simulated one; Zizzo still looks upward with gratitude.
“It all works out,” Zizzo added. “If I can let a fan experience a measure of excitement from understanding the rush of what we do, that’s a win. If I can get better sitting in the shop and we win, that’s priceless.”
