Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Friday, January 12, 2018
Saturday, December 30, 2017
The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done (Part 1)
730 – FUEL FUNNY CAR –
Mission Accomplished! I first stood on the throttle of the No Mercy
Nitro Funny Car in April 2016 and made my final license pass in October
2017. This accomplishment is not only
representative of all the hard work and sacrifice that the entire team made to
make this a reality but it also proves that a bunch of guys with a common
dream, drive, and belief, can achieve something much bigger than
themselves. You see, we aren’t
rich. Nobody on this team has a ton of
cash and nobody mortgaged their house or went into debt to make this happen. We are just a bunch of regular working guys
that found a synergy and friendship that has helped us achieve a monumental
tasking.
Five test events, a dozen runs, too
many pistons that I care to count. Used
clutch discs, over 200 gallons of nitro, 60 gallons of oil, and over 200 spark
plugs. Thousands of dollars in hotel
rooms, diesel, late night meals at Dennys or Remedys, buckets of hand cleaner,
gallons of solvent, and trash canning over gapped piston rings. You can do the math and see that it would have
been better to have paid my fee to get my license in an already established
running funny car.
We didn’t oil the track once! Not once did the rods come out of it. No “major” fires, and our heads held high because
we did it! We set a goal and we achieved
it. It may have taken longer than we had
hoped and it may have cost more than we expected, but we did something that
most have not even attempted in the last decade. The landscape of NHRA Drag Racing has changed
dramatically and most that have the financial means don’t even attempt what we
accomplished.
Throw on your firesuit and hang out with me for the next few
blogs as I take you from the pits to the shutdown as I share my story of
achieving my NHRA professional funny car license along with a bit of background
to what led me to this point in my life.
Part 1: DREAMING IN THE PITS
I grew up in a home that always
encouraged me to dream big and believe in myself. I’ve always held on to that mantra and it has
carried me through as I took on some of my biggest challenges; U.S. Air Force
Basic Military Training, bachelor’s degree, graduating U.S. Air Force Undergraduate
Pilot Training, and building my first alcohol funny car are a few examples. The pinnacle of my dreams has always been
becoming a professional NHRA Nitro Funny Car driver. That dream has died and been resurrected too
many times to count throughout the years as I let negative thinking and
self-doubt control my drive. This was by
far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and it wouldn’t cut me or my
team an inch of slack. I’m not going to
try to talk some guru “don’t give up crap” to any of you. It broke me!
I wanted to quit every single time adversity showed its ugly face but
thanks to a support network of family and friends I somehow picked myself up
and kept going. It made me, and my
entire team, work our very hardest to achieve it.
The preparation is done in the
shop, and the assembly is done in the pits.
The final product that shows up on the track is merely a summary of all
the work done previously behind the scenes.
Very often, things are forgotten, or mistakes are made, and the results
are disastrous on the track. Nobody is
perfect, and components fail, but investing in preparation, planning, and proper
assembly is key to success. Some of the
biggest teams still fall victim to the smallest parts, no matter their budget
or time spent in preparation. Some call
this karma, or the nitro gods. We
recently encountered two of these situations that really hurt our morale as a
new team.
During our 1st
qualifying attempt at the 2017 NHRA Toyota Nationals with guest driver Tim
Gibbons (I hadn’t completed my license upgrade yet), the throttle pedal hit the
clutch can go around after we installed a fireproof shield over the top of it. The result was the throttle would not open
for the burnout and as soon as the tree flashed yellow/green, Tim was unable to
apply any throttle and idled down the track.
With our heads hanging low we recovered the car at the end of the track in
front of a national event crowd. The
lesson learned was we should have checked the operation in the pits after
installing the new part to ensure no cascading issues.
We tested the Monday after the 2017
NHRA Toyota Nationals in order to complete my license upgrade. The plan was to complete two full passes as
quickly as possible so we could load up and get back to our jobs and
families. It was already a long weekend
in which we struggled through a lot of adversity. The team showed up early on Monday morning,
fresh, and ready to go. They were
excited to accomplish this goal and get the monkey off our back. Everything went perfect and we beat our planned
time of 10 a.m. in the staging lanes by 15 minutes.
The car sounded great as it fired
up and the guys had their starting line routine down to a science. I let off the brake and rolled forward. I felt the familiar dip as the car rolled
through the burnout box and looked for the signal to press the throttle down
for the burnout. As I pressed my leg
forward the pedal felt mushy and the engine RPM barely rose up. I quickly grabbed the brake and brought the
car to a stop. I immediately knew
something wasn’t right in the throttle so I didn’t even bother with putting it
in reverse or backing up in case something went wrong which would endanger
everyone behind the car. I reached down
and shutoff the fuel. Everyone was
defeated in that moment.
We towed back to the pits and
quickly discovered that the $2 clamp holding the cable to the chassis had
failed and pulled through not allowing the throttle to work correctly. We topped off the fuel, serviced a few things
and pulled back to the lanes with the expectation of limited fallout from this delay. Karma, or nitro gods, were not happy on this
Monday as we were now behind every pro team waiting to make a run and the track
just encountered a massive oil down.
We sat in the staging lanes for
almost three hours. I have never felt so
defeated in my life as I did in that moment.
All of our previous failures kept running through my head as I recounted
each time that we ran the car previously and how one thing or another prevented
us from obtaining the performance needed to upgrade my license. I told myself I was going to quit….I couldn’t
keep going. It was too hard, too much
money, too much sacrifice.
Just when it seems like you can’t
see through everything it sometimes suddenly becomes clear. That clarity came at the end of a 4.50 @ 274 MPH
pass down the track that was good enough to count as one of my full passes for
my license upgrade. It was far from
perfect, and well off the performance numbers the car should run. In fact, at the hit, the car made a hard move
toward the centerline as it had cylinders out, but I caught it early, and was
able to hold it with my hands crossed over on the wheel.
I’m just a normal guy like most of
you and I find it hard to work through all the troubles of life. They do seem overwhelming at times. When you are passionate about something and
serious to make it a reality any little delay or problem can sometimes spin us
out of control because it’s not going how we planned. I can share with you that the feeling that I
had after that full pass felt incredible; mostly because all of the failures before
it. Had I simply wrote a check, and
drove a proven car for someone else, I don’t know that I would have felt the sense
of accomplishment that I feel today.
Plus, I did it with my family and closest friends. Together, as a team, we overcame adversity
and accomplished our goal.
View Part 2: Staging Lanes at www.chrisbennettracing.com
Friday, September 22, 2017
Drag Racing Family
Drag Racing Family
Some say that in the final days of
your life the one thing that will matter most to you is your family. That recently had me reflecting on what a
true family is and what it looks like. I
don’t have a large biological family. In
fact, like most of you reading this article, my biological family is fairly dysfunctional.
As I scroll through my list of
Facebook “friends” I tried to capture how I know each person and what part of
my family they fall into. Some folks I’ve
known a long time, some a short time, and some for a good time (i.e. funny
memes). Some people I’ve never even met
in person, but we share a common thread in life, and have connected through a
virtual web. I receive friend requests
from complete strangers and also from people I haven’t talked to in a long
time. I tend to believe, and have found
it to be true, that every person comes into your life for a reason and a season.
As I reflected on these thoughts
for this article, the one glaring truth to all of this is that I’m incredibly fortunate
to have such a great family. My drag
racing family has been an absolute blessing to my life and I’m amazed by how we
all come together in times of need. A
friend that I recently met had a major medical episode that hospitalized
him. I was reminded of the frailty of
life and I was also amazed by the outpouring of support from friends and
family. He is currently recovering and I
must believe that all the prayers and supportive words have had power in this
turn around.
Most of you know that this has been
an incredibly challenging year for the No Mercy Nitro Funny Car as we made some
unforeseen changes at the start of the year.
As it is, we are attempting to do something that is incredibly difficult
and we have struggled to find the success we are searching for. Some “friends” probably look for us to fail,
as sometimes that is the natural reaction when you see someone attempting
something as challenging as this.
Ultimately, far more have supported and encouraged us through this difficult
time. I am amazed by the words of
persistence and perseverance that came from some of the most unlikely
places. A simple, “Don’t quit, you can
do it” text from Tim Wilkerson, supportive words from Jeff Arend, Robert Hight,
John Keigley, Robert Schwab, Chad Head, Chris Nance, John Hale, Bobby Cottrell,
Brandon Welch, Brian & Ron Hope, and so many more. I hate to leave other names out because there
are many of you that continue to offer encouraging words. Many people that I served with in the
military wrote to remind me that since they’ve known me that this has been my
dream, and to never quite. Understanding
sponsors never pressure us to perform and continue to stand next to us as we
make difficult decisions. Crewmembers,
past and current, continue to refer me to our team mantra that supports our
dream; persistence, perseverance, NO MERCY!
Sometimes it’s hard to see the
forest through the trees. Much is the
case with what we are currently accomplishing.
For some, the fact that we’ve managed to put together a complete ready
to run pro NHRA nitro funny car, is a goal achieved. For others, making a handful of runs down the
strip, is a goal accomplished. Maybe
once I’ve achieved the license upgrade notch, the goal will be
accomplished. Or possibly, qualifying
for the first national event will be the pinnacle of this journey. This dream is quite elusive as the goal post
will continue to move further and further away the closer we get, much like it
should. There’s a reason that John Force
continues to pound the pavement every weekend.
Family Reunions
Every race, event, show, or racing get
together is a family reunion of sorts as the drag racing family from around the
world comes together in one location. It
is incredibly warming to reunite with racing friends from around the world and
catchup on everything we missed. Even
though I grew up in a racing family in the U.S., my racing career started in
England. Even though I didn’t know a
single person in that country, the fact that I built a car and took it to a
dragstrip immediately made me a part of a family. I was adopted into their family and given a
name, WB17. It’s always a pleasure to
see those great folks when they cross the pond to attend a race in the US.
Going to a race track is always
something I look forward to as I know that I will see someone that I know. We may not always agree on politics, global
warming, or whether a Prius deserves to be in the fast lane, but I know at the
end of the day we agree on one thing; Drag Racing. We share a common bond and we are
friends. A friendly face in a sea of
disgruntled angry people.
Heroes
Who are
your heroes? When I was a young red-headed,
buck toothed, pale skinned kid riding my Huffy (couldn’t afford a GT) bike around
the pits of Orange County, Riverside, Irwindale, Carlsbad, Palmdale, Pomona,
etc., my heroes were The Snake, John Force, Brad Anderson, Rod Hynes, Chuck
Beal, Kenny Bernstein, Ray Higley, and many many more. One person rose well above all of them as the
best drag racer in the world and that was my dad, Jeff Bennett. In my mind, there wasn’t anybody else out
there as talented as him, somebody just needed to give him a chance.
It makes
me incredibly proud that all of these years later I’ve been able to carry on
his heritage and dream while doing it with him right next to me. I used to always think that if I could be as
half as good of a driver as him, I’d be pretty damn good. My dad is my best friend and we have built a
special bond that was forged over a monstrous hemi in the garage.
Folks,
whomever your hero is, they are not getting any younger, which is why you need
to take the time to be around them.
Every year, the drag racing GREATS are making their final pass. Take the opportunity to support events that
bring out the drag racing GREATS such as Steve Gibbs’ Nitro Revival at Barona
Dragstrip on September 30th (http://nitrorevival.com/).
Thank You
The main
purpose of writing this is to tell you THANK YOU. If you’ve made it to the end of this
diatribe, then I thank you for your friendship and support. Maybe we’ve only known each other a short
time, but just by reading the words that I’ve put to print, I thank you. Your friendship is dear and sweet to me and I’m
grateful to know you my friend. Welcome
to my family!
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Some Guys Just Need a Break
IF IT WAS EASY,
EVERYONE WOULD DO IT
The
statement, “If it was easy, everyone would do it”, is such an overused axiom
but it rings true to most things in life.
If everything we ever did in life was easy, we wouldn’t be able to
celebrate the victory of overcoming the adversity. Nothing in my life has ever come easy and
there have been many times that I’ve questioned my ability to complete the
task. I’ve been through military basic
training twice, once for enlisting and once as a commissioned officer. I’ve been a very young father with no money
and an assignment overseas. As an
entrepreneur I’ve started numerous businesses, and failed most of them. The one challenge that rises to the top was
attending Undergraduate Pilot Training.
Those 12 months of training truly tested my perseverance and
persistence. Every waking day I studied
and prepared for a training flight only to be brutally destroyed in debrief by
the instructor pilot who was happy to recount my every mistake in gross detail.
Looking back on that experience, I now
value the experience as it made me a stronger and more resilient person. It has also made me a better driver as I now approach
driving like flying an airplane and always try to stay open and receptive to
constructive criticism offered by my team.
DRAG RACING IS
HUMBLING
Drag racing is humbling. We campaigned the Pure Heaven Nostalgia Nitro
Funny Car / Fuel Altered for many years.
My third pass in the car in 2008 during a license upgrade run posted a
quick for the time 6.11. We were
thrilled that we had made such quick progress with our brand new build. Shortly after that initial success we found
ourselves solidly locked in the 6.30 range as the car would pick on various
pistons, run after run. It didn’t matter
what changes we made, it would run a 6.30 or worse. Over the winter of 2010 we received a phone
call to participate in the newly created IHRA Fuel Altered class that would
debut in Palm Beach, Florida in January 2011.
We spent the entire winter freshening up and servicing our racing
program to prepare for the 2,500 mile trip east. Completely frustrated by our inability to
make progress in going faster I grabbed my laptop with Racepak data and took a
trip down to longtime family friend and crew chief, Robert Reehl. Less than a minute into starring at the data
on my laptop he quickly sniped, “hang 40 grams of weight on your clutch”.
It was a very long drive from Las
Vegas, Nevada to West Palm Beach, Florida knowing that the only change you
made, besides normal maintenance, was to hang 40 grams of weight on your
clutch. Our first pass down the track
netted a 6.03 @ 230 MPH. We were beyond
ourselves and it seemed like the celebration wouldn’t end, but it did. Drag racing is humbling. As we pulled the manifold off we found a
lifter bar broke, rotated, and destroyed our lifter/camshaft/block. Not a huge deal, we had a fully prepped spare
motor ready to go but we couldn’t make the 45 minute turnaround for the final
round. We pulled to the line the next
day with the spare motor and unloaded a 5.93 pass. My first 5 second run! We truly hadn’t intended on running that
quick and had made no tuning changes but what we forgot is that the spare motor
had a -.020 decked block and that extra bit of compression helped make more
power. Oops! We still hold the IHRA Fuel Altered
record. http://www.ihra.com/stats/records
That should be the end of that
story, but it isn’t. Drag racing is
humbling. As we serviced the motor after
that pass, the oil came out of the drain plug accompanied by the silvery color
of aluminum. Upon further inspection,
our brand new rod decided to exit stage left.
Most said it was because we were running the car hard to post a five
second pass. Not true! Most teams running that particular brand of
connecting rod in 2011 experienced the same fate. For us, it was truly humbling. We were 2,500 miles from home with two
thrashed motors and a long schedule of events ahead of us. We went from being on top of the world to
being at the bottom. That same friend who
told me to put weight on the clutch offered some encouraging words, just like my
family did for me during the most grueling days of pilot training. Quit your crying. Pick yourself up. Press on.
Figure it out. We did just that,
and we finished the entire year on a single motor. We finished #3 in points despite only attending
less than half the 2011 events. We
celebrated in the winner’s circle many times that year. It was very hard on our team and family, but
we made it through. We are now stronger
and more resilient because of that experience.
SOME GUYS JUST
NEED A BREAK
Sometimes all it takes is a
breakthrough to make a champion. John
Force was once a low-buck independent drag racer until he got his break in 1987
when Castrol Oil believed in his vision.
Prior to that opportunity, John was an amateur drag racer who spent more
time on fire under fiberglass then he did in a corporate boardroom. Today, John has leveraged that breakthrough
into a mega-million dollar corporation that has not only revolutionized the
sport of drag racing but has also arguably weakened the fan appeal that once
made it great. Today's landscape of
professional NHRA teams are a who's who of corporate billboards. Mostly gone are the low-buck independents who
would thrill the fans with upset victories.
The passion and willingness to never quit in the face of adversity of an
independent is what brought fans out in droves to see the underdog upset the
factory team. In the "good
'ol" days of drag racing the cars had names, the drivers had reputations
(good or bad), and the rivalries were fierce.
We know exactly what we are up
against. It won’t be easy and it will be
very expensive, but we believe that there is a reason that we have made it even
this far. We have a great following of
supporters that believe in our dream and we know that through persistence, persistence,
and No Mercy we will have our breakthrough.
It’s never easy, and it never will be.
For example, as we prepped for our 2017 debut event at the Nitro Spring
Training, we suddenly found our blower case cracked. For a mega-corporate team, they just grab
another one off the shelf. For us, that
is a huge setback. However, we pulled
together as a team, came up with a few solutions, called on friends that can
help us, and overcame the adversity. We
figured it out!
Competing at this level of racing requires millions of
dollars per year to operate successfully, but yet, the No Mercy Racing family believes
that our breakthrough is right around the corner. Recently, Champion listed a competition in
which teams can showcase their profile for a chance to win a $50,000
sponsorship. The No Mercy Nitro Funny Car
is asking for your assistance in helping our team get our first breakthrough. Please visit http://www.championautoparts.com/Promotions/search-for-a-champion.html?page=/entry/1065
and vote for the No Mercy Nitro Funny Car as often as you can.
No Mercy Nitro Funny Car - Chasing a Dream in 2017
www.nomercyfunnycar.com
Friday, December 23, 2016
Stab the Pedal, Hang On, Keep it in the Groove, and Focus on the Finish
Stab the Pedal, Hang On, Keep it in the Groove, and Focus on the Finish
by Chris Bennett
Much of my life has been driven by
the ambition to one day race a professional NHRA Nitro Funny Car. It is very easy to sit at my desk while I
type this out and look at pictures of the No Mercy Nitro Funny Car and not remember
all of the struggle, tenacity, and persistence that it took to get to this
point. Some of my friends and family
will read this and assume that I just leap frogged to this particular point in
my life. Little do they know that it has
been an incredible journey and there were plenty of detours, pitfalls, and
failures along the way. I'd like to share some of those experiences with you.
One week before my high school
senior prom I implanted my dad’s 1966 Chevelle into a tree at about 80 miles
per hour. At 18 years old I thought my
life was over, not because I was injured, but because I thought my dad was
going to kill me. I quickly came up with
some story about why I couldn’t control the car, but the truth is, I was racing
my friend. I
went to my senior prom with stitches all over my face and swelling that made me
feel like the Elephant Man. My life hadn’t
even started, and I felt like it was over.
I didn’t know how I would ever recover from this devastation. Looking back at it all these years later, it
was simply a minor hiccup.
I failed
out of most of my classes my freshman year of community college. I wasn’t focused on what I wanted in life and
I wasn’t taking my education seriously.
Much like most 18 year olds, I was drifting and hadn’t found that thing
that really made me motivated. I thought
it was more important to work my two jobs so I could fix up my project 1971
Camaro than it was to study for an upcoming Calculus or Physics test. Somewhere deep inside me was a dream and a
goal, but it seemed very far away and not within reach. I knew where I wanted to end up but I had no
idea what steps to take to get me there.
I floundered and often fell into deep periods of despair as I realized I
would never achieve my dreams.
Call it
what you will, but life has a way of putting things in front of you that allow
you an opportunity. A choice, a path. For me, that was my co-worker, Hal. He retired from the U.S. Air Force and took
an interest in me. He recognized
the spark within me and spent time mentoring me. Maybe he was guided by a force or intuition that
led him to share with me his experience in the military or maybe it was just
the right person at the right time. I
had a choice, I could ignore this old guy or maybe his years of experience were
something valuable that I should take the time to listen to. It’s easy for me to say all of these years
later, Hal was a life-changing impact to my life.
I now had
a plan. I was going to enlist in the
U.S. Air Force as an aircraft electrical/environmental specialist, start taking
college classes paid for by the military, and then I would be racing a nitro
funny car within a couple years.
Wrong! Life, isn’t that
easy. I was driven and I had my goals
and vision back. I finished top of my
class in aircraft systems training.
Unlike the Calculus and Physics classes, I really enjoyed learning about
aircraft systems. It revitalized a
childhood dream of being a pilot, and I felt at home among my fellow maintenance
co-workers. I went to my first duty
station at Davis-Monthan AFB and talked my first supervisor into letting me
enroll in college classes. I was on my
way and life had never been clearer.
If my
life would have had a navigation system it would have said, “next exit in 1
mile”…”Detour Ahead”. Yes, that’s right,
it didn’t work out the way I thought it would.
I met a girl, and three months later, I married her. That doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, three months later she was
pregnant. I was only 19. What do I know about being a husband and a
father? Nothing! We weren’t right for each other, we never
were, from the day we met. She hated my
goal of drag racing. How was that ever
going to work? It didn’t work, and I was
devastated. We had moved to England and
within a short period of time we were divorced and my young daughter was headed
back to the U.S. with her mom. I was
only 21 and nothing in my life was working out the way I thought it might.
My young daughter is now 19 and she has recently struggled her sophomore year of college. She is balancing her life dreams, relationships, and trying to find her wings. It isn’t easy and this is an especially tough time for most people. Life is not about this particular moment, good or bad, but it is more about the summation of the decisions you make. If you keep focused on your main goal and ambition and be ready to correct back to course when needed you will find yourself standing in the winner’s circle of your life.
For those
of you that have made it this far into my diatribe you might be wondering what
any of this has to do with racing a nitro funny car. It has nothing to do with it and everything
to do with it at the same time. I wasn’t
handed the keys to a 10,000 horsepower carbon fiber monster. It took me a long time to get where I am
today. I’ve made a lot of mistakes along
the way and my life has taken many wrong turns and detours. Numerous people have come into my life at
just the right time that have helped lead, guide, and direct me on course. I still have a long ways to go, including
finishing the license upgrade process so I can race at my first NHRA Mello Yello
national event.
Maybe you’re pre-staged, maybe you’re staged, maybe the
bulbs have flashed and you are already well on your way. It might rattle the tires, it might kick the
rods out, but as long as you keep pulling to the line you are winning the
race. Stab the pedal, hang on, keep it
in the groove, and focus on the finish.
This is a tough time of year for a lot of people so be
encouraging, loving, and supportive for someone who needs you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
All It Takes Is Everything You Have
ALL IT TAKES IS EVERYTHING YOU HAVE
by Chris Bennett
Early Success
I acquired my first sponsor when I was 16 years old while
working the drive-thru window at a local fast food chain in 1992. As a brand new truck pulled to the cashier
window I was impressed by the fancy lettering promoting their powder coating
company. With complete confidence, I
passed the patron their bag of roast beef sandwiches and french fries while
asking the question, “how would you like to sponsor a funny car?”. That simple interaction at a very young age
resulted in a rewarding marketing partnership that was happy to powder coat anything
and everything our team dropped off at their shop.
Family Roots
I grew up in a racing family and it has always been the
dining room table talk of what sponsors we were closing the deal on to go full
time drag racing. I envisioned at a
young age my entire life changing with a single chance deal that would promote
my father to the level of full time NHRA Nitro Funny Car owner/driver. I embodied his devotion to believing in the
little guy making the big deal and supported in any way I could; eventually
securing small sponsorships myself.
Growing up in a racing family meant that we all sacrificed in order to
buy the next needed part. In fact, after
graduating high school and being accepted to a few respected colleges, I was
unable to attend because the cost to attend was beyond our family budget. Therefore, I forged my own path by enlisting
in the military. I joined the United
States Air Force and was trained as an Aircraft Electrical Environmental
Specialist.
Work Hard, Don't Give Up
I bought my first dragster four years after enlisting in the
Air Force and was excited to begin filling the sides of the car with names of
my supporters. Little did I realize just
how difficult acquiring sponsorship would be.
I quickly realized that if I wanted to race, I would have to be the one
to earn the money to do so. I served my country, started
small businesses, worked part-time jobs, and attended college at night.
I obtained my bachelor’s degree and applied to Officer Training
School because the pay scale between an E-5 and an O-1 was a vast improvement. Fortunately, this also offered me the
opportunity to achieve another life-long dream of becoming a pilot. I made more money, and I was able to race
more. I bought my first funny car while attending USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training. When you hear motivational “experts”
talk about hustling and grinding, that’s exactly what I did. I often told myself that once I advanced to
the next level, it would be easier to attract sponsors. I advanced from alcohol funny car to
nostalgia nitro funny car with little financial help. I’ve put some deals together and I’ve gotten
some help along the way, but never the life-changing sponsor we all hope for.
Faith
Sometimes things in life just fall into your lap like it's
meant to be. For the most part, I had
given up on the dream I had since I was 8 years old to be a professional NHRA
Nitro Funny Car owner/driver. I had
spent over a decade chasing that dream, hustling and grinding. The harder I worked it seemed like the
further the dream was sliding away. As I
was approaching my USAF retirement in 2015 an opportunity to purchase a
professional funny car became available and I jumped at it. I had no idea how I was going to do it, but I
just believed. I had faith that it would
work out; it just felt right.
Destiny
In less than a year we have built the No Mercy Nitro Funny Car and we have made successful
early testing/license upgrade passes. I
was optimistic we could obtain marketing partners that would recognize the effort
and sacrifice it takes a career military veteran to build something well above
his means. I was sure they would see the
virtue of an independent team attempting to challenge corporate America multi-mega race
teams. Some have, and we are so thankful for their support. I believe others will join us when they hear our story so please share it with your friends, family, bosses, and colleagues. I believe this is our moment and it is a matter of time until someone recognizes our effort and believes in the No Mercy Nitro Funny Car team.
My name is Chris Bennett and I am a veteran. I served my country 20
years as an enlisted airman and commissioned officer. My lifelong dream and ambition
was recorded in a 3rd grade assignment in which I proclaimed I would
be a NHRA Funny Car World Champion. I’m
chasing that dream, one step at a time, not one step back. I am the owner/driver of the No Mercy Racing Nitro Funny Car. Believe in our dream and join us as we
prove that anything is possible. PERSEVERANCE,
PERSISTENCE, NO MERCY!
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