| NORWALK, OH (June 29, 2025) — Funny Car team owner and driver Chris King took every opportunity to promote his primary sponsors, Howards Cams and Competition Products as well as his skills on and off the track at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. Beginning on Tuesday, leading up to the race King was a featured guest on the NHRA Insider podcast with Brian Lohnes. King talked up the wide variety of events he was participating in after a season opening appearance at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. King took the data he acquired at that race and made a valiant effort to qualify in a stacked field of over 20 Funny Cars at America’s Racetrack, Summit Motorsports Park. King credits the improvement in his program to crew chief Bob Peck who has brought a wealth of experience and influence to the team. Chris King and the Howards Cams/Competition Products Funny Car made the most of their weekend in Norwalk, photo credit Innovative Creation Experts“I can’t even begin to start with how amazing Bob Peck has been for bringing this program to where it needs to be, at this level of competition,” said King. “He’s rebuilt the car from the ground up, every nut, every bolt, every washer, every weld, has been inspected, fixed, improved, all for the reason of safety and performance. If you’ve watched our program, over the last couple of years, this car has jumped in performance. We’re running career best numbers almost every lap out. We’re learning. I’m doing a good job driving the car. Bob has just got so many connections and resources, and he’s a smart man when it comes to tuning. It’s very methodical, which is good. We’re not hurting parts. The car is performing. When it comes back to the pits it looks like it never ran.” On Friday leading up to qualifying King participated in the inaugural Unites States Open Hot Saw Championship Pro/Am. The full-time Chicago firefighter and his Hot Saw professional partner outdueled Matt Hagan, Buddy Hull, Spencer Hyde and Clay Millican to win the team Pro/Am event. In the two opening rounds of qualifying King experienced the peaks and valleys of drag racing. During the first round after his burnout as he was backing up and beginning the staging process the fire safety system engaged, emptying his fire bottles on the starting line. Following the run the team investigated the issues and the bottle seals failed for an unknown reason. In the second session King made a shakedown run to ensure that all systems were in check for an aggressive qualifying approach on Saturday. Chris King gets suited up before the final qualifying session at Summit Motorsports Park, photo credit Innovative Creation Experts“Our issues started with Q1 that diaphragm popping and that really set us back,” admitted King. “If we would have made that run, we would have found the fuel curve issue, we would have found the clutch flow issue, and we would have been set up in the car for more success sooner. We would be in the show today, I know it. Missing that run set us back, and we just had gremlins all weekend, like a little computer glitch here and there.” Leading up to the final two qualifying sessions King was a featured driver on the NHRA Nitro Stage with Hannah Rickards. He spoke about his efforts at the Chicago race, the energy his team puts in to get to every race and the personal sacrifices he makes to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time Funny Car driver. He also talked about hosting NHL superstar Dakota Joshua, a forward for the Canucks, and Indy Car rookie sensation Nolan Seigel at the races on Saturday. In addition to those two non-drag racing stars King had two-time world champion Jack Beckman hanging out in his pit throughout the weekend. The pair of Funny Car drivers have a long-standing friendship. “It’s very motivating to have support from a driver and world champion like Jack,” said King. “It makes me feel great knowing that a guy like him, who knows more about this sport than almost anybody out here respects our program. He knows what I’m doing, because he’s been in the sport, and he’s followed it from Super Comp all the way up. Jack’s been on the biggest teams and won world championships, so he knows the struggles from the top. He’s just my biggest cheerleader. He’s down here all the time in between rounds, and anytime my car is on the line Beckman is 10 feet away from my car. He’s giving us support as well as a second set of eyes to make sure that we’re not missing something. I can’t thank him enough.” In the final two sessions King stepped up his performance posting a solid 4.267 second pass in the first session of the day and in the final session his Howard Cams/Competition Products Funny Car was charging towards a race qualifying time when a mechanical issue robbed him of momentum as the finish line was closing in. King narrowly missed making a highly competitive field, but he took positives from the weekend experience. “In the final qualifier we had a cylinder out, and we were chugging it down the track and it was going to make it,” said King. “It’s just bad luck. I’m trying to shake those gremlins and come out swinging. The car is plenty capable of qualifying and winning rounds. We just have to catch a break.” “We’re doing everything we can to show the NHRA, the fans and the sponsors that we belong here,” said King. “We need to be a bigger part of this sport and that’s my goal. I need to find some help to make my program grow so that I can be out here more doing these kinds of things, because the fans love it. They love our story. They love us as a team. Our fellow competitors respect us because we’re not going out and being stupid, we’re running respectably, and we do what we need to do. With all media, appearances, and hard work I’m putting into this, I’m really hoping people around the NHRA notice.” Fans will be able to continue to cheer King on in 2025 at the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, August 29 – September 1, 2025. Qualifying Results Q1: No Run Q2: 6.759 sec; 100.09 mph; Qual 21 Q3: 4.267 sec; 249.72 mph; Qual. 17 Q4: 8.662 sec; 168.41 mph; Qual. 18 |
