SEATTLE (July 20, 2025) — In just his second NHRA national event as a nitro Funny Car driver rookie Dylan Winefsky and his Nitro Moose Funny Car team qualified and impressed a packed house at Pacific Raceways all weekend. The 20-year-old from El Mirage, Arizona, made the trek from the southwest to the northwest to get seat time and experience as he pursues his dream of racing full time on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Earlier this season at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals Winefsky narrowly missed qualifying in his professional debut but this weekend the up-and-coming star would not be denied as he ran his way onto a tough 16-car Funny Car field.
“The highs of this weekend were good,” said Winefsky. “We learned a lot figuring out what the car likes, what the car doesn’t like. I’m just getting more seat time and getting even more comfortable with the car. We’ll move on from this and take all the positives to the next race.”
Dylan Winefsky qualified for the Northwest Nationals in just his second NHRA professional start, photo credit SR Driven Media
His second national event started with a tough run on Friday night under the lights as the young driver made one of the quickest runs of the opening qualifying round. Unfortunately, at the top end of the track the Nitro Moose Funny Car drifted across the centerline disqualifying a solid run for the team. Winefsky took the experience as a learning opportunity and immediately put it out of his head.
On Saturday with three qualifying runs on the schedule Winefsky knew he would need another good run to secure his spot in the field. In the opening session the Johnny West-tuned Funny Car flew right down the groove and posted a 4.224 second run that slotted the former junior dragster driver into the No. 9 position. The strength of that run allowed the team time and a buffer to skip the third qualifying session.
Heading into the final session as the No. 14 qualifier Winefsky made a final run of qualifying and he had to wait for several drivers behind him to run to see if he would be one of the 16 qualifiers. At the end of the session his first run of the day held up and Winefsky qualified in the No. 16 spot and earned the opportunity to race the No. 1 qualifier Austin Prock in the first round.
Rookie NHRA Funny Car driver Dylan Winefsky and the Nitro Moose Funny Car team qualified No. 16 at Northwest Nationals, photo credit SR Driven Media
“It was kind of nerve wracking,” said Winefsky. “Having to wait to see if we were going to get in. But after we got in, we came back, tore it all down, serviced it, and got everything ready for the race.”
On race day Winefsky enjoyed the experience of the opening ceremonies with driver intros and the chance to mingle with his fellow competitors prior to the race. In the first round of eliminations Winefsky hit the throttle for his burnout and a mechanical issue hung the throttle open. The rookie driver did not panic but pulled on the brake handle to slow his Funny Car, but the abrupt stop disengaged the fire suppression cable deploying the fire bottles and the parachutes as a safety precaution. He was unable to make the run and had to watch as Prock overpowered the track and motored to the finish line with a pedestrian 5.662 second elapsed time.
“You just have to move on,” said Winefsky. “At the moment, there was nothing we could have done. Everything happens for a reason. It’s just one of those things that you just have to let go of it. You can’t keep it with you. I looked at today as just another race. Nothing’s really changed. I was able to do the opening ceremonies, but other than that, everything’s same. I knew I had to just got to stick with my routine.”
While the end results of the weekend may not show up in the win and loss column Winefsky joined a large group of drivers on Thursday night at Dave & Busters in Auburn, Washington, for the Northwest Nationals FanFest signing autographs and posing for photos with a growing fan base. On Friday he joined NHRA announcer Hannah Rickards on the NHRA Stage in the pits to talk about his early experiences driving the Nitro Moose Funny Car. Again, the rookie driver engaged with fans and also let them know a little about his background as an auto mechanic and Funny Car driver.
The next time the Nitro Moose Funny Car is scheduled to be on track will be the Las Vegas Nationals in October at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The team is looking for marketing partners and is open to racing more events.
First Round Austin Prock, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro, (.085), 5.662 sec, 170.97 mph def. Dylan Winefsky, El Mirage, Ariz., Nitro Moose Funny Car, No Time
