CHICAGO (September 24, 2025) — TJ Zizzo, driver of the Zizzo Racing Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster, will be looking to wrap up his 2025 season with a strong finish at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals outside of St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend. This will be Zizzo’s third race of the season piloting the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster against the toughest professional drag racers in the country. The veteran driver will be looking to build on his 2024 No. 1 qualifier performance and chase down his first career national event win.
“St. Louis is a special track for our team. We’ve had success here before and we would love to get our very first race win here, when we’re only a few hours away from home,” said Zizzo. “It’s not as close as Joliet, Illinois, but we love coming here. The fans are so passionate and supportive, and many of them having been coming and cheering us on for years.”
TJ Zizzo will be looking to end his season on high note at Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, photo credit Auto Imagery
Zizzo Racing Looking to Finish 2025 Season on High Note in St. Louis
CHICAGO (September 24, 2025) — TJ Zizzo, driver of the Zizzo Racing Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster, will be looking to wrap up his 2025 season with a strong finish at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals outside of St. Louis, Missouri, this weekend. This will be Zizzo’s third race of the season piloting the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster against the toughest professional drag racers in the country. The veteran driver will be looking to build on his 2024 No. 1 qualifier performance and chase down his first career national event win.
“St. Louis is a special track for our team. We’ve had success here before and we would love to get our very first race win here, when we’re only a few hours away from home,” said Zizzo. “It’s not as close as Joliet, Illinois, but we love coming here. The fans are so passionate and supportive, and many of them having been coming and cheering us on for years.”
TJ Zizzo will be looking to end his season on high note at Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, photo credit Auto Imagery
This season, Zizzo Racing has shown that while they are considered a part-time team, they bring full-time professionalism and competition to the track. At the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals Zizzo Racing posted the third quickest time in qualifying at the biggest race of the season. They were upset in the first round when a parts failure derailed the winning efforts against Jasmine Salinas. This weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, Zizzo will be playing the role of spoiler during the third race of the NHRA Countdown playoff series.
“Every time we’re knocked out when we weren’t expecting it, it’s a learning opportunity,” said Zizzo. “Parts break, random things happen, and if you don’t know how to roll with the punches this isn’t the sport for you. We’ve been working hard in the shop to make sure what happened in Indy doesn’t happen again in St. Lous. That’s why I am feeling confident we will competitively qualify and make it far on Sunday, representing Rust-Oleum well.”
The Zizzo Racing team competes at a handful of NHRA national events each season as a family owned and operated team that has established themselves as tough competitors. Over the past several seasons they have upgraded their operation with a new chassis and deeper parts inventory. They have always had tremendous crew chief experience from Mike Kern and technical consultant Rahn Tobler. The volunteer team puts hundreds of hours fine-tuning the Zizzo Racing 12,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster for every race. This weekend at the NHRA Midwest Nationals, the team is focused on taking the qualifying success from the U.S. Nationals and building on that for a long race day in St. Louis.
“It’s extremely flattering to know that these full-time guys are paying attention to what we’re doing,” said Zizzo. “They know we don’t come to mess around, and that we have a solid chance of qualifying better than them and besting them on Sunday. Even though we’re not racing a full schedule, we take each race we do enter in extremely seriously. Hours spent in the shop, sleepless nights thinking how we can improve our operation. All in pursuit of winning that Wally.”
Qualifying for the Zizzo Racing Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster will get underway with two sessions on Friday, September 26, followed by two more sessions on Saturday, September 27. The 16 quickest Top Fuel dragsters will race for the iconic Wally Trophy on Sunday, September 28, starting at 11 a.m. CT. The race will be broadcast nationally on FS1 and fans can get tickets and additional information at www.nhra.com.
