Sponsorship program allows local kids to race for free at Tucson Dragway

More than two dozen children and teens will race at the Tucson Dragway for free this season, thanks to the local business and community members who are paying their entry fees.

The dragway’s sponsorship program for the 2021 Junior Dragster season, which starts March 13, is believed to be the first in the NHRA, according to Division 7 Director Mike Rice. He calls what track manager Matt DeYoung and team captain Bill Kidd are doing “amazing.”

“For some families, the entry fee might be the difference between them racing this season or not,” Rice said.

Sponsorships ensure not only that kids get to race, but that parents can focus on their children instead of where the $270 for the season’s entry fees is coming from, DeYoung said. The pandemic has impacted families particularly hard, and hobbies are often the first to go.

“Our track family is very close. We know this year has hit everybody hard,” DeYoung said. “One racer started it out, sponsoring the first kid, and after that it took off. Someone posted about it on Facebook and it dominoed.’”

It all started when racer Tony Luceri reached out to Kidd, captain of Tucson Team Racers, to say he wanted to sponsor his Kidd’s daughter, Sarah, for the 2021 racing season. Luceri and Kidd challenged local businesses and racers to do the same.

A few weeks and nearly $7,000 later, each of the 25 racers were covered. Larry H. Miller Dodge Ram, Hops Sports Grille, Bert’s Electric, Little Big Inch Pipeline, Race 4 Home Realty and several other Tucson businesses have signed on. More sponsors are waiting to sponsor drivers when they sign up.

The sponsorships “mean a lot” to the kids, Kidd said.

“They’re going to see their name on a list getting it for free, and we’re working on activities that can get the sponsor and kids to interact with one another,” he said.

Stacy Barnett, general manager at Larry H. Miller and an avid racer, helped get the car dealer on board.

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“I know that my daughter would have loved to do that if I were in a position to do that back in the day,” Barnett said of the program. “… My dad raced cars, so for me to help out the junior dragsters is a no-brainer. It’s very expensive to run an engine program, even at the junior level.”

Keeping kids involved with racing is key to the sport’s future, Kidd said. There’s a large age gap between children and teens who race — they’re ages 6-17 — and the “big car” drivers, who are mostly in their 50s and 60s.

“We’re a really tight-knit group, and we hope to keep getting kids into the sport. Otherwise, it’s going to die,” Kidd said. “It’s not a super-cheap sport to start off in, but we have a lot of racers that have done stuff with their own kids and have parts laying around. They’re more than willing to donate their time and knowledge.”

Tucson’s Pat Marack first started racing when he was 16 and continued into his mid-20s before marriage and a growing family required him to take a step back. He got back into racing about six years ago. Now that he’s in his 60s, Marback says kids are the future of the sport.

“Without them, our sport’s getting pretty gray. We definitely need some young people in it. We need those kids racing at the track,” Marback said. “And with the COVID thing, you don’t know what kind of situation anyone’s family is in.”

Sponsorship is about more than just entry fees. It’s also about drawing the junior racers into the track’s adult program.

“The junior league is meant to teach them early to race on the drag strip and let them see what it’s like and experience it. They get to be around adult program and get to know the racers, the same way the minor leagues are for the major leagues,” DeYoung said. “There are plenty of NHRA pros who were junior dragsters to begin with.”

The junior season opened last weekend at the Barona 1/8-Mile Drag Strip outside of San Diego. About 120 racers took part, up from 80 or 90 most years. That’s a good sign for the sport, Rice said.

“The thing you really see with the junior program is how much the kids run around together,” Rice said. “The competition is one thing, there’s a division championship on the line and trophies, but it’s really about everyone having a good time.”