Nitro Dogs Racing

Hartley family will run all 24 events on 2009 Full Throttle Top Fuel schedule

Allen Hartley

Joe Hartley

The popular father-son Top Fuel team of Allen and Joe Hartley plan to run the entire 24-event NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series schedule in 2009.The team, with father Allen tuning and son Joe driving, consistently had run seven to 10 races each year since a career-high 17th-place finish in 2000 when they ran 12 events in Joe’s rookie Pro season and showed its capabilities in 2007 during a strong 11-race schedule that was highlighted by a runner-up in Houston and a No. 1 qualifying berth in

Topeka. Despite running only half of that season’s events, the Hartleys finished a career-high-matching 17th in the standings. The team only ran three events last season — Topeka, Dallas, and the second Las Vegas event – but qualified at all three and won its first-round battle in Topeka.

“We know that when we run a lot of races we have more success, like we did in 2007, unlike last year where we only ran a few times, which makes it very difficult to stay consistent,” said Joe. ”By only running a few times last year, we were able to save some money that makes this season more doable.

“We ran as many as 27 races one year when we had the A/Fuel car, so the travel will be nothing new to us, but this obviously will be the most we’ve run in Top Fuel, but it’s all about fulfilling a dream for us.”

Hartley says that the team’s decision to run the entire schedule was made long before a series of sponsor and owner developments that will sideline a few of the tour’s regulars.

“We talked about it toward the end of last season and just decided we were going to go for it back then,” he said. “It’s definitely playing into our hands – running all 24 will definitely make it more feasible to make the Countdown [playoffs] field — but it’s not the reason we’re doing this.  Plus, we know that a lot of the big hitters will be out there and running hard, and although qualifying is never definite, having that money coming in will help keep the car running.”

The team initially will field the car out of its own pocket, supplemented by associate parts sponsorships from Red Line Oil, Clevite, and Mechanix Wear.

“We’re looking for sponsors and talking to people, of course, but don’t really have anything online yet, but that’s not going to keep us from going out and doing it,” he said. “We’re going to make it happen.

“We’ll cut expenses where we can – we won’t have a spare car, for example – but we’re still going to run it the way we ran it before. We’re going to run all of the qualifying sessions and run it hard.

“The other good thing for us is because we do have some of our own personal funding to back this up, we can offer a full sponsorship for a lot cheaper than some of the other teams, which is one thing we’re pursuing. We understand with the economy that it’s difficult to get funding, but we’re hopeful that it all plays out for us.”