Last week at PRI, four drivers announced their intent to race in NHRA’s Top Fuel class in 2024.
First, Tony Stewart will take over for wife Leah Pruett behind the wheel of the Tony Stewart Racing dragster. Swedish racer Ida Zetterström, this year’s FIA European Top Fuel champion, will run a part-time schedule in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series with JCM Racing.
Jacob McNeal took over Buddy Hull’s Top Fuel operation and will compete at nine national events. And finally, Shawn Reed is returning to full-time competition as the owner and driver for Shawn Reed Racing.
Here’s a breakdown of each driver and team:
Tony Stewart, Tony Stewart Racing
With Pruett leaving her full-time role as a driver for TSR to focus on starting a family, husband Stewart is stepping in to fill her shoes — as best as he can.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion only has one season of Top Alcohol Dragster competition under his belt, and as Stewart said at PRI, he’d prefer if he could gain another year of experience in the Top Alcohol class.
But Pruett’s decision sped up Stewart’s progression in NHRA, so the 52-year-old will be making his Top Fuel debut at the season-opening Gatornationals March 7-10 at Florida’s Gainesville Raceway.
Stewart has already made about 20 runs in testing, though there is much more preparation in store. He will be driving a newly-built PBRC dragster, which complies with the competition regulations for next season.
“Tony really proved his drivability (this season), from smoking tires, to spinning, to pedaling, to leaving on everybody, to running against supercharged cars,” Pruett said at PRI. “He had the best average reaction time of the entire class in his rookie season.”
Though the team considered Lyle Barnett for the position, ultimately Pruett and crew chief Neal Strausbaugh selected Stewart as the fill-in driver. Strausbaugh will continue to make tuning calls on the dragster in 2024, while Pruett will act as Stewart’s driving coach.
Ida Zetterström, JCM Racing
After a successful Top Fuel season in the FIA European championship, Zetterström is relocating from Finland to Indianapolis to focus on winning a NHRA title.
Though the 29-year-old plans to run about five national events in 2024, her larger goal is to contest a full schedule in 2025.
“I’ve been very vocal about my plans of coming over here. That has been my goal and what I want to do,” Zetterström said at PRI. “From now on and for coming seasons, I am going to be with JCM Racing and racing Top Fuel.”
The team has not announced any crew chiefs or crew members for Zetterström, but team owner Joe Maynard noted plans are in the works.
“Her record is spotless. She’s the future of our sport. I’m very fortunate we have Tony (Schumacher) in one seat, and she will have the next seat. We’re trying to build a legacy,” Maynard said. “My goal is to get Ida in the seat as soon as possible.”
Zetterström will begin testing with JCM Racing prior to the Gatornationals.
Jacob McNeal, Jacob McNeal Racing
After running four national events this past season, McNeal is more than doubling his slate of Top Fuel races in 2024.
The Texas native plans to compete at the Gatornationals, both four-wide events in Las Vegas and Concord (N.C.), Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals, Virginia Nationals, Texas FallNationals, Nevada Nationals, U.S. Nationals and the TBD event in July.
With his recent purchase of Hull’s Top Fuel team — Hull is moving to Funny Car to race for Jim Dunn — McNeal believes he is set up for success.
“This has been a dream since I started racing Jr. Dragsters and bracket cars. I have always owned my race cars and when the opportunity came to buy Buddy’s race car, I jumped on it and to also be able to work with Mike Guger is awesome,” McNeal said at PRI.
Veteran crew chief Guger will tune McNeal’s dragster next year.
Shawn Reed, Shawn Reed Racing
Reed earned his NHRA Top Fuel license in 2014, made his professional debut in 2015 and made his first final round in 2018. But he hasn’t stepped in a dragster since 2020, when he contested the first two events of the pandemic-affected season.
But next year, the five-time International Hot Boat Ass’n champion will return to the Top Fuel class full time, wheeling his own Shawn Reed Racing dragster. Rob Wendland will be lead crew chief, with Ryan Elliott as assistant crew chief.
“I love to compete, especially at the highest level against the best racers in the world and there isn’t a more competitive class in the NHRA than Top Fuel,” Reed said. “The need for speed is what really drives and motivates me. I’m not getting younger, and I want to live this dream.”
Reed’s team will be technically aligned with AB Motorsports — owned by three-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown.
The SRR operation will also be run out of the Don Schumacher Racing building in Brownsburg, Ind.
“I want to learn from Antron like he did from Don Schumacher all of those years before becoming an owner/driver,” Reed said. “Rob (Wendland) talked to Antron about a second car. He didn’t want to expand ABM that quickly, so we continued to talk and develop a friendship and he’s been a great mentor providing good counsel these past few years.”