Last year Nitro Jam traveled to Tucson with just about every nitro class in the books for the debut of the Arizona Nitro Jam at Southwestern International Raceway.

He may not have won the championship in 2011, but Jay Turner has never felt better entering a season.

For a few magnificent years in the late 50s and early 60s, Fuel Altered was king of the drag racing world.

With a sanctioned ban on fuel racing gripping the straight-line community between 1957 and 1963, nitro racers were forced to the outskirts of the sport, taking refuge at the few tracks that would still house these high-octane speed demons. But while organized drag racing continued down a less-exciting path, tracks in California and elsewhere resisted the movement, continuing to include these fan-favorites as a regular item on their racing buffet.

For half a decade organized drag racing existed without the incredible thrill of fuel racing, while underground nitro racing continued to thrive and even grow. Like a rebellious teenager, the fuel community found new ways to exist and even create more over-the-top machines than ever before. And from that rebellion came one of the most exciting racing classes ever to grace the quarter-mile – Fuel Altered.

A tribute to the golden age of drag racing, these wild contraptions resembled nothing fans had ever seen before. With non-aerodynamic bodies, short wheelbases and powerful nitro engines, speed was not a problem for the Fuel Altered community. Keeping it in a forward trajectory to the finish line without, say, hitting the guardrail, crossing the centerline or ending up on its top, now that was no easy task.

Taking a special kind of person to get behind the wheel of something that rarely went in a straight line in a sport where going straight is the primary goal, Fuel Altered quickly became a hit with fans and lifted the drivers to near hero status. No ordinary man, many thought, would actually try to tame one of these mythical beasts.

But many did and the class known at Fuel Altered took off like never before.

“It was a great time to be a part of the sport,” said Randy Bradford, the 64-year-old driver of Bradford’s Fiat, a Fuel Altered he campaigned in the 60s and continues to race even today. “Back in the 60s we could run almost every weekend somewhere in southern California. We did it on a budget, but boy was it an amazing time. All of the people that ran them were like family and we had a good time racing.”

Throughout the fuel ban and even into the early 70s when nitro racing returned to the circuits, Fuel Altered continued to thrive. Bradford, one of the original Fuel Altered competitors and perhaps the only original who is still driving today, recalls the drive to get behind the wheel and of course the addiction that kept him there.

“I was lucky to be brought up in a family that is car crazy. My dad is an engine builder and owned an auto parts and machine shop,” Bradford said. “I started drag racing in 1963 driving our 1940 Ford pickup and eventually took up Fuel Altered racing in 1966. My dad and I ran Fuel Altered from 1966 through 1973. Racing even kept me in school. Pop used racing as leverage. He would threaten to stop running the cars if I didn’t pass my classes.

“After 45 years of driving it is still like a grab bag, you simply never know what you are going to get when you hit the throttle. The sensation is great and I am still addicted to these cars even today.”



And Bradford isn’t the only one. Fuel Altereds sprang up throughout the west in those early days leading to some incredible racing and, of course, some heated rivalries. Names like Nanook, Rat Trap, Pure Hell and more became household names in the motorsports community and the drivers of those cars gods in the eyes of most.

But sadly nothing great lasts forever. As the sport moved into a new era of big money over true hot rodding, and of course the ever-increasing popularity of the nitro Funny Car, Fuel Altered sputtered and all but died off in the late 70s. Only a few journeymen continued the tradition, racing their bad-boys as exhibitions at tracks that would still have them.

True Fuel Altered racing almost went extinct. Almost.

“It seemed unfair, but the funny cars were the cars that the drag strips wanted and Fuel Altereds became the dinosaurs,” Bradford remembered. “But you couldn’t keep these cars away forever. I got out of the sport to raise a family, but I have never been able to filter the nitro from my blood and now these cars are back and good as ever.”

While Fuel Altered racing may have fallen off the radar, it never truly went away. Families kept the spirits of the original machines alive with identical replicas of the old cars and continued to tour as a group to bring the tradition of Fuel Altered racing to a whole new generation of fans.

Today, some 50 years after these beasts sprang from the depths, Fuel Altered racing is quickly returning to its glory days. Once again tracks across the country are clamoring for Fuel Altered racing to headline events and be the star attractions in the show. The class has even earned a fulltime spot on a traveling circuit for the first time in the history of the sport, joining the Nitro Jam tour in 2011 alongside nostalgia Funny Cars and dozens of other nitro classes.



Cars like Rat Trap, Nanook, Pure Hell and even Bradford’s Fiat have returned to headline events around the country. To many, it is a nod to the good ol’ days when racing was simpler and crossing the finish line first – no matter what it took – was all that mattered. While Bradford may be the only original driver from the glory days still racing, many of the other cars have stayed in the original families. Later this year Kyle Hough will become the third generation of Hough to race the Nanook car when he makes a pass at the Arizona Nitro Jam in March, joining his grandfather Dave – the original driver of Nanook – and his father Rick.

Just last year Nanook even earned the distinction of claiming the first official championship in Fuel Altered when Ron Maroney drove the legendary machine to the first Nitro Jam Fuel Altered championship ahead of Jason Richey in Pure Hell. While Maroney will step aside this year for Kyle to take over the ride, Maroney will be right back in the mix driving his own Blind Faith entry in 2012.

“It is an unbelievable dream to race these cars. I grew up watching these cars as a kid and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get a chance to drive the famed Nanook Fuel Altered,” Maroney said following his championship clinching race in August of last year. “These cars were outlawed in the early 70s because they were too dangerous so nobody had won a world championship with these cars before. It means a lot to me that I was able to do it for the Hough family and this car.”


And of course, that isn’t the only reason Maroney continues to pilot a Fuel Altered. For a man who seemingly spent more time in the other lane than his own and even had a few close encounters with the wall in 2011, Maroney said that is all part of the magic of this class and a big reason he remains behind the wheel today.

“I often tell people that I rarely drive the car, I just hold on for six seconds,” Maroney said. “It is an adrenaline rush like you wouldn’t believe accelerating from zero to 230 miles per hour in the blink of an eye. If there is one thing that can be said about a Fuel Altered it is this – you have to see it to believe it.”

And that magic will continue in 2012 as Fuel Altered headlines all eight Nitro Jam events and brings Fuel Altered racing back into the spotlight for a new generation of fans.

“It is great to see real racing return to the limelight,” Maroney added. “If fans want to experience what it was like in the glory days of drag racing, this is it. This is what real racing is all about.”

Feld Motor Sports and the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) announced today that Sunoco Race Fuels has signed a multi-year agreement to be the Official Fuel of the IHRA.

There is nothing cooler as a kid than finally getting the keys to the family car.

Monster crowd on hand for San Antonio Nitro Jam finale

For three years State Capitol Raceway has proven to be the Mecca of nitro entertainment.

For three years State Capitol Raceway has proven to be the Mecca of nitro entertainment.

Across the nation small patches of pavement and multi-million dollar facilities alike are roaring to life with the sounds of high-horsepower entertainment.

As the defending Nitro Jam champion in Fuel Altered, Ron Maroney knew that a repeat would be especially difficult with a brand new car and a huge target on his back entering the 2012 season.

After winning in the famed Nanook car in 2011, Maroney returned to his personally owned Blind Faith ride this season and so far he hasn’t missed a beat.

Through two events Maroney is a perfect four-for-four with a quartet of brand new Ironman trophies to add to his collection. He is dominating the early standings and so far the field can’t quite keep up as the Arizona native gears up for his most daunting task yet – a trip to Baton Rouge against the toughest field of Fuel Altered’s he will see all season.

“I absolutely love the way the year has started,” Maroney said. “We put in a lot of time in the offseason. We tested a lot, did a lot of prep work and that hard work is really paying off so far. It all boils down to hard work and dedication on the part of the crew. People don’t really think about it, but this truly is a team sport. I can’t even start the car myself. Every member of this team has a role and that combined effort has led to our tremendous start.”

Of course, luck has played a tremendous role in Maroney’s hot start as well.

Maroney began the season with a loss in his very first pass of the year, but when the car that beat him failed to make the call, Maroney was bumped up into the final where he proceeded to defeat Randy Bradford for the win. Since then, however, it has been all Maroney with seven straight round wins and three more victories.

During that stretch Maroney has bested Bradford once more and young rookie sensation Kyle Hough – driving the same Nanook car he drove to the championship last year – in the four finals this season.

Thanks to that start Maroney has piled up an early 38 point lead over Bradford and the rest of the Fuel Altered gang.

“In addition to the hard work in the offseason, it is always nice to have a little luck as well,” Maroney said. “We all know that the luck and streaks won’t last forever, so we are trying to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Of course the biggest enjoyment Maroney has had during his hot start has been his ability to win in his own car just months after taking another ride to a championship.

“There is a big difference in the two cars. My car is built to fit me and everything is where I want it,” Maroney said. “I have put hundreds of runs on my car and I feel really comfortable in it. That is not to say that I wasn’t comfortable in the other car, it was just setup different and drove different.



“That is obvious in the way we started last year. It took me a while to get comfortable and really feel the car, but once everything clicked we ended the year pretty well.

“Being able to win in both cars really, in my mind, cements that I have the ability to drive these things. And of course I couldn’t say any of this without the support and mentoring of the Hough family. Not only did they give me a big break driving their car last year, but they have bent over backwards to help me since I switched over to nitro. I really couldn’t have done it without them.”

With the car running its best laps ever, Maroney is now gearing up for the Mardi Gras Nitro Jam at State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge May 4-5, an event his cousin won last year driving this very same Blind Faith machine.

“We had a really good time in Baton Rouge last year and look forward to trying to repeat,” Maroney said. “The fans were great there last year and we are looking forward to meeting new and old fans there this year.”

And making this event even more exciting is the fact that the Mardi Gras Nitro Jam will feature one of the toughest Fuel Altered fields of the season with legends such as Hough in Nanook, Tom Padilla in Nasty Benjamin and the return of Arizona Thunder with driver Mike Hilsebeck.

“I am really looking forward to the next few races. We have a couple of different and faster cars coming out,” Maroney said. “These cars run the numbers and will produce much closer racing. Hopefully we will have a few side-by-side, 230 mile per hour passes. It should be a fantastic show.”

The Mardi Gras Nitro Jam is May 4-5 at State Capitol Raceway. For more information logon to www.nitrojam.com .  

For tickets to the Mardi Gras Nitro Jam, click here