The Greenville, Mich. racer works at Ultratech Race-Fab which specializes in dragsters and parts. Ledford did the wiring, plumbing and assembly on his own race car. While racers know it can sometimes take a while to get the kinks out of a new car, Ledford had a solid ride the first time he took it to the track.
“This is a big deal. This car was brand new in June,” Ledford said after Sunday’s championship round. “I actually work at Ultratech. It was a big deal when I won the track championship. It’s a really big deal now. You’re beating champions all over the country. I’ve seen license plates from Texas, Maryland all over and the Canadian racers did well too.”
Ledford, 22, who represented his family’s own Mid-Michigan Motorplex, defeated Maryland racer Jacob Nahory, the IHRA Division 1 champion, in the semifinal round. He captured the championship-round victory after his opponent Drew Smith, a Barbourville, Ky. racer representing London Dragway, triggered the red light by just -.001 second.
It enabled Ledford to cruise to a 5.103-second pass at 98.15 mph on a 4.44 dial-in. Smith’s time was 5.523 seconds at 92.14 mph against a 5.08 dial-in.
Ledford, the son of Mid-Michigan promoter Mike Ledford, is a third-generation drag racer and no stranger to the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals. He qualified for the 2019 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals at Memphis International Raceway by winning his track championship on the final day of the season.
He qualified for this year’s World Finals in similar fashion.
“The last points day, I won third round and the guy I had to beat lost third round to seal the deal,” he said. “It was pretty cut-throat all season and it came down to the last day.”
He has a true passion for drag racing, starting in Junior Dragsters at eight years old and starting racing the big cars, first a Chevy Camaro when he turned 16. Now 22, he’s enjoying the fruits of winning the ultimate championship in bracket racing.
For his win, Ledford won the big $20,000 check from Summit Racing Equipment, a prestigious IHRA World Champion Ironman trophy, an IHRA Gold Card and an IHRA World Championship diamond ring. He did it with the satisfaction of knowing he did it with a hands-on approach.
