Courtesy of Todd Veney/Pro Sportsman Association
Brandon Pierce still can't believe he got the call. Drag racing legend Gene Snow could have picked anyone to drive his A/Fuel Dragster, but he called Pierce, who had been on the sidelines for a year and a half and was starting to think he might be stuck there forever.
"I was driving home from work one day and the phone rang," Pierce said. "Gene said he wanted me to drive for him, and I said, 'Are you sure you know who you're talking to?' I guess he thought I could cut the kind of lights he wants, and he sure has had some good people driving for him – Spencer [Massey] and Chase [Copeland.] I hadn't run my car in a year and half, and I figured everybody had already forgotten all about me."
Before taking what he knew could turn into a permanent vacation, Pierce accomplished both of the goals he and his father set when they started in A/Fuel 11 years ago: make the Top 10 and crack 280 mph. "We knew we didn't have the funds to win a national championship, but we thought we could make the Top 10 and we really wanted that 280," he said. "The car was running so well that weekend – 275-277 mph – but I had no idea I'd gone 280. It just felt like another good run, definitely a 5.20-something, but 280? You know how hard that is to do? To see that number on paper, to have that time slip in your hand, is unbelievable. There's only a handful of us who have ever done it, and when Bill Reichert comes over to say congratulations, you know you've really done something."
By then, Pierce had already racked up three victories and six final-round appearances in divisional competition. He upset Randy Meyer in the final round of the 2006 Division 4 race at Noble, Okla., his home track, backed it up the next year with a final-round decision over Darvin Martinets there, and also won the 2007 Division 5 race at Great Bend, Kan., over two-time Division 5 champ Richard Putz. Pierce followed with runner-up finishes at Dallas and Memphis in 2007, the year he nearly won the Division 4 title, and also runner-upped at the Jeg's Allstars race in 2008 in Chicago, where a third straight 5.47 and a .022 light left him just short of Tom Bayer in the final.
"Until last year, my last ride had been at Noble in 2011, the only race we ran that whole year," said Pierce, 37, who started racing 20 years ago and worked his way up from an 11-second Chevelle to Pro, Super Pro, Quick 16, Super Gas, Super Comp, and finally Top Alcohol Dragster. "It was our home track and we figured we'd go out there and have a little fun and ended up making it all the way to the final."
Then … nothing.
"It's no fun sitting there, watching everybody else race, I can tell you that," Pierce said. "I'll admit it: it sucked. I really thought I was done. 'Who's gonna call me?' I thought. 'I'm not even out there anymore.' I'm pretty low-key; I never thought anybody paid any attention to me. I've always tried to cut good lights – I knew the only way I could win was on the Tree – and I guess Gene noticed. Driving for him, you'd better be good on the lights. Look at how well Spencer and Chase did for him."
Snow's team has a full schedule planned for 2014, including a full slate of Central Region events and national event stops in Topeka, where last year Pierce barely missed making his first final-round appearance, and home state events in Houston and Dallas. Pierce beat eventual winner Alan Bradshaw in the 2013 Topeka semi's but was disqualified when his nitro percentage was found to be 1 percent too high. "I don't know what happened there – it's not like we were trying to get away with anything," he said. "I think it's just that it's such a long haul from the pits to the staging lanes at Topeka that the alcohol had more time to evaporate."
Pierce made his first divisional final with Snow's team later in 2013 at, naturally, Noble, where he finished second to eventual world champ Jim Whiteley. His only start this year ended early when he missed the cut at the rain-shortened Central Region opener at Houston, but he has no complaints.
"It's still pretty crazy to me that I'm back out here," said Pierce, an Oklahoma native who now lives in Cypress, Texas. "I mean, I couldn't believe I got that call. Me? It's like a dream I'm still waking up from. It all came together really fast, and I still don't have the words to describe what I felt that day. There are a lot of good drivers out there – a ton of them – and I consider myself fortunate that Gene asked me. It's an honor. He's one of the guys who signed my license in 2003, and I've been friends with him and Vernon [Wilde] and Spencer forever. I really owe a lot to him, Vernon, Spencer, Lucas Oil, Dixie House Café, and my family. My goal is to eventually run Top Fuel, and I realize that that kind of thing doesn't usually happen, but hey, you never know. I never thought I'd get that call from Gene, either."
Showing posts with label Gene Snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gene Snow. Show all posts
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Copeland is Living the Dream
Courtesy of Pro Sportsman Association/Todd Veney
Chase Copeland is living every kid's dream - driving a five-second race car, winning national events, and contending for championships in his early 20s.
At the wheel of drag racing legend Gene Snow's A/Fuel Dragster, Copeland has finished in the top 10 in the final NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster standings in each of the past two years, and both times he has won his hometown race, the Texas Motorplex national event.
"Gene had never won at Dallas before, and it was a big achievement in my life to do that for him," says Copeland, who made one of the great runs in Top Alcohol Dragster history, 5.21, to defeat Marty Thacker in the final. "To do it two years in a row was unbelievable."
Copeland, 23, can do a lot more than just drive. He works for chassis builder Joe Monden, who has built most of the top A/Fuelers in the country. "Joe's the one who got me in the driver's seat," Copeland says. "He taught me just about everything I know. I couldn't do anything on the chassis side when I got there. He taught me everything, and he's pretty much the whole reason I'm out here doing this."
Copeland's only previous experience in drag racing had come in Jr. Dragsters. "I ran them from when I was about 12 until I was 15, and it was a lot of fun," says Copeland, now 23. After that, he and his dad, Clay, got their feet wet, so to speak, in drag boats.
"Those things are really coming back around right now, really on their way up," says Copeland, who married wife Brittany a few weeks ago and just returned to the U.S. from their honeymoon in Antigua. "We ran one for three years - nine-second Top Eliminator boats that went about 130, 135 mph - and we won the championship twice."
Right out of high school, Copeland went to work on Scott Palmer's Top Fuel dragster just as his friend, Spencer Massey, who's about five years older than him, had done. After that, Monden asked Copeland, an Oklahoma native, if he wanted to work in his chassis shop in north Texas.
"I didn't know how to weld or how to build a car, but I figured why not?" says Copeland, who also has seat time in a Pro Mod. "Joe introduced me to Gene, and that's how this whole deal with me driving got started. With a Pro Mod, you're just trying to keep it in line. This thing isn't that hard to keep straight, but there's a lot to do before you stage. There's a lot that you have to have right or the car's not going to make it - especially now that we're only allowed to run 94 percent [nitro] and now that the fuel has to be at least 50 degrees. The tuning window is very narrow."
Copeland, who's quick on the lights - just like Massey - was a quick study. He won the Houston divisional over Michael Manners in 2009 and was runner-up at back-to-back-to-back Division 4 events Belle Rose, Tulsa, and Houston in 2010. Then came the consecutive national event titles in Dallas.
"I've seen a lot of people come along, and Chase is just like Spencer - really good on the lights," Snow says. "His reaction times are unbelievable and they just keep getting better, and it's for one reason: confidence. He has complete confidence when he's in that car."
As an integral part of a crew that consists of himself, father Clay, Vernon Wilde, and the "Snowman" himself, Copeland does the clutch between rounds and "normal driver stuff, like pack the chutes." Massey, when he has time between driving the Fram/Prestone Top Fuel dragster on the NHRA tour for Don Schumacher Racing, pitches in sometimes, too.
"He was pretty good, right from the beginning," Massey says. "I was there, and it took him just a few runs to be smooth."
"When I started driving Gene's car four years ago, Spencer taught me the ins and outs of driving an A/Fuel car and just how Gene likes things on his race car," Copeland says. "The quicker the run is, the smoother the ride is going to be. You can really tell when it's on a good run because the front end is hiked up for 60 or 100 feet on a low-or mid-5.20. You can feel the chassis arch up. On a .40 run, it just doesn't get up on the tire like that. People always tell me, 'You're following in Spencer's footsteps.' Well, I'd love to. One day, I'd love to be exactly where he's at right now, driving a Top Fuel car. These last few years have really been a whirlwind, and I've been blessed to be involved with people like Joe and Gene and Spencer. If you don't have any experience driving something like this, who's ever going to let you do it? It's a dream that a kid always has, but you never think it's really going to happen like this."
Chase Copeland is living every kid's dream - driving a five-second race car, winning national events, and contending for championships in his early 20s.
At the wheel of drag racing legend Gene Snow's A/Fuel Dragster, Copeland has finished in the top 10 in the final NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster standings in each of the past two years, and both times he has won his hometown race, the Texas Motorplex national event.
"Gene had never won at Dallas before, and it was a big achievement in my life to do that for him," says Copeland, who made one of the great runs in Top Alcohol Dragster history, 5.21, to defeat Marty Thacker in the final. "To do it two years in a row was unbelievable."
Copeland, 23, can do a lot more than just drive. He works for chassis builder Joe Monden, who has built most of the top A/Fuelers in the country. "Joe's the one who got me in the driver's seat," Copeland says. "He taught me just about everything I know. I couldn't do anything on the chassis side when I got there. He taught me everything, and he's pretty much the whole reason I'm out here doing this."
Copeland's only previous experience in drag racing had come in Jr. Dragsters. "I ran them from when I was about 12 until I was 15, and it was a lot of fun," says Copeland, now 23. After that, he and his dad, Clay, got their feet wet, so to speak, in drag boats.
"Those things are really coming back around right now, really on their way up," says Copeland, who married wife Brittany a few weeks ago and just returned to the U.S. from their honeymoon in Antigua. "We ran one for three years - nine-second Top Eliminator boats that went about 130, 135 mph - and we won the championship twice."
Right out of high school, Copeland went to work on Scott Palmer's Top Fuel dragster just as his friend, Spencer Massey, who's about five years older than him, had done. After that, Monden asked Copeland, an Oklahoma native, if he wanted to work in his chassis shop in north Texas.
"I didn't know how to weld or how to build a car, but I figured why not?" says Copeland, who also has seat time in a Pro Mod. "Joe introduced me to Gene, and that's how this whole deal with me driving got started. With a Pro Mod, you're just trying to keep it in line. This thing isn't that hard to keep straight, but there's a lot to do before you stage. There's a lot that you have to have right or the car's not going to make it - especially now that we're only allowed to run 94 percent [nitro] and now that the fuel has to be at least 50 degrees. The tuning window is very narrow."
Copeland, who's quick on the lights - just like Massey - was a quick study. He won the Houston divisional over Michael Manners in 2009 and was runner-up at back-to-back-to-back Division 4 events Belle Rose, Tulsa, and Houston in 2010. Then came the consecutive national event titles in Dallas.
"I've seen a lot of people come along, and Chase is just like Spencer - really good on the lights," Snow says. "His reaction times are unbelievable and they just keep getting better, and it's for one reason: confidence. He has complete confidence when he's in that car."
As an integral part of a crew that consists of himself, father Clay, Vernon Wilde, and the "Snowman" himself, Copeland does the clutch between rounds and "normal driver stuff, like pack the chutes." Massey, when he has time between driving the Fram/Prestone Top Fuel dragster on the NHRA tour for Don Schumacher Racing, pitches in sometimes, too.
"He was pretty good, right from the beginning," Massey says. "I was there, and it took him just a few runs to be smooth."
"When I started driving Gene's car four years ago, Spencer taught me the ins and outs of driving an A/Fuel car and just how Gene likes things on his race car," Copeland says. "The quicker the run is, the smoother the ride is going to be. You can really tell when it's on a good run because the front end is hiked up for 60 or 100 feet on a low-or mid-5.20. You can feel the chassis arch up. On a .40 run, it just doesn't get up on the tire like that. People always tell me, 'You're following in Spencer's footsteps.' Well, I'd love to. One day, I'd love to be exactly where he's at right now, driving a Top Fuel car. These last few years have really been a whirlwind, and I've been blessed to be involved with people like Joe and Gene and Spencer. If you don't have any experience driving something like this, who's ever going to let you do it? It's a dream that a kid always has, but you never think it's really going to happen like this."
David Smith photo
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