53rd Gatornationals: NHRA Top Fuel driver Josh Hart looks to build on strong rookie season

A year ago, rookie Top Fuel driver Josh Hart found himself in the finals of the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals opposite former champion and veteran Shawn Langdon.

Having already raced past Clay Millican, Steve Torrence and Justin Ashley, Hart was trying to become the first rookie Top Fuel driver to win his first event since Darrell Russell in 2001.

It would have been easy for the Ocala resident to crumble under the pressure. However, he followed the advice of friend and mentor Don “Big Daddy” Garlits.

“Run your own race,” he said Garlits told him. “I live by that.”

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Hart charged toward the finish line at 323.66 mph, while Langdon’s dragster went up in smoke halfway down the track.

“To go to the Gatornationals, your home track, home fanbase, close to my shop, with Burnyzz (his business) on the car and win at the highest level, first race, that was pretty epic,” Hart said Thursday as he prepares to defend his title this weekend in Gainesville.

The 38-year-old Indiana native admitted he was star-struck when he first saw Top Fuel stars such as Brittany Force, Mike Salinas and Torrence.

“I was going to ask them for their autographs in the staging lanes,” he said with a laugh.

Hart may have been in awe of his fellow drivers, but his own star was rising rapidly.

He would go on to win one more event his rookie season, edging Force at the DeWalt NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte. Hart reached the semifinals or better six times in 2021 while only competing in 13 national events.

Hart says the success he had during his debut season did not come as a surprise.

“We show up and we believe in quality over quantity. We go out there to win,“ Hart said. “I don’t want to go out and skip qualifiers and maybe get to the first round. That’s just not my gig. If we’re going to do it, we’re going to go for the jugular every time.”

Hart’s success was primarily self-funded, and eventually led to a partnership with R+L Carriers, a freight shipping and logistics company in Ocala whose owners also built the World Equestrian Center.

Josh Hart Racing and R+L Carriers

R+L Carriers partnered with Hart in September 2021 and announced in February an agreement to sponsor Hart’s team for the entire 2022 season.

“We can open the cabinets and see all these brand-new shiny parts,” Hart said. “We are building good partnerships with R+L Carriers and TechNet Professionals. I’m excited.”

The partnership between Josh Hart Racing and R+L Carriers is based on the shipping company’s need to recruit new talent.

“They have 17,000 employees and they need more,” Hart said. “They take care of their people like family."

Burnyzz Speed Shop

Josh Hart Racing moved to Indianapolis this past offseason, but Hart primarily stays in Ocala where he owns Burnyzz Speed Shop, a five-building, classic car sales and service center on Baseline Road about a mile south of Maricamp Road in Ocala.

“It’s turned into its own little empire,” Hart said of the shop he co-owns with his wife, Brittanie.

Hart said balancing his time between his race team and his business hasn’t been a problem.

“I’ve got some really great people on both sides,” he said. “I call them the magicians when I’m with the race team and we call them the Burny’s Superstars when I’m at home.”

Crew chief Ron Douglas

One of Hart’s magician’s is crew chief Ron Douglas, who was named a partner in the race team in October. Hart said with crew chiefs commonly leaving for other race teams and more money, he didn’t want to have to worry about losing such a key part of his team.

“He’s been with me for every Top Fuel pass that I’ve ever made,” Hart said. “I just couldn’t see it any other way.”

After the first two events of the 2022 schedule, Hart and his R+L Carriers/TechNet dragster sit in fifth place in the standings.

Winternationals and Arizona Nationals

Hart lost to Force in the quarterfinals of the Winternationals in Pomona, California, and in the semifinals to Millican at the Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

If the improvements keep coming, Hart and his team may just find themselves with a shot at repeating at this weekend’s Gatornationals.

“We did a lot of work last year. It’s hopefully going to pay big dividends this year,” Hart said.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Gatornationals: Ocala's Josh Hart seeks Top Fuel repeat in Gainesville