drag racing podcast

This week's show is all about the 2021 racing season.  We open the show talking with Luke Bogacki and Ashley Thompson about their 2021 ThisIsBracketRacing.com The Driver Series which allows local bracket racers to compete at their home track for a $10,000 National Championship.

Ashley gave us the scoop on The Driver Series which is now entering it's second season.  After a successful launch in 2020, over 20 tracks around the country are now registered for the series.  Click here to learn more about the TIBR Driver Series.

After our discussion with Luke and Ashley, we turned our focus to the 2021 Loose Rocker master schedule (find it here).  Loose Rocker's Michael Beard discussed not only the upcoming Loose Rocker St. Patrick's day races but we covered a wide range of topics and races for the upcoming season.

We went deep on race promotion, graphics, flyers, payouts, scheduling, results, how to run an efficient race and so much more. 

About The DragChamp Show

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast with some of the biggest names in sportsman drag racing. You’ll find entertaining racing stories, interesting people, and an all-around good time with sportsman drag racers.

The DragChamp Show is hosted by talented drag racing announcers Jake Hodge and Ryan Gleghorn. They’re joined by DragChamp founder Gary Don Free.

You can contact us at the following: jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, and garydon@dragchamp.com or find us on Facebook at @dragchampmagazine. 

For more DragChamp podcasts click here.

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

For our 1 year anniversary episode, we bring you one of the greatest sportsman racers to every compete, Edmond Richardson.  AKA the King, Edmond is listed in the NHRA's Top 50 Drivers of all time.  He's a 46 time NHRA national event champion, a 5 time World Champion, and has doubled at a national event on 5 different occasions.

In this episode, Edmond discusses his desire to reach 50 national event wins, his return to Super Gas racing and why he chose a '68 Camaro roadster as his SG weapon.  We get into the differences between big dollar bracket racing and NHRA Lucas Oil racing.  He gives pointers on correctly selecting your parking spot at races, how he hates buybacks, tells a story about how to measure a trailer's length, and his brother winning the Million.

We discussed the greatest stars in the sport including Peter Biondo, Dan Fletcher, David Rampy, and Justin Lamb among others.  There was also a debate as to whether or not someone could eclipse Fletcher's NHRA win total.

It was a fun conversation and was interesting hearing him talk about how things have changed in the almost 50 years he's been competing.  

About The DragChamp Show

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast with some of the biggest names in sportsman drag racing. You’ll find entertaining racing stories, interesting people, and an all-around good time with sportsman drag racers.

The DragChamp Show is hosted by talented drag racing announcers Jake Hodge and Ryan Gleghorn. They’re joined by DragChamp founder Gary Don Free.

You can contact us at the following: jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, and garydon@dragchamp.com or find us on Facebook at @dragchampmagazine.  

For more DragChamp podcasts click here.

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

After a week of fighting record cold temps in Texas and constant power outages, we finally sat down with Bryson Scruggs for a little bench racing session.  His good friend two-seater Doug Foley Jr. was a surprise call-in guest which added to the good times.

Bryson, the 22 year old nephew of bracket racing legend Jason Lynch, shared the good times of traveling and working for his uncle.  This included multiple stories of changing trans, converters, motors, etc.  Bryson and Doug shared some great stories of being on the road and bracket racing for a living. 

The most memorable part of the podcast was the spelling test Ryan gave Bryson.  Bryson is known for his constant misspellings which lead to lots of laughs.  In the end we had a blast listening to the guys tell stories including playing hot potato with a cactus, leaving the dragster scoop at the house, and entering four times in the first round at a Tenn-Tuck race.

After the interview, the guys talk starting line controllers in the footbrake class.  As always, let us know what you think about this episode.  We appreciate your feedback.

About The DragChamp Show

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast with some of the biggest names in sportsman drag racing. You’ll find entertaining racing stories, interesting people, and an all-around good time with sportsman drag racers.

The DragChamp Show is hosted by talented drag racing announcers Jake Hodge and Ryan Gleghorn. They’re joined by DragChamp founder Gary Don Free.

You can contact us at the following: jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, and garydon@dragchamp.com or find us on Facebook at @dragchampmagazine. 

For more DragChamp podcasts click here.

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

Former NHRA Stock Eliminator World Champ and current drag race instructor Lee Zane is our guest this week on the DragChamp Show.  We had a great conversation about Lee's adventures while racing across the country.

Lee shared a number of stories including how he got started in racing, racing with Jim Harrington, driving a Pro Stocker, holding 8 tenths and winning, going .040 at the tree against Nick Hastings and Michael Beard and winning against both of them.

The most shocking story involved traveling to Bowling Green with Peter Biondo, you'll want to hang around till the end of the podcast for that one.  Ryan and Lee told stories of picking on disabled competitors, and Lee also shared the time he drove his Stocker 5 miles to a truck stop after having a flat on his trailer. 

As usual, we covered a lot of ground during our conversation, we hope you enjoy.

About The DragChamp Show

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast with some of the biggest names in sportsman drag racing. You’ll find entertaining racing stories, interesting people, and an all-around good time with sportsman drag racers.

The DragChamp Show is hosted by talented drag racing announcers Jake Hodge and Ryan Gleghorn. They’re joined by DragChamp founder Gary Don Free.

You can contact us at the following: jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, and garydon@dragchamp.com or find us on Facebook at @dragchampmagazine. 

For more DragChamp podcasts click here.

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

BoyBaby Chris Jones joins the DragChamp Show this week with his cousin Bobo Marshall tagging along for some good times.  Chris and Bobo are some of the most talented bracket racers in Arkansas and we had an awesome time hearing their stories.

They told several traveling stories about people failing asleep while driving, their interesting trip through the mountains in an overloaded pickup, Chris' dad Phil Jones wearing them out over their on track mishaps, and more.

You have to wait until the end as the best story comes in the last few minutes and it's well worth the wait.  It involves some shenanigans in Memphis after hours.  We also talk about racing Johnny Ezell and getting timed out, dial in board problems, staging duels, foot races, and lots more.

About The DragChamp Show

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast with some of the biggest names in sportsman drag racing. You’ll find entertaining racing stories, interesting people, and an all-around good time with sportsman drag racers.

The DragChamp Show is hosted by talented drag racing announcers Jake Hodge and Ryan Gleghorn. They’re joined by DragChamp founder Gary Don Free.

You can contact us at the following: jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, and garydon@dragchamp.com or find us on Facebook at @dragchampmagazine. 

For more DragChamp podcasts click here.

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

Respected big money bracket racing veteran Bug McCarty joins the show this week.  Recently Bug posted a number of questions on Facebook centering around big money bracket racing hot topics.  We went deep on these questions and got the straight talk directly from the Man himself.

Fresh off a $20,000 victory in Florida, Bug discussed racing his teammate Bailey in the final round, winning a bracket race in his wife's Super Gas roadster, the recent success his team has enjoyed, and his large stable of race cars.

The remainder of the podcast centered around big money bracket racing issues such as house cars, 500+ car fields, new entry time trials, how to determine bye runs, how long tech cards are sold, staging duels, and payout structures.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

Our guest this week is the dynamic duo of Mike Matty Jr. and CJ Yaeger.  This show was off the rails before it even started as their comedic genius rivals some of the best comics in the business.  If you thought some of our other episodes were wild, wait till you hear this one.

We cover so much ground including CJ doing his best Announcer impressions, Chet Dragon, getting kicked out of the ET Finals, crashing into trailers, CJ's wild junior career, and more.  Mike tells his PW50 story, getting stuck in the sand trap, losing his hood at a SFG race, his gator bite story, and winning $10K in Florida.

There's so much more but I'll leave that for you to listen to in the podcast.  This is a fun one, I hope you enjoy.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

The Flying Airbrush, Jerron Settles joins us for our first new episode of the DragChamp Show in 2021.  Jerron is world renown for his painting and airbrush talents.  In this episode we get pepper him with questions from our fans along with a special session of this or that with Jake. 

We spoke at length about 1/8 mile versus 1/4 mile racing, Jerron's runner-up finish at the 2020 U.S. Nationals, painting race cars, why he doesn't like doorcars....he really does, and so much more.  

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

To purchase DragChamp apparel, click here.

This week we bring your another Best Of edition of the DragChamp Show.  Our podcast with Rodney Finchum is our most popular episode to date.  Rodney was on the chip as soon as he called in and the fun didn't stop until he hung up.  To add to the fun, we surprised Rodney by having his good friend Steve Foley call in.  The two went back and forth and told tons of hilarious stories.  Sit back and enjoy.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

As the team at DragChamp continues to enjoy their Christmas vacation, we've teed up another "Best of" for you.  This week's featured episode is with outspoken bracket racer Chris Gulitti.  For the longest time, this was our most popular episode as Chris shared his opinions on his son Cory, his almost son Hunter Patton, and more.  Even if you've downloaded this episode previously, it's good enough for a second listen.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

While we're on Christmas break, we thought we'd keep you entertained with some of the best episodes of The DragChamp Show podcast.  This week we're bringing you an encore of our first episode with funny man Steve Foley.

Steve kept us in tears with his great since of humor and funny stories from years of traveling with Rodney Finchum of Fast and Finchum fame.  This episode was longer than we expected but it was so funny we couldn't bring ourselves to cut Foley off.

In the coming weeks we'll bring you even more of our best episodes.  Enjoy!

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

Sin City based big money bracket racer Greg Hicks joins the DragChamp Show this week.  Greg shares his comedic talents with us along with a rant or two.  We talk West Coast drag racing, running from security at Sonoma, his high school prom misadventures, racing with Scotty Richardson in Kentucky, missing flights and more.

Greg also covered his "bromance" with Chad Axford, why he's not allowed to work on Shane Thompson's race cars, his success at the Guaranteed Million, and so much more. 

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

The man famously known as Loose Change joins the DragChamp Show podcast this week.  The expert gambler gave us the ins and outs of gambling on drag racing.  We learned the phrase turn your light out, I'll give you both ends of the track, and so much more about how he wins more money in the bleachers than he does competing. 

We heard stories of New London Dragway in Virginia where the crowds were as big as the bets.  Change told us the story of Severn Johnson who once dialed off a 30 year old time slip and ran dead on.  We debated the best sweet tea and laughed at his "10lbs of tuna in a 5lb can" story about Layton Sumpter.

This episode was definitely a little different than our normal episodes but we think you'll find it entertaining.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

IHRA Division Director and former NHRA Super Comp World Champ Frank Kohutek joins the DragChamp Show this week.  The outspoken bracket racer and race director shared his thoughts on IHRA vs NHRA, running a division and big money bracket races, racing in the Super categories, and more. 

Frank discussed the impact Tommy Phillips made on his racing career, how he missed a round once but still won the race, wrestling with Slate Cummings, and his biggest accomplishment in drag racing. 

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

Successful bracket racer and race promoter Chad Axford joins the podcast this week in what turned out to be one of the funniest shows we've done.  You don't want to miss this one but be prepared, it's definitely R rated!

Chad opens up quickly and we get some extremely entertaining stories from him.  We heard stories about riding a scooter to the Aria casino, winning Top Dragster at The Hill without a headsock, losing bets to Greg Hicks, ex-girlfriends, and blowing three motors in two days.

When he wasn't telling stories, we discussed his Flatbill Promotions 2021 schedule, 1,000 foot racing, wrecking race cars, his dad dominating VW races, and so much more.  

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

Mark Walter of MotormaniaTV fame is our guest on the DragChamp Show.  Walter has been live streaming races for 15 years and today is one of the premier producers of bracket racing live streams.  Walter and his wife Joanne crisscross the country each year covering 40+ events annually.  During our conversation we learned about his military and ministry background, what lead him into producing live racing coverage, his bracket racing background, and the challenges they face producing live TV.

We also learned how Mark thinks racers should be the star of the show, not the cars, how he believes bracket racers are the backbone of the sport, and what he and Joanne's plans are for the future.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

Newly crowned 2020 NHRA Super Comp World Champion Christopher Dodd joins the DragChamp Show this week.  We discuss his amazing five-win season, racing with an uncertain schedule due to COVID, racing with his dad Sean, Comp cars, Jr. Dragsters, bracket racing, and more.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

Bailey Ferraro, who enjoyed a wildly successful week in Montgomery at the Million, joins the show this week to talk big money bracket racing.  Less than a week removed from his back-to-back $50K finals, Bailey called in from South Georgia Motorsports Park to recap his Million week. 

During the conversation we learned where the FUG nickname came from, what it's like working for Bug McCarty, who's the better driver between Caraline and Tripp McCarty, crashing roadsters in Bristol, and racing at Immokalee, his home track. 

After the interview, the boys wrap up the Million and kick around their plans for the next few weeks.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

NHRA Division 7 Super Gas Champ Mike Boehner joins the DragChamp Show this week.  Mike recently documented his cross-country trip to the U.S. Nationals on DragChamp.  We talk about his INDY trip, his recent hat trick in Phoenix, index racing, holding numbers, and how he got started in racing.

We also discussed top-end throttle stops and how hard they are to race against, the history of his Camaro, how he successfully competes against a sea of roadsters, chasing points, and why he loves NHRA racing. 

After the interview, we talk about the upcoming Million Dollar Race in Montgomery and Ryan's interesting race weekend in the midwest.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!

17 year old rising bracket racing star Caraline McCarty is our guest this week.  A couple weeks removed from her breakout $30K win at the Spring Fling in Bristol, Caraline and her mom Carol sat down with the DragChamp Show.  In this episode we discuss the wheelstanding Rambler Wagon, recap the $30K, discuss her start in the sport, her competition with her little brother Tripp, arguing with Mom, and more.

The DragChamp Show is a weekly bench racing style podcast where hosts Jake Hodge, Ryan Gleghorn, and Gary Don Free sit down with racers to discuss current racing topics and share racing stories.  For more visit our website at DragChamp.com, our Facebook page, or email the team at jake@dragchamp.com, ryan@dragchamp.com, or garydon@dragchamp.com.

To get the best of DragChamp delivered to your inbox, click here!