In what is likely a first for a Canadian drag racing team, the Paton Racing team from Paris, Ontario will be fielding two Top Fuel Dragsters at the NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond, VA next weekend.
The race team, which is overseen by iconic Barry Paton, will enter the event with both his son Todd and also Ike Maier behind the wheel of two similarly prepped Top Fuel dragsters.
Todd will be driving the car that the team has fielded for the last couple of seasons with Shawn Re ed behind the wheel. However, Todd drove the car at several match race appearances last year, so it won’t be unfamiliar to him.
“I am really looking forward to getting back in the seat,” Todd said. “The team has made great strides over the last couple of years and built a solid low 3.8-second car. My personal best is a 3.91, so I am hoping to improve on that.
Ike will be driving the team’s second car, which is actually the car that he owned and drove back in 2017. The team acquired it along with the transporter when Ike went into “semi-retirement”. The team recently advertised the car for sale, but may want to hang onto it, depending on how the weekend goes.”
“We wanted to make sure that the car is a quality piece, so that whomever buys it gets a car that goes down the track,” explained Todd. “We were going to test at Cayuga the following week, but thought it would be fun to try and run it at the NHRA event instead. Then, Dad got out his measuring tape and figured out that we could fit both cars in the same trailer. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“Since we have one part-time crew, we will have to be selective as to which car runs which qualifying session,” said Barry. “Obviously we want to get as much data as possible, but we want to make sure that each car gets the attention it deserves. Therefore, we’ll probably run the ‘B Car’ with Ike in it first, and then if all goes well, run the ‘A Car’ with Todd.”
Beyond the NHRA Virginia Nationals — the continuation of this 2-car concept is still unknown. Both cars are currently scheduled to participate in Toronto Motorsports’ Canadian Nitro Nationals (June 28-30). Stay tuned!
(Photos courtesy of Bruce Biegler/DragRaceCanada.com)