DALLAS – The Stampede of Speed and the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals is recognized as one of the biggest motorsports events not just in Texas but across the country. The 10-day event encompasses country music concerts, bull riding and NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series championship racing as part of the 6-race playoff Countdown. Driver and team owner Chris King brought his Funny Car team from Chicago, Illinois, to the Lone Star State to compete against the best of the best. The Howards Cams Competition Product Funny Car rolled into the Texas Motorplex on Wednesday in preparation for the four-day national event.

Through two days of qualifying King held tough securing the No. 16 qualifier spot going into the final round of qualifying on Saturday. During the final session King was bumped out of the top 16 and in his last-ditch effort to get back into the field came up a few hundredths of a second short. The full-time Chicago firefighter wound up No. 17 when the session concluded.

Chris King wowed the crowd on Friday Night at the JEGS Friday Night Live! qualifying session, photo credit Innovation Creative Experts
“We had to get aggressive in the final qualifying session to try and get around Blake (Alexander),” said King. “We just gave it a little too much. My crew guys busted their tails all weekend and my crew chief Bob Peck was great. It is just really, really tough out here running with these full-time teams.” Continue reading →

CHICAGO – Chicago firefighter and Nitro Funny Car team owner and driver Chris King is coming to the Lone Star State for the 40th NHRA Texas Fall Nationals looking to lasso a successful weekend of racing results and fan experiences. Driving the Competition Parts/Howards Cam Nitro Funny Car tuned by veteran Bob Peck, King returns to Texas Motorplex for the second year in a row to participate in the Stampede of Speed, a 10-day extravaganza of speed, music and family events celebrating its fifth year.

“I experienced the Stampede of Speed for the first time last year and our whole team was blown away,” said King. “This year we are coming in even earlier to attend the Champions’ Dinner and be all set for the Thursday night FanFest and then a busy race weekend. Our program has steadily been improving and I am excited to get to Texas and see how we can close out the season on a high note.”

King has raced several races this season as he builds his program towards full-time NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series participation. King opened the season in Chicago making qualifying runs before attending his son’s college graduation on race day. The team returned to action for the Norwalk Nationals narrowly missing qualifying for a stout 16-car Funny Car field. King was dealt a tough blow at the historic U.S. Nationals finishing five rounds of qualifying as the No. 17 Funny Car just barely on the outside of the quick 16. King is hopeful his luck will turn around at Texas Motorplex. Continue reading →

INDIANAPOLIS – The most prestigious drag race in the country, the Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals, has a rich and storied history. Careers are defined by wins on Labor Day and every Mission Foods Drag Racing Series competitor circles the race dates on their calendars at the beginning of the season. Regardless of your schedule competing and winning at the NHRA U.S. Nationals is a bucket list achievement. For Chris King, team owner and driver of the Howards Cams/Competition Products Funny Car, the joy of qualifying in 2024 was tempered with the cruel twist of narrowly missing the field this weekend. King’s best effort, a solid 4.120 second run at 299.53 mph on Saturday during the second of five qualifiers was only quick enough for the seventeenth spot in a sixteen-car qualified field.

“This is a tough pill to swallow for sure,” said King, who last year qualified for the U.S. Nationals. “I am proud of the effort Bob Peck and this team put together. We made every turn around and we were ready to race. We had an oil line issue and made the smart call to skip a session but overall, we didn’t make any mistakes. You look at our runs and we made clean runs right down the middle of the track.” Continue reading →

CHICAGO – Last year at the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals Chris King and his Competition Products/Howards Cams created one of the high drama moments during the final qualifying session. Sitting in the No. 16 spot King and his team had to wait and watch to make one of the most competitive fields in recent U.S. Nationals history. They made the show and this season they are looking to avoid the drama with a strong showing when qualifying begins this Friday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Indianapolis.

“I don’t ever want to go through that stress again,” said King, who owns and drives the Competition Products/Howards Cams Funny Car. “We battled through so many issues to get into the show and then to have to stand on the starting line waiting was excruciating. We have made so many strides since that race I can’t wait to get to Indy.”

Since that race King has been adding more parts and working with his crew chief Bob Peck to evaluate every aspect of their team. This season following the Chicago event where they made consistent qualifying passes King is even more motivated. Following the Norwalk NHRA national event the team realized their tune-up was looking for ways to get quicker and faster. At the Cornwell Tools U.S. Nationals King and crew chief Peck are going to be making big swings when the car is one the track. Continue reading →

NORWALK, OH – Funny Car team owner and driver Chris King took every opportunity to promote his primary sponsors, Howards Cams and Competition Products as well as his skills on and off the track at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. Beginning on Tuesday, leading up to the race King was a featured guest on the NHRA Insider podcast with Brian Lohnes. King talked up the wide variety of events he was participating in after a season opening appearance at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago. King took the data he acquired at that race and made a valiant effort to qualify in a stacked field of over 20 Funny Cars at America’s Racetrack, Summit Motorsports Park. King credits the improvement in his program to crew chief Bob Peck who has brought a wealth of experience and influence to the team.

“I can’t even begin to start with how amazing Bob Peck has been for bringing this program to where it needs to be, at this level of competition,” said King. “He’s rebuilt the car from the ground up, every nut, every bolt, every washer, every weld, has been inspected, fixed, improved, all for the reason of safety and performance. If you’ve watched our program, over the last couple of years, this car has jumped in performance. We’re running career best numbers almost every lap out. We’re learning. I’m doing a good job driving the car. Bob has just got so many connections and resources, and he’s a smart man when it comes to tuning. It’s very methodical, which is good. We’re not hurting parts. The car is performing. When it comes back to the pits it looks like it never ran.” Continue reading →

NORWALK, OH – Prior to the opening rounds of qualifying at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals five NHRA professional drivers, Funny Car drivers Chris King, Buddy Hull, Spencer Hyde, and Matt Hagan along with Top Fuel driver Clay Millican teamed up with four pros for the inaugural Unites States Open Hot Saw Championship Pro/Am. King, a full-time Chicago firefighter, won the Pro/Am with his professional teammate while Millican outdueled King in the driver head-to-head competition.

“I’m pretty comfortable with chainsaws we use them on roofs for firefighting so I knew I would be okay,” said King. “Learning the technique for the racing was interesting. Luckily, I did fairly well and my partner did very well. We were able to get the overall win, but I’ve got to give it to Clay. He got me in that last round by a couple seconds. He kicked ass and it was very fun. I had a great time. I know the rest of the drivers enjoyed it too.”

King cut his way into the competition through an opening round five driver cut-off qualifier to grab one of the four Pro/Am spots. Hull was eliminated from competition when his qualifying cut was not a complete cut. Continue reading →

CHICAGO – Funny Car driver and team owner Chris King is set to return to the track for his second NHRA national event of the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, June 26-29, at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

After kicking off his season at his home race, the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK in Chicago, King is eager to build on the valuable data his team collected during that event. While he made multiple strong qualifying passes in his Howards Cams/Competition Products Funny Car, King made the heartfelt decision to step away before race day to attend his son’s college graduation, a moment the veteran firefighter and father wasn’t going to miss.

“I’m a racer, but I’m a husband and father first,” said King. “We went into Chicago with a clear plan: get good data, shake off the rust, and use it to come out swinging in Norwalk. Now it’s time to put it all together. I have full faith in my crew chief Bob Peck and the rest of my crew guys to do what we need to do this weekend.” Continue reading →

CHICAGO – As a Funny Car team owner and driver Chris King has to balance more than a handful of responsibilities. The Chicagoan who has been building his racing program to eventually race on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series full time is currently a full-time firefighter who was recently promoted to lieutenant. The promotion was a positive career move but it impacted his racing 2025 schedule pushing his first race to this weekend’s Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals. The opportunity to race in front of his hometown fans and sponsors was a welcome opportunity to get the season started.

“I love racing in Chicago and this is a race that I would someday like to win,” said King. “We had a lot going on and we got thrown a curveball by my son Shane. I am so proud of him and he is graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee this year. We found out that his graduation ceremony would be today and there was no way I was missing that. I talked to my sponsors and we made a team decision to run qualifying and skip the race.”

Through two days of qualifying, King made the most of his two days on track in his Howards Cam/Competition Products Funny Car. Last year King’s team was bedeviled with gremlins providing them with only one quality run. This weekend King and his Bob Peck-tuned Funny Car made three good runs that they shut off early. The goal was to get as much data to be ready for the Norwalk national event in June. Continue reading →

CHICAGO – Heading into the 25th Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals, Chicagoan Chris King, Funny Car team owner and driver, will be looking to use this event as a springboard to a strong season in the 2025 Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Since he started chasing the dream of racing nitro Funny Car full-time King has wanted to race at his hometown track and this year his team is making a tough, but understandable decision, to gather data for the future and put his family first. King will forgo racing on Sunday to attend his son Shane’s college graduation from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

King and crew chief Bob Peck agreed in advance they will be making the most of the four qualifying passes at Route 66 Raceway on Friday and Saturday in the Howard Cams/Competition Products Funny Car, but they will not make full passes on any of the runs choosing to lift or shut off the motor short of the finish line. The goal for the weekend will be to get a solid baseline to move into the 2025 NHRA season.

“I talked to all my sponsors and team when the season started, and we saw the schedule. I told them we were racing Chicago, but we are going to use it to gather as much data as possible under national event conditions. There was no way I was missing Shane’s graduation,” said King. “As much as I want to get into the show and then hopefully win some rounds there are more important memories and moments in life. Continue reading →

CHICAGO – NHRA Funny Car driver and team owner Chris King will participate in the Milwaukee Admirals’ Motorsports Night, January 10, joining fellow professional racers from NASCAR and IndyCar. The Admiral’s, who play in the American Hockey League (AHL), will be squaring off against the Texas Stars. The game will be played at UW-Milwaukee (UWM) Panther Arena, one of Milwaukee’s iconic sports and entertainment complexes at 7:00 p.m. CST. King will be available to the media prior to the game, and he will also be recognized during the first period. Throughout the game King and the rest of the drivers will be signing autographs throughout the arena.

“I am thrilled to be representing NHRA and my Howards Cams/Competition Products Dodge Charger Funny Car team at the Admirals game on Friday. I still play a little hockey and growing up I always wanted to play for the Admirals so this will be an awesome experience,” said King, who plans to kick off his season at the historic Gatornationals in March. “I am looking forward to talking about drag racing with the players as well as the other drivers who will be there. It should be a fun night to help promote NHRA and motorsports.” Continue reading →