CHICAGO – When fan favorite TJ Zizzo made his final pass at the 2021 NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, the second-generation Top Fuel driver knew he needed to make a change if he was going to seriously chase his dream. Zizzo has passionately worked and fought to make a name for himself battling the biggest stars in the NHRA for the past three decades. His efforts have paid off to a limited degree with a strong fan following and a final round appearance in 2020. The return of professional drag racing to Rt. 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill. for the Gerber Collision and Glass Rt. 66 NHRA Nationals, May 19-21, has provided Zizzo and his Rust-Oleum backed Top Fuel dragster team, known across the sport as the Rust-Oleum Rocket, the chance to keep the dream alive.

“It’s great to go out to my hometown track again,” said Zizzo. “We haven’t competed there since 2019 and my phone has been ringing off the hook since news came out that the Gerber Collision and Glass Nationals were coming back to town. That’s a big deal to us since so many of our marketing partners are from the Chicagoland area. My family and friends can all go to the races.”

One of the latest elements for Zizzo will be the addition of a new race car thanks to a generous offer by NHRA Hall of Fame driver and team owner, Don Schumacher. For years, Zizzo and his team competed on a budget repurposing quality parts and chassis to race with the better funded teams. They made a gallant effort and saw flashes of success. Zizzo feels like his career could now be turning a corner with an updated Top Fuel dragster.

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ST. LOUIS – The Zizzo Racing team knew they would be fighting an uphill battle when they announced their limited NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule. For second generation drag racer TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster the process of pulling together his team and being competitive at the highest level was just as important as win lights this season. Through three rounds of qualifying Zizzo made a strong run and then worked to step up to prepare for race day today at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“We made some changes over the winter and to be honest it took us some time to figure out the direction we needed to go in the future,” said Zizzo. “Mike Kern, our crew chief, along with clutch specialist Tony Smith and our new consultant Rahn Tobler looked at all the runs we made in Brainerd and this weekend in St. Louis so we know what we need to do for next year. I am proud of this Rust-Oleum Rocket team from top to bottom. Racing at this level is not easy and takes so much time and energy.”

The team made their best run of the weekend on Friday night which held up to secure them a spot in the third quickest Top Fuel field in history. Off the trailer they lit up the scoreboard with a solid 3.798 second pass at 325.53 mph which had them sitting in the No. 11 spot out of 19 Top Fuel dragsters competing for 16 positions.

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ST. LOUIS – The NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway wowed a sellout crowd today with the third quickest Top Fuel field in NHRA history. TJ Zizzo and the  Rust-Oleum Rocket Top Fuel team will be a part of race day tomorrow on the strength of their Friday night qualifying run which gave crew chief Mike Kern, clutch specialist Tony Smith and consultant Rahn Tobler the opportunity to continue to modify their tune-up throughout the day today.

“The run Friday was an improvement in the sense of what we had in the racecar,” said Kern. “We made a lot of changes on that run. It worked to our favor to a point. We are thankful to have that run today. We were disappointed last night but we got in the show with that run. Our goal is to always come out on Friday and get a good run on the table. You need that especially with three qualifiers. Friday gave us something to work off. We’ll come up with something for tomorrow and be good.”

This was the second race of the season for Zizzo Racing and as the No. 15 qualifier he will be facing Brittany Force in the first round. Zizzo has a career record of 1-2 against Force with their most recent race coming at the 2019 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. The team knows that the early start time will bring favorable conditions to all the teams in competition.

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Top Fuel veteran looking forward to familiar confines of Wide World Technology Raceway

ST. LOUIS, MO – For the sixth time in over 15 years TJ Zizzo will be competing at the NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. The Top Fuel veteran who last year raced to his first final round at the NHRA Summernationals in Indianapolis, will be looking to continue his improving performance at the premier facility in the shadow of the world-famous Gateway Arch. Last year Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster team produced their best effort qualifying at the St. Louis area track starting from the No. 4 position and racing to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner Doug Kalitta.

Zizzo’s performance numbers have been impressive for a team that is not competing week in and week out on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Earlier this season racing for the first time in 2021 Zizzo Racing’s Top Fuel entry stepped up and ran 3.777 seconds in the first round after qualifying with a solid 3.861 pass. Last year in St. Louis Zizzo posted three consecutive runs in the 3.75 second range including back-to-back 3.75s during eliminations.

The veteran driver has competed selectively on the NHRA tour since his professional debut in 2003. In recent years the Lincolnshire, Illinois, businessman has focused on quality over quantity when it comes to racing with the motorsports operation which is owned by his father Tony Zizzo. The determination and focus have by his own admission sometimes consumed Zizzo to the point that this season he has taken a step back to evaluate the balance in his life. This weekend will be the first event Zizzo is bringing his new attitude to the racetrack.

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BRAINERD, MN – Following two days of qualifying at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster entered race day as the No. 10 qualifier with a tough first round race with No. 3 qualifier Mike Salinas. The team has been away from the highest level of competition for almost a year, but they have been preparing for this race for months. The addition of world championship crew chief Rahn Tobler to the team to work with crew chief Mike Kern and the rest of the Rust-Oleum team was a strategic move by Zizzo to keep his team competitive in the national stage.

“We will call this a successful weekend,” said Zizzo, from the cab of his Rust-Oleum race rig. “My dad and I have about a ten-hour ride back to Chicago. This sport is full of highs and lows. Yesterday was brutal and today we went out there and ran 3.77. We wish we could have done that in Q3 but wishes are what they are. I am seeing a lot of fans walk by who are telling us how much they enjoyed the show we put on for them. I want to thank them for coming out. This place was packed. People miss us up here in Brainerd, Minnesota, which is super cool. I was able to get out to the Zoo last night and that was interesting. I had never been out there. The fans love this Rust-Oleum Rocket, they really do.”

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BRAINERD, MN – In a welcome return to racing action TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster qualified No. 10 at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. After almost a year between races Zizzo Racing’s Mike Kern tuned race car made a solid pass Friday night with a 3.861 second pass at 317.87 mph. That initial run positioned the team solidly in the show in the provisional No. 6 spot at the time.

On Saturday with two runs on tap the Rust-Oleum Rocket was in the enviable position of being able to try some tune-up adjustments to give the team an advantage on race day. In the mid-afternoon session Zizzo made his pass after several race cars had posted much improved elapsed times pushing him back in the qualifying order. When the Rust-Oleum dragster launched it was on an aggressive run that unfortunately overpowered the race surface. Zizzo clicked off his 11,000-horsepower race car before it damaged itself.  His second qualifying time slowed to 6.745 seconds with one more opportunity to improve in the qualifying standings.

“With only eleven cars you have the opportunity to test things. We had a couple philosophies we wanted to go after today,” said Zizzo. “We had some ideas over the winter about how to apply the clutch earlier in the run.  We tried that in Q2 and it didn’t work out. It was too aggressive and blew the tires off. No big deal. Those are easy fixes.”

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New-look Rust-Oleum dragster, addition of world champion tuner Rahn Tobler bolster strong team effort

BRAINERD, MN – The anticipation and enthusiasm has been building for months as TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel team prepare for their first race of the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season during this weekend’s upcoming Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway (BIR). The Chicago-based team, which hasn’t competed since the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis last September, has been working diligently to maintain and improve on their level of success which has steadily improved since 2019. Last year the team reached their first final round during the NHRA Summernationals.

“Preparing for a race to compete at the highest level is a lot of work,” said Zizzo. “We have been working multiple 100-hour weeks leading up to this race. My wife is mad at me, but my kids still like me which is great.  It is not just me that is working so hard, it is the entire team. They work a full day at their jobs, then they come to our race shop. We haven’t been thrashing to get ready, this has been a continuous planned process. We are constantly working on our race car. We work this hard so when we get to the track in Brainerd we can pull this race car out of the trailer, start it up and pick up where we last off last season with a strong performing Top Fuel dragster. We ran well in St. Louis and we’ve been running well since 2019 honestly.”

A new-look Rust-Oleum Rocket race car will be unveiled for this race. The Top Fuel dragster will be highlighting 100 years of Rust-Oleum. The long-time Zizzo Racing sponsor continues to maintain a strong business to business and promotional relationship with Zizzo Auto Body and Zizzo Racing.

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TJ Zizzo, driver of the Rust-Oleum Rocket Top Fuel dragster, competes throughout the year in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) on the Camping World Drag Racing Series tour. Zizzo, owns Zizzo Auto Body in Lincolnshire, Illinois and competes at the highest level when his schedule allows. Last season he was runner-up at the NHRA Summernationals in Indianapolis and in 2021 he will be competing at two national events in Brainerd, Minnesota and St. Louis, Missouri, respectively. Both races will be televised nationally on FS1. TJ took some time before he hit the road to the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, August 20-22 to provide an update on the past ten months.

Q: It has been almost a year since you last raced, how excited are you to get back in the Rust-Oleum Rocket Top Fuel dragster?

TJ: “I am jacked. As we get closer to that date of competition I get more and more excited. I actually start dreaming about it. The guys in the body shop know the week of a race that I am not mentally going to be with them. They know I will be thinking of all things racing. Also, the excitement is building because to celebrate 100 years with Rust-Oleum this year will make finally getting to Brainerd really special.”

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MADISON, IL –  After a long rain delay Saturday that saw the Rust-Oleum Rocket lay down a single qualifying lap, TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Rocket crew came into Sunday’s Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals eliminations at World Wide Technology Raceway fourth on the ladder. While Zizzo was able to move past E1 opponent Luigi Novelli, his second-round competitor Doug Kalitta was able to get the win light, ending Zizzo’s weekend.

The Rust-Oleum Rocket could’ve had a solid weekend as a bracket car, laying down a 3.755-second pass at 327.74 mph in qualifying, a 3.757-second lap at 325.92 mph against Novelli, and a run of 3.754 seconds at 324.83 mph in E2 against Kalitta’s 3.709-second round at 321.42 mph.

Back in the pits after the run, Zizzo had nothing but good things to say about Sunday’s efforts and Kalitta, who would go on to win the Top Fuel Wally later in the day.

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ST LOUIS – There was a lot on the line at Lucas Oil Raceway Park during the final round of the postponed NHRA Summernationals in July. Veteran Top Fuel driver TJ Zizzo in his Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster was squaring off with rookie driver Justin Ashley in his Strutmasters.com powered by MANSCAPED™ dragster. Both drivers were looking for their first NHRA national event win and in addition to the golden hardware there was a critical side bet between the racers. During a pre-race joint interview on Joe Castello’s WFO Radio Happy Hour Show the Friday before the U.S. Nationals a pizza bet was proposed with the loser delivering pizza to the victor the next time they raced together. Had Zizzo prevailed he and his team would have been the recipient of New York style pizza courtesy of Justin Ashley. As it turned out Zizzo delivered Chicago style pizza to Ashley’s team at the end of the day today of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway.

“Everyone out here is very competitive but at the end of the day we also want to have a little fun,” said Zizzo. “Justin and I made a little pizza bet and now we are paying off. There is nothing better than Chicago style pizza in my opinion and next time Justin and I meet in a final I hope he is delivering me some pies at the next race.”

Justin Ashley’s team was thrilled to be on the receiving end of the free pizza and he knew he very easily could have been the one delivering. Both drivers have a mutual respect for each other that goes beyond their affinity for pizzas.

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