Huddleston continued, “We originally went down to look at a
pair of cars Mr. Elsberry had for
sale. The first being a ‘63 Corvette
he had and the second being the
original Lowmad. After some discussion
we had pretty well settled on the ‘63
‘vette, even though in our eyes it
lacked the ‘curb appeal’ of the older
Lowmad. That was when Mr. Elsberry
pulled back the cover on the newer
Lowmad we’ve all seen compete in Pro
Extreme. After some discussion about
it, he was kind enough to offer her up
to us as the next ‘Caretakers’ in its
storied history. As a family we knew
immediately that this wasn’t an
opportunity we could pass up. We
certainly want to take the chance to
thank Mr. Elsberry for giving us the
opportunity to carry on the Lowmad for
years to come.”
Huddleston bought the car nearly turn-key and had a mostly
ready made Pro Boost operation within
a few hours. “I literally thought I
was going to buy a rolling car and
have to go get a motor and
transmission and all the other stuff.
By the end of it, I had purchased the
majority of the car. We went from
Sunday morning not having the main
piece needed to run a race team to
Sunday evening having the majority of
what we needed in one purchase. And
for that to happen three days before
the PRI starts - well, some of us work
well under pressure, so here we are.”
On the business side of things, Huddleston Performance will
increase their sponsorship level and
maintain a greater presence at PDRA
events.
“We’ve been a supporter of
various series and races for a long
time,” Huddleston explained. “While we
always want to be a major sponsor of
in the Junior world, we really wanted
to branch out in a way that didn’t
feel like we were ‘preaching to the
choir’ so to speak. We still want to
support those races, but we want to
hit the untapped markets as well. With
the PDRA’s ticket model, it draws a
person that maybe can’t purchase a new
Pro Mod, but very well may be
interested in a Junior Dragster for
their young driver. It seemed like it
would be a good fit for us. And it
turns out that’s correct. We get asked
questions that only those who haven’t
been around the sport a lot would ask.
The truth is you want those questions
to be asked because that tells you the
guy you’re talking to is new, and we
just get inundated with that when we
go to PDRA events. So it’s been a
really good fit for us. One thing I’ve
got to say is that we’ve really been
welcomed by the PDRA bunch. I feel
like we’re a very small fish in a very
big pond and nobody treats us that
way. They’ve put a good organization
together. This one is the real deal.
“For 2015 we have upped our sponsor level. We’re now
sponsoring one of the TV spots next
season. I can speak for everyone in
the shop when I say we’re excited
about this opportunity to grow our
exposure through the PDRA. To be able
to take Junior Drag Racing to a place
it has never been before is thrilling
for all of us at Huddleston
Performance.
“I feel like it’s a great connection,” Bo added. “Many of the
junior racers we come in contact with
hope to one day compete in a
professional class with the PDRA. They
have the dream of growing up to be a
Pro Mod driver. That’s a big part of
the draw for starting out with the
PDRA for them. So to now have a former
junior driver in Thomas living the
dream, so to speak, is pretty cool.”
The Huddleston family plan on testing the Lowmad in February
in preparation for the PDRA season
opener at Texas Motorplex March 20-21.
For more on Huddleston Performance, visit their website:
http://www.huddlestonperformance.com/
or check them out on Facebook at
www.Facebook.com/HuddlestonPerformance.
For more on the world’s premier eighth mile drag racing
organization visit
www.pdra660.com.
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PRESS CONTACT: Lisa Collier
Professional Drag Racers Association
lisa@pdra660.com
704.692.4636