Dubbin Motorsports with driver Kirk Wolf will head to the Texas Motorplex this week for the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals and a full week of racing known as the Stampede of Speed. Along with national event competition, the week-long schedule includes NHRA Lucas Oil Series drag racing and the JEGS Allstars.
The Dean Dubbin-led team will first compete in the Lucas Oil Series regional event. Open testing is scheduled for Friday, followed by Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car qualifying on Saturday, with eliminations set for Sunday. Competition in the remaining Lucas Oil Series categories will continue Monday and Tuesday, October 12-13. The action then shifts to the NHRA Texas Fall Nationals, scheduled for October 15-18, which will cap off a busy week of racing at the Texas Motorplex.
Kirk Wolf qualified No. 2 at the 2025 Texas Fall Nationals with a 5.169-second pass at 278.43 mph. Wolf has not run enough races to be part of the Top Alcohol Dragster championship battle, but he plans to act as a spoiler in the Lucas Oil Series championship and grab some wins before the season ends.
“Last year we ran great in Dallas,” Wolf said. “We would like to get back to the 5.16 performance level from last year at the Motorplex.”
The team has spent most of the season diagnosing problems with the car.
“We’ve spent most of the year searching for problems in the car. We’ve found and fixed those problems; now it’s time to go race,” Wolf said, adding that the focus now shifts to returning the car to the top of the field.
Dubbin said clutch consistency has been the team’s main issue since the first race in Gainesville.
“We have been battling all year with a problem in the clutch. We had a good race in Michigan, and it appears those clutch battles are behind us, so we can get back to work on making power and getting the car more aggressive again,” Dubbin said.
Alongside the Texas Fall Nationals, the event includes the 41st Annual JEGS Allstars, featuring premier Top Alcohol Dragster teams from across the country. Teams entered in both programs must navigate a demanding double-duty schedule. Dubbin Motorsports is not eligible for the JEGS Allstars and will concentrate exclusively on the national event, a circumstance the team sees as a possible advantage.
“We’ve had great races in Texas,” Dubbin said. “We were in the final in 2023 against Julie Nataas, and we are going to need that kind of effort again this year if we are going to compete for the win. I have complete faith in Kirk and the guys to be able to do that. We need good solid runs, and we just need a little luck to go our way. We haven’t had much of that this season, but maybe this is our weekend.”
The Top Alcohol Dragster championship remains up for grabs, with multiple teams still in the hunt for the Lucas Oil Series national championship, and most of them are expected to compete in Texas.
“This is always one of the toughest and most exciting races of the year,” Wolf said. “It’s that time of year where every run counts a little more, and everyone is focusing just a little harder on running better. We don’t have a championship on the line, but we are looking to break out and have the big weekend we’ve been looking for all year.”
Dubbin said the team’s goal is to return to going rounds.
“We need to find the performance, confidence, and consistency we’ve had in the past in Dallas. We would all like to get back to the finals and win that Cowboy Hat and the diamond Wally.”
The DMP Awnings/Kentex Roofing Systems team will make their first qualifying run Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Qualifying continues Friday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. First-round eliminations are set for Saturday at approximately 10 a.m.
The post Kirk Wolf and Dubbin Motorsports Ride Into Texas Chasing a Cowboy Hat and Diamond Wally first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
