When Cecil County Dragway announced it would host a $15,000-to-win Top Alcohol Dragster Shootout over Mother’s Day weekend, multi-time NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car winner DJ Cox knew he wanted to be a part of it. The Maryland native didn’t exactly have a clear path there, though, as he didn’t have a Top Alcohol Dragster nor the license to drive one. But in the days leading up to the race, all that changed and Cox turned a last-minute opportunity into one memorable weekend at the track where he grew up bracket racing.
About a week before the race, Cox got a call from Tom Fox with an offer to drive his blown alcohol dragster at the Cecil County Top Alcohol Dragster Shootout held during the May edition of the track’s Strange Engineering Outlaw Street Car Shootout. Cox brought up the whole “no license” issue, but Fox said he could complete his crossover license runs during pre-race testing. The plan was coming together.
Weather threatened that plan, though, as rain on Friday pushed the schedule back, leaving Cox with just two test sessions and two qualifying sessions on Saturday to complete his one moderate pass and two full passes.
Cox clocked a .900 60-foot time on his moderate pass, then the car split a burst panel on what was to be his first full run. He made his final licensing pass in the first qualifying session, posting a 5.37 at 220 MPH after lifting off the throttle early.
“I had no experience in the car before this weekend,” Cox said. “The car sort of made a hard move towards the wall and I tried to drive a dragster like a Funny Car. The hardest part for me to drive a dragster was not driving it. It was definitely not the way I typically would want to do things, pushing it that hard trying to make license runs, but it worked out.”
In the final qualifying session, Cox laid down a 5.252-second pass at 272.61 MPH to qualify No. 5 out of 13 cars for Sunday eliminations.
“Once I made one clean run in the car, at that point, you kind of got the processes down,” Cox said. “You sort of understand what the car wants. I was pretty confident. Going into Sunday, it doesn’t matter at that point whether in a Funny Car or dragster, it’s just back to your normal deal. I had my crew there, which was big. Tom had his guys there, but then I had my bottom end guys, my top end guy, so it was just like a normal race day at that point.”
Cox was set to face Dan Dietrich, who walked away from a crash in qualifying and couldn’t make the call for first round, so Cox took the tree and went on to race Earl Nichols in the second round. Nichols set low E.T. of the opening round, a 5.16, but his performance slowed while Cox’s picked up. Cox left first and posted a 5.289 at 272.12 to beat Nichols’ 5.26 on a holeshot. Another A/Fuel hitter was waiting in the semifinals. Jackie Fricke, who lowered the track record to a 5.135 when she qualified No. 1, had lane choice with her 5.195 from the second round. Again, Cox left first and stepped up to a 5.259 at 273.39 to get the win, while Fricke slowed to a 5.351 at 270.21.
“Jackie and I have known each other since we were teenagers and we bracket raced together at Cecil County Dragway,” Cox said. “Back when I was 16 years old, I was racing with Jackie every single weekend in 7-second dragsters at Cecil County Dragway, and we always laugh and joke about it and it was just cool to get to line up next to her and race her. Jackie is a fierce competitor, but she was as excited at the finish line for me as I was.”
Suddenly, Cox was going to the final round in his Top Alcohol Dragster debut. With nitro-injected cars laying down passes in the 5.10s in qualifying – Randy Meyer Racing teammates Gary Pritchett and Megan Meyer qualified No. 2 and 3 with a 5.157 and 5.191, respectively – it was safe to assume the A/Fuel cars would rule race day too, but Cox and the father-son Fox duo had their own plan.
“We saw the big numbers in qualifying but we knew the track was going to get hotter as the day went on,” Cox said. “So me and Tom Jr. and Tom Sr. talked about it in the morning and said we’ll just try to make a consistent race car and not try to chase anybody. Make it go down the track A-to-B every run and just race the track instead of the car in the other lane.”
The plan worked. Cox’s opponent in the final round was Pritchett, who had lane choice thanks to his 5.179 in the semis. Cox was away first with a .024 reaction time to Pritchett’s .036. Pritchett was considerably quicker to the 60-foot mark, but Cox’s blown machine charged harder to the finish line, winning with a 5.301 at 272.34 to Pritchett’s 5.478 at 272.56. It was a fitting final round between two local racers who went on to build successful careers in the sport.
“Gary and I grew up together match racing Funny Cars on the East Coast, him with Bunny [Burkett] and me with my dad,” Cox said. “We grew up at racetracks together and we’re pretty close. The fact that it was both of us hometown guys racing in the final was cool.
“To get the win, I couldn’t believe it,” Cox continued. “I asked [the crew] if the car drifted towards the wall because all I could do was just focus on the win light, trying to see if it was gonna pop up on the wall.”
As for his future in Top Alcohol Dragster, Cox joked in his post-race Facebook post that “the plan is to retire on top.” His Top Alcohol Funny Car is also parked for the time being as he focuses on growing the family construction business. Until that hiatus comes to an end, he’ll have the memories of this Cecil County win – his fourth consecutive when counting TAFC victories – to hold him over.
“I’m just thankful to Tom, Tom Jr., and their whole crew,” said Cox, who also thanked wife Melissa for encouraging him to jump at the opportunity. “Thankful for my guys to just be able to come back out and put the band back together on such short notice. It was just cool to be able to get that win for my parents and my mom on Mother’s Day. That was pretty cool.”
This story was originally published on May 13, 2025. 
The post DJ Cox Wins $15,000 Cecil County Shootout in Top Alcohol Dragster Debut first appeared on Drag Illustrated.
