Former drag boat champion turned Top Fuel pilot Shawn Reed is full speed ahead as he gears up for his sophomore season competing on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series circuit. Reed made his full-time NHRA debut in 2024 and enjoyed a late-season surge which propelled him and his Reed Trucking & Excavating team to a Top 10 finish.
Reed’s core crew, led by tuner Rob Wendland and assistant crew chief Ryan Elliott, remains intact as the privateer team prepares for a second season of high-stakes racing and competing for their first Wally trophy as an organization. Admittedly, the rookie team got off to a slow start in 2024, securing only two round wins throughout the entirety of the regular season, but saw their hard work and efforts pay off in the final stretch of the year. At each of the final five events on the schedule, the Reed Trucking & Excavating team qualified in the top half of the loaded Top Fuel field, including scoring two No. 2 qualifiers. In St. Louis, Reed powered to a semifinal finish and followed that up with two quarterfinal appearances at the Dallas and Las Vegas events. Reed also reset his career-best E.T. and speed during the playoffs and clocked a pair of impressive 3.6-second runs during the NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif.
“The beginning of the year was slow going but that is mostly to be expected when you have a new team like we did,” said Reed. “On paper, we had only six round wins all year, but four of those came in the final four events. If you look at our stats, you can pinpoint almost the exact moment that our season started to turn around and things started to fall into place. We had a respectable showing in those last several races. We were running with the best of them. By the time we got to the Countdown, we had a legitimate shot on Sundays and that felt really good. We got some really solid momentum rolling to close out the year and look forward to continuing to build on that this year. The plan is to pick right back up where we left off.”
Before the NHRA season gets underway next month with the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., the Reed Trucking & Excavating team has the opportunity to get back into competition form this weekend during the SCAG PRO Superstar Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park, Feb. 6 – 8. The team is currently in Bradenton, Fla. where they are making several ‘shakedown’ runs before qualifying begins on Thursday. Reed strapped back into his 11,000-horsepower machine for the first time yesterday and made two test passes.
“We made two runs today and overall I feel like it was a successful first day back,” Reed said on Monday evening. “We came out with a brand-new car, we’ve got three new crew guys, all new flywheels and some other things, and you’ve got to break that stuff in, get everyone in sync.
“That first run, we went out, wanted to go to the 330 (foot marker) and that went well. Had a decent light, decent 60-foot time, pretty good 330. Based on the early numbers, we probably would’ve run a 73. Second run, we planned to go to halftrack but the track got hot and it got away from us a little and we ended up smoking the tires at about 330 feet. But overall, I’m pleased. The car ran well, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of last year. Tomorrow’s game plan is two to three full passes but so far, I feel like we’re off to a solid start.”
Reed brings more than two decades of high-speed racing experience into his second full season on the NHRA tour. It was nearly 10 years ago when he hit the throttle of a Top Fuel dragster for the first time. He went on to race in a handful of events from 2015 through 2020, competing with the Paton Racing and Bob Vandergriff Racing teams on a very limited basis before returning to the sport with his namesake team in 2024. Prior to racing on asphalt, Reed enjoyed a successful career on the water. He started piloting drag boats in 2005 and won consecutive IHBA championships in 2007 and ’08, and again in 2010, 2012 – ’13, and 2017 – ‘18. Reed never finished lower than second in the IHBA Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series standings before ditching water for the straight-line pavement of the dragstrip. While Reed feels right at home in the cockpit of a Top Fuel dragster, he has identified his reaction times as an area of focus for 2025.
“We’ve got all of the right people in place here at SRR. Last year was a testament to that. Rob and Ryan and our whole Reed Trucking & Excavating team are doing a tremendous job in getting us ready for this upcoming season. Everyone is working so hard and I want to make sure I’m doing all that I can on my end as well. One of my goals for this year is to improve my reaction times. Last year I averaged 0.085 seconds. I’d love to see it anywhere in the 60s. I know it’ll be tough but that is what I’m working towards. The Top Fuel class is packed with some of the best leavers in the sport, so it’s crucial for me to be at the top of my game.
“I feel like we kind of flew under the radar last year and were often overlooked,” Reed added. “But that’s okay, we were a new team; it’s understandable, but I can tell you, we’re coming out of the gate swinging this year and anyone that took us lightly last year, watch out!”
The 2025 NHRA season opens with qualifying for the Gatornationals, Friday, March 7, at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla.
This story was originally published on February 5, 2025. 
The post Shawn Reed Gears Up for Sophomore Season in NHRA, Remarks on First Pre-Season Test Passes at PRO Event first appeared on Drag Illustrated.