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<\/figure>\n\u201cFirst and foremost, I am thankful Shawn is okay after the incident in Seattle, and I wish him a full and speedy recovery to be back in the seat in time for the Countdown,\u201d said Vandergriff, a former Top Fuel racer who now serves as part of the NHRA on FOX broadcast team. \u201cWe were teammates during our BVR (Bob Vandergriff Racing) days and have remained great friends ever since. I am extremely excited for this opportunity. Shawn Reed Racing is a top-notch organization with great parts and pieces, and even greater people. Rob Wendland and the crew are world-class. This is a quick, consistent, and fast race car that can run with anyone on any given day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been out of the seat for over five years, and I have been hungry every single day since,\u201d Vandergriff continued. \u201cThat fire has kept me up at night and pushed me harder in everything I do. Now it is my job to compete, and I am ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vandergriff last raced in Top Fuel in 2019, making 11 career starts and scoring a runner-up finish in Dallas. Off the track, he\u2019s also known for appearances on\u00a0The Bachelorette<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Bachelor in Paradise<\/em>.<\/p>\n As much as Reed wishes he could be racing in Brainerd and Indianapolis, he\u2019s embracing his role on the sidelines and is thankful for the outpouring of support he\u2019s received from fans, friends, and the NHRA community. Reed\u2019s injuries from the Seattle crash included two fractured ribs and the amputation of his left index finger.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one ever wants to be in a situation like that, of course,\u201d Reed said. \u201cBut if anything good came out of it, it was really cool to see how many people out there support our team. It felt like people were just coming out of the woodwork, asking how they can help, offering to come visit, sending their well wishes on social media. Honestly, I didn\u2019t even know that many people had my phone number!<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure come Q1 next Friday, it\u2019ll be a totally weird feeling standing on the starting line behind my car, but I know Jordan will do a great job. He\u2019s hungry to be out here racing and trying to get his name out more, and I\u2019m glad to be able to give him this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Vandergriff and the Reed Trucking & Excavating team will hit the track for their first qualifying run at 4:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Aug. 15.<\/p>\n \u201cAs for Indy,\u201d Reed added, \u201cWe\u2019ve got some things in the works and I was hoping to be able to confirm our plans for that event today too, but the fact is, we\u2019ve still got a few i\u2019s to dot and t\u2019s to cross before we can announce that. I can say, though, the fans will be really pumped and as much as I\u2019d like to be in the driver\u2019s seat myself, I\u2019m really excited for these next two events.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published on August 8, 2025. The post Jordan Vandergriff Named Interim Driver of Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel Dragster for Brainerd<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shawn Reed has tapped Jordan Vandergriff to drive the Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel dragster at the upcoming Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Aug. 15-17, at Brainerd International Raceway. The announcement came Friday via a Facebook Live session following days of speculation, as Reed continues to recover from injuries sustained in his violent crash at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/DI_flat_red-e1711481551475.png\")
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