On July 15, 2025, Mickey Thompson<\/a> brought 16 lucky racers to Summit Motorsports Park. The group included corporate executives, blue-collar workers, and everyone in between,\u00a0and each participant had the chance to climb into a dragster and cover the quarter-mile in roughly 10 seconds at speeds exceeding 125 mph. For many, it was their first real taste of drag racing, but for all, the thrill of the experience left a lasting impression.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year was exciting because we had a great mixture of customers, employees, and special guests,\u201d said Jason Moulton, Mickey Thompson\u2019s Director of Motorsports. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s fun watching everyone\u2019s reactions after they come back from making their first pass.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For both businesses, the event also serves as a crucial research and development platform. \u201cOur relationship with the school has always been a great partnership,\u201d Moulton explained. \u201cWe get excellent feedback from the consistent runs they put on our tires. If we want to try something new, or we\u2019re looking for data on consistency and longevity, we know we can reach out to Frank Hawley\u2019s for that feedback which helps us improve our products.\u201d<\/p>\n While the day was filled with learning and team-building, the competitive spirit revved up during the Dragster Adventure Challenge, where racers go head-to-head in an eliminator-style competition. In a stunning turn of events, the day\u2019s champion was a first-time racer: 24-year-old Andrew Magyar. A recent mechanical engineering graduate, Andrew attended as a birthday gift from his father, James Magyar, a salesman for Mickey Thompson.<\/p>\n \u201cDriving for the first time was terrifying but exciting. I didn\u2019t know how fast it would go or if I\u2019d have the ability to control it and stay straight,\u201d admitted Magyar, who had never gone so fast before. However, this is where the expertise and guidance of Frank Hawley and his team proved essential. \u201cFrank made me feel really safe. He stopped me after my second attempt and had me do another half-track pass, and I\u2019m glad he did. Learning the little things, like the burnout and staging, helped a ton.\u201d<\/p>\n After getting a handle on things, Magyar got competitive and his motivation was simple but powerful: \u201cI realized if I lost, I\u2019d have to stop driving. So, I kept trying to win just so I could keep driving the dragster!\u201d<\/p>\n In a twist worthy of a Hollywood script, however, Magyar\u2019s first-round opponent was none other than Mickey Thompson\u2019s president, John Bodart. Magyar took the win, unaware of his opponent\u2019s identity until after the race. Throughout each subsequent round, he took Hawley\u2019s coaching to heart and made his way through to the finals. \u201cFrank said, \u2018If you keep winning, don\u2019t change anything at the last second. Just do what you do.\u2019 And it worked well. I was super surprised to win!\u201d proclaimed Magyar.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, for Bodart, the experience was equally impactful, despite the first-round exit. \u201cI\u2019ve done many \u2018hands-on\u2019 driving experiences in my career, and this was the best overall experience I\u2019ve had,\u201d Bodart stated. \u201cI was blown away by the adrenaline rush, too. The acceleration you feel with the dragster and the Mickey Thompson tires was exhilarating. Now I know why people love drag racing!\u201d Also a first-time drag racer, Bodart especially appreciated how well-organized the competition was.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had a great partnership with Mickey Thompson for more than two decades, and their tires have been an essential part of giving our students a safe, consistent, and exciting experience on the dragstrip,\u201d added Frank Hawley, founder of the school. \u201cWatching Andrew adapt so quickly and drive with such composure on his very first outing was impressive\u2014he showed the kind of focus and determination it takes to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Bodart and Magyar, as well as the rest who participated in Mickey Thompson\u2019s corporate day at Frank Hawley\u2019s Drag Racing School, learned lessons that are equally applicable on the track and in life. \u201cBeing in a hurry is a state of mind. You need to go slow to go fast,\u201d shared Bodart. Magyar agreed, saying, \u201cTake a breath before you gun it. Don\u2019t tense up; the looser you are, the better things will be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvents like this connect us,\u201d Moulton added. \u201cThey remind us why we do what we do and why it matters. Tires aren\u2019t just round pieces of rubber. They\u2019re what keep you safe, what helps you go faster, and what makes moments like these possible. When you feel that kind of acceleration and excitement firsthand, you understand the passion that drives us every day.\u201d<\/p>\n As the event wrapped up, Magyar was awarded his trophy, but the true victory was shared by all. Mickey Thompson successfully reinforced its culture of passion, connected its people to the company\u2019s core mission, strengthened its industry relationships, and provided a once-in-a-lifetime thrill, proving that the fastest way to build a team is one quarter-mile at a time.<\/p>\n\n This story was originally published on August 25, 2025. The post Mickey Thompson\u2019s Team Straps in to Drive Dragsters at Frank Hawley\u2019s Drag Racing School<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the team at Mickey Thompson Performance Tires & Wheels wants to remind themselves why they\u2019re so passionate about building products for racers, they head to Norwalk, Ohio, for their annual Dragster Adventure Challenge immersive experience with Frank Hawley\u2019s Drag Racing School, where they strap into dragsters and feel the fun of blasting down the […]<\/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-102027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102027","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=102027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102027\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_9914.jpg\")
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