My \u201cfan in the stands\u201d subject this month is James Ward. James is known to many of the Mountain Motor Pro Stock and Pro Mod teams from his many years of fandom. When I first pitched this column to Wes Buck, he said, \u201cI like the concept\u201d and \u201cYou must interview James Ward.\u201d I was already familiar with James, who is easily recognizable by his Elijah Morton crew shirt. I caught up with James at the spring NHRA event in Charlotte, North Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: This column originally appeared in DI #195, the Women of Power Issue, in July\/August of 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n James, 72, is from Wendell, North Carolina, and he\u2019s been a fan of drag racing since 1967. He said he first met Rickie Smith and followed his career and fell in love with the horsepower and the people, and now he goes to as many events as he can. He will attend PDRA, NHRA, Big Dog at Piedmont, Pro Mods at the Rock, and any other events he can fit into his travels.<\/p>\n I asked him if he could spend an hour with one person involved in drag racing, past or present, who he would choose and why? \u201cOh, there are so many great ones, but if I\u2019m going to have to pick, there are three that I would have to choose. First, Eddie Hill, who ran NHRA Top Fuel and was the first to run 4 seconds in the quarter mile. I would also choose 10-time NHRA world champion in Pro Stock, Bob Glidden. But the one I want to spend time with every chance I could is Roy Hill, the colorful racer from the Carolinas who has some amazing stories to tell. Spending time with Roy is always full of laughs.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked James what class was his favorite and he said Pro Mod because they are the fastest, wildest cars on the track at any event.\u00a0<\/p>\n I do not know many people who have been to more dragstrips than James. He is a frequent fan at all the tracks in the Carolinas, and the list of others is longer than the space available for this column.<\/p>\n James\u2019 favorite part of going to the track is the family atmosphere and the people. \u201cI\u2019ve met so many crew guys and race families who have become my friends and who I enjoy visiting during the races,\u201d James says. \u201cI am very blessed that many teams have invited me into the pits and treat me as family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n James said his favorite place to watch the racing is from the starting line, but he loves to be in the pits and staging lanes seeing how the crews interact and how the cars are put together, as well as chatting with the crews and drivers.<\/p>\n When he is not at the drag races, James enjoys spending time with his wife, his two adult children, and his four grandchildren. He likes to keep up with the latest news through\u00a0Drag Illustrated<\/em>, Competition Plus, Drag Race Central, and numerous other sites dedicated to all things drag racing.<\/p>\n I asked James what is the one thing that you have to do when you\u2019re at a drag race. He said visit the Mountain Motor Pro Stock pits and spend time with his friends.<\/p>\n My goal with this column is to celebrate the fans in the stands. James is definitely one of those people.<\/p>\n If you have a special \u201cfan in the stands\u201d story, reach out to me on social media or at the following email: Denise@DragIllustrated.com.<\/p>\n The post 10 Questions With James Ward<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My \u201cfan in the stands\u201d subject this month is James Ward. James is known to many of the Mountain Motor Pro Stock and Pro Mod teams from his many years of fandom. When I first pitched this column to Wes Buck, he said, \u201cI like the concept\u201d and \u201cYou must interview James Ward.\u201d I was […]<\/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-102136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102136","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=102136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}