{"id":102773,"date":"2025-12-27T14:44:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/di-30-under-30-2025-zane-diamond-odell\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T14:44:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:44:04","slug":"di-30-under-30-2025-zane-diamond-odell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/di-30-under-30-2025-zane-diamond-odell\/","title":{"rendered":"DI 30 Under 30 2025: Zane Diamond-Odell"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June 2022, Zane Diamond-Odell stepped into the world of drag racing with no real plan, some training from a couple technical schools, and no idea how fast his life was about to change. A car guy since childhood, Diamond-Odell got a call from\u00a0Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings<\/em>\u00a0star Kye Kelley offering him a position on his team. Diamond-Odell took the opportunity and has been on a whirlwind tour ever since.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November\/December 2025.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a military kid, Diamond-Odell grew up \u201ceverywhere.\u201d He started working on cars when he was 14, but mostly focused on appearances and audio systems rather than turning them into high-performance race cars. He had an interest in racing, but it seemed out of reach. While living in Phoenix after graduating from a heavy-duty diesel program, he was approached by two friends from college, 2024 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Elliott Loe and Jeremy Aceituno, who were working on 2015 honoree Lizzy Musi\u2019s NPK team after the trio studied together at NASCAR Tech in North Carolina. Elliott and Jeremy put Zane\u2019s name in front of Kelley, who needed help immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cKye called me one day, said he needed me out at National Trail Raceway in Ohio,\u201d he remembers. \u201cI told him I\u2019d put in my two weeks\u2019 notice if he was serious. And he said, \u2018No, I need you here in about two\u00a0days<\/em>.\u2019 I said, \u2018If you buy me a plane ticket and you\u2019re for real, I\u2019ll quit my job tomorrow.\u2019 He sent me an itinerary, I quit my job, and I\u2019ve been here ever since.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he arrived, Diamond-Odell had to learn quickly. The crew member who helped on-board him left the team a few months into Diamond-Odell\u2019s time there, meaning he had to continue learning on the fly while taking on new responsibilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What began with the big-tire NPK car quickly expanded into small-tire racing, street racing, radial racing, and then Pro Mod. \u201cI had to keep learning, and quickly, so I didn\u2019t get too far behind,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he had some solid mentors. In addition to Kelley, Diamond-Odell learned how to service and maintain the cars with guidance from mechanical minds like 2016 30 Under 30 honoree Jeff Pierce, Billy Stocklin, and 2023 honoree Evan Salemi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year ago, the drag racing world got a better look at Diamond-Odell, now known by many simply as \u201cSunshine,\u201d when Kelley shocked the Pro Mod world by winning the first race of the inaugural Drag Illustrated Winter Series, the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals. Driving his screw-blown \u201cCan\u2019t Get Right\u201d Camaro, a steel-roof-and-quarters, factory-wheelbase car, Kelley defeated some of the best drivers, brightest tuners, and most refined Pro Mods in the sport to win the $50,000 final round over eventual Winter Series champion Ken Quartuccio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was unbelievable,\u201d Diamond-Odell says. \u201cWe had no intentions on winning that at all. Everyone was talking smack about us the whole time. All we wanted to do was go out there and qualify.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Qualifying in the record-setting 32-car field was a victory in itself. Pierce, who Diamond-Odell describes as a \u201cstone-cold killer,\u201d was in an unusually chipper mood when he got to the track that Sunday morning, and when they made it through the second round, the team knew they were on to something. \u201cKye killed the tree every single time,\u201d he says. \u201cJeff never missed a tuneup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelley\u2019s NPK Season 6 championship, now airing on Discovery, was another defining moment, a long-awaited triumph after the team finished second the first two seasons Diamond-Odell was with Kelley. Though the\u00a0Street Outlaws<\/em>\u00a0era has effectively come to an end, Diamond-Odell looks back fondly on the moments it made possible, including a trip to Australia and racing on a remote road in California. The NPK series is also how he met his girlfriend, fellow honoree Megan Taylor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently 25, Diamond-Odell works full-time for Kelley \u2013 at the race shop, the dirt oval track Kelley recently purchased, the trailer sales business, and anywhere else he\u2019s needed. Moving forward, he wants to continue learning the mechanical side of drag racing. He\u2019s absorbed knowledge from other NPK crew chiefs like Daniel \u201cPhantom\u201d Parker, Javier Canales, and Adam Drzayich, but it\u2019s the mentorship he\u2019s received from Kelley, Pierce, and Stocklin that has really stuck with him and propelled him down the path he\u2019s on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t just see me as some dumb-ass kid and kick me to the curb,\u201d he says. \u201cThey taught me. Billy is good at dumbing things down. He\u2019d ask me, \u2018Will you look at this? It\u2019s doing this, this, and this. What do you think we should do here?\u2019 It\u2019s nice to be able to give my input and it ends up working.\u201cI want to become a tuner later on,\u201d he adds. \u201cI want to stay in drag racing and solidify myself in it. I just want to be the best I can be in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post DI 30 Under 30 2025: Zane Diamond-Odell<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2022, Zane Diamond-Odell stepped into the world of drag racing with no real plan, some training from a couple technical schools, and no idea how fast his life was about to change. A car guy since childhood, Diamond-Odell got a call from\u00a0Street Outlaws: No Prep Kings\u00a0star Kye Kelley offering him a position on […]<\/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-102773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102773","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=102773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}