Growing up in Odessa, Texas, Mikel McQueen didn\u2019t have many distractions \u2013 just baseball, work, wide-open spaces, and drag racing. Now 24, he\u2019s become one of the most accomplished young bracket racers in the region, collecting wins and championships at a rapid pace.<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November\/December 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n McQueen\u2019s path started generations before he ever sat in a car. His great-grandfather helped fund the construction of the local track. His grandfather raced and built cars. His father, Randal McQueen, continued the tradition and brought young Mikel out to the track. Baseball was his preferred pastime until he saw a Jr. Dragster for the first time. He got one of his own and raced casually while also pursuing baseball.<\/p>\n From ages 9 to 14, McQueen stepped out of the seat as his father joined his friend\u2019s Top Alcohol Dragster team on the NHRA Lucas Oil Series national tour. Mikel tagged along when he could, an experience that shaped his own ambitions.<\/p>\n McQueen jumped back into Jr. Dragsters at 16 when he and his father built his final Jr. Dragster from the ground up at the family\u2019s fabrication business. He aged out at 17 with numerous wins across West Texas and New Mexico.<\/p>\n Baseball had dominated his childhood, and after high school, McQueen felt lost without it. He found direction through longtime friend and 2024 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Mason McGaha, whose family welcomed him onto their NHRA Pro Stock team. The experience taught him how to work on race cars at the professional level, but it didn\u2019t quite scratch the itch to compete. \u201cIt still was like I was missing something,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter I got back in the car I was like, \u2018This is what I want to do. I can\u2019t work on a car \u2013 I\u2019ve gotta be behind the wheel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A Super Stock ride led to a Super Comp dragster opportunity. At his first bracket race in years, he went straight to the finals. That was the sign he needed. \u201cAfter that I just started looking for a car,\u201d he says. \u201cI told my dad, \u2018We\u2019re going to have to get into it because I gotta be behind the wheel.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In May 2021, he purchased his own dragster. The connection was immediate, as he notched two wins in three finals that season. But growing up around heads-up racers, McQueen struggled with the bracket racing discipline until local racers stepped in to help. \u201cThey took me under their wing and started teaching me the art of bracket racing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n From 2021 forward, McQueen\u2019s momentum has been relentless. In 2022, he won four of the five finals he reached to lose the track championship by one round. He won the championship in 2023 on the strength of five wins in seven finals, then won three titles in 2024 with seven wins in 10 finals. This season was his best yet, though. As this story was coming together, McQueen had 13 wins in 19 finals, securing one championship with another two possible. He earned a Wally in Amarillo and reached the split at the Spring Fling Million in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n \u201cI think winning the Wally meant the most,\u201d McQueen says. \u201cMy dad and his buddies all ran Top Alcohol Dragster, and that was my biggest dream \u2013 to win a Wally.\u201d<\/p>\n McQueen has refined his bracket racing strategy through competing throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and even Florida\u2019s winter races. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to beat that guy beside you,\u201d he says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re .100 on the tree or triple zero \u2013 you\u2019ve still got to find a way to turn on that win light.\u201d<\/p>\n McQueen, who\u2019s studying mechanical engineering, is set to graduate the day after the 30 Under 30 ceremony at the PRI Show in Indianapolis. With school behind him, he plans to chase more big-money races while working toward a seat in Top Alcohol Dragster, the class he grew up traveling the country to watch.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d really like to go get in a Top Alcohol Dragster and see if I couldn\u2019t go chase after a world championship,\u201d says McQueen, who credits his parents, grandparents, and supporters like Mark Taliaferro, Alan Bradshaw, Mason Wright, David and Kerry James, and Brian Canady for shaping his path. \u201cA lot of people have helped me get to where I\u2019m at, and I want to make them proud.\u201d<\/p>\n The post DI 30 Under 30 2025: Mikel McQueen<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Growing up in Odessa, Texas, Mikel McQueen didn\u2019t have many distractions \u2013 just baseball, work, wide-open spaces, and drag racing. Now 24, he\u2019s become one of the most accomplished young bracket racers in the region, collecting wins and championships at a rapid pace. Editor\u2019s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #197, the 30 Under […]<\/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-102824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102824","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=102824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}