{"id":103055,"date":"2026-02-17T19:44:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/oberhofer-brothers-together-again-at-rick-ware-racing\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T19:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:44:04","slug":"oberhofer-brothers-together-again-at-rick-ware-racing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/oberhofer-brothers-together-again-at-rick-ware-racing\/","title":{"rendered":"Oberhofer Brothers Together Again at Rick Ware Racing"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOORESVILLE, N.C. \u2013 For as long as they have been brothers, Jim and Jon Oberhofer have been involved in drag racing. Since attending races with their father, Dave, the Oberhofer Brothers have been nearly inseparable, working with their dad on the Top Fuel dragsters he was a part of and eventually carving their own drag racing paths, most prominently with Kalitta Motorsports.<\/p>\n

In 2026, Jim and Jon Oberhofer are together again, this time at Rick Ware Racing (RWR) where the duo will serve as the crew chiefs for Top Fuel drivers Tony Schumacher and Clay Millican, respectively, in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Joining them as co-crew chief for both entries will be another NHRA veteran, Nicky Boninfante.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at what Jim and Jon have accomplished in this sport, it\u2019s remarkable. Championships, U.S. Nationals wins, decades of experience at the highest level, but what really stands out to me is that they\u2019ve grown up in this business together. There\u2019s built-in trust and understanding that isn\u2019t manufactured. Pair that with Nicky\u2019s experience and success, and you\u2019ve got three guys who have seen every scenario drag racing can throw at you,\u201d said team owner Rick Ware.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn NHRA, performance comes down to thousandths of a second, and chemistry matters just as much as horsepower. We feel like we\u2019ve assembled a leadership group that gives both Tony and Clay the tools to compete for wins and contend for championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Oberhofer had been Millican\u2019s crew chief since 2022 and when RWR acquired the team in 2023, Jim remained in the role and an integral part of the operation, which has gone on to win five Top Fuel event victories, including the 2024 U.S. Nationals. With the addition of eight-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher to RWR for the final seven races of 2025, Jim was moved to crew chief of Schumacher\u2019s No. 15 American Communications Construction dragster. The best person to lead Millican\u2019s No. 51 Parts Plus Top Fuel program and maintain its winning ways was, of course, another Oberhofer.<\/p>\n

Jon Oberhofer comes to RWR from Kalitta where he rose from cylinder head specialist on the double championship-winning Top Fuel dragster of Scott Kalitta in 1994-1995 to co-crew chief for Top Fuel drivers Dave Grubnic (2004-2007) and Doug Kalitta (2007-2008), and Funny Car drivers Jeff Arend (2009-2013), Del Worsham (2014-2016) and J.R. Todd (2017-2025). In addition to the two Top Fuel titles Jim was a part of in 1994-1995, he won two Funny Car championships via Worsham in 2015 and Todd in 2018. And, like his brother, Jon has tasted victory at the prestigious U.S. Nationals, winning back-to-back with Todd in 2017-2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim and I have worked together a lot over the years, so there\u2019s already an understanding before you even open the trailer in the morning,\u201d Jon said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to explain much because we already know what each other is thinking. Coming into Rick Ware Racing with Tony and Clay and having Nicky there too, it just felt comfortable right away. It\u2019s competitive, but it\u2019s also fun, and that\u2019s usually when you do your best work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Oberhofer began his time at Kalitta as a parts washer in 1983. After working with Frank Cook and Chuck Landers on their Alcohol Funny Car in 1984-1986 and Jay Meyer\u2019s Top Alcohol dragster in 1987, Jim retuned to Kalitta in 1988 as a crew member for Scott Kalitta and his Top Fuel dragster. He soon took on many roles, from cylinder head specialist for Scott Kalitta to co-crew chief for Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta (2000-2003) to crew chief for Scott Kalitta (2004-2005), Hillary Will (2006-2008) and Doug Kalitta (2009-2018), all while serving as the team\u2019s general manager for 18 years (2000-2017).<\/p>\n

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\u201cJon and I have spent our whole lives around these cars, so getting the chance to do this together again is pretty special,\u201d Jim said. \u201cWe\u2019ve both worked different paths over the years, but the approach never really changes. You pay attention to the details and take care of the people around you. Tony and Clay give great feedback, Nicky brings a steady hand across both teams, and that makes our job easier. It feels like a group that knows how to work together before the season even starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the Oberhofers, Nicky Boninfante began his drag racing career attending races in the early 1970s with his father, Nick Boninfante Sr. Nicky has also curated an impressive resume that includes previous crossovers with the Oberhofers, as he spent two stints at Kalitta \u2013 Top Fuel in 1994-1995 as clutch specialist for Scott Kalitta before returning in 2008 as crew chief for Doug Kalitta in Top Fuel and then co-crew chief in Funny Car from 2009 through 2019 with drivers Arend (2009-2013), Worsham (2014-2016), Alexis DeJoria (2017) and Shawn Langdon (2018-2019). In 2015, Boninfante pulled double duty by also serving as crew chief for Worsham, where they won the 2015 NHRA Funny Car championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter being around this sport as long as I have, you recognize when a group fits. There\u2019s respect here. Nobody guards information and nobody panics when things don\u2019t go perfectly. That lets you make smarter decisions, and over a long season that usually shows up on the scoreboard,\u201d said Boninfante, who has been with RWR since 2024.<\/p>\n

The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series kicks off its milestone 75th season with the NHRA Gatornationals March 5-8 at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway. Livestreaming of every round can be seen on\u00a0NHRA.TV<\/a>\u00a0with FS1 providing tape-delayed coverage.<\/p>\n

The post Oberhofer Brothers Together Again at Rick Ware Racing<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOORESVILLE, N.C. \u2013 For as long as they have been brothers, Jim and Jon Oberhofer have been involved in drag racing. Since attending races with their father, Dave, the Oberhofer Brothers have been nearly inseparable, working with their dad on the Top Fuel dragsters he was a part of and eventually carving their own drag […]<\/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-103055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103055","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=103055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}