It\u2019s been over a year since Matt Sackman made a pass in a Top Fuel dragster, so he wasn\u2019t exactly expecting a call from Canadian nitro veteran Todd Paton to drive one of the two Paton Racing Top Fuel dragsters at this weekend\u2019s 24th Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex in Ontario. But it didn\u2019t take long for Sackman to accept the opportunity to make his first trip to Canada to make his match racing debut. Driving the Fast Eddie Speed Wear\/Performance Data Systems Top Fuel dragster, he\u2019ll take on Gary Kraus in the \u201cPony Up\u201d Mustang Nitro Funny Car on Saturday, August 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sackman, an Illinois native who now resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, has a long r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that made him an ideal candidate. He served as a crew member on Antron Brown\u2019s Matco Tools Top Fuel dragster for several seasons and earned his Top Fuel license in the car in 2019. He estimates he made another nine runs during testing in 2022, his last season as a Top Fuel crew member, with a personal best of 3.78 seconds at 325 mph. Driving his family\u2019s Hangsterfer\u2019s Top Dragster, he won the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in 2023 and 2024 to go along with his one divisional win. He\u2019s also a three-time Top Alcohol Dragster regional winner in one of Randy Meyer\u2019s A\/Fuel dragsters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sackman knew Paton, whose Performance Data Systems provides data acquisition products and support for racers in a variety of classes, from his years as a crew member and sportsman racer. He wasn\u2019t expecting that relationship to turn into an opportunity to drive a Top Fuel car, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at work and my phone rang and it was Todd,\u201d Sackman began as he explained how the opportunity came about. \u201cI had talked to him at Bristol about ordering a cable for my dad\u2019s car, so I figured he was calling about that. He\u2019s like, \u2018That\u2019s actually not why I called. Want to drive one of my fuel cars in Canada?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to think about it for a second because I was dumbfounded that he was asking me to drive,\u201d Sackman continued. \u201cObviously, it was a yes. I was very excited. It\u2019s a very cool opportunity. I\u2019ve never been to Canada before, so getting to go to Canada to drive a fuel car is really cool. I\u2019m looking forward to going up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he first assumed he would be racing against Paton in the team\u2019s matching dragster, he later learned that he\u2019ll line up against the \u201cPony Up\u201d Nitro Funny Car instead. It\u2019s a unique pairing, but one Sackman feels he\u2019s prepared to tackle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never staged a Top Fuel car against anybody before, so that\u2019ll be a new experience, then I get to do it against a Funny Car,\u201d Sackman said. \u201cRunning at some of the Nitro Chaos races last year in Randy Meyer\u2019s A\/Fuel car, I got to stage against all kinds of nitro cars. It should be a cool experience and should make for some cool pictures and video.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Hilner photo<\/p>\n
Sackman grew up around nitro cars since his father, Darren, served as a crew member on multiple Top Fuel and Funny Car teams. Matt spent years working towards the opportunity to drive a Top Fuel car, a dream he lived in 2019 when he earned his Top Fuel license. He\u2019s since stepped away from the nitro world on a full-time basis, and while he doesn\u2019t expect that to change after this match racing experience, he\u2019s open to any opportunities that come knocking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know what could happen,\u201d Sackman said. \u201cObviously, I have hopes and dreams, but I\u2019m just going up there to have a good time and help Todd put on a good show. If something comes of it, great. If not, I\u2019m still very grateful to Todd for calling me and giving me an opportunity to do this. It\u2019s not too often that somebody calls and asks you to drive their fuel car. I\u2019m just appreciative to Todd and the whole Paton Racing team for the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paton will face Quebec\u2019s Dan Mercier in the all-Top Fuel match race pairing of the Canadian Nationals. The lineup also includes a quad of Canadian A\/Fuel dragsters, Jet Funny Cars, Pro Mods, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The post Matt Sackman to Make Top Fuel Match Racing Debut with Paton Racing at Canadian Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been over a year since Matt Sackman made a pass in a Top Fuel dragster, so he wasn\u2019t exactly expecting a call from Canadian nitro veteran Todd Paton to drive one of the two Paton Racing Top Fuel dragsters at this weekend\u2019s 24th Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex in Ontario. But it didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95181","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"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}