{"id":99731,"date":"2025-03-27T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/paul-lee-opens-up-on-near-50-year-journey-to-emotional-first-nitro-funny-car-win\/"},"modified":"2025-03-27T19:18:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:18:28","slug":"paul-lee-opens-up-on-near-50-year-journey-to-emotional-first-nitro-funny-car-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/paul-lee-opens-up-on-near-50-year-journey-to-emotional-first-nitro-funny-car-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Lee Opens Up on Near-50-Year Journey to Emotional First Nitro Funny Car Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Paul Lee, it was nearly half a century of dreaming, working, and never giving up. From the time he was a teenager watching Jungle Jim Lieberman\u2019s floppers light up the night at Atco Dragway to climbing from the cockpit in the winner\u2019s circle<\/a> at this year\u2019s NHRA Arizona Nationals, Lee\u2019s road to glory was anything but a straight shot. It took decades of perseverance, a life-altering health scare, and the right team at the right time to finally bring it all together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, I grew up at the racetrack,\u201d Lee says. \u201cI saw the funny cars of the \u201970s and thought, \u2018That\u2019s what I want to do with my life.\u2019 Since then, everything I\u2019ve done\u2014going to law school, building successful businesses\u2014has been so I could race a nitro funny car on my own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s opportunity to run at the NHRA professional level nearly slipped away for good after a massive heart attack<\/a> in late 2016. He had already joined the Kalitta Motorsports camp, posted some strong runs, and looked poised for a breakout. Then everything changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working out at home, and suddenly it feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest. That was it\u2014I went into complete heart failure. It was a \u2018widowmaker\u2019 blockage; doctors say maybe 1 in 10 survives that. If I hadn\u2019t been at home, right across the street from the EMT center, I probably wouldn\u2019t be here. After something like that, racing was the last thing on my mind\u2014I was just happy to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years of cardiac rehab put Lee back on his feet, and a carefully monitored test session in J.R. Todd\u2019s car convinced doctors that his heart could handle the strain of 300 mph passes. From there, it was a matter of assembling the right people around him. Crucially, the addition of crew chief\/mentor John Medlen and rising star tuner Johnny Lindberg proved to be the turning point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d hit a spot where I was spending a ton of money but smoking the tires almost every pass. It just wasn\u2019t fun. I was close to parking the car. Then I asked John Medlen, \u2018Would you at least come take a look?\u2019 He\u2019d been retired, but after checking us out, he found all sorts of problems and started teaching our team. He told me, \u2018I haven\u2019t had this much fun racing in 10 years. My new purpose is giving back, teaching these young guys how to do it right.\u2019 That\u2019s when everything changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their progress showed at the tail end of last season with quicker, more consistent passes. But it all came together in Phoenix. Not only did Lee and company clock an early, otherworldly 4.44-second pass, they marched steadily through eliminations to set up a final-round clash with standout Austin Prock\u2014on a date that marked the 18th anniversary of Eric Medlen\u2019s passing. For John Medlen, whose faith and perseverance have guided so many, it was an especially emotional day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d Lee says of that final. \u201cI prayed that Eric was with us, and I believe he was. I thought, \u2018This is it\u201450 years of dreaming, 50 years of never giving up. Don\u2019t leave anything on the table.\u2019 We won with an 0.29 light in the final, and to do it on the anniversary of Eric\u2019s passing with John Medlen tuning\u2014there\u2019s no way to describe that feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lee is quick to credit his entire team, from Lindberg calling the shots to each crew member turning wrenches, for making it all possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cChemistry is everything. You can have all the money, all the parts, and still not go anywhere if the people aren\u2019t working together. That\u2019s really been our story: the right people, all pulling in the same direction. I\u2019ve never had a nitro operation come together like this\u2014top to bottom. It took years, sometimes it was disheartening, but I never wanted to give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

That unwavering resolve, plus Medlen\u2019s mentorship and Lindberg\u2019s tuning instincts, has Lee looking forward to the next race instead of looking back at this one too long. He knows the celebration is short, and the next chance to prove themselves is always just days away on the NHRA tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely remember Phoenix,\u201d Lee says, \u201cbut like my old alcohol crew chief used to say, \u2018You\u2019re only as good as your last race.\u2019 We\u2019re not leaving anything on the table the rest of the year. My goal has always been to be out here, winning, after nearly 50 years of chasing this dream. And we\u2019re not finished yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on March 27, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post Paul Lee Opens Up on Near-50-Year Journey to Emotional First Nitro Funny Car Win<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Paul Lee, it was nearly half a century of dreaming, working, and never giving up. From the time he was a teenager watching Jungle Jim Lieberman\u2019s floppers light up the night at Atco Dragway to climbing from the cockpit in the winner\u2019s circle at this year\u2019s NHRA Arizona Nationals, Lee\u2019s road to glory 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-99731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99731","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=99731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}