TJ Pruitt
Several companies took the leap with the Professional Drag Racers Association as they stepped out for their debut in 2014. One of those companies was Huddleston Performance, who sponsored both the Pro and Top Junior Dragster categories. Huddleston Performance is one of the frontrunning companies for Junior Dragster racing, providing turn-key cars, engines, clutches and a full line of components for racers all over the world. Now Huddleston Performance mastermind, Bo Huddleston, and his team are ready to increase their PDRA involvement by debuting a new Pro Boost team and increasing their sponsorship involvement.
Bo’s son Thomas, a former junior driver himself, will pilot the Pro Boost car, which will be strikingly familiar to professional eighth mile followers. A few short days ago, the Huddleston family purchased the famous “Lowmad,” a 1955 Chevrolet Nomad machine, previously campaigned by David Elsberry’s team.
Thomas Huddleston, now 28, was a proficient Junior Dragster driver in his day, racking up quite a list of awards, race wins and championships. After his Junior Dragster days, Thomas focused on schooling, earning his college degree before coming back to Huddleston Performance where he now works as their main engine builder. Prior to this new chapter, Thomas piloted a number of bracket dragsters and spent time behind the wheel of a nitrous-breathing Outlaw 10.5 ride.
Huddleston bought the car nearly turn-key and had a mostly ready made Pro Boost operation within a few hours. “I literally thought I was going to buy a rolling car and have to go get a motor and transmission and all the other stuff. By the end of it, I had purchased the majority of the car. We went from Sunday morning not having the main piece needed to run a race team to Sunday evening having the majority of what we needed in one purchase. And for that to happen three days before the PRI starts – well, some of us work well under pressure, so here we are.”
