STATS MOTIVATE NITRO JOE
Joe Jackson jokes and says it was boredom that led to his creation of Nitro Joe Stats. Acquaintances know he merely uses that off the cuff answer as a front.
The truth is Jackson is anything but bored. The Loudonville, Ohio-based lifetime drag racing fan is dedicated to preserving the history of class racing.
What would inspire a man to spend countless hours logging in numerous elapsed times and speeds and the accompanying
car combinations? Why would someone want to log the data of what a
Z/Stock Automatic Pinto could run in the quarter-mile?
Joe Jackson jokes and says it was boredom that led to his creation of
Nitro Joe Stats. Acquaintances know he merely uses that off the cuff
answer as a front.
The truth is Jackson is anything but bored. The Loudonville, Ohio-based
lifetime drag racing fan is dedicated to preserving the history of
class racing.
“I don't know, I've always been into ET’s and mph’s and everything of
what cars do,” said Jackson, whose parents Bill and Mary Ann Jackson
have raced the NHRA U.S. Nationals since 1964. “Just to have them there
where you can sit there for hours and say Joe Racer here went 10.31. I
want to see what he's went all year long. You can just bring it up on
the computer and see what all ET's he's gotten for the year.”
Jackson first began keeping stats in 1993 but at the urging of a friend
two years later, he converted his personal computer entries into a book
of printed stats.
“I took 50 books I made up myself and took them to the NHRA
Springnationals and they wqere gone in an hour,” Jackson
pointed out.
The books feature stats for Comp, Super Stock and Stock, and those
stats break down the runs by classes from fastest to slowest. It has
the cars and the engine combinations.
“It went over big,” Jackson said. “I guess all of the hours were worth it.”
Advertisement