DELAGO’S SECRET LIFE OUTSIDE OF NITRO
Tommy Delago leads a secret life and doesn’t mind if people know it.
Twenty-three times a year, Delago is on the road as crew chief for Matt Hagan’s 8,000-horsepower nitro Funny Car. On those rare weekends off he’s a bracket racer.
Recently Delago knocked off the rust during the Sparco 3-20s at Bristol Dragway, a three-day bracket race paying $20,000 to win each day to the winner.
“I don’t know if I’m good or not,” said Delago. “I just went out there to have some fun. I kind of grew up with Kyle, Ted Seipel and Georgia Seipel back when I lived in California, so obviously I didn’t want to miss the race. I just went out there to have fun and I don’t know, I knocked the rust off and everything kind of went okay on the last day. I got a little lucky.”
Delago has a small-block powered 1967 Chevy which covers the quarter-mile in nine seconds.
“When I first started fuel racing I had to sell it because I didn’t have enough money,” Delago admitted. “The guy I sold it to about six years ago was going to get married, so I climbed on the chance to buy it back and I’m not ever selling it again.
Delago admittedly works in a pressure cooker called nitro racing, but during the bracket racing weekend it wasn’t tough to differentiate the two different styles of drag racing.
“The nitro stuff is the real world for me, it’s work; obviously I get an enjoyment out of it,” explained Delago. “The Nitro stuff is a lot harder for me to do but the sense of accomplishment is a lot greater at least for me. The bracket racing stuff, I might get to do it a couple of times a year but it’s more of a vacation for me than anything. It gets my brain off the nitro car and lets me come back to the nitro car with a fresh outlook on everything."
Before you draw the conclusion winning was an afterthought for Delago, bear in mind that he won at least two rounds each day with one final round appearance. The weekend was a learning experience for him on the other side of the fence.
“I raced against the best of the best out there in bracket racing,” Delago said. “They come from all around the country, and I definitely got schooled a few times.”
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