Since 2001, NHRA nitro Funny Car driver Bob Bode has been searching for a primary sponsor to run a full season. He has finally found one.

Bode confirmed to CompetitionPlus Thursday Stupid Fast Racing is going to be his primary sponsor for 2012, allowing Bode to compete in all 23 NHRA national events.

“I have been chasing the NHRA for 11 seasons, and my goal has always been to be full time,” the 60-year-old Bode said. “This is what we have been working for, so this is really exciting.”

Stupid Fast Racing is the owned by Jeffrey W. Sommers. The company manufactures athletic apparel, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms. Sommers recently moved his company’s headquarters to Las Vegas.

According to Bode, the deal with Stupid Fast Racing is for one year.

Since 2001, NHRA nitro Funny Car driver Bob Bode has been searching for a primary sponsor to run a full season. He has finally found one.

Bode confirmed to CompetitionPlus Thursday Stupid Fast Racing is going to be his primary sponsor for 2012, allowing Bode to compete in all 23 NHRA national events.

“I have been chasing the NHRA for 11 seasons, and my goal has always been to be full time,” the 60-year-old Bode said. “This is what we have been working for, so this is really exciting.”

Stupid Fast Racing is the owned by Jeffrey W. Sommers. The company manufactures athletic apparel, namely, shirts, pants, jackets, footwear, hats and caps, athletic uniforms. Sommers recently moved his company’s headquarters to Las Vegas.

According to Bode, the deal with Stupid Fast Racing is for one year.

“He (Sommers) has a five-year plan, and we contracted for one year, obviously with options beyond that,” said Bode whose team is based in Elk Grove, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. “We all wanted to get through one year and see how it works for everybody.”

Bode didn’t have a simple answer as to what kind of car he will be campaigning next season. Walt Przybyl Jr. who has been Bode’s crew chief the past five years will remain in that position in 2012.

“That’s a good question,” Bode said about the make of car he will be driving. “I wish I knew that. We still have a Toyota and we are thinking of getting another one, but we have been running the (Chevrolet) Impala because we have not tested the Toyota enough yet. Last season we split the season. We ran the Toyota for part of it and then we went to the Impala. I could tell you we are going to run the Impala and we might show up with the Toyota. We are right on the fence.”

The last eight years, Bode has competed in 10 to 14 races. Bode ran in a career-high 19 races in 2002.

“This would be making history for me if we can run good and stay out there,” Bode said. “We would like to have a top 10 car at the end of the (2012) season.”

Bode competed in 11 National events last season, finishing 16th in points. Bode’s best 2011 performance came when he lost to eventual champion Jeff Arend in the semifinals at Houston May 1.

“We fell off this past season and we were pretty disappointed,” Bode said. “In the first half of the season we were qualifying, but toward the end of the year there were some better cars. We fell of a little and the other cars picked up. We used to be a mid-teen, low teen car and then we started running high teens and the other cars all that were running high teens were running low teens. We know we have to improve on the output of the car. Part of the reason it changed, and we hate to complain about it, but the batch of clutch discs changed and when that changed we never found a handle on the new stuff. We got into another (clutch disc) batch by the end of season, and this one is doing real well for us.”

With Stupid Fast Racing in the fold, it has changed Bode’s offseason plans.

“We would like to get to one test session, but we are not sure which one it will be,” Bode said. “We went one time and tested in the offseason at Phoenix. We smoked the tires seven times and it didn’t do us any good. We have a little more money now, so we might look at that differently.”

The highlight of Bode’s career came on Aug. 15, 2010. Bode stunned the racing community by capturing an improbable victory at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., by defeating Jack Beckman out of the Don Schumacher Racing stable in the finals.