During his entire NHRA drag-racing driving career, Bob Vandergriff Jr. has had a close relationship with his father.

Today the Top Fuel team owner factors into a couple of different versions of the father-son dynamic.

During his entire NHRA drag-racing driving career, Bob Vandergriff Jr. has had a close relationship with his father.

Today the Top Fuel team owner factors into a couple of different versions of the father-son dynamic.

One is with class rookie Dave Connolly, the former Pro Stock phenom who has 26 victories in Pro Stock in addition to triumphs in sportsman-level Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Dragster, and Stock Eliminator. Connolly is a teammate to three-time Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon, Bob Vandergriff racing's general manager.

The other is with fellow multi-car team owner Don Schumacher. Vandergriff and Don Schumacher Racing have a first-time technical alliance this season.

Vandergriff, who'll turn 50 during the weekend of the season-opening Circle K Winternationals next month, has 18 years on Connolly, who recently turned 32. So Vandergriff said he "absolutely" feels like a father to Connolly.

"It feels like a father-son relationship. He's not my son, but he feels like my son in the car, trying to help him along with his development," Vandergriff – a genuine father to two daughters and two sons - said, talking like a proud papa.

"He's making great strides right now," Vandergriff said of Connolly. "I don’t care what you've driven before, you get in one of these car and it's an adjustment. It takes awhile for your brain to slow things down and for you to catch up to the race car. But he's making great progress, and I think by the time we get to Pomona he'll be just fine. It is definitely an interesting relationship between me and Dave now as he learns and progresses. It's exciting for me to see the growth. So that part of it’s really cool."

He's on the receiving end of some fatherly wisdom when it comes to Schumacher, he said. And already he has seen some of the benefits to their pact.

"You've got to thank Don for what he's doing for our program. He's been a great help to me, almost like in that father-son relationship, as well, giving me advice. He has bent over backwards. All the employees at DSR have been great to us as we implement some of their stuff. So I couldn't be happier so far with the alliance," Vandergriff said.

So does that make him and longtime on-track rival Tony Schumacher brothers?

"Hahaha!" boomed Vandergriff. "Let's not go too far with that!

"It's more of an advisory role. Like I said, though, Don's been great," he said. "I couldn’t ask for him to do any more than he's done for us."

All of a sudden, this fatherly role and dutiful son role have come about because Vandergriff literally no longer is in the driver's seat of his own dragster. He stepped aside, happy to focus solely on the business end of his team. Although he said he doesn’t regret his decision and hasn't second-guessed himself, that has him a little bit out of his comfort zone.

Bob Vandergriff Jr."Well, definitely being retired and at the dragstrip is a new experience for me – at least retired from the driver's seat. I'm still pretty involved with the race teams, obviously," he said. "As we grow our program, it's taking me a lot of different directions and giving me more time to do things we need to get done with this team. So in that aspect, it’s been a good thing.

"We’re really proud and happy with what we're putting together here, and I look forward to bigger and better things from BVR," he said.

He conceded he's "way more nervous outside the car than I ever was in the car, because I had control of what was going on. Outside of it, you’re watching your friends and employees and people. And you don’t want to see anything bad happen. God forbid anything were [to happen]. I've got two fully capable drivers and good people over here to take care of them. So it's just me more adapting to things being out of my control, more than anything."

He said he doesn’t anticipate getting that itch to slide back behind the wheel, not even for testing.

"You never say never, but right now, I don’t think so," Vandergriff said. "I mean, I don’t mind not being in the car.

"It's exciting for me, with Larry Dixon – the guy's a three-time world champion," Vandergriff said. "We always tease him. He feels like he's getting neglected over here. But it’s because I don’t have to worry about him. I know the car's taken care of. The last thing I need to worry about is Larry Dixon, because he can take care of himself. I'm spending more time on Dave's side right now, just because he's learning and progressing. It's funny to have Larry over here, feeling like he's being neglected."

With both of his dragsters cranking out 3.7-second elapsed times and low-3.8s and Dixon topping the 322-mph mark in preseason testing at Jupiter, Fla., last weekend, Vandergriff said he believes his team will be a force to be reckoned with in 2015.

"It shows that our cars have the ability to run with anybody's right now. It's testing, but it Dave Connolly translates well for us," he said. "We've just got to do it at the racetrack, at national events, and be more consistent when we do it.

"And I think now, with the addition of the team we have over here, with the second car running fulltime to share information, it’s going to be good."

BVR hired Joe Barlam after the Al-Anabi Racing downsized two weeks ago. And Vandergriff said the former IndyCar crewman and Kenny Bernstein Racing / Morgan Lucas Racing crew chief has contributed right away.

"I think Joe Barlam coming on board has helped us already. We've seen the value of that. He's a very smart, very experienced and knowledgeable guy. He's helped with some of the transition on some of this stuff we're doing now," the team owner said.

With Dixon elevated to fulltime status and the entry of Connolly into the class (with perhaps the same impact that Antron Brown made when he arrived from Pro Stock Motorcycle in 2008), the consensus is that the quality of racing will be as good as or maybe even better than ever. The Top Fuel class still has a strong core of at least 10 or 12 racers capable of winning every weekend.

"I'm excited to start the season, and I think we're ready for 'em," Vandergriff said.

It's unclear whether he said that as a confident father or a son keen on pleasing his dad. Either way, the Top Fuel class might get its BVDs in a bunch because of BVR.

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