Rivalries in sports are common.

There’s the bad blood between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, the hatred between Michigan and Ohio State in college football, and who could forget the battles between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

The Professional Drag Racing Association has a feud brewing of its own between Pro Nitrous racers – Stevie “Fast” Jackson and Travis “The Carolina Kid” Harvey.

The two drivers are putting their money where their mouths and egos are and they have put up their own money - $5,000 – to the winner of their grudge match during the Q3 session July 17 at PDRA’s  Budds Creek event – the North-South Shootout (July 16-18).

“Travis and his cheerleaders have been flapping their gums here for a little while,” said Jackson, the 2014 PDRA Pro Nitrous world champion. “When we weren’t running good at the first of the year, we had a new powertrain and it took a couple of races to figure it out, all his cheerleaders were talking trash about grudge racing me. Phil Shuler and I told him (Harvey) when we were ready we would tap them on the shoulder and let them know, but at the last race we became ready and they were not available to race. This week they started talking trash again and I was tired of hearing that, so I told them let’s put a little money up and see who has the baddest Pro Nitrous car.”

Jackson also was quick to point out this rivalry between he and Harvey is real – not of the WWE variety like The Rock vs. John Cena or Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant.

“This is nothing corporate or PDRA sponsored or anything,” Jackson said. “They want to race for some money and we do as well. We don’t just have a rivalry with these guys; we have a rivalry with everybody in Pro Nitrous really. I always have a chip on my shoulder and anything I can do to make racing a little more exciting and fun for the fans I’m always trying to do and these guys have been talking a lot of trash for a long time. It’s not so much Travis, as it is all his cheerleader crew members. They have him trapped and we’re going to see if he can get himself out.”

Harvey welcomes the grudge match with Jackson.

“The grudge racers call them nut huggers,” said Harvey about fans of certain drivers. “Stevie has a bunch of them and I have some, and we just have a lot of fans on both sides and they kind of stir it up all the time. We talk at the race track and I will help him and he will help me, but we still want to cut each other’s head off.”

Jackson believes the rivalry like he has with Harvey is good for the sport.

“With all the corporate involvement in drag racing everybody is so scared to step on toes and fans notice that,” Jackson said. “They don’t want to see people hugging and getting along. They want to see people rolling around on the floor. I’m not saying there will be more spectators in Maryland because of this, but there will be a large portion of people who come to see this because people drive up a rivalry. That’s why the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) does so good.”

Speaking of wrestling, Jackson relishes in playing the role of the bad guy.

“I would rather be the bad guy any time,” Jackson said. “I always say what’s on my mind and if you don’t like it then you’re just on the other side of the fence. I don’t pull punches.”

The brash attitude of Jackson hasn’t gone unnoticed by Harvey.

“Stevie is more the bad guy than the good guy,” Harvey said. “He has a lot of mouth, and he can back it up. The sport needs a rivalry. It gives Pro Nitrous something to talk about and doorslammer racing needs something like this.”

Jackson also was quick to make a bold prediction for his grudge match with Harvey.

“By the time he gets there (to the top end of the race track), I will already be back at the trailer,” Jackson said. “By time that raggedy-slow thing he has gets there I will be done doing my interview and I will shoot some photos on the track and I will be towing my car with the golf cart back down the return road.”

Harvey offered his own version of how the race is going to unfold.

“I’m going to leave first and he’s going to see that black car the whole way down the track,” Harvey said. “He might see the chutes in his face. I’m one up on Stevie already, so he has to catch up. I can promise you this you will see two of the fastest passes in Pro Nitrous in Maryland. I know Stevie has spare engines and I have spare engines and they will be melted to the ground. I promise you we will be changing motors after that. This isn’t being made up for the PDRA. PDRA has nothing to do with this. This is our own money we are putting it up. This is going to be a serious race. There’s nothing made up about this.”

Although the PDRA isn’t involved with the Jackson-Harvey grudge match, PDRA president Bob Harris has no qualms about it taking place at Budd’s Creek.

“If one of them was not one of our racers and one of them was then I would say that would be a little different, but both guys are in the top five or six in points,” Harris said. “They have had a lot of smack talk in the past and I just think both of them want to be king of the hill (in Pro Nitrous). We’re just going to pair those two up the last qualifying session and the only thing it does is build more excitement for Pro Nitrous.”

Harris acknowledged the two combatants – Jackson and Harvey have a chance to make this grude match work because of their name recognition.

“This is Stevie Fast, the Mouth of the South who always claimed to be the big grudge racer, and Travis is kind of king up here in the Carolinas,” Harris said. “This gives them a chance to run each other on an equal playing field. The Q3 of the PDRA, Pro Nitrous is the hottest ticket out there right now. I definitely think (drag racing) needs name identification.

“Back in the days when Pro Mod started people had name identification on their cars or back in the Funny Car days with the Chi-Town Hustler and Blue Max. Everybody had a name and you had had somebody to pull for. You may not actually know the driver, but you knew the name on the car. I think that’s very, very important.

“Also at the end of the day, this is about the PDRA needing to make a statement in the race world that we have the greatest and fastest cars in the world. We need some identity and I think by doing this we are starting to get some.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: We erroneously listed Phil Shuler as crew chief for Jackson. Billy Stocklin is the team's crew chief.