Ryan Priddy, an all-purpose crewman on the Mountain View Tire & Auto Center NHRA Pro Stock team, is going to do some driving of his own during the 2019 season in NHRA’s Factory Stock Showdown class.

The plan is for Priddy to be behind the wheel for all eight Factory Stock Showdown races next season. He will be campaigning a 2018 Chevy Camaro owned and sponsored by Nick Mitsos, the boss of Mountain View Tire. Mitsos also owns and sponsors the Pro Stock Camaro driven by Vincent Nobile. The team is based out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Priddy is a longtime bracket racer in the NHRA ranks.

“This is very awesome for me to get to drive this thing,” Priddy said. “They had seven (Factory Stock Showdown) events in 2018 and they are supposed to have eight events (in 2019) and the first one will be in Gainesville (Fla.) (in March),” said Priddy, who has been working for Mitsos for a decade. “I saw the COPO’s out there drag racing and I fell in love with them and I told Nick, ‘I think we should get one,’ so we ordered it last year.”

Leah Pritchett, who pilots a Top Fuel dragster for Don Schumacher Racing, won the 2018 season title in NHRA’s Factory Showdown class.

Priddy said the team acquired the Factory Showdown Camaro in September and he made the first test laps in the car Oct. 21 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

“We went to the national (event) in Vegas (Oct. 26-28) and they had a Pro test session (Oct. 29) (at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway),” Priddy said. “I was able to make six or seven runs that day and then we switched over and they had a Test & Tune (Oct. 31) for the Division 7 race and we spun the tires on one run and on another run, we went 8.32 (seconds).”

Priddy entered the Camaro in the Stock Eliminator class for the Division 7 race that was held last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He went out first round in the Stock Eliminator class, but prior to the event he collected some strong data for the Factory Showdown setup.

“We saw what the car was capable of doing and the car was legal Factory Stock Showdown weight and on (Nov. 1), the weather was a little bit better, nd we went 8.19 (seconds) at 165 (mph).”

Priddy said the Camaro has only made a total of 18 passes.

“We’re going to test multiple times (in the offseason) (in Fontana),” Priddy said. “I’m very excited for the (2019) season. I can’t wait to get out there.”

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— Competition Plus (@competitionplus) November 7, 2018