After three years away from drag racing, world championship crew chief Tommy DeLago is back in the NHRA mix.

It was announced Jan. 4, DeLago is joining Davis Motorsports/Justin Ashley Racing and work with fellow world championship crew chief Mike Green.

“I feel that is a privilege to have someone open their doors to me and give me an opportunity to get back into something I spent over half my life doing,” DeLago told CompetitionPlus.com. “I feel blessed that I have this opportunity.” 

The last time DeLago was on the NHRA scene was when he was tuning Cruz Pedregron’s nitro Funny Car for the final eight races of the 2018 season.

Prior to that DeLago worked on Shawn Langdon’s Funny Car with Kalitta Motorsports the first time of 2018.

The highlight of DeLago’s career – so far – came in 2011 when he was the crew chief for Matt Hagan at Don Schumacher Racing when he won the 2011 NHRA nitro Funny Car world title. DeLago also tuned nitro Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria to the 2014 U.S. Nationals win.

“I’ve been running my own company (Beef Jerky Unlimited) for three years, but after having a little bit of a break from racing and get your head screwed on straight after doing it for 24 to 25 years and you start to miss it,” DeLago said. “I raced soon as I had my license and overall, I have been drag racing for more than 30 years. When you’re 52 years old and you have raced for 36 of it you don’t realize it, but it is pretty much who you are. 

“It’s like (crew chief) Ace (McCulloch) told me a long time ago drag racing is not a job, it is a lifestyle. Once I had a little break, I realized I need to be back into racing, it is part of who I am.”

DeLago acknowledged the connection with Davis Motorsports/Just Ashley Racing wasn’t something on his radar.

“I thought it would be cool if I could find some way to get involved back with Pro racing and still have time to try and run my company,” DeLago said. “Obviously, I would hire a manager for my company, so I could balance both. Mike Green called me up and says what do think about coming over here and working with me? He said he definitely would love to have me at the races to consult with and bounces ideas off and he told me he had some R&D projects he could use me on.”

DeLago and Green worked together on Darrell Gwynn’s New York Yankees sponsored Top Fuel dragster driven by Andrew Cowin.

“We had that car running pretty good and we always had kind of an inside little thing that one of these days we could work on a dragster again together and try and win a championship and finish that unfinished business we had back I believe in 2002,” DeLago said. “Mike mentioned that when he called that this was our opportunity to fill that bucket list and win a championship together.”

Following his conversation with Green, DeLago received a phone call from Davis.

“(Dustin) Davis called me and we hit it off in the first five minutes and it turned into an hour-long conversation,” DeLago said. “After Mike told me what he told me and the way I hit it off with Dustin I thought this was really good. Then my wife works for Stanley Black & Decker, and she had to go do some work at the Vegas drag race (Oct. 29-31) and she said why don’t you come out to Vegas and hang out and I said alright. 

“That’s when I got to meet Justin Ashley and I knew of Mike Ashley, but I had never met him, and I hit it off with those guys. You always want to be somewhere that you are wanted and appreciated, and I felt like this whole team has really great chemistry and they accepted me right away with open arms. That made up mind for sure. When they offered me this, I took it because it feels right.”

Green is thrilled to have DeLago in his team’s fold.

“Tommy is going to come on board and spend time working on some projects that we believe will increase our performance in 2022,” Green said in a press release. “He is really a smart guy who can dive into a project or task and figure it out for us. He can take on all sorts of special projects for us. He will also come to the races to assist with the team at the track. We are excited about it because he is a championship winning crew chief with a wealth of knowledge. This is a great opportunity to add someone to the team who is an experienced, intelligent guy to help us chase this Top Fuel championship.”

Ashley, the 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year, finished the 2021 season in fourth place in the points standings.

The Vita C Shot Top Fuel dragster team will begin preparing for the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series with on-track testing in Phoenix in advance of the NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, February 18-20.

“I’m actually down here at the shop in Pittsboro, Ind.,” DeLago said. “I’m going to spend three days here this week and three days next week and a couple days the week after. “We are building a new car and going through your normal winter servicing and getting everything ready. Mike has me on a couple of R&D projects he wants me to purse.”