After three years away from drag racing, world championship crew chief Tommy DeLago got back into the NHRA mix on Jan. 4, 2022, joining Davis Motorsports/Justin Ashley Racing and working with fellow world championship crew chief Mike Green.

DeLago, working with Green, just missed having a Top Fuel world title season for Ashley as he finished fourth in the season points standings and had three wins and three runner-up finishes.

Although Ashley didn’t reach the Top Fuel summit, DeLago was thrilled to be part of the Top Fuel team.

“I mean, obviously you've got to throw out the point that we didn't win the championship otherwise it just wrecks the rest of all the positivity, right?” DeLago said to CompetitionPlus.com. “Obviously that's tough. We weren't able to finish it off and blah, blah blah. Didn't do good enough. Other than that, I mean working for Dustin Davis, one of the best owners I've ever worked with. I've worked with Green before, so I knew that was all going to be good, but it was one of the most enjoyable years that I've had in probably 20 years.”

Before 2022, 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.

“I mean some of that has to do with the organization, some of that has to do with every guy on the team's just got the right chemistry and the right outlook and personality,” said DeLago, about the key to 2022, “And Justin as a driver, not only is he talented as a driver/owner, he's also just a great person just from the ground up. And again, when you're a driver and you're a person that really cares about all the people around you and really gets it and is sincere, that makes guys around you even want to work harder. Which the harder you work, the more it doesn't guarantee you're going to win, but it does raise your odds.”

 

 

What DeLago did relish in 2022 is that his team had to fight and claw for success.

“On a team that's, I wouldn't say it was underfunded per se, but definitely not as funded as probably a high percentage of the actual contenders that were out there,” DeLago said. “Just the hard work of the guys, all the guys on the team, different guys on the team that have been involved in championships. So, there's some championship DNA within the team other than just Mike and me. All that stuff just adds up just to be really good stuff, and really proud of the guys. Proud to be a part of this team. I had a fricking blast.”

DeLago acknowledged he returned to the NHRA refreshed.

“A little bit of it is me being off for three years and getting (to come back),” DeLago said. “It just gave me a chance to... I've done it for so many years and I was kind of wore down and just my outlook wasn't what it was when I first started drag racing. And the few years off that I had gave me the ability to screw my head back on straight and realized that I still do love doing this and it's really who I am. I really was able to come in with a fresh set of eyes and just a fresh outlook on getting back involved in something that I would probably never quit doing as long as people keep hiring me. It's definitely who I am.”

DeLago also couldn’t help heaping praise on his new team.

“They took me in with open arms and just, I don't know, I can't talk about it enough, just was a h*ll of an enjoyable year,” he said. “The ultimate goal wasn't reached, but a lot of the little goals that we had set for ourselves we were able to attain during the year. And then hopefully we can just take last year and try to use the same formula that Mike Green had an outlook on. And I'll start off this season with research and developing some more things for our combination to make our combination, or to attempt to make our combination better, than it was even last year. And just go from there.

We need to make the car quicker, we need to make it faster, and at the same time we need to do a lot of that earlier in the season. And we've also done some other things to try to gain a little bit of performance but gain more consistency than what we had even this last year. I think if we can put together some more consistency than what we had last year, we can be in the mix again. Realistically, especially in the Countdown, all you can ask for is to have a chance at the last day.”

 

 

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.

Some people on teams get caught up in job titles, but that is the last thing on DeLago’s mind.

“I've heard very many titles,” DeLago said. “Mike Green hired me to be the research and development leader and consultant. I've heard it called that I'm an assistant crew chief. I've heard it called that I'm a boat crew chief. I really don't... I mean, they're just titles. Right? Like I said, I got my head screwed on straight. I don't give a sh*t what the title is. I help wherever I'm asked to help, whether it's troubleshooting with the guys out on the car when we have an issue somewhere in management or clutch management or wherever. I'll be out there helping the guys troubleshooting. I happen to be pretty good at troubleshooting stuff. Sometimes during the week come up with ideas on a better way to approach what we're doing. Or sometimes it's just troubleshooting some of our tuning decisions, like going back and looking at 50 previous runs and looking for a trend and bringing that to Mike Green going, ‘Hey, check this out. I just was looking at these 50 runs. I think I see a trend.’ That's pretty much my job. 

“My job is to... Or even Mike Green said this last weekend when we were all down in Aruba is one of the reasons, he hired me was to challenge him so that he had somebody that had a good enough history with these cars that could see things a little bit different way than him. So not necessarily to tell him how to do it but it never hurts it. He's already an awesome crew chief, but it never hurts to have another guy around that's like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? Hey, I think this is telling us this. We're looking at this wrong.’ So, us putting our heads together that way I think is really good too. Titles, whatever, I don't care.”

With the way things unfolded last season, DeLago is anxious for 2023 to get going at the Gatornationals March 9-12 in Gainesville, Fla.

“Hell yeah I am,” DeLago said when asked if he was excited for the 2023 campaign. “I mean, this is what I love doing. I got the opportunity after three years I did need to get my head screwed on straight, but at the same time there, it started to be like, ‘Well sh*t, nobody's even called me. I guess my tuning career in drag racing is over.’ I had even thought that maybe it was over. So just to have the opportunity to be back, I've always thought it's been a privilege to get to make money doing what we love.

And when you have a second chance at it, and especially when you're over 50 and you're starting to look on the backside of life, the appreciation level is where it's at. I just appreciate somebody calling up, thinking it's worthwhile to have me try to make their team better. I'm going to do everything I can do in my power to give them everything that they are... Whatever they want. Like I said, you want me to wipe a tire? I'll wipe a tire. You want me to get up on the roof with a trailer to troubleshoot the weather station? I don't mind…you know what I mean?

DeLago said he believes his team has shown it has championship fabric and he is thrilled to be part of it.

“I look at a lot of championship teams, even in stick and ball sports,” DeLago said. “One thing that I do see is, yes, those teams have confidence, but they all seem to check their ego at the door. And there's nobody saying, that's not my job. Everybody does whatever job they need to do to help the team. That's how I feel my position is, just do what's needed of me. Be appreciative of just having an opportunity to get paid to do something I love. If I won the lottery, I would still do this. I would do it for free.”

When DeLago isn’t racing, he’s running his business – Beef Jerky Unlimited.

“I've got two retail stores. I've got a USGA-certified plant that we make it all, and then I've got my internet store (at www.beefjerkyunlimited.com.).”