Chad Henderson is the kind of person you want to know. He's personable and brings a positive attitude which entices folks to gravitate towards the corn farmer from Madison, Alabama. Plus, Henderson knows what his destiny is.

Stevie "Fast" Jackson, the outspoken and flamboyant two-time NHRA Pro Modified champion, has already bestowed a lofty standard on the Limited Drag Radial racer.

"He's the Stevie Fast of corn farmers," Jackson declared.

"That's what he says," Henderson said with a smile. "You know how he is. He'll stretch a few things.

Henderson is a fourth-generation farmer who also specializes in wheat and soybeans. He makes a living in a challenging world.

"It's definitely something that has to be inside of you," Henderson said. "You don't see many kids growing up and saying, 'I want to be a farmer.

"It's something that's instilled in you. I'm a fourth-generation farmer, and my son will be fifth. And it's kind of an honor to know that they give me the opportunity to do this, because it'd be very hard for a person to start out. It's just too much money. You go buy a piece of equipment, for instance, a combine, it's $5-$600,000. You go buy a tractor, and it's another $300,000. It's very hard for a young farmer to get started and established."

Henderson is appreciative of the sacrifices made to ensure that he had a chance to make it.

"My grandfather went through the days when it was hard to keep going," Henderson explained. "My father and grandfather went through the '70s, and then the '80s put a lot of people out of business. The Jimmy Carter administration was rough on the farmer. And then you come through different things and stages and you're just blessed to keep it going. And then you sure don't want to be the one to let the farm fail."

When one has a tough job, it's always good to have an escape. For Henderson, it's racing his big-block Chevrolet-powered, nitrous-injected Buick in the Limited Drag Radial division. Ask him, and he'll tell you he's okay keeping his drag racing as a hobby.

Henderson laughs about an exchange on that very topic he had with Jackson several years ago.

"He said, 'Henderson, I'm going to race for a living," Henderson recalled. "I said, 'Man, you sure?

"He said, 'You going with me? You going to race for a living?" "I said, 'Man, no. I'm doing what I want to do for a living. I'm farming for a living. My racing is a hobby."

Henderson paused and continued, "If I had raced for a living, I'd have quit them both, probably."

Today, both are going strong in their respective vocations, and a few years ago, Jackson became Henderson's crew chief when longtime tuner Monte Smith died unexpectedly.

"Monte helped us for a long time," Henderson said. "I think it was about 12 years he was with me. He passed away, and it was pretty rough on me because he had done all the tuning, and of course, we're sponsored by Holley, and Monte worked for Holley, and it was just a really good deal for us. And we just had a real good family connection.

"Stevie had always been there and we'd always been friends and everything else. I remember when he found out Monte died and he called me and he said, 'I got you. I got you. I'm going to do all I can do. I'm going to fill in the gap."

Jackson is also helping Henderson away from the track. He is pushing for Henderson to become a candidate to appear on the reality series Corn Warriors. If he earns a nomination, Henderson must then win a fan-vote competition.

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His campaign manager is none other than Jackson, who is pushing hard for Henderson.

Henderson would love to earn a spot on the show, if only for his family.

"It's an opportunity for my family to shine in more of a national light on what we do," Henderson said. "I would enjoy doing it, but if I don't get to be a Corn Warrior, it ain't going to change the way I get up the next morning. I'm going to get up. I'm going to go to work. I'm going to do my job.

"It's something to have fun with. It's something to educate people with. That's a big deal. You need to educate people about farming like we have to educate people about racing. You have to educate people about farming and what it is."

"Ask 90% of people where their milk comes from or where their eggs come from, and they'll say, 'Walmart."

"It's another line of defense in there somewhere that we've got to make sure that gets instilled in people, to know what the American farmer is doing and how we're providing."

Even more challenging than educating the masses is reminding himself what he does and doesn't have control over.

"You control the controllables," Henderson said. "It's the same way in racing. You control the controllables. And in our corn growing, we've done just like a race car, we monitor everything in it, and we take it to the next level of what needs to be done. That's what sets us apart, sometimes, from other farmers. It's the attention to detail, just like racers, it's attention to detail."

Playing his role in ensuring humanity is fed means more than anything to Henderson.

"There's a lot of people that farm because it was this, or it was their family business, or it was something that they were born into, but 90% of your farmers, we enjoy what we do and we're doing it," Henderson said. "It's not just a job to us. It's something that we were born to do. And it means a lot to me."

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