When NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel driver T.J. Zizzo shows up to Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals, things will be drastically different.

Sure, the sideburns will remain, as will a gregarious, colorful personality that continues to make him a fan favorite.

But for a team that continues to make strides among the giants in the class, these changes are significant and signify the continuous forward steps for Zizzo and his team.

Immediately after the Summit Racing Nationals in early July, the team moved into a new race shop in the Chicago area. There, the team made significant changes to its Top Fuel car, including moving the supercharger to the back of the manifold and a much-needed update to an archaic – at least in current Top Fuel terms – clutch assembly set-up which, unbelievably, dates back to 1995.

“We had the last race car with the supercharger right in the middle of the engine. We’re the last guy here without it back on the manifold, so we’re changing that by Indy,” Zizzo said.

“It’s time to upgrade our clutch assembly as well. A lot of different things guys doing to control the clutch. These guys are throwing a bunch of horsepower at it and never allowing the clutch to go 1-to-1 with the engine.

“They’re allowing the engine to do the work. We are truly having our clutch assembly do the work for us because the technology has passed us by. So now we’ll be up to speed with that.”

These are major changes for Zizzo, who envisions this step as one of many as his Top Fuel program continues to grow.

By 2014, he wants to attend every race on the Full Throttle tour and, with a new race shop that offers massive improvements over their previous set-up, Zizzo also sees a two-car race team in the near future.

But it’s a grand plan and with every major decision comes some trepidation.

“It actually kinds of scares me because we do have something that runs consistent down the track, but it’s time to make the change. If we don’t make changes, we’re just going to be stagnant,” Zizzo said.

“These are huge steps for us. I guess I’m the worrier on the team if you want to put it that way. I’m the guy who never wants to make a change because I’m comfortable with where I’m at. We have a lot of exciting things happening and we are certainly always optimistic about these changes. These are momentum-building propositions that are coming together.”

Just talking about it brings a smile to his face, and the excitement is noticeable, though it usually doesn’t take much for Zizzo’s bubbly personality to shine through.

But the moves come on the heels of Zizzo’s best run of success in his still young NHRA career.

He scored round wins at back-to-back races (Chicago and Norwalk) for the first time in his NHRA career and hopes that momentum continues at Indianapolis.

Zizzo won’t be making the Western Swing, but after some thorough testing before the U.S. Nationals, he plans to offer an entirely different challenge to his Top Fuel competitors.

“We made a couple changes a couple years ago and it really picked up our performance,” Zizzo said. “Now we find ourselves qualifying in the No. 14, 15, 16 spot and we need to get back in the middle of the pack and hopefully with that new technology we will be able to do it.”

The improvement will only come with plenty of work.

There will be changes, and then changes to the changes, but Zizzo’s optimistic personality can provide a shot in the arm to his team.

That team could be bigger by the U.S. Nationals as well, and Zizzo can picture a team that includes some full-time staff for the first time in his Top Fuel career as well.

“We’re going to be in an environment where we can spread out. That’s going to be exciting in itself and that’s going to help the entire team’s morale, including my dad (Tony),” Zizzo said.

“We work on top of each other right now, but it is exciting. We’ve grown to a point where we’ve outgrown our current location and now we need somewhere to spread out. It is cool. I never thought that it would happen.”

Zizzo is plenty ambitious and that most definitely comes from his father.

He put T.J. in a Top Alcohol Dragster when T.J. was 16, and if T.J. is calculated, Tony is more off the cuff.

Combined, it’s a dynamic that has put the Zizzo family on an exciting path neither could have imagined.

“I remember it was probably four years ago when my dad wanted to upgrade our cylinder heads at the time and I fought him tooth and nail over it,” Zizzo said. “I said, ‘Dad, we don’t have the finances to do that. I don’t think it’s a good idea.’ It ended up being the best thing we did because it did get everyone excited on the team, and I believe that’s what will happen here.

“At the end of the day, my dad and I both want to be successful.”

It’s been a slow and steady state of mind to get to that end point, but Zizzo said that’s what has made the journey so fun.

These recent overhauls are the latest peg in reaching the Top Fuel summit, and Zizzo knows the top isn’t far off.

“We look the part; we play the part now,” Zizzo said. “You walk down here now and you can’t decipher if we’re a $5 million team or a 20-cent team.”

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