NHRA Top Fuel racer Shawn Reed is taking nothing for granted.
And after his devastating crash at the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways three weeks ago, who could blame him?
Reed, who lost the index finger on his left hand and suffered a few broken ribs the result of a crash during the third qualifying session of the Seattle race weekend, says he plans to return to action in time for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs at Reading, Pa., on Sept. 12-14 weekend.
In the meantime, Reed needs to hold onto his 10th place in the Top Fuel standings to be eligible for the Countdown. Currently, he's sitting with 422 points and in that final countdown spot. Ida Zetterstrom is 11th with 274 points, 148 points back.
Zetterstrom, who is entered in both next weekend's race at Brainerd, Minn., and in the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis over Labor Day Weekend, could catch lightning in a bottle and overtake the idle Reed.
To that, Reed has announced he plans to summon a driver to run in his place at both Brainerd and Indy. Per NHRA rules, a substitute driver would earn points for Reed and his Reed Trucking & Excavating team.
Reed plans to announce the name of that driver on Friday.
“We didn’t run Sonoma (the event immediately following the Seattle race) for obvious reasons, but I intend to be race-ready and back behind the wheel by Reading (Pa.) for the first race of the Countdown,” explained Reed. “I have a pin in my thumb, which will come out later this month, and have been in regular contact with Josh Peterson (NHRA’s VP of Racing Administration) and feel confident I will be able to pass all of NHRA’s required medical clearances and be reinstated in time to run all six Countdown races.”
By getting a substitute driver and having that driver simply make a qualifying run each race, Reed would get the points needed to lock Reed into the Countdown.
“While our points cushion is pretty good, I’m leaving nothing up to chance,” Reed said. “My team deserves to have a shot at the Countdown, and maybe in these last two races, we’ll really go on a tear and move up to eighth or ninth to start the Countdown, who knows.
"This is drag racing, and stranger things have happened, but what I do know is that I want to lock up a spot in the Top 10 and give (crew chief) Rob Wendland the opportunity to continue collecting more data at these next two races. So, that being said, we’ve made the decision to have a fill-in driver compete on my behalf at Brainerd and Indy.
“I have too good of a team and too good of parts to miss these next two. We’re 10th now, but there’s no reason why we can’t finish the year in the top five. Hey, Robert Hight won from 10th one year, so whatever we need to do to give ourselves a shot at it, we’re going to do.”
Reed plans to make the announcement live on his Facebook page, Friday, Aug. 8 at noon ET.
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