NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

2020 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Top Alcohol Funny Car world champ Doug Gordon will make his return to the quarter-mile and the 2022 championship battle this weekend at the North Central Region event at World Wide Technology Raceway. Gordon has been sidelined since a nasty mid-August crash at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd.

The team’s new Jonnie Lindberg 003 chassis is done and again topped with a bright red Camaro body with a new scheme by Greg Russell accenting primary sponsor still Beta Motorcycles as well as associate sponsors Lucas Oil, MB Cabinets, NGK Spark Plugs, and Hoosier Tires.

After the crash, the Gordon team did a lot of investigation to figure why their accident occurred – as well as Gordon’s terrible accident in Las Vegas in the fall of 2019 – and have come to the conclusion it is mainly an issue with aerodynamics. 

Over the years, the Gordons have worked hard on every detail of the race car to make it as fast as it can be, doing things like shortening the spill plates, shortening the rear deck plate, cutting off the lip at the rear sides of the body, and running no lip up of wicker on the rear of the body. 

All of these things added up are believed to cause the rear of the car to get light, causing it to fly similar like you would see in a door car with little to no downforce. 

After completing the analysis, the team added taller spill plates, a lip of wicker in the back, a lip on the side of the body, and fender flares at the front wheelwells. 

The Gordons hope to come back out as strong as ever to battle for the 2022 championship but realize it may take some time to figure out the new car. 

“It is going to be a huge feat at this point to get back to the top with a new car and behind on races,” said Gordon, “but with our team of girls and my dad making the tuning calls, I would not count us out yet.”