Justin Ashley came to the NHRA’s Top Fuel class with a wealth of information from father Mike Ashley, a multiple-time Funny Car winner and two-time Pro Modified champion.
He came with a winning smile and a winning Top Alcohol Dragster résumé.
He even came with his own online multi-episode documentary, “Fix, Flip, Fuel,” showing fans his 11,000-horsepower Strutmasters.com Dragster that runs the length of about two football fields in less than four seconds on nitromethane, as well as his transforming house-flipping renovations. The 24-year-old Long Island native is President of Ashley Developers, which specializes in rehabbing distressed properties.
Ashley will come to the Oct. 31-Nov.3 Dodge Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with two elimination round-wins from his professional debut at the NTK Carolina Nationals at Charlotte. In the rain-shelved eliminations Monday at zMAX Dragway, he defeated then-No. 3-ranked Mike Salinas and wunderkind-rookie and Seattle winner Austin Prock before losing to eventual winner Steve Torrence in the semifinals.
He proved he can switch back and forth from real estate to drag racing seamlessly, using social media to thank his fans – while walking to his airport gate to catch his flight from Charlotte to New York minutes afterward.
“I got the best team in the world. I’m so proud of them,” he said of his Aaron Brooks-led crew. “This Strutmasters.com Top Fuel Dragster was rippin’ all weekend.”
And with that, Ashley was ready to re-immerse himself into derelict, often-nasty homes that need TLC and LOC: lots of cash, leaving racing fans and drivers alike wondering what just blew into Charlotte and disappeared into another culture entirely for the next 16 days.
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