Atchison returns to his roots at Mopar Canadian Nationals
London, Ontario, July 3 time IHRA Funny Car Champion Rob Atchison and the Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps Monte Carlo returns home to his roots for this weekend’s Mopar Canadian Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex. “ Grand Bend is forty-five minutes from home and I made my first ever drag race pass at the Grand Bend Motorplex,” stated Atchison. I drove the For Wheels Auto Super Pro Camaro and bracket raced regularly at the “Plex” in Super Pro until we bought our first Funny Car from former IHRA competitor Doug Hearsum. We put a cast iron Big Block Chevy with an automatic transmission in it and ran Pro Comp at Grand Bend, London Motorsports Park and Toronto Motorsports Park. We ran 6.60’s at over 200 with a steel motor and were very competitive winning the Grand Bend Pro Comp Championship. The car was an ex Bob Newberry car so it was built for a small driver so I couldn’t run a clutch type transmission so when we decided to go true Alcohol Funny Car racing we bought a car from multi-time NHRA Division Champion Terry Mullins and put an aluminum Big Block Chevy in it.
The Atchison Funny Car Team began their career in IHRA with a dream of a Championship. The dream started to reap benefits of their hard work and talent after the team decided to run an Alan Johnson 481X Wedge Engine over the stock style Big Block Chevrolet. “We took the Chevrolet as far as we could and to this day are the fastest stock block Chevy to run Alcohol Funny Car,” stated Atchison. We are Chevy guys and the AJ 481X was based on a Chevrolet and my dad Bob and I thought we could develop it into a winner. We had to basically do the whole learning curve on our own because nobody else was running an AJ in Alcohol Funny Car. We now make a bunch of our own stuff that has improved the performance and reliability of the 481X.
The 2003 Mopar Canadian Nationals marked a milestone in the Rob’s Atchison racing career when team Marketing Manager Dennis Smith and Brent and Connie Erickson made the deal to make Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps the primary sponsor of the Atchison Racing Pontiac. It didn’t take long to show the IHRA Funny Car class that the Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps Pontiac was all business as the car set the Grand Bend Motorplex elapsed time record at 5.727 seconds qualifying # 1 on their to Rob’s first career victory. “It was so sweet winning the first race at home in front of Brent and Connie and their families, my family, our friends and fans along with our former competitors,” stated Atchison. Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps faith in us boosted our confidence and it started to grow even more after winning at Grand Bend and then winning the next race at Richmond with our other car. We truly believed we were Championship caliber.
“We have been blessed with a great primary sponsor, associate sponsors and product sponsors throughout our IHRA Alcohol Funny Car career and our successes are a direct result of their support,” states Atchison. They have all shown a great amount of faith in our racing team and it is truly an honor to be associated with all of them and all our sponsors big and small are like family to all of us on this team and we really enjoy being part of their families. We are very thankful to all of them and our many fans that loyally support us at each and every race.
Currently sitting in 3rd spot in the Knoll Gas Nitro Jam points behind Terry Munroe and Mark Thomas the 3 times IHRA Champion hopes to add another Mopar Canadian Nationals title to his resume and tighten up the points chase. “It is a long season and anything can happen but we would like to win at home again in front of our fans,” stated Atchison. The next career victory for Rob Atchison will move him into a tie with Von Smith with 19 career victories trailing only Mark Thomas with 28.
For more information on the Atchison Racing Team visit Atchison Racing, Erickson Tie Downs and Tow Straps Erickson Performance & Erickson Manufacturing or visit the sponsor page at Atchison Racing.
