O'FALLON, MO (October 1, 2010) — After racing twice in the Extreme Pro Stock division in 2010, former NHRA Pro Stock driver Rickie Jones will debut a new Pro Nitrous car for the 2011 season in the American Drag Racing League (ADRL).
Jones and his father, Rick, had hinted about committing to the 2011 ADRL season during the Simpson Dragstock VII event in Rockingham, which was Jones' racing debut in the league.
With the final decision made, both are looking forward to a full ADRL schedule in 2011.
"I'm really excited about this," Rickie said. "Every time I've been at an ADRL race, I have a lot of fun. It's really cool to see how big the market has gotten and how many cars show up to each race.
"There's a lot of great cars that go really fast. It's a wonderful organization with lots of great people and I know it's going to continue to grow. It felt like a good time to come over and get more involved."
Rick Jones, the president of RJ Race Cars and Quarter-Max Chassis and Racing Components, is equally excited about the opportunity to race full-time with the ADRL.
"There's some really cool classes and a lot of fast doorslammers," Rick said. "There's a lot of business opportunities for us and I just like watching all these cars.
"You never know what you're going to see. But it's also a family atmosphere and we really like that. It is all very appealing and very inviting for us, and we are very much looking forward to it."
The 23-year-old Jones has already made a sizeable impact in his young but budding ADRL career.
In his first ADRL run in XPS at Dragstock, Jones went 179.59 miles per hour, the fastest pass in XPS history.
At the Summit Racing Equipment Ohio Drags IV at Summit Motorsports Park last weekend, Jones advanced to the semifinals in a tough XPS class.
Despite a long and successful career in Pro Stock – both in the IHRA and NHRA – the Jones family opted for a new challenge by jumping into the deep, talented and ultra-competitive Pro Nitrous class.
"It's a new challenge for us," Rickie said. "It's a really popular class and the cars are really fast.
"There's some new ideas we want to bring to the table and we're excited about tuning a nitrous car. I think it will be really fun."
Rick also knows it will be good business move for RJ Race Cars by jumping into the mix in Pro Nitrous.
Rickie said their company would have its trailer on display at all of the 2011 ADRL races as well.
"We're starting to build more of these cars and racing in this class will help us build better cars," Rick said. "Racing a Pro Nitrous car makes you a better Pro Nitrous car builder.
"We already have good customers in Extreme Pro Stock and we are looking to expand more for Pro Nitrous, Pro Extreme and Extreme 10.5. This just seemed like a natural fit for us. The Pro Nitrous cars are really cool and it's going to be exciting."
The 10-race schedule was also appealing to both, as well as the Friday and Saturday race format.
After a winter that will include finishing the new car and plenty of testing, Rickie is eager for the 2011 season to start. But he also knows that jumping into one of the ADRL's top classes won't be easy.
"The guys racing in that class definitely know what they're doing," Rickie said. "The list of great drivers just goes on and on. I'm really excited to be able to go out and race and see what we can do.
"I'm excited to see if we can run with all these guys."
