Shawn Reed Racing Pre-Race Report: Reading

NHRA Reading Nationals presented by Nitro Fish

Event 15 of 20

Maple Grove Raceway

Mohnton, Penn.

Sept. 12 – 14, 2025

SHAWN REED

Driver of the Reed Trucking & Excavating Top Fuel Dragster

Countdown to the Championship Ranking: 10th

2024 NHRA Reading Nationals Event Recap: DNQ

Last Event (Indianapolis, Jordan Vandergriff driving):

Qualified second; First round exit (defeated by Kyle Wurtzel in E1)

Noteworthy:

• Reed returns to NHRA competition for the first time since his Seattle accident, which left him sidelined for seven weeks as he recovered from injuries that included multiple fractured ribs and an amputated left index finger

• Enters the first race of the NHRA Countdown to the Championship fresh off a win from the IHRA Outlaw Series event in Hebron, Ohio last weekend where he defeated Larry Dixon in the final round to score his second non-NHRA Top Fuel win of the season (also won the PRO Superstar Shootout in Bradenton, Fla. in February)

  • Reed’s participation in the IHRA event served as a test run to ensure he was ready to return to NHRA competition for the start of the Countdown

• Reed will be competing this weekend with a few adjustments, including a modified steering wheel and glove

• The Shawn Reed Racing team will start the 2025 NHRA Countdown to the Championship from the No. 10 position

  • ’25 marks the team’s second Countdown appearance; they finished the 2024 season ranked 10th in the final standings

  
  

Quotable:

On returning to the driver’s seat at last weekend’s IHRA Outlaw Series race in Ohio –

Physically, my hand is of course still sore. It’s only been seven weeks since the accident, but like I’ve said many times, the pain is tolerable, which makes it manageable in the car. Mentally, that was a little more challenging than I had anticipated. For seven weeks, I thought I was some big badass and I was just going to jump back into the car and be a hero, but I’ve got to admit, when I first strapped in, I thought about the accident quite a bit, and then when they started the car, I thought to myself ‘what am I doing?’ but after a few passes, it got better. By the third or fourth hit, I felt pretty good. My lights were all pretty consistent, and I felt like I did a good job in the car. Really for me, it was all about getting the crash out of my mind. Those first three to four runs down the track at 800 feet, I thought about it, but by that Sunday afternoon in the finals against Larry Dixon, I wasn’t really thinking about it anymore. So, hoping I’m past that and can stay in the mindset that it was just a fluke thing that happened.

On implementing new gear to account for his injuries –

I originally planned on wearing a chest protector for what I thought would have been the rest of the season, but I ended up taking it off after first round last weekend. It didn’t hurt me at all, even pulling the ‘chutes, I wasn’t in pain, so I don’t plan to use the chest protector this weekend in Reading. I’m wearing a modified glove with a finger removed; didn’t want that thing flapping around! And, I’ve got a different steering wheel, which I’m still getting used to but really liking so far.

On the Shawn Reed Racing team’s recent performance –

Our car is running great. We qualified third in Brainerd and second in Indy with Jordan (Vandergriff) driving, and although we had a few miscues on race day, the car has been running well. Then we went over to Ohio, set the car up against the opponents we were racing, and got the job done, so I think (Rob) Wendland and Ryan (Elliott) have a good handle on the car. We just need to not make any little mistakes on race day.

I’m looking forward to the Countdown, and I’m so excited to get back out there. I have the all-clear from my doctors and the all-clear from NHRA. We’re going to Reading to win this dang race, period. I want to move up from 10th to eighth and then to seventh and keep on climbing ‘til wherever that gets us, but the bottom line is, we not only want to go rounds this weekend, we expect to. We have a good car, good parts, a good team, and we’re ready to turn it up a notch.