Fritz
racing started about 17 years ago with just two cars that won about
every car show in the Midwest area. Jerry Fritz and his son Joel started
before Joel was even old enough to drive. First there was the Awsom
Z!!!! Jerry’s multi winning 1972 Chevy Camaro. Seeing what could
be done with a simple car, Joel decided to follow in his Dad's foot
steps and do the same. Before he was 17, he was driving a 72 Chevy Nova,
that also won just about every car show that he entered.
He also did a little street racing too!!! But the car shows just don’t
prove what most cars are capable of doing. So Joel decided to take his
Nova to the next level and created Pain Killer. He chassied, tubbed,
lowered, well you get the picture. This car was a four speed in line
shifting street driven car, that is when he wasn’t getting pulled
over! But again, the show/race car was not what they had wanted. So
they sold both cars, the Awsom Z and Pain Killer and went shopping.
They took a trip out to Ohio were the found exactly what they wanted.
A 1923 T altered coupe! They trailered the car straight to the track
where Joel ripped off a few passes to obtain his NHRA license.
Unhappy with the looks of the car, they did what they do best. Stripped
the paint and went Candy wild. Again they found themselves out at some
of the ISCA car show and with the #1 Altered Comp Roadster for 1999.
But this was a race car so its time to race. They got into racing the
Midwest Super Comp series. 1999 in the Midwest Super Comp series Joel
was named Rookie of the Year, and finished 5th in points, and received
a bonus for running a perfect dial in of 8.900!!!
Now with his rookie year behind him, he was on the hunt for the championship
for 2000. They made the motor 572ci, added fuel injection and made the
mother burn alcohol. The car was wrecked after going down Great Lakes
Dragaway, and the crosswind grabbed the chute and got caught on the guardrail.
A long story short was he was ok, but the car needed major work. A lot
of energy was put back into the car to get it back on the track again.
They got the car back together and only missed 1 weekend of racing.
The third pass, he cut a 4.02 light! And went 7.97@167mph. WOW!! Not
too bad for a guy that almost decided to retire. But their weekend back
was rained out. So the following week it was back to where the crash
occurred. Running in the same lane that he crashed, Joel went 9.03 spinning
the tires the length of the track. They finished the Season 12th but
were already planning for 2001 in which they finished 9th place overall.
For the 2002 racing year, they updated the electronics, made a motor
change to 468 B.B.C. injected motor. They finished 8th.
At the finish of the 2000-year, the president and others in charge of
the racing faction, approached Joel asking him if he would like to be
Vice President of Super Comp. Joel, stunned, said yes. He still has
the job position as of now.
His Vice Presidency led to President at the end of 2003.
2004 was a very good year for Joel and his racing team, Mom and Dad. He won his 1st ever Ironman Trophy at Cordova in May. That made for a very hectic racing season, traveling all the way to South Dakota. He finished 3rd in Div. 5, IHRA and 3rd in Midwest Supercomp. The whole Racing Team is looking forward to 2005.
2005 found Joel racing 2 classes. Supercomp and Top Dragster were he ran 7.90 time and faster. The car ran great until near the end of the season when there was engine trouble and they had to revert back to the old engine to finish the season. Fritz Racing had a very productive year finishing 3rd with Midwest Supercomp. Learning a few things about using a bigger engine.
It has been a long winter for the Fritz family. Problems with the car seemed to fustrate them. Could not get the car to run right. The first race was rained out which helped Joel and his Dad out. Working continually on the car to figure out the problems. Then Dave Livesey says to Joel, try different headers.
Well, the next race what happens but Joel's first run turns a perfect 8.90. Second another 8.91. Well, I guess the car and driver are back.
