One of the best parts of drag racing is the unexpected upsets. Buddy Hull, the driver for Jim Dunn Racing, achieved another first-round upset for the second week in a row in the Mooneyes Funny Car against No. 1 qualifier and reigning World Champion Austin Prock at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway. This first round win launched Hull into his third quarterfinals of his sophomore Funny Car season.
“We come out here to win. If we didn’t believe we have a chance at winning, we wouldn’t even show up,” said Hull. “We won first round, beating Austin Prock two races in a row. It’s fantastic, they’re hard to beat. They’re the best out here, there’s a reason why it says No. 1 on the side of their car. But we were prepared for them.”
Hull entered race day in the No. 16 position, after being met with difficult weather conditions throughout qualifying that made it challenging to get into a good groove. The Jim Dunn Racing team rallied and put together a tune-up that they felt good about coming into race day. It paid off for them when they were able to get a win past Austin Prock and John Force Racing.
“It’s huge for our team to pick up these round wins,” said Hull. “We were back at the trailer, and Big Jim goes ‘you’ve never had a clutch like this, so be ready, it’s going to be very different. I’m taking it back to old school.’ And that’s what we did. It just burned its way down the track, A to B in this iconic Mooneyes 75th anniversary car.”
In the second round of eliminations, Hull faced No. 8 qualifier Paul Lee. Jim Dunn Racing had plans to replicate their first-round performance, but the parachutes deployed late and threw a wrench in their plans. Lee was the first to the finish line, advancing to the semifinals, as Hull glided into the sand trap, with the safety net forcing him to a hard stop. Fortunately, he was okay and climbed out of the car right away. Despite the harsh ending, this run was Hull’s best pass of the weekend, of 4.269 seconds at 279.96 mph.
“We’re tuning the car so it just slides down through there,” said Hull. “E2 happens. No shoots. We don’t know why. The levers are forward. The auto shut off works. I did my job. When I was down there, I reached for the levers two or three times, and I know they were forward to the point where I even bent them in the car. But that’s drag racing. We’ll watch the video, we’ll figure it out, fix our car and move on.”
With two weeks ahead of them before the next race, Hull and the Jim Dunn Racing team are solely focused on making sure they have a functioning and competitive race car ready to go in Virginia.
“We have a lot of work to do between now and then,” said Hull. “Luckily, we have a new car. It’s in Indy right now. We’re going to have to hop to it and get that thing together, because there’s not enough time to fix this car. We know that for sure. So we’re going to get our new car ready, and we’ll show up to Richmond ready to rock and roll.”
Hull and the Jim Dunn Racing team will be back in competition at the American Rebel Light Virginia NHRA Nationals on June 20-22 at Virginia Motorsports Park. There will be three qualifying sessions on Saturday, June 21. For tickets or more information on the Virginia NHRA Nationals visit nhra.com.
This story was originally published on June 9, 2025. 
