Top Fuel team owner and driver Buddy Hull has stormed onto the NHRA drag racing scene in recent years with a wildly positive personality and a race team that is steadily improving with each national event they enter. During this year’s Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Hull will transform his team from the traditional Methanol Moonshine/Renegade Race Fuels dragster to the HULL’K Top Fuel dragster, an ohmage to one of his favorite superheroes, The Incredible Hulk.
“The HULL’K Top Fuel dragster is all about the kids,” said Hull, who is a former professional powerlifter. “I want to get kids excited and it is all about the next generation. We gotta get kids’ eyeballs on the sport and I want to grab peoples’ attention. The HULL’K theme also plays off my last name and personality so it just came to me one day.”
This season Hull’s 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster has had two personalities with a Bruce Banner version showing up as of late to replace a Hulk-like version that had Hull struggling early in the year. Hull along with crew chief Mike Guger have been in their shop working since Chicago to tune up Hull’s HULL’K Top Fuel dragster to make an impact at the Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals, August 31 – September 4.
“We battled some issues early in the season, but Mike and I went through every inch of this dragster and we have it figured out,” said Hull. “You can’t go out and start running low 3.70s from where we started but we have a race car that can run mid-3.70s and not tear itself up. I am doing a lot of fan appearances leading up to the race but once Friday night qualifying starts, we are going to be all business.”
Hull has exhibited a larger-than-life personality in his top end interviews as well as during driver intros. He is a fan-favorite who enjoys building his Top Fuel program with an eye on full-time racing as soon as the necessary funding comes around.
“I love the challenge of building this program on and off the track. We are working with marketing partners across the country,” said Hull, who regularly adorns his racecar with local companies. “I want to bring in new fans and this HULL’K car is just one of my first ideas. We have a couple more ideas for races in the Countdown that will be really cool.”
Fans will get their first glimpse of the HULL’K Top Fuel dragster on Friday night, September 1 during the first qualifying session from Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park at 7:00 p.m. ET
This story was originally published on August 22, 2023. 
