Prior to the opening rounds of qualifying at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, five NHRA professional drivers, Funny Car drivers Chris King, Buddy Hull, Spencer Hyde, and Matt Hagan, along with Top Fuel driver Clay Millican, teamed up with four pros for the inaugural United States Open Hot Saw Championship Pro/Am. King, a full-time Chicago firefighter, won the Pro/Am with his professional teammate while Millican outdueled King in the driver head-to-head competition.
“I’m pretty comfortable with chainsaws, we use them on roofs for firefighting, so I knew I would be okay,” said King. “Learning the technique for the racing was interesting. Luckily, I did fairly well, and my partner did very well. We were able to get the overall win, but I’ve got to give it to Clay. He got me in that last round by a couple seconds. He kicked ass and it was very fun. I had a great time. I know the rest of the drivers enjoyed it too.”
King cut his way into the competition through an opening round five driver cut-off qualifier to grab one of the four Pro/Am spots. Hull was eliminated from competition when his qualifying cut was not a complete cut.
“I had a strategy to try and get a skinny cut out since that is the quickest way to get through the log,” said Hull. “I just came in at an angle and I thought I might be in trouble, but I just tried to power through. It was a lot like racing a nitro Funny Car, you sometimes have to muscle it down the track. It was a blast to participate, and I hope I get to try again next year.”
The United States Open Hot Saw Championship sponsored by Stihl, Real American Hardwood, Troyer Hardwood, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Jarrett Logistics will be abuzz with chainsaws on Saturday and Sunday following the wildly exciting Pro/Am that have single-cylinder engines sipping high-octane fuels and pumping out 45-70 horsepower with 230-mph chain speeds.
The head-to-head Pro/Am competition was a new experience for King and he is looking forward to hopefully defending his title next year in Norwalk.
“I really didn’t know what to expect coming into it,” said King. “I had heard about hot saws and I’ve seen them on TV. They’re insane but seeing these things in person and these lumberjacks that are built like Matt Hagan. These are big boys and they’re strong country boys. I picked one of the pro’s saws up and it was like 70 pounds. I don’t know how they throw them around.”
The 16 pro competitors will be seeded and separated into two brackets of eight on Saturday. The first round will be run with all 16 competitors, and it will go down to eight, four, two, and one from there. The winner will be awarded a monetary prize.
This story was originally published on June 28, 2025. 
