Joe C. Maynard raced to the zMAX Dragway winner’s circle on Sunday at the NHRA Carolina Nationals to capture his second national event triumph in his rookie season competing in the Top Alcohol Dragster category. The victory went down in the books as national event win No. 10 for the third-year organization. Maynard powered his Samsel Racing-prepared JCM/Leatherwood Distillery A/Fuel Dragster to victory in 5.272 seconds at 273.05 mph to defeat Julie Nataas, the category’s reigning champion, in the final round.
Maynard, an Army veteran and son of JCM Racing team owner Joe E. Maynard, clinched his first national event win at the 2024 season-opener when he doubled up at the Gatornationals, also winning the divisional race in Gainesville, Florida in his debut event. Maynard found his way back to the winner’s circle at the Concord, North Carolina facility by utilizing his machine-like reflexes to help him defeat a stacked lineup of opponents on race day.
“Miss you, Mom, this is dedicated to you,” said an emotional Maynard following the win, pointing to his Wally trophy. “I miss her every day, but I know she’s smiling down on us. I also want to thank my dad and everyone at JCM Racing for supporting us. I’m proud to be able to deliver this win for Leatherwood and our whole team.”
Maynard’s march to the winner’s circle began when he qualified the JCM/Leatherwood Distillery machine seventh on the strength of his 5.259-second at 271.95 mph pass, clocked during the weekend’s final qualifying session. In the first round of eliminations, Maynard nabbed the starting line advantage and never trailed for the win to defeat Madison Payne with his 5.281-second run versus her 7.473-second effort. In the second round, the former Black Hawk pilot was first off the line once again. It was an exciting race with Maynard and Hunter Green charging side-by-side down the quarter-mile stretch. Green had Maynard’s number the last time they lined up together, but this time it was Maynard who crossed the finish line first, ending his opponent’s day with a 5.239-second blast to Green’s 5.252. Maynard continued his trend of leaving first in the semifinals and took his machine on a 5.302-second ride to defeat Rich McPhillips. He also earned the advantage of lane choice over Nataas in the final round. Against Nataas, Maynard made it four-for-four with holeshot starts and never trailed when he made a clean pass for the win while her machine went up in smoke early into the run.
For Maynard, his strong performance on the starting line throughout the day was a much-needed confidence boost after admittedly experiencing a frustrating stretch of struggling with his reaction times.
“It’s crazy because, after about an eight-race stretch of having the ‘yips’ as a driver, as they say, I feel like I’m finally back on my game,” explained Maynard. “It started when I red-lit against Joey Severance in Pomona. After that, about seven races in a row, I just couldn’t cut a light and the crew was having issues with clutch and power. And all of a sudden, they got their stuff together, and I got my stuff together, and poof, here we are. I tell people all the time when we do well, it’s because of those guys and when we don’t, it’s because of me. And when we both do well, we’re unstoppable, and I feel like that’s where we’re at now.
“We’ve been building towards this. Last week in Reading, it was a 5.18 to a 5.18 (against Jackie Fricke) and I lost. The race before that I had Hunter in the quarterfinals and he beat me and I still had a good run, he just pulled a 5.16 out of nowhere. So, it’s been leading up to this weekend. I had to go through both of Randy Meyers’ cars today, and they’re tough. I had never beaten Hunter or Julie before, so we knew we were going to have to step up against them. I’m just really proud of our entire team.”
Maynard rejoins the NHRA Mission Foods tour when the series heads to Ennis, Texas next month for the NHRA FallNationals.
This story was originally published on September 23, 2024. 
