Dean Marinis has always stayed busy. He’s always had a full-time career outside of racing, but drag racing has also been more than just a hobby for him. What started as grudge racing outside New York City has progressed into a wide-ranging venture driving and tuning some of the quickest and fastest nitrous cars in drag racing history, from X275 to outlaw Pro Mod. When one of his tuning clients, Chad Green, started making the move to nitro Funny Cars, Marinis jumped at the opportunity to add yet another skillset to his repertoire. Now, Marinis is a new level of busy as the co-crew chief for Green’s championship-contending Bond-Coat Funny Car team.
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #193, the Interview Issue, in March / April of 2025.]
Marinis, who still holds the record for the world’s quickest quarter-mile nitrous pass with his 5.572-second pass set in 2019, led Green to his first NHRA Pro Mod victory before Green decided to dive head-first into NHRA Funny Car racing. He first partnered with Tim Wilkerson and his son, Daniel, to tune and house the Chad Green Motorsports (CGM) Funny Car program. With Daniel tuning, the team finished fifth in the 2023 points standings after defeating Tim in the final round at the NHRA Finals, marking Green’s first win in the class.
Marinis learned as much as he could from the Wilkersons, taking the principles he knew from drag radial and Pro Mod and adjusting them for nitro racing. When the Wilkersons restructured their team, with Daniel taking over driving duties and Tim focusing on tuning their SCAG Power Equipment Funny Car, Marinis was ready for the opportunity to step up as Green’s co-crew chief along with longtime Tim Wilkerson Racing crew member Joe Serena.
Marinis and the CGM team had a busy offseason, moving into a new shop in the nitro racing world capital, Brownsburg, Indiana, as well as assembling a second Funny Car operation that will be shared by Blake Alexander and Green’s son, Hunter Green, a multi-time Top Alcohol Dragster winner who recently crossed over his Top Fuel license.
Ahead of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series opener, the Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway, Drag Illustrated caught up with Marinis to learn more about his transition to nitro racing.
Have you always had an interest in nitro racing or did that develop as Chad started to get into it?
Well, I think any type of person has an interest in nitro racing. The first time you go to a track and you see one of these cars go down the track, you’re in shock. You’re like, “What was that?!” So that’s always been an attraction from the time I was a kid. Yeah, you watch a 10-second car go down the racetrack and it don’t look fast. When you’re in the car, it feels pretty fast the first time you go 10 seconds. But a nitro car, no matter who you are, it’s definitely been an interest of mine. To be lucky enough to get the position where I am right now, I’m very fortunate.
What were your early impressions of the nitro Funny Car compared to what you were used to?
Your fine adjustment is a lot coarser on these things. A little change makes a lot happen. There’s a lot going on and you’re just getting it all to be happy together between the motor and clutch. In small-tire racing and whatever else, it’s about power management. This is just on a bigger scale. We have a lot more power to manage right now.
How rewarding was that first win at the Finals?
Any win is a good one, no matter what you’re racing, but to do it on that level is something special. It was kind of bittersweet, beating up on the teacher, on Tim, but it was good. I’ll take any win, especially at this level.
What was it like making that transition to crew chief?
Well, it was quite a bit of a learning curve. Tim and Daniel Wilkerson kind of gave me a crash course in nitro Funny Car and then said, “Alright, you and Joe are going to be the crew chiefs next year. We’ll help you out at the PRO race in Bradenton, then you’re on your own.” I was kind of nervous at first, but I settled in pretty good after the first couple of races.
What has your offseason looked like?
We put together a second car and we moved shops. We’re on our own. We used to have our home base in Tim’s shop. Now we have our own shop, our own setup, so we’re in a new home in Indy – Brownsburg – and now we have a second car we put together in the offseason. It was quite a task.
So far, what are the challenges of a multi-car team?
I don’t think it’s gonna be a challenge. We get twice the info. We get double the qualifying shots and we get a lot more to look at, so it kind of helps out more. The more data we gather, the better. I think it’s going to be positive.
Hopefully we won’t have a problem with both cars because these things, electronics wise, you could have a little cough or something and then you’re chasing things around – fuel pumps and all kinds of electronics. There’s so many safety things, and it seems whenever you have an explosion or something, you’re always chasing something for the next couple of laps.
You’ve driven some fast stuff. Do you ever want to make a lap in a nitro Funny Car?
I’d love to. It just costs so much money to make one lap in one of these things, but if the opportunity comes, I’d gladly get behind the wheel of one of these things.
You’re a longtime New Yorker. Have you also moved to Indy along with the team?
I’m still based out of New York and we’re on the phone every day. I’m gonna have to make a few more trips out there. The guys are doing a great job back there. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe one day I’ll quit my day job and do this hobby as a full-time thing.
This story was originally published on May 23, 2025. 
