In front of a packed house at Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster team brought energy and a strong 12,000-horsepower land rocket performance to race day. After two days of qualifying that saw the Zizzo Racing entry steadily improve almost every session Zizzo qualified No. 10 and faced Tripp Tatum in the opening session. During qualifying Zizzo posted a career fastest speed lighting up the scoreboards at Summit Motorsports Park with a blistering 334.40 mph run.
“We have a really good racecar,” said Zizzo. “I am very happy with this weekend overall. We made five solid runs. These guys are working so hard, and we are seeing results on the track. This Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster had a career weekend in Chicago, and we got better this weekend.”
In Chicago at his hometown race, Zizzo was the No. 1 qualifier and raced to the quarterfinals. Today, Zizzo and Tatum were the first two racecars to hit the track. The pair of veteran drivers took off together and were welded side-by-side down the track. At the finish line Tatum had the nose of his dragster out in front to get the win light by .006 seconds in one of the closest races of the day. Zizzo’s losing time of 3.725 seconds was his best run of the weekend.
“We are making changes all the time on this racecar and I am learning with every run,” said Zizzo. “I have been consistent on my lights, but I just need to get a little better to match the race car. I am going to do that, but this is all part of the process. This is a hard sport, but I love every minute out here.
TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster team will be back in action at the iconic Night Under Fire specialty event back here at Summit Motorsports Park, August 3 and will be competing again on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series at the historic U.S. Nationals Labor Day weekend at Lucas Oil Motorsports Park outside of Indianapolis.
This story was originally published on July 1, 2024. 
