TJ Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster team were eager to get their 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season started at their hometown event, the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 Nationals this weekend. Last year Zizzo powered the Zizzo Racing 12,000-horsepower land rocket to the No. 1 qualifier. This weekend at Route 66 Raceway the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster was consistently quicker throughout qualifying and the team was eager for their first round match up with reigning Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown.
“First round, I get Antron Brown, one of the best leavers in town,” said Zizzo. “You have to be at the top of your game. You have to be aggressive. In qualifying, we tried to get the best ET by finessing the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster, but on elimination day, it’s fair game and I have to be aggressive off the starting line too. If I have to cheat the system by rolling into the staging beams, I’m going to cheat the system. And that’s what I did to get off the starting line first.”
Zizzo was first off the starting line but his race car overpowered the track and the Chicagoan was forced to watch Brown pull away for the first round win. Following the race Zizzo and crew chief Mike Kern talked about what contributed to the uncharacteristic unsuccessful run.
“We got our feet wet again and Mike and I talked about what happened,” said Zizzo. “The idle was a little high and we are running the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel dragster right on the edge. You have to try and get the most out of the tune up and we just tipped it over a little. We can fix that and learn from it. The good news is we entertained a lot of people. I think we had 250 people here. We had a suite and we had pit side hospitality. We put on a good show.”
The last time Zizzo was on track was the Midwest Nationals contested at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis last September. After a long off-season Zizzo and his all-volunteer crew came put on a solid display of performance and professionalism. As a driver the layoff forced Zizzo to take his time getting reacclimated to the extreme experience of racing at over 330 mph.
“Anytime you take a break from one of these things, it takes a little getting used to again,” said Zizzo. “All I can do as a driver is put my best foot forward and not screw it up for the rest of the guys that work on this thing. By the third pass, I was kind of getting my act together. The third qualifying run would have been our best run, but I got it a little close the wall and I just shut it off early. That cost us a quality run.”
Throughout the weekend, Zizzo had hundreds of fans on his ropes in the packed pit area. On Saturday morning the team hosted the annual Nitro Cakes pancake breakfast and for over two hours Zizzo and his crew interacted with the fans and fellow competitors. All weekend fans and friends spent time giving the Zizzo Racing team motivation and encouragement. The positive vibes meant a lot to Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum team.
“These guys work their ass off, and they come out here for the for the enjoyment of it,” said Zizzo. “I mean, where else can you get a group of guys to volunteer and put in thousands of hours of work. We started the car at one point and I looked out of the pit into a sea of people. We had a great crowd at our pits and that is cool for our guys. Chicago has amazing fans, so we love being able to start our season at Route 66 Raceway.”
Zizzo and the Rust-Oleum Top Fuel team will be back in action at the historic U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind., August 27 – September 2 at Lucas Oil Raceway Park.
This story was originally published on May 19, 2025. 
