Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 101

30 UNDER 30 / 2019
HUNTER PATTON
■ AT 24 YEARS OLD, Hunter Patton might
just be one of the biggest names in big-money
bracket racing right now. And he doesn’t just
win big races, he does it in a style that hasn’t
been seen before.
Patton brought home a $500,000 check af-
ter turning on the win light at Sparco Fall Fling
500K at Bristol Dragway in September. The win
came when his opponent, Matt Dadas, turned it
red by -0.100 in the finals. After seeing his win
light come on, Patton never even made it to the
finish line, stopping halfway down the track and
backing his dragster back up the track to a crowd
of cheering friends, ensuring his performance
would go down in history as one of the most epic
Spring Fling wins. “Winning the Fall Fling was
crazy,” Patton says. “It was like a dream you never
thought would come true.”
But Patton’s epic September didn’t end with
that win. The next weekend he took home the
IHRA Division 4 Team Finals win at Pine Val-
ley Raceway, making it his third IHRA Team
Finals victory.
The Houston, Texas-based racer, often known
as “Hunny Wayne,” is a mechanic by day, but
drag racing is his passion. He started racing a Jr.
Dragster at 8 and moved up to racing his dad’s
dragster when he was 16. At just 17, he won a
$25,000 race at the original Million Dollar Drag
Race in Montgomery, Alabama. He’s also won
a handful of other big-money races, including
several $10k and $20k events.
He says his life hasn’t changed too much since
bringing home $500,000 in September. But
he did use some of that money to upgrade his
racing operation, including a new truck, trailer
and another dragster that he’ll be racing next
year. He also used some of his 2019 winnings
to get prepared for the 2020 racing season, in-
cluding pre-entering for the first-ever Guaran-
teed Million in Memphis. He’ll be running his
two dragsters in 2020 and is looking forward
to several more big checks and winner’s circle
celebrations. – A L LYS O N J O H N S O
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BLAKE COPSON
■ BLAKE COPSON doesn’t have a wealth of
driving experience, but with an impressive brain
trust guiding him, the 25-year-old Outlaw 10.5
driver has shown that hasn’t mattered.
Copson turned heads at Cecil County Dragway
this fall with a record-breaking performance in
his father’s striking C7 Corvette, winning the race
and earning a spot on the 30 Under 30 list.
It’s all happened so fast Copson still isn’t quite
sure what to make of it, but he’s having the time
of his life trying to process it all.
“I couldn’t have dreamed it to work this way. I
have no words for it,” Copson says. “It’s a dream
come true and I’m just trying to soak up as much
as I can. When I’m in the car and I know who’s
behind it, it makes my job easy. I know I have the
best people in the world behind me.”
The people helping chart Copson’s path are
his father, Joe, tuner Josh Ledford and Pro Line
Racing, and Copson has made the most of it.
He raced in four events this season, winning
two of them and advancing to the semifinals in
the other two. After making his first 3-second
run last year and winning the YellowBullet Na-
tionals, Copson and his team went to another
level to close out 2019, going a massive 3.778
seconds at 208 mph to set the national Outlaw
10.5 record at the time.
That it came in the final round to beat Mo Hall
– and after blowing up the car in June – was sim-
ply the icing on the cake to his impressive season.
“To end the year on a high note, that was pretty
exciting,” Copson says. “There’s so much that’s
gone into it and it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Copson, though, hopes to keep raising the bar
as he gains more experience behind the wheel.
He’s ready to compete for a championship in
Outlaw 10.5 in 2020, as well as racing in Pro 275
at Lights Out 11, and Copson’s eyeing records and
wins in that class, too.
“I really don’t have an extensive background,
but with the guidance of Pro Line and my dad,
and Josh Ledford, they’re coaching me as I go and
I’m trying to be as coachable as possible,” Copson
says. “I’m just trying to learn as much as I can and
we’ve been doing pretty well.” – J O S H H AC H DI
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December 2019
DragIllustrated.com
| D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 101