Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 77

30 UNDER 30 / 2019
DANGER RANGER
Dadas bought his ‘84 Ford Ranger
shortly after high school so he'd have
his very own vehicle to race. It was a
proud moment when Burch parked it in
the winner's circle at the SFG500 in June.
ultra-tight bracket races to help Dadas race
through nine rounds to reach the final. His op-
ponent would be Hunter “Hunny Wayne” Patton,
another 2019 30 Under 30 honoree.
“It’s so weird how natural it felt,” Dadas said of
his late-round mindset. “Gage kind of seasoned
me for it. He staged up for $500,000 a couple
months prior and it didn’t really seem like a huge
deal. It seemed very relaxed because we had al-
ready done it.”
Lined up against Patton’s quicker dragster, Da-
das left the line first. All was well until Patton’s
side of the tree dropped and the Dadas’ green
light switched to red. The delayed red light was
due to Compulink’s TruStart system used at most
major bracket races.
“After you make so many runs you can kind of
tell when you’re red,” says Dadas, who was .010
on the red side. “When I left, I’m like, ‘Man, if
that ends up hanging green, this is over.’ But I
knew I left a little early and it could be red, then
it popped red. It’s just one of those things.”
“Just to be in that position, regardless of the
outcome, is pretty amazing,” Dadas continues.
“I would’ve really liked to say that both of my
cars won $500,000 this year, but runner-up isn’t
too bad.” “Nah, we’ll take it, says Burch with a
smirk. “That was the second-biggest race of the
year anyway.”
L
ATER THIS FALL after the dust
settled and Dadas’ cars were put away
for the winter, Dadas, Burch and I got
on a call to look back on the rest of their
season. Financially, nothing compared to the
two 500-granders. But Dadas’ weekend at Nor-
walk’s legendary Halloween Classic ranks right
up there for sentimental reasons. Late on a chilly
October Sunday night, Dadas runnered up in the
rain-delayed Wednesday gambler’s race, won
the $5,000 Super Pro race and won the Grand
Championship runoff, repeating a feat his father
accomplished 17 years ago.
“That’s one of our favorite races of the year,”
Dadas says. “My dad’s won it twice and was grand
champion once, and now I’ve won it twice and
was grand champion once. I don’t think there’s
many father-son grand champions and I defi-
nitely don’t think there’s many fathers and sons
that’ve both won it twice. That was pretty special.”
Still, Dadas wasn’t done winning yet. He and
longtime racing friend Jaeden Durst loaded up
the Starfire and made the trek down to Montgom-
ery, Alabama, for the original Million Dollar Race
at Montgomery Motorsports Park. He netted a
$15,000 win on Wednesday night, closing out
what was a “100% dream season.”
“It’s still surreal to be in the position we are
as young as we are,” Dadas says. “I’d have to say,
and I’d speak for Gage, but as a kid growing up
in bracket racing, you dream to be a part of these
moments: the first $500,000 winner, stuff like
that. That’s what we do it for. To make the mem-
ories, too. That’s stuff you can’t replace.”
Burch echoes that sentiment. “Some people
can win the biggest race, but what we did it in
and the friends we had there and the time we
had, there’s nobody there that had a better time
than us, whether we won or not,” he says. “It was
just an awesome experience. As a kid growing
up, I would always look up to people who won
the Million and dreamed about doing it myself.
Winning a race that’s bigger than that, it’s just a
dream come true.”
Dadas and Burch are quick to mention the
people who helped them reach this point in their
young careers. Dadas offered up thanks to his
parents, Jim and Lisa, sister Lauren, girlfriend
Carly, and a slew of sponsors: Rick’s Speedway
Performance, who builds and freshens the Star-
fire’s 406ci small-block Chevy and the Ranger’s
383ci small-block Chevy; Rick Cole Racing
Transmissions, Mickey Thompson Tires, Wiseco
Performance, Powermaster Performance, Bazell
Race Fuels, TFC Transportation and Deichler’s
Tire and Auto.
Burch added appreciation for his parents, Matt
and Diane, and his girlfriend, Nichole, as well as
BJ Bianchi, who owns the car Burch races when
he’s closer to home. Burch’s sponsors include
Mickey Thompson Tires, FTI Performance, Mos-
er Engineering, Thor Trailer Sales and Innovative
Racecraft.
“We’re not your average bracket racers,” Burch
says. “A bunch of people help make it easier on
us, and winning something big definitely helps,
too. But the more people who can help us the
better, for sure.”
This duo plans to continue racing together
in 2020. They’re eyeing up the SFG Million at
U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in July, along with
a potential trip out West for the Spring Fling
Million in Las Vegas. The goal is to strike while
the iron is hot, all while making more memories
in the process.
“For both of us, we’re living our dream right
now,” Dadas says. “Hopefully that continues in
the coming years. I’d like to be a name like a
Kenny Underwood or a Troy Williams or Gary
Williams at some point. I guess you just have to
keep going to do that.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
December 2019
DragIllustrated.com
| D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 77