Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 99
JOHN
DOUGHERTY
KYLE BIGLEY
■ AFTER GOING to the races with his father, Kyle Bigley was finally
able to get in the driver’s seat after his parents got him a Jr. Dragster
when he was 10 years old. He raced that class until he was 17, winning
two track championships and several high-dollar races. He then moved
into racing a Super Pro dragster and his dad’s Pontiac Firebird.
After bracket racing for a while, he decided he wanted to start racing
Super Comp. His first full year racing that class landed him the 2018
NHRA Division 1 Super Comp championship, a huge accomplishment for
a rookie driver. To top it off, while this was happening, Bigley was a stu-
dent at Penn State, where he recently graduated with a degree in finance.
The 22-year-old New Jersey-based racer says finance and racing don’t
exactly go hand-in-hand, but he’s learned some useful skills he can transfer
to both areas of his life.
Bigley, who just secured Lucas Oil as a sponsor for 2020, is well-
known for securing sponsorships, something that’s becoming harder to
do in the sport. He says that winning the D1 Super Comp championship
helped to put him on the map. He leveraged that success for sponsorship
outreach, utilizing connections he’s made over the years and putting
together sponsorship proposals.
Bigley says that driving several cars in different classes undoubtedly
makes him a better driver. “Having experience in different classes and
styles of racing [like bracket racing and class racing] can only benefit
you as a driver. Understanding different cars and perspectives also allows
you to see the mindset of your competitors, such as driving a door car
versus a dragster.”
He will be adding another car to his racing operation in 2020, stepping
into the Super Street class. – A L LYS O N J O H N S O
DI N DI DI
■ JOHN “DOC" DOUGHERTY is a racer, entrepreneur and social
media success, all at the age of 25. His love affair with drag racing began
when he bought a 2012 Camaro SS during his senior year of high school,
and it only intensified during his college years.
“I got a turbo kit put on the car, got a roll cage and it just progressively
got faster,” Dougherty says. “I started working at a performance shop,
and really dove in head first – eat, sleep, breathe drag racing.”
The end result is LS Nasty, a combination of Dougherty’s 8,000 square-
foot shop and his own clothing line. The main car in his stable is “Black
Sheep,” a tube chassis 1987 Buick Grand National, currently equipped
with a Brad Anderson Hemi and a ProCharger.
“It’s set up where you can switch it out between an LS and a Hemi,”
Dougherty says. “The motor mounts and plates all correlate, so we can
run a class like Small-Block Boost, or we can put the Hemi in there and
run Extreme 28’s. It’s a pretty trick, unique setup.”
Soon, however, Dougherty will debut an all-carbon-fiber ’99 Trans-Am
in an effort to claim the LS stock block record, which is currently 4.506.
“I’m partnered up with the guys at TKM [Performance],” Dougherty
says. “We’re doing a max effort deal. It’s a 5.3 truck motor, and we’re
gonna try to make 2,000 horsepower with it. If we can go 4.20s, 4.30’s,
I think we’ll be happy.”
Perhaps most notable is Dougherty’s use of YouTube – which he now does
full time – to help promote his projects. His YouTube page, John Doc, has
more than 80,000 subscribers, and he brings viewers new content daily.
“Since January 19, I think I’ve missed two days – I was at a race in Dar-
lington and didn’t have internet,” Dougherty says. “Other than that, every
single day I bring something race-oriented into someone’s living room.”
But Dougherty’s intent is about a lot more than just publicizing his
own work. He’s hoping to influence the next generation of drag racers,
one video at a time.
“Hopefully I inspire people to go out there and set goals and chase
their dream,” Dougherty says. “I’m all about positivity, happiness and
everyone working together. For me, that’s my message. I want to be able
to do this as long as I can, have fun, hang out with my friends and go
racing.” – C R A I G CO O
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December 2019
DragIllustrated.com
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