NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Matt Bynum is the bottom-end technician for the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by 2015 NHRA Mello Yello world champion Del Worsham. Bynum builds all of the short blocks for the team and removes the oil pan to service the entire rotating assembly of the engine between rounds.

At 24 years old, Bynum has already accomplished a great deal in the sport. His late father, Chris, was a Sportsman racer and a crewmember for Gary Densham. Bynum was an inquisitive teenager who soaked up knowledge from various teams around Southern California for which he wrenched. He was a part of three consecutive NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series championships as a founding member of Jason Rupert’s Nostalgia Funny Car crew.

Bynum went to work full time for the DHL team in 2012 when Jeff Arend was behind the wheel. He began as clutch assistant and rotated positions at the first few events until eventually settling in to the bottom-end role. Reliability in properly and consistently building short blocks is integral to the driver’s confidence and the ability of co-crew chiefs Jon Oberhofer and Nick Boninfante Jr. to apply their tune-up and make horsepower.

When he’s not on the 24-race NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour or working at the Kalitta Motorsports shop in Ypsilanti, Mich., Bynum drives the Matthews Motorsports Nostalgia Funny Car at NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Racing Series events. He reached the semifinal round at this year’s Good Vibrations March Meet at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield.