NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Mark Pawuk has said that he's been in love with drag racing since high school, when he tagged along to Ohio's Dragway 42 one night with the owners of the transmission shop where he was then employed. It wasn't long after that fateful Sunday that Pawuk borrowed (and later purchased) a '68 Dodge Charger, won class, and set course on an expectedly challenging yet sometimes rewarding career in drag racing. His most recent rewards on the dragstrip have come in quick succession behind the wheel of the Don Schumacher Racing Empaco Equipment Dodge Challenger Drag Pak. 

To start the season on an emphatically high note, Pawuk reset both ends of the Constant Aviation NHRA Factory Stock Showdown national record at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, and the following week, the veteran driver known as "The Cowboy" claimed victory at the NMCA season opener in the same HEMI-powered Dodge Drag Pak.

"To be honest with you, we didn't think we could run this fast — so I was kind of shocked," admitted Pawuk after traversing the quarter-mile at Gainesville Raceway in a blistering 7.608-second pass at 183.15 mph in a magnificently entertaining session. 

That first round of qualifying in Gainesville included no less than eight passes quicker than the previous record for elapsed time. With 22 cars from the Big Three Automakers — a mix of Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Ford Cobra Jet Mustangs, and the Dodge Challenger Drag Paks — vying for one of 16 positions, Pawuk led the charge to become the Factory Stock Showdown No.1 qualifier for the third time in his career. 

"I'm loving it," said Pawuk, whose entry is tuned by A.J. Berge and Kevin Helms. "We tested and worked hard this winter, and these guys have done a great job. The conditions were exceptional, and I could tell it was on a great run. We'd been struggling in low gear, and that run just picked the front end up. It accelerated through low gear. I knew we were on a pretty good run, but running that fast was something I didn't expect."

Pawuk has been at this for a minute; he was a multitime track champion in the late 1970s (at both Dragway 42 and Thompson Raceway Park) before transitioning to Super Gas in NHRA competition. That was where Pawuk first came to national attention as he reached the final round at the esteemed U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis in 1981. Where he claimed his most fame, though, was in Pro Stock, the highly competitive category in which he earned six national event wins between 1992 and 2001. 

This season, though, he appears to be staking a new claim to fame in his Drag Pak, one that extends to multiple series. After leaving Gainesville, Pawuk and his crew ventured 184 miles south to Bradenton Motorsports Park, where they won the Holley EFI Factory Super Cars trophy at an event billed as Muscle Car Mayhem.

Pawuk qualified No. 6 on a 7.898 at more than 178 mph and improved on it greatly in his final performance of the weekend with a 7.80, 177.67 to defeat Jeff Bragg's 8.20 in the final. 

The victory was a much-appreciated accomplishment for the driver who red-lighted in Gainesville by .002-second in round two after setting the national records. 

"We weren't the fastest at Bradenton, but we got a couple of breaks — and the driver did his job when he needed to. That was a boost for me," said Pawuk, who has three times been a finalist in NHRA's Factory Stock competition and is eager to close the deal. "The crew has done a great job trying to figure out what these Dodge Challenger Drag Paks want and how to make them go fast. We're gaining on it." 

Look for Pawuk and the rest of the Constant Aviation Factory Stock Showdown contingent at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte, April 29 through May 1.