NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Pro Stock points leader Aaron Stanfield powered into the 2022 season of NHRA's Camping World Drag Racing Series with a display of fiercely disciplined focus and well-harnessed horsepower. A steady, assertive stance on the racetrack positioned the third-generation racer as an immediate threat in a class that has christened a well-seasoned veteran as champion in each of the last three seasons. 

Aaron is making an early case for a Pro Stock title of his own, but he isn't dialing back his racing activities outside of national events. In fact, he's as active as ever, and it recently paid off at the NHRA Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Noble, Okla. There, he won Top Dragster on the same day his father, former Pro Stock racer Greg Stanfield, won Super Stock. The elder Stanfield is the reigning and five-time champion in the category.

"It was really cool for both of us to win on the same day," said Aaron. "We'd been close to doing it before, me and him going bracket racing locally, but it's tough to win. For both of us to do it on the same day at the same track is really special, and it's something we always wanted to do."

The two had actually won on the same day before — in 2021 when Aaron won Pro Stock and Greg won Super Stock — but Aaron's win occurred at the New England Nationals in Epping, while Greg's victorious run came 1,600 miles away at a division race at Tulsa Raceway Park.

At the recent race in Noble, just one week before the Las Vegas NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Aaron and his father met in the lanes before their respective final rounds.

"He said, 'Well, who wants to go first,' and I said, 'I'll show you the way real quick,' " said Aaron with a grin. "In a good way, we're very competitive with each other, and we push each other. I'm sure when I turned on the win light, he was like, 'Oh, I gotta win now.' "

Aaron went on to explain that although they're competitive against one another, they're also very effective when they work together. The father-son duo work side by side at Stanfield Racing Engines, a Louisiana-based high-performance engine shop, during the week, serving racing customers both in and outside of NHRA.

"Our work there is really important to both of us; it's important to us to see our customers achieve their own goals," he said. "People don't get to see that side of things; we're a really good team, and we complement each other very well. But we are father and son, so we might tend to 'talk' about a few things." 

There is plenty more racing left this year, but Aaron has taken an impressive early lead in the Professional ranks. He was out of the gate at the national event level with back-to-back Pro Stock final rounds — including the Phoenix win — and hasn't qualified any lower than No. 2 in the first four of 18 Pro Stock events. 

The Louisiana native who displays a career-best No. 5 on the window of his Pro Stocker was low qualifier in both Gainesville and Las Vegas, driving the Janac Brothers Jc3 Energy Chevrolet Camaro. He had low elapsed time and top speed of the event in both Phoenix and Las Vegas. 

"I expect it of myself, and I'm in the best equipment," said Aaron, whose team is owned by Joe Janac and car is powered by Elite Motorsports. "They've done a really good job of making sure I have a fast race car, and I'm extremely blessed to be in the position I'm in. A lot of people don't get to start out in as good a race car that I've been in."

Aaron's capable race car and high expectations of himself line up neatly with the fact that he's been around racing most of his life. Although he wasn't hands-on until he was about 15 years of age — "My dad never pushed me," he said; he was keenly attuned to each run his father made down the racetrack. Greg claimed three Pro Stock wins during his tenure in the Professional category, including a victory at the 2010 U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

"I watched my dad do this, over and over again," said Aaron, who recently became a dad himself when wife and fellow racer Joleigh gave birth to daughter Oakleigh. 

"Before I ever hopped in a Pro Stock car, I had made thousands of runs in my head and knew the process of how to drive it. I just really enjoy racing, whether it's a little outlaw bracket racing track around my house or at the highest level. I enjoy the competition."