NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

In 2022, Jimmy Hidalgo Jr. won the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Stock world championship at the final event of the season. After a long and exhausting season, Hidalgo managed to hold off two-time champ Brad Burton to win via a tiebreaker, so it’s safe to say he’s got a bit of experience when it comes to handling pressure.

Fast forward two years and Hidalgo now finds himself in a familiar spot as a title contender; only this year, he’s chasing a pair of championships in Stock and Super Stock.

The list of Sportsman drivers to win two championships in a single year is very short. The late Scotty Richardson did it in 1994 when he won in Super Comp and Super Gas, and more than two decades later, Jeff Strickland authored a similar feat when he captured the Stock and Top Dragster titles in 2016. Justin Lamb also collected the Super Stock and Stock crowns in 2017. Several others have come close, but ultimately missed out on what is certainly the most difficult feat in Sportsman drag racing.

Hidalgo knows this all too well. In 2022, when he won the Stock title, he also finished No. 8 in Super Stock. Today, things are different. Hidalgo enters the homestretch of the 2024 season as the leader in Stock, and he’s currently ranked No. 5 in Super Stock, and he’s mathematically in the running for both titles.

“I like my chances in Stock, but it’s not locked up yet,” said Hidalgo. “I’ve still got two races where I can improve, so the game plan is to just deal with one at a time and hope that I can add some points. As for Super Stock, I’m not feeling too good anymore. I had two early exits in Dallas, and that probably cost me. I can still win it, but there are a lot of others who can. I’ve got one race left [in Super Stock], so we’ll see how that plays out.”

Across the board, Hidalgo has enjoyed another monster season that has enabled him to contend for both titles. Between Super Stock and Stock, he has appeared in 10 final rounds and has won eight of them. He has also scored national event titles in Bristol, St. Louis, and the Laris Motorsports Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose, La., his home track.

“I think that [SPORTSNationals] race was probably my favorite this season,” Hidalgo said. “It’s hard to pinpoint just one race because I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of good wins, but that one was special. I’m usually pretty critical of myself, but I think that race might have been my best as a driver. I think I did well in reaction times and driving the finish line.”

Ironically, Hidalgo’s 2024 campaign got off to a rough start with early losses in his first few outings. He somehow never got discouraged and didn’t give up hope that he’d return to contention. Driving his Super Stock entry, Hidalgo managed to rebound with divisional wins  in Reynolds [Ga.], Dallas, and Tulsa, Okla. In Stock, Hidalgo followed his Belle Rose victory with a win and a runner-up at the double-divisional event in Dallas to remain in contention.

“Early on, I didn’t really get down on myself because I’ve been known to make late charges in the season,” Hidalgo said. “In Super Stock, we had some issues with the car. I even managed to win while we were battling a few of those issues. In Bristol, the car wouldn’t go down the track in the first round, but I finally got it turned around.”

Championships are won or lost based on the results of a full season, but in the case of Hidalgo, it's not difficult to single out one round that could easily decide the title. With seven cars remaining at the recent Texas NHRA FallNationals in Dallas, Hidalgo was paired against incoming points leader Joe Sorensen, who has had a monster season of his own with two wins in five final rounds. Not surprisingly, both drivers brought their A game with nearly perfect reaction times, but Hidalgo had better control over his dial and won with a 10.95 on his 10.94 prediction. The epic battle was captured by NHRA announcer Joe Castello, who was joined by Sportsman and Mountain Motor Pro Stock racer Randi Lyn Butner, to provide an in-depth analysis of the run.

So now, Hidalgo prepares to head West to Las Vegas for the back-to-back Ford Performance NHRA Nationals and the final Division 7 Lucas Oil Series and, possibly, the season-ending In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona. He leads Sorensen by 20 points in Stock, and he’s third in Super Stock, 20 points behind leader Jeff Dona.

“Right now, the plan is to just run the two Las Vegas races and then see where we’re at,” Hidalgo said. “I can’t claim Pomona, but we might need to go in order to block. Hopefully, we’re going to celebrate the championship.

"Honesty, I don’t look at points too much during the season. I know what I’m capable of, and I try to stay in my own lane and don’t change my game plan.”

Hidalgo also has experience on his side. He’s just two years removed from his first championship, and he’s finished in the top 10 on numerous occasions, so the possibility of late-season drama isn’t new to him at all.

“It definitely helps, the more times you’re in a pressure situation; it makes it a little easier each time, but you still understand the magnitude of what you’re trying to accomplish,” said Hidalgo. “Regardless of how it turns out, it’s still a huge accomplishment [to put two cars in the top 10]. There are always challenges along the way, but you know what you’re capable of.”