JC Beattie Jr starting racing Go karts at 12 – went on to win 4 WKA National Championships, and 30+ national events in 4 different classes. 3 championships came in one year and carried the “triple crown” award. JC came up in karts with Danica, Sam Hornish, Ryan Hunter-Ray and bunch of others that kept going in the open wheel world.

First pass in a drag car was when he was 17, at the Frank Hawly school at Maple Grove in a dragster – 8.57@ 160mph.

At 18 JC got his NASCAR comp license with the Richard Petty school at Charlotte, going 181 top speed and an average lap of 174.

At 18 JC started racing Spec chassis, circle track trucks that ran T350 automatics. Within a year and a half, JC was well on his way to being competitive, and finished seconds in points is his first full season.

In 2000-2004 they ran in the American Speed Association series. JC raced with Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson, David Stremme, Johnny Sauter, and others that kept on going. They finished in the top 20 in points each year.

JC started drag racing again in late 2010 with the Challenger. First national event was Englishtown where JC won the first round in stock and then lost to Katie Sepanek in the second round. “We have just about 500 passes in the Challenger” says JC, and they plan on getting a lot of runs in the COPO this season. They test much more than they race. And although JC takes racing very seriously, he is not able to race each weekend or during the week. The guys that have been doing it a long time, or get to bracket race every week have a great advantage on the rest of us JC expalnes. When JC was younger, and entering ASA, he sometimes was a little cocky and remember thinking seat time didn’t matter. “I was taught a lesson there and didn’t forget it when we went drag racing!”

They use both of our cars as test vehicles. They are very rarely the same from race to race since they are trying transmission parts, fluid, tune ups and converter builds all the time. The Challenger had the same Super F test fluid in it all season. He would drain it and strain it and keep all he could every time he took the trans out and then dump it right back in. He figure if he tests it and it doesn’t work, that is one less thing there customers don’t have to try and waste time and money on. The Challenger really helped ATI get a refresher on what “stockers” are these days. The new cars are a new breed and require new things. ATI has the winningest record of Torque Converters in all of IHRA and NHRA and I don’t plan on that ever changing.

“Drag racers are who makes up our business at ATI. We sell parts around the world, and the Super Damper is on every NASCAR engine racing each week, but at the end of the day the bracket racers, and the people who make up our family of racers is who ATI is there to support and why we go out and race our cars.”