Deland, FL: If there is an accolade in big dollar bracket racing, Troy Williams, Jr. has likely earned it at some point in his illustrious career. Million Dollar Race victory? Check. Moroso 5-Day Points Championship? Three times over. B&M Series World Championship? E.T. Finals victory? He’s done that too. In fact, Williams has been a winner at just about every major big dollar bracket event you could list. While his reputation has been built on the bracket racing scene, the Floridian has dabbled in NHRA and IHRA competition with great success; as evidenced by an IHRA Quick Rod World Championship, and several victories along the national and divisional level within both sanctioning bodies.

To date, however, Williams has only seriously pursued an NHRA championship once. In 2007, the Floridian ranked 3rd in the national Super Comp standings at seasons end. Now, some 8 years later, he has committed to another title pursuit. Williams, sales manager at FTI Performance, will represent the company at NHRA Mello Yello Series and Lucas Oil Series events, enough to pursue a title in the Super Comp category. In addition, Williams will add a Top Dragster machine to his arsenal mid-season in hopes of fine tuning that combination for a potential title run in 2016. Through the opening months of the season, Williams is off to a strong start.

“We’ve done alright thus far,” he said humbly. “In Super Comp, I’ve got a good combination I’ve just made a few mistakes and been on the short end of a couple tight races. We’re in decent position, I just need to get hot and get a few breaks.”

Williams started his season with back-to-back final round appearances at the IHRA Pro-Am event in Immokalee, FL, driving a ’72 Nova in the Hot Rod category. After a runner-up finish in the opening event, he drove the same machine to victory in Sunday’s finale. Weeks later, he wheeled his FTI Performance backed Super Comp entry to a late round showing at the NHRA Division 2 Lucas Oil Series opener in Orlando, FL. In the semi-final round, Williams turned on the red light by a heartbreaking -.001-of-a-second alongside eventual winner Kevin Brannon.

In his first NHRA national event appearance of the season, Williams drove the same machine back into the semi-final round of the Amalie Oil NHRA Gator Nationals. There, he was defeated by multi-time world champion Anthony Bertozzi. Just five races into the young season, Williams finds himself ranked 6th in the NHRA Super Comp national standings.

Following last weekend’s national event appearance in Charlotte, NC, where Williams advanced to the third round in both Super Comp and Super Gas, the FTI Performance team will now head west for a three-week stay in Las Vegas. The team will open the trip with the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, then sandwich in a Division 7 Lucas Oil Series event before concluding the trip with the K&N Spring Fling Vegas, which will give Williams a rare opportunity to return to his big buck bracket racing roots.

In addition to major marketing partner FTI Performance, Troy Williams, Jr. also relies on products and services from the following manufacturers for his continued success: Steve Schmidt Racing Engines, Mickey Thompson Tires and Wheels, Renegade Racing Fuel, Auto Meter, X Header, APD, JEGS, Milodon, and K&N Filters.

Courtesy Luke Bogacki Motorsports news