NHRA Extra: Getting to Know Darrell Russell
29 January 2001
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
Since the NHRA Federal-Mogul series is considered a training ground
for future pro stars, it's easy to understand Darrell Russell's analogy
that "I feel like I've been in college football and now am the first-round
draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys."
Russell is moving up from sportsman competition into the team owned by Joe Amato, the most successful Top Fuel driver in NHRA history, with five titles and 52 victories. He debuts in the Valvoline/Keystone Automotive dragster this weekend at Pomona, the first of 24 events in NHRA's 50th anniversary campaign. The six-foot, 165-pound Russell is a four-time Division Four champion -- 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999 -- and has 20 divisional event wins. (Division Four is NHRA's South-Central region, including Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Mexico.) He also has seven Federal-Mogul class national victories, including the 1997 U.S. Nationals.
Russell started in Super Comp dragsters in 1988, then advanced to Top Alcohol in 1991. He was named Division Four Driver of the Year three times and was a six-time Federal-Mogul All-Star representative. He's 32, married to Julie, and they reside in Hockley, Tex. (near Houston). Concludes Russell: "I'm just a regular guy with the opportunity of a lifetime."
Text Provided By Michael Knight
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