NHRA: Chief Dupuy joins Joe Amato Racing

EXETER, Pa. (March 19) -- Up-and-coming crew chief Wayne Dupuy has
joined Joe Amato Racing effective immediately. Dupuy joins Jimmy Walsh
and clutch specialist Bob Bauer in the braintrust of the Amato camp,
which fields the Bilstein Engine Flush System/Keystone/Valvoline Top
Fuel dragster in NHRA competition.

“These cars have become so advanced that it takes a collective effort to
make them into championship contenders,” said Amato, a five-time series
champion and the sport’s all-time leader in Top Fuel victories with 52
national event wins. “Wayne Dupuy is a very talented young guy who
really hasn’t had a chance to show what he’s capable of with a big-time
team. He just became available so we snatched him up.

“It’s an exciting time for us. We really feel Wayne can help take us to
the top level of the sport where we can mix it up with Kenny Bernstein,
Larry Dixon, and the rest of the championship-contending teams. You can
never have enough brainpower around. You look at all of the best teams
and they all have a group of talented people at the top.”

The son of retired NHRA Director of Competition Lynwood Dupuy, Wayne
first attended drag races as a small boy when his father owned and
operated race tracks in Baton Rouge, La., Atlanta, and Houston. Once he
became old enough to compete, Dupuy began bracket racing Top Sportsman
Motorcycles, posting respectable career-best numbers of 7.66 seconds at
181 mph. But by the mid-1980s, the intricacies and challenges associated
with tuning race cars took over and Dupuy found a home on the working
end of a wrench.

Dupuy first assumed the mantle of crew chief on an alcohol-powered
dragster. A year later, he already had graduated to the elite racks of
Top Fuel racing where he worked the bottom end of NHRA legends Connie
“the Bounty Hunter” Kalitta and Gene “Snowman” Snow’s dragsters.
Literally working from the bottom up, Dupuy was a crew chief within two
seasons and soon after won his first race when he tuned Tony Mack to the
1989 Top Fuel title in Bristol, Tenn.

Success has come both on and off the track for Dupuy ever since. Guiding
the likes of K.C. Spurlock, Cory McClenathan, Phil Burkart Jr., Todd
Paton, Jim Epler, Cristen Powell, Johnny Gray, and Don Lampus, Dupuy has
helped every driver he’s worked for achieve personal best elapsed times
and top speeds. He’s celebrated numerous victories along the way and
watched many of his drivers collect top-10 finishes in the points
standings in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes.

Proving his commitment to being the best tuner possible, Dupuy even took
time to earn a competitor’s license in both nitro-powered categories
just so he could further comprehend what his drivers were trying to tell
him about their 4.5-second, 325-mph passes down the quarter-mile strip.

“We’re all thrilled to have Wayne on board,” said Marty Yacoobian, owner
of Bilstein Engine Flush Systems. “From Joe, to Jimmy and Bob, to every
member of this team, including myself, we all want the same thing – to
win the POWERade Championship. I firmly believe Wayne will help us
achieve our goals that much sooner.”