Tolisano charges to lead of Top Dragster standings

Johnny Tolisano is proving that he can run with the big boys.

After dominating in Junior Dragsters, Tolisano is now the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) Summit Sportsman National Championship leader in Top Dragster.

It really should come as no surprise that the 21-year-old, who previously raced as John Tolisano III, is this good, this soon. The Jupiter, Fla., racer won 10 Junior Dragster titles overall between Immokalee Raceway and his home track of Palm Beach International Raceway. He captured the 2014 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Championship before moving to the Top Dragster class in 2015.

He steadily improved in the larger cars before hitting his stride last season, something that has continued the first part of this year.

“We closed last year strong, winning a couple of big races,” Tolisano said. “This winter, we worked on some combinations and came out of the gates really strong.”

Tolisano is a big fan of the IHRA Summit Sportsman National Championship format which takes the claims from seven of the first 10 events the racer attends.

“Where they’re taking the seven claims, it’s nice,” he said. “It makes it where it’s more racer-friendly and whoever has the best record, wins it.”

Tolisano, who started driving at 10 years old, is carrying on a tradition of accomplished racers in his family. His father is a multiple-time champion with nine national speed-record certificates, and a major sportsman award was named after an older brother who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident.

The sport of drag racing is much more than simply going down the track for the Tolisanos. The father-son duo builds racing engines at their J&J Racing Engines shop throughout the week, and it’s a labor of love for the younger Tolisano.

“Racing for me means spending time with my family, especially my dad,” Tolisano said. “We’re at the machine shop working on different combinations for race engines. We try to come up with the most consistent combinations and we’re still involved with the junior dragster program, building those motors.”

Outside of racing, Tolisano shares a name with the second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds. However, this Johnny Tolisano went a different direction when baseball started interfering with his true sports passion.

“I gave up baseball when I was 13 for racing,” he said. “Baseball was getting in the way too much.”

Nothing has gotten in the way of Tolisano’s charge to the top of the Top Dragster standings. It’s important to him to carry on the family’s record of racing success, and it’s one reason he stays so passionate about the sport both at the track and in the shop.

“It never gets boring around here,” he said. “There’s always something to do, always something to try. You never stop trying, never stop experimenting. You get into situations where the more power you make, the more problems you have. So, you’re always learning in my line of work.”