In what could be the biggest news of the NHRA off season and certainly the biggest news in the world of the J&A Service Pro Mod Series, “Stevie Fast” Jackson has committed to running the full 12 race program in 2017 with sponsorship from Bahrain 1 Racing. If you do not know who Steve Jackson is you are about to find out. He’s one of the most electrifying characters in the entire sport right now and we mean that globally.

He’s the quickest guy in the history of drag racing on radial tires. That’s a feat he accomplished with a nitrous fed Camaro at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas last year. In the last couple of weeks he has made the baddest eighth mile runs in the history of roots blown pro mods over in Bahrain, he famously flew his “Shadow” Mustang that he raced with NHRA top fuel crew chief Phil Shuler, he was an ADRL Pro Nitrous champion, and he’s still a grudge racer at heart. Currently Jackson has “The Shadow 2.0” being finished by Rick Jones race cars and he’ll be competing at events like Lights Out 8 in Radial vs The World in it.

Through all of this though, Jackson’s true genius is his personality and this is what we may be most excited about. The guy is hilarious and can jawbone with the best of them in videos and online with the best part being the fact that he can back up any claims or call outs that he makes. If there was a time for Jackson to bust onto the NHRA stage, we’re thinking now is it. He’ll have great equipment and he’s proven his ability to drive anything, literally.

Jackson is the prototype for a new generation of aspirational racer. These are guys and girls who are climbing the ranks, mostly on the door slammer side of the world with drive and determination as well as a keen sense of how to make a name for themselves. That’s by being fast on the track, fast at the tree, and fast with their wit on social media and other elements.

Jackson cut his teeth as a grudge racer. That’s an arena where there are no small number of personalities and it is as cutthroat a place as you’ll find in the sport of drag racing. It is effectively racing for your dinner or your mortgage. It is high stakes, it is big money, it is not typically happening at huge tracks, and it is intense. From that blast furnace of pressure and hard nosed racing Jackson has steadily climbed the rungs of the door slammer ladder. His ultimate goal is to land in a nitro car.

This Drag Illustrated story by Ian Tocher lays out Stevie’s career and aspirations. It is an amazing read. 

The most recent heroics from Jackson snap crew have come during his time in Bahrain this winter and respectfully we think it is time for the other competitors in the JA& Service Pro Mod series to get nervous. This guy has been over there running the wheels off of a roots blown pro mod that is basically running an NHRA legal setup and he has been laying down mind blowing numbers like these:

Yes, an eighth mile car is going to be geared differently than a quarter mile car but this is getting it by any measure possible. Nasty stuff!

So now we wait. We’ll be seeing Jackson at Lights Out 8 before he races in Gainesville. We’re guessing that the Shadow 2.0 car will be at SGMP for that race and he’ll be both figuring out a new machine and competing at the highest level of radial racing in the universe. Gainesville will follow and those two worlds which are very different will converge though one guy. We’re literally counting the minutes to see how it goes and if history is an indicator, it’s going to GO for “Stevie Fast” Jackson.