One of the final pieces of the ADRL’s SuperCar Showdown class was naming the guy (or girl) who was going to be in charge of tech for the category. In our interview with Bret Kepner,  he told us that there was going to be a dedicated person assigned to this class alone due to its unique nature and the fact that the cars competing in it were going to be cutting edge, modern performance vehicles. We were nervous that they were going to hire a graybeard that referred to computers as “google machines” but they did just the opposite. Instead of hiring an AARP member, the ADRL picked 25-year old drag racer and chassis man Jimmy Holzman. The kid is no slouch and is a third generation drag racer who quite literally grew up at the strip and has become a third generation employee at the family chassis business, Holzman Race Cars. Holzman raced with Brent Hajek, piloting one of the first of the modern Cobra Jets ever built to event wins and national records.

The kid is going to have his work cut out for him, but the good news is that he’s a leg up on anyone that lived through the Eisenhower administration and knows the current crop of factory drag cars and new street cars well. If this class pans out to what we think it will, Holzman will literally have one of the most interesting and challenging jobs in the sport of drag racing. It is neat to see a talented young guy get a shot of this magnitude in the sport. We wish him the best of luck!

Here’s the full press release from the ADRL:

In an announcement nearly as stunning as the creation of its radical new SuperCar Showdown series, the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has named 25 year-old Jimmy Holzman as the Technical Director of the category which will present the world’s quickest and fastest production automobiles in national competition.

Holzman, whose youth belies an incredible drag racing career which includes major drag racing event victories as recent as last season, will work specifically within the ADRL SuperCar Showdown series under the direction of the ADRL’s Director of Technical Services, Chris Bell.

“For this position, we needed an individual with knowledge of supercars on a global level,” said Bell, “but Jimmy Holzman brings with him an astonishing background of designing, building, racing and winning in the very cars which will compete in this class. Had we even continued looking, I doubt we could have found anybody with more experience and success with these machines than Jimmy.”

A resident of Wichita, Kansas, Holzman represents the third generation of his family’s substantial involvement in championship drag racing. As an employee of Holzman Race Cars, a design and construction firm which specializes in performance machinery for straight-line competition, Jimmy works side-by-side with his grandfather Vernon, father Robert and older brother Chad in racing, building and tuning vehicles for nearly every category in the sport. The drag racing career of Vernon Holzman spans almost 60 years while Robert has been a fixture in the sport for more than 40 seasons.

Teaming with renowned Ford race car owner Brent Hajek, Jimmy Holzman built one of the first of the current-era Cobra Jet Mustangs and quickly wheeled the product of his labor to victories and national records. His understanding of current technology, new equipment under development by auto manufacturers, construction techniques and the application of rules in modern production drag racing vehicles made Holzman the perfect choice to direct the technical aspects of the sport’s most progressive new division.

“I just can’t believe what an honor it is to have been selected for this position,” said an elated Holzman. “This type of racing is what I live every day of the week. It’s what our family specializes in and it’s where I’ve directed my energy since I first became involved in the sport. Having dealt with just about every aspect of drag racing from building the cars to driving to working with technical inspectors about the intricacy of the rules, I’m excited to be a part of what could be one of the most important drag racing categories ever created.”

Tim McAmis, president of the ADRL, noted Holzman’s enthusiasm.
“Jimmy is just as excited about the SuperCar Showdown as the manufacturers, the racers and the fans,” said McAmis. “We needed somebody with an open mind who understands the concept of the class and the importance of the rules to help this category achieve its enormous potential. Jimmy’s fantastic personality will also help him to work with the racers at the track and effectively monitor the class as it grows. We’re really pleased to have him on the ADRL team.”

The ADRL SuperCar Showdown will debut at the ADRL’s season-opening event, CarSafe Dragpalooza VIII, at Royal Purple Raceway in Houston on March 30-31.

Jimmy Holzman