Foster Racing

🚨Long Post Warning🚨

Christine Foster perspective on Sunday's semi finals round

I have struggled to find the words to describe all of the emotions that flowed through my veins after the semifinals on Sunday at the Brainerd Nationals. I've had so many people reach out, check on me, and ask questions about what happened, what I knew, what I was thinking, and what it felt/looked like inside the car.

Before I get into the car, I do what all drivers do. I find my focus, routine, and get in the zone. A big part of that, for me, is prayer. I pray about a lot of things, but two things I ALWAYS pray for are for God to give me a “Sound Mind” and for “Christ to Pilot Me.” A sound mind is one that makes wise decisions and judgments instead of acting out of fear or lack of confidence. I want Christ to pilot me as I pilot this race car because I know I need guidance that only He can provide while driving something as unpredictable as a Top Alcohol Funny Car.

Both of those things unequivocally happened during that semi round. I felt calm as I rolled into the burnout box. I had faith that we would give all we had and whatever was to be, would be. I left the starting line and knew I left first. Chris had run Jake Slator in Del Worsham’s big show car the round before, and he told me I probably wouldn’t hear or see him until I was probably 800-900+ feet down the track, as he had just gone 291 MPH against Chris in the previous round. I was getting pretty far down track and still hadn’t heard or seen him. I made the 1-2 shift, and then the 2-3 shift, and started thinking maybe we got this round. Then there was a concussion and a flash in the cockpit. It got warm. I knew it was on fire, but I didn’t see what you all see in the videos.

A lot of people have asked me if I was afraid, and it feels weird after watching the video (especially the slow-mo from the highlight reel) to say that I wasn’t afraid. When the concussion and flash happened, I couldn’t see. Oddly enough, I had so much going through my head that it didn’t register at that moment. It didn’t even worry me. I knew I needed to do a couple things, quickly. I knew I needed to pull the fire bottles, turn the fuel off, and get this thing stopped. I knew I had no chutes at the moment but had to get all of these things done with the same urgency. I recall pushing the fuel shutoff lever on the left side, pulling the fire bottles on the right, and then swiping for the parachute levers up top, each task one at a time, while also keeping it straight and pumping the brakes to get some speed scruffed off, but not too aggressively. I was able to see again in what I imagine was just a second or two. I knew I was not going to make the turnoff and knew I was going to have to take the circle track. I knew I needed to stay low, as I didn’t want to get too high on the bank of the track. I was able to do this but had to be aggressive and fight against the pull.

I got out, and it was hard to catch my breath, and I couldn’t get my emotions contained. I was FIRED UP. If you know me, you probably know that I don’t get hyped that often, but this may have been the most fired up I have ever been in my life. I won’t lie, I felt like I had just conquered a beast. When I got the confirmation that I had just won, it just leveled up the explosion of emotions I was experiencing. Insert expletives here. I was excited, pumped, grateful, proud, and apparently I wanted to tell anyone who has doubted me, “I got this” (this is not how I said it, LOL). I struggled to talk and make sense of it all as my thoughts raced and I soaked in the moment, mixed with a little fear that we wouldn’t be able to get it turned around. NHRA Safety Safari was on top of it from start to finish, and I can't express my gratitude to them enough.

I got back to my pit, where there were so many people that it was hard to walk through. Talk about feeling grateful and blessed! If you read our other post, you know now that everyone thrashed and got it put back together, only to run into problems leading us to bow out for the final. Normally, I would have been crushed, and don’t get me wrong, it hurt, but I felt so grateful to be safe and have all this support that I didn’t let it wreck my world. Looking back, I could not be more certain and grateful that my prayers for a sound mind and for Christ to pilot me were answered. I could have panicked, but I didn’t. I knew what I needed to do, and I did it. Not because of who I am, but because of who HE IS. I walked away safe, surrounded by people who went to work trying to get me back in that car to take on the final round. We didn’t get to leave Brainerd with a Wally, but we didn’t leave empty-handed either.

Thank you sincerely to everyone who helped, offered to help, prayed for us, and reached out. Thank you to NHRA for giving us the support and time to try and make the final, and to the Safety Safari team for making sure I was safe and being there to get me the best support and care if I wasn't.

Brainerd Update — What a wild day.

Chris bowed out in Round 2 in the HL Construction / Maxima Racing Oils Funny Car against Jake Slator, driving Del Worsham’s Big Show Funny Car that made its debut this weekend.

Christine was able to pick up the Round 2 win against Doug Gordon, advancing to the semifinals where she would line up against the same car that had just taken her husband out. This time, she was representing Chambless Family Racing / Maxima Racing Oils and looking to keep the Foster name moving forward.

But first, we had some work to do.

Christine’s car hurt a piston in Round 2, and we were told we had an hour or less before the semifinals. It immediately became all hands on deck. Christine’s crew, Chris’ crew, and even members of other teams jumped in to help get the car turned around. Somehow, they got it done.

Semifinals: Christine had the starting-line advantage, and Jake ran into trouble early. Everything looked good...until it wasn’t.

The car pushed a head gasket and caught FIRE.

Flames came into the cockpit, and Christine had her hands full trying to get the fuel shut off, pull the fire bottles and get the chutes out. The chutes were late, with only one eventually deploying, forcing her to exit the drag strip and enter the circle track to get the car stopped.

She got it stopped safely and climbed out.

And her first thought?

Can we get this thing turned around for the final?!

She was fired up and praying we could make it happen.

What happened next was something we won’t forget. The amount of support that showed up to try to get Christine back to the starting line was unbelievable. Multiple teams and crews jumped in, while others stood by ready to help with anything we needed.

When Christine realized she needed to borrow a fire suit Annie Whiteley, no questions offered all of her safety gear.

Everyone worked their tails off. The spare motor went in, but we ran into additional issues and ultimately ran out of time.

We didn’t get the opportunity to make that final-round pass, but there is so much more to this weekend than the final result.

We are incredibly thankful Christine is okay. We are proud of both of our teams. And we are beyond grateful for every single person who dropped what they were doing and came over to help us.

That is what this racing family is all about. ❤️

Not quite the ending we wanted—but Christine leaves Brainerd with a final-round finish, and one heck of a story.

We are working to share some good video of the semi finals and will post when we get it. We did hear it was on last night's highlight reel from the NHRA Mission Foods show on Fox.

Round 2️⃣ is set at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals! 🏁🔥

Christine Foster 🆚 Doug Gordon
Chris Foster 🆚 Jake Slator

Two Foster Funny Cars. Two shots at the semifinals. Let’s go! 💪

Round 1 is set at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals!

#4 Christine Foster vs. Steve Macklyn
#8 Chris Foster vs. Bob McCosh

Time to get after it!

Day 1 is complete here at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals! 🏁

Chris & Christine both came into the weekend experimenting with some new parts on their Maxima Racing Oils Funny Cars. We didn’t quite find the performance we were hoping for today, but that’s racing! We have one more shot at it tomorrow morning at 10:30 and will be ready to see what we can find.

Meanwhile, Hud was busy with a little racing business of his own! He set up shop selling collectibles to help raise money for his Jr. Dragster racing. If you know Hudson, you know he LOVES to sell, so he was right in his element!

Back at it tomorrow morning!

We were set for another weekend of Junior racing, but Mother Nature had other plans and Cordova Dragway rained out.

The good news: Hudson’s engine is fixed up and back on the car thanks to Tyler Caheely! We wanted to get it broken in and ready for his next race, so we headed to Byron Dragway.

Chris hadn’t been to Byron since he was a little kid, and it was a first for both Christine and Hudson!

Good news: We were able to make some laps Friday night, and the engine is already running better than before!

Bad news: Saturday was a washout, too. Chris needed to get home and finish up some customer work before we switch gears back to Funny Car racing.

Next up: Chris & Christine are BOTH back behind the wheel at the NHRA Brainerd Nationals!

No funny car racing or junior racing for us this weekend.... its our first weekend home in 2 months 😵‍💫

We are welcoming the weekend off to catch up and maybe a little needed rest/recovery too.

We got a shelf put up yesterday with our Maxima Racing Oils stock - if anyone is needing any product we have 60 wt / 70 wt and 5W-20 as well as the products on the shelf. We can order anything you might need as well, we will be at Cordova Dragway next weekend and our next NHRA event with be Brainerd National. Let us know if we can get you what you need!

What a difference a week can make.

Last weekend was a tough one at the Jr. Chaos race. We hurt a motor, and while the McGlynn family stepped in to loan us one so we could keep racing, Hudson really struggled on the starting line. His confidence took a hit, emotions were running high, and it was a difficult weekend for everyone in the Foster pit.

This weekend we came back to Cordova for a double points race determined to keep building. Between Saturday and Sunday Hudson won 6 rounds of racing, and today he battled all the way to the semifinals before bowing out against a very tough competitor. He turned it -.008 red while running dead-on with a 4. You never like seeing the red light, but we'll take an aggressive driver who's confident enough to race for the win every time.

By the time we loaded up to head home, the heat index was 112°, and we were definitely ready to get out of there. But more than anything, we wanted to leave knowing we gave it everything we had.

We still wouldn't have been racing this weekend without the McGlynn family trusting us with their borrowed engine. That kind of generosity is what makes the racing community so special, and we are incredibly grateful.

So proud of our boy for bouncing back, believing in himself again, and showing what he's capable of.

On to the next! 💪🏁