Reigning ADRL Pro Extreme champion Jason Hamstra and team owner and chassis builder Andy McCoy recently dropped a bombshell on the series by announcing their intentions to sit out their 2012 title defense campaign, citing McCoy’s need to focus his time and efforts on his thriving business.

Hamstra, who previously campaigned a family-owned machine in the Pro Extreme ranks, teamed with McCoy in the fall of 2010 just prior to the Dragstock VII in Rockingham, arriving with a screw-blown powerplant protruding from the hood of the former Pro Nitrous ’70 Duster that Thomas Myers had driven earlier in the season. As the 2011 season dawned, Hamstra and McCoy became a formidable pair – the team to beat in fact – scoring two wins and some impressive consistency on race day to score the Pro Extreme title. With McCoy’s decision not to partake in the 2012 ADRL season and Hamstra unable to put together a driving deal, the young ace has chosen to sit on the sidelines and resume his successful partnership with McCoy in the future.

According to McCoy, the championship-winning ’70 Duster will be sold this season and a new ’69 Chevelle is already on the drawing board for when he and Hamstra return to the track in the future.

Although in years and decades gone by, winning a championship would put racers and teams at the heights of their careers, but in this day and age of economic uncertainty, success on the racetrack doesn’t mean another season is a given, nor is it guaranteed to interest prospective sponsors.