Ultimate Road Trip: The Story Behind Brandon Doller’s Mega Drag-And-Drive Adventure

There’s always a chance your trip to the race track will turn into an epic adventure without your consent. Issues with the tow rig, interesting late-night encounters at a gas station, or hotel problems are just a few of the many ways things can get wild. Brandon Doller took things three steps further when he drove his twin-turbo Nova from Indiana to Florida in full drag-and-drive trim.

The original plan for Doller was to compete in Sick Week with his 1970 big-block Nova that sports a pair of large turbos and plenty of attitude. After a death in the family, the Sick Week plans were shelved, until the bad-idea fairy planted the seed for an adventure in Doller’s mind.

“My wife woke me up, and she’s like, ‘hey, I got a plane ticket, and we’ll send you down, and you’ll be able to catch the last two days.’ And I’m like, I appreciate that. That’s awesome. Super thoughtful of her to do that. But, I needed to test the car.

I was like, well, if you’re okay with me going down, what do you think about me just driving the car down? I told her the plan was to hook the drag-and-drive trailer up to the car and drive down. She was like, ‘that’s dumb. But if that’s what you think you need to do, then go for it.’ So, I got everything ready to go,” Doller explains.

Doller called his co-pilot, got the car ready, and started heading south. Now mind you, this was after a major snowstorm rocked the region and temperatures were freezing. That didn’t stop Doller, he was a determined man on a drag-and-drive mission. The duo drove through the cold and snow bundled up, using buddy heaters inside the car. They had to stop to adjust a very loud and unhappy valvetrain, but still pressed on.

Eventually, Doller made it to Gainesville and rolled through the gates, part one of the mission was accomplished. He spent the last day of Sick Week helping tune a few cars and even prepared the Nova to make a hit. After timing system issues and the cold set in, Doller’s attempt at a pass was dashed, but that didn’t diminish what he had accomplished.

The following day, it was time to start the trek home, and things were going fine, until they weren’t. Doller noticed a faint smell of gas but assumed the Nova just needed to be sealed up a bit better. During a fuel stop in McDonough, Georgia, he spotted a significant fuel drip under the car. After an eventful troubleshooting session that left Doller soaked in fuel, it was discovered that the fuel cell had a major crack.

As luck would have it, the gas station they stopped at was right across from Summit Racing Equipment’s Georgia location. The duo limped the Nova over to the facility entrance and caught some sleep. The next morning, a full thrash began to fix the fuel cell issue. Thanks to the helpful staff at Summit, Doller was back on the road heading home.

After attempting to pass a semi-truck on a stretch of road, the Nova began running rough. Once again, Doller put on his troubleshooting hat to figure out the issue. A suggestion from a friend led him to discover an air leak from the methanol injectors that weren’t in use. The methanol side of the fuel system was sealed off, the problem was solved, and Doller made it home.

This kind of epic adventure is what makes drag-and-drive racers different. They truly are the kings and queens of “improvise, adapt, and overcome.” You’ll want to watch the full video interview from the Dragzine YouTube channel to hear all the details of Doller’s ultimate drag-and-drive experience.