Married With GTRs: George And Christine Dodworth Are Ready For TX2K19

George and Christine Dodworth are the kind of married couple that don’t fight about spending too much time at the track — they’re more worried about trying to beat personal bests and winning races. Their weapon of choice is the Nissan GTR and they both have some pretty stout rides. The Dodworths are rolling into TX2K19 by Induction Performance to have some fun on the track at the legendary event.

Before George met Christine he had already spent the better part of 20 years drag racing. He started out in the import world racing a naturally aspirated RX-7 that he upgraded himself. Eventually, he started his own shop called Sevenspeed with Michael Healy as he worked to push the envelope in the import world.

After the birth of his son, George stepped away from cars but that changed when he saw the new GTR on a magazine newsstand.

“One day while racing through an airport for work, my eyes caught a glimpse of this epic car on the cover of a car magazine in the newsstand. ‘Godzilla Returns’ was the headline. Running an import shop, Godzilla was the car we all dreamed of. I pre-ordered a GTR on the first available day,” George explains.

George made the classic promise to himself that he would leave the car stock so it wouldn’t get torn up racing. That promise didn’t last long at all. After going to the track and ripping off a 10-second pass he wanted more so the mods started flowing. In 2011 he was running in the 9-second zone with his GTR, and then he was in the eights — one of the first to clear that benchmark.

Ready for more, George handed his prized GTR off to Tony Paolo at T1 Race Development with the goal of running in the sevens in full street trim. The car was knocking on the door with several 8.01 passes, this was while Christine was going into labor with their son. They stayed at the track trying to catch the magical number and almost didn’t make it to the midwife in time.

Christine has been at George’s side when he races and that’s where she got the racing bug herself.

“She came to all of these events, tests, traveled, and supported me through all the highs and lows. We would often bring along other cars to the track so she could race. She built some experience in the FD RX7’s, but here she was manually launching and rowing gears while I was playing around with the modern GR6 and finely tuned routines on a MoTec M150. When we went to big events, she was sans car, and I could tell it was not the same for her on the sidelines — she is very competitive,” George explains.

Before TX2K18 George was presented with an opportunity to score another GTR that Christine could drive. George pounced on the chance to provide her with her own racecar and she took full advantage of it at the event.

“T1 was able to wrap up the car prior to TX2K, and we surprised her with it there. Straight off the trailer she laid down an 8.50 and was runner-up in the Street Car class. She never raced on a pro tree until that day, and I have never matched her pro tree reaction time in a GTR,” George says.

George and Christine enjoy going to TX2K for the atmosphere the event provides. They understand the prestige that comes with racing at TX2K and enjoy every minute of it.

“I think if you interview anyone in the stands, they’re going to have a personal story of what TX2K means to them and why they come today. There is an energy to this; it’s palpable and you can feel it when you are at the line. It’s almost 20 years of legend, and for me, I feel a responsibility to deliver on a level that is worthy of all the cars and records that were set there long before me,” George says.

Coming into TX2K19 both George and Christine are ready to chase some big numbers. They have been working on their program with T1 Race Development and are confident their GTRs are going to perform well.

“For me personally, I have been chasing this silly 6-second number. Realistically, we have only been in the range of achieving that number for just a few months and maybe 10 total passes. Our best E.T. is now a 7.014 and best trap speed is 211.13. I would be happy to improve either of those benchmarks. I would like to see Christine improve her numbers and get more seat time on the bigger turbos and slicks we added to the car. These events are a rare escape from my hectic work life, so I try to take them lightly and just enjoy the event,” George explains.

George and Christine will be at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil for the TX2K19 by Induction Performance ready to go. You can see all the racing on SpeedVideo live RIGHT HERE March 14-17. This broadcast is brought to you by presenting sponsor WELD Racing along with Driven Racing Oil, Brisk Racing USA & Performance Spark Plugs, Speedwire, Texas Speed, Flying A Motorsports, Edelbrock, GForce Performance Engineering, LME, COMP Cams, and Blow-By-Racing.

About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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