What began as a technical alliance five years ago has grown into a full-time drag-racing partnership for Quebec driver Dan Mercier and tuner Rob Wendland, who built the Montreal engineer’s first Top Fuel car.

The Groupe ABS – Star Racer team will make its season debut at the April 28-30 NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at Concord, N.C.’s zMAX Dragway, the first of eight planned events on the 2023 Camping World Drag Racing Series tour.

Mercier, who raced in both the Top Alcohol Dragster class and the nitro-burning Top Fuel category, will make one more appearance in the Lucas Oil Series with his A/Fuel dragster at the season-opening Gatornationals in March at Gainesville, Fla. Then he’ll enter the four-wide spectacle, followed by the June races at Epping, N.H., and Norwalk, Ohio. Mercier will run at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis during Labor Day weekend. Then he’ll compete at four of the six Countdown to the Championship events: at Reading, Pa’s Maple Grove Raceway (Sept. 14-17), again at zMAX Dragway (Sept. 22-24), The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 26-29), and the In-N-Out Burger Finals Nov. 9-12 at California’s Pomona Dragstrip.

“For me, Top Fuel was always the unknown,” Mercier said. “It was important for me to continue the Top Alcohol Dragster program to make sure I continued my long-term passion. But this year, with Rob’s commitment in partnering with our team, we will put the A/Fuel car aside after Gainesville and focus on the Top Fuel Dragster for 2023.

“The goal,” he said, “is to prepare for the years 2024 and 2025.” Until then, he said, his “ideal dream” is to qualify for all the events…and winning a few rounds.”

Wendland said Mercier is plenty capable of doing that: “Dan has the passion and resources to have a top-10 team. I am excited for the opportunity to be a part of this team and share my experiences and knowledge to help develop the future of Mercier Racing.”

For me, Rob is the best teacher for the team,” Mercier said. “He knows the equipment, because he built it himself. He is positive and never gives up. – Dan Mercier

Last season, Mercier competed at Epping, N.H.; Norwalk, Ohio; and Indianapolis – with mixed results. In his first appearance, at New England Dragway, Mercier qualified ninth but smoked the tires against Justin Ashley in the opening round. Later that month, at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, he missed the field by a mere three-thousandths of a second.

“He did a really good job. We just got behind the eight-ball,” Wendland said. “We were on a really good pass Friday night, hauling ass. It was going to be a good run. And the air line for the push-back air on the cannon came out and caused the clutch to go slow and caused the motor to rev up. It put a hole out, put a head gasket out, shut the car off. So it ruined that deal. Saturday we came back, and it was as hot as hell, and we were trying to make the field, and I slowed it down a little too much. So we didn’t qualify. We learned a lot. It was a decent run for the conditions. It was just the wrong time to qualify.”

At the U.S. Nationals, which Wendland won with driver Terry McMillen in 2018, Mercier grabbed the No. 16 and final spot on the grid. And in his first meeting with Brittany Force, encountered problems that Wendland, in retrospect, said were avoidable.

Wendland said he enjoys working with Mercier because “he’s very focused. He’s very critical of what he does. He’s an engineer. Engineers are very critical, very methodical, in their processing. He wants to know about everything: the car, the tune-up, the this, the that. Sometimes, as a driver, if you worry about all of that, maybe you don’t do the best job of driving. But that hasn’t affected him. He just needs more laps. That’s all there is to it. There’s a difference between an alcohol dragster and a Top Fuel car. It just takes laps, and so far we haven’t had that many laps. I’m confident that’s not an issue with him driving whatsoever.”

The budget at this point doesn’t allow for any official testing, but Mercier Racing does plan to attend several match races that will serve as testing opportunities. The team wants to continue to build on the consistency and competitive performance that Wendland brings to the table.  With only those three appearances in Top Fuel in 2022, Mercier was able to run a career-best 3.75-second elapsed time under Wendland’s guidance.

“For me, Rob is the best teacher for the team,” Mercier said. “He knows the equipment, because he built it himself. He is positive and never gives up.”

With Wendland’s reputation, Mercier said he knows he is setting his team up for success.

“Rob has had many notable successes in the past, including working with some of the best crew chiefs in the industry, such as Austin Coil, Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, to name a few. Having the ability to sign him onboard is an exciting opportunity,” Mercier said. “Now it is time to win some rounds. We have high hopes of developing a professional and well-respected team.”

Wendland will be managing five well-experienced team members, four of whom are based in St.-Remi, Quebec. Working from the new, state-of-the-art 13,000-square-foot shop there will be Mercier, who works on the car when he isn’t tending to his three businesses. Wendland said, “He takes care of the racks [pistons], and he helps build the short blocks and services the blower sometimes.”

Also working out of the Montreal suburb will be Benoit Duquette, Alex Lanctot, Brent Lagace, and San Antonio’s Josh Scott, who worked with Wendland on McMillen’s team. The team will add some part-time team members.

When Mercier’s 2022 Top Fuel push began in mid-season, Brownsburg, Ind.-based Wendland was concerned about the distance between his One Track Solution Corp. shop and Mercier’s headquarters that also house his A/Fuel dragster and Nostalgia Funny Car.

He isn’t worried now. After making a few trips to Quebec to become acquainted with and train the crew, Wendland said he’s comfortable with the long-distance arrangement.

“Everyone has learned how to work remotely over the last few years due to the pandemic, so that’s how we will manage this partnership.  We will use teleconference and zoom meetings to discuss progress on items needing accomplished and any other relevant information regarding the team’s preparation,” he said.

He’s very critical of what he does. He’s an engineer. Engineers are very critical, very methodical, in their processing. He wants to know about everything: the car, the tune-up, the this, the that. – Rob Wendland

Complicating matters last season was Mercier’s double duty with the Top Alcohol dragster. For example, just before the U.S. Nationals, Mercier raced the sportsman-level car at Epping, N.H. And Wendland said, “They had to run back to Montreal to switch everything [in the hauler] to Top Fuel mode and get back down here. The guys do really well – they do a lot for a small team.” That included the extra effort involved in moving the race-team trailer back and forth across the U.S.-Canada border.

And last year, Wendland showed his true crew-chief colors, worrying about not having the car at his fingertips. “It’s hard to be a crew chief and not be involved with the car on a daily basis. I don’t think you get the same results,” he said then. “Just little things come up every day. If you’re not there in the shop to fix those things, it won’t be fixed to your level of how you want it.” And at that time, he figured it would be more difficult to go rounds, particularly given that he was introducing new clutch discs and expecting everyone on the team “to be on the edge to make this thing haul ass.”

However, after spending more time with the crew members and Mercier, Wendland has made peace with the logistics and placed his faith in technology that makes it possible to prepare the car across the international miles.

One of the factors that puts Wendland more at ease is Mercier’s communication skills. And he appreciates that at the racetrack, as well.

Wendland said Mercier “is really good about” relating to the crew how the car performed following a run.

“I had a guy who used to drive for me, and the only thing that he could come back and tell me was, ‘Wooo! I was late on the ‘chutes!’ – nothing about what happened prior to that. Tim Baxter [of “Jayhawker” fame] could tell me a 20-minute story about what happened: ‘I got out there at 30 foot. I’m not sure, but I might have hit a pebble – I’m not sure. As I went by, I saw [a friend] and I waved to her three times. After that, I came down and hit first gear. It felt like it slipped just a little bit, but it went into second’ He could tell me this whole long story about the thing going down the track. And I thought, ‘That’s so awesome!’ As a crew chief, you want that information.

“And Dan, he’s pretty good. He’ll say, ‘It rattled a little bit, you know? And I got out of it.’ Then he’ll ask, ‘Did I get out of it too early? Was it going to make it?’” Wendland said. “We had that conversation at New England [where Wendland assured Mercier he had made the correct decision].”

And both believe they have made the right choice in launching their official Top Fuel partnership.