Shawn Reed’s crash at the NHRA Northwest Nationals was the nightmare that any nitro team dreads. The car was destroyed, Reed was seriously injured, and the season was in jeopardy. My, how things can change in the span of eight weeks. Reed got back in his car, won an IHRA event when he was seeing if he could even drive a dragster again, and then won the NHRA Reading Nationals just one week later.

This milestone is a big deal for Reed, who has always dreamed of winning a Wally. Last year at Mape Grove, Reed DNQ’d and didn’t even get to race on Sunday. Now, Reed finds himself going from fighting to stay in the Countdown to sitting fifth in points after the first event.

Rob Wendland, Ryan Elliot, and the rest of the Reed Trucking & Excavating team gave Reed a consistent car all weekend long. A number four qualifying spot and a string of passes in the 3.80s sent Reed to the final round, where he defeated Doug Kalitta.

“This car has always been good,” said Reed, who last went to the final round at the 2018 NHRA Gatornationals. “Early in the year, we were running into a few little issues on Sunday morning that would bite us, but these last several weeks, going back to when Jordan Vandergriff was driving, we qualified No. 3 in Brainerd, No. 2 in Indy, and then won the IHRA race last weekend in Ohio. So, this car has been running good for a while now and has been steadily getting better and better throughout the year. Hats off to Rob Wendland, Ryan Elliott, and our whole Reed Trucking & Excavating team. We dragged this bucket of bolts up there every weekend for a year and a half and we finally got a Wally. I’m just so happy for these guys, even more so than I am for myself probably, and I’ve waited six years to get one of these.”

Reed now has a wave of momentum to ride into zMax NHRA 4-Wide Carolina Nationals that could help propel him within striking distance of an NHRA world championship.