Legendary doorslammer racer and team owner Camp Stanley has always been fascinated and motivated by new challenges, and in 2018 he and partner Axel Weiss and son, John, will begin a new chapter — and a new challenge — as they’ll vie for the NMCA Xtreme Pro Mod championship with their familiar screw-blown Stanley & Weiss Racing Cadillac CTS-V.

The Stanley family patriarch, who cut his teeth in the exhibition and match race world in the formative years of fast doorslammer racing, announced via social media last month that — with some hesitancy — he was hanging up his familiar, weathered cowboy hat and riding off into the proverbial sunset. At 73 years of age — ever the comedian, he confirmed his youth while flexing his arm muscles for us — he says the costs of being competitive in Pro Extreme, along with the demands of a 9 to 10 race schedule, were simply more than he wished to continue bearing. He began pricing out and listing parts for sale and says he was set in his decision.

“I was literally going to retire. I put the word out, I’m done, I’d had enough. I was tired of the grind. I don’t want to start in January and in mid-December still be doing it,” he says. “It’s more than I wanted to do, and I was willing to say ‘okay, enough is enough.’ I’m a hell of a lot older than I look, but my body lets me know sometimes when I go to bed at night and when I get up in the morning how old I really am. I don’t act it, and hopefully I never will, but sooner or later you have to say ‘enough his enough.’ My mind may say I’m 50 or 60, but my body knows I’m 73, so I need to slow down a little bit.”

The drag racing community, albeit understanding of his decision, was nevertheless saddened to hear that he and John, two of the sport’s most respected and loved individuals, may no longer be a part of it — few would argue that drag racing would be less of a place without their presence. Camp did later share that he had no intentions of exiting drag racing entirely, but would simply cease campaigning his own car.

But then came a change of heart following a conversation in which the NMCA’s 1/8-mile Xtreme Pro Mod class and the laid back atmosphere of the organization was presented to him. A 2,500-mile trek from his home in Maryland to Las Vegas, which gave him plenty of time to reflect and ponder his future, only further compelled him to forge on.

The NMCA’s six-race schedule, of course, was attractive, as was the rules package that would require minimal changes to their existing combination. With that, Camp had a lengthy and positive conversation with NMCA Event Technical Director Lonnie Grim that left him satisfied, and with that things were set in motion.

“It’s a really nice six-race schedule, and there’s a lot of time off in the summer time, so if we decide we want to go do something locally one weekend we can — we can go down to Capitol and just test and play in front of people that never get to see the car and sell some t-shirts. This gives us more freedom to do what we want to do when we want to do it. Every race [in the NMCA] is about a month part and they have a couple of big breaks…that just suits me perfect, and it suits John perfect.”

Noting his travel schedule outside his own racing efforts, he adds, “I also do some international tuning, and I enjoy that, getting on an airplane and flying business class wherever I’m going and having success with guys in foreign countries. And it’s good fun — I’ve been doing it a long time.”

One hurdle Stanley had to navigate was sponsorship, which he insists is paramount to he and Weiss’ racing endeavors. Fort Wayne, Indiana-based Steel Dynamics, Inc., which has backed the Stanley’s over the last handful of years, has confirmed they will return for their move to the NMCA. Interestingly, former NMCA champion Glenn Pushis is a Senior Vice President at SDI, and it was the business connection between Pushis and Weiss, a supplier and representative in the structural steel industry himself, that first bore fruit for the Stanley’s in obtaining SDI as a backer.

With sponsorship secured, Stanley was all but un-retired last week, and following additional face-to-face meetings with the NMCA at the PRI Show, signaled game-on for 2018. “I’ve talked to a lot of people over there and they’ve left me with the impression that they’d be really, really glad to have us over there racing. Everybody in the NMCA organization is willing to welcome us with open arms,” he says.

The Stanley’s will only need to make minute adjustments to their combination — supercharger overdrive and weight — to comply with Xtreme Pro Mod regulations.

Stanley says he, “probably won’t race with the PDRA at all,” in 2018, adding “we just can’t afford it, that’s all there is to it. We’ve got a motor between the framerails to run with just about anybody, but the problem is I’m not willing to sacrifice it for a $500 round win. It’s just not worth it. Over there you’re competing against millionaires, and it’s hard to do these days, and if you can’t run mid to low 3.50s, you might as well stay at the house.”

Camp says he’s excited about he and John’s foray into the NMCA, noting that he, “always likes a new challenge. That’s why we love going to Vegas [the Street Car Super Nationals], because it’s quarter-mile, and we’ve done well and set E.T. and speed records there.”

“But I think we can be competitive, and we definitely plan on competing for the championship, he adds in closing.