Terry Haddock has gone cross country and back racing his nitro funny car and top fuel dragster in both the NHRA and IHRA circuits, so the New Jersey transplant who settled down in Woodinville is relieved to come home this weekend.

Haddock will be driving the top fuel car at the NHRA Northwest Nationals Friday through Sunday at Pacific Raceways, just minutes from Kent, Auburn and Maple Valley as well as the next stop on State Route 18 west from downtown Covington. Anyone who lives within five miles of the track will hear the thunder of the 7,000 to 8,000 horsepower nitromethane fueled cars this weekend as they scream down the quarter-mile track.

“It’s real tough being from here because the car never gets back home,” Haddock said. “It sucks being away from home so much because I miss seeing my son.”

But, running his independent operation without a major sponsor requires some sacrifice to chase his dream of being a drag racing driver, and Haddock knows he can do it well, pointing to his IHRA funny car championship last year as proof.

“To win a championship the way we did, no money, no sponsor, no nothing, it’s quite an accomplishment,” he said. “If we could do this well as handicapped as we are, what could we do with a sponsor?”

Haddock has been racing his top fuel dragster this year, running the full 24 event schedule without a sponsor, even though he had planned to just rent the car out. After the first race of the season when the dragster was clearly competitive after being driven by Andy Carter, he saw the potential.

“At the beginning of the year with all the well funded funny cars, we decided to run the dragster,” Haddock said. “This was all a business decision.”

After spending the past couple weeks driving from Edmonton, ALberta, to Salt Lake City, Utah, to Denver, Colo., for both NHRA and IHRA races Haddock, who has been racing nitro cars professionally since 1996, is glad to have a week at home.

“It’s kind of neat to get to the race here this year because for the last couple of years the IHRA had a race the same weekend and we were in the points race,” Haddock said so they have had to skip the event at Pacific Raceways.

“This is a beautiful race to go to and it’s nice racing here. We’re looking forward to running good over there.”

Haddock relocated to this area after meeting his wife, Bambee, at this same event years ago, though he jokes he “took a wrong turn on the freeway.”

Her whole family is here and having grown up in a racing family herself, Bambee does her part to help her husband pursue his dream, serving as the team manager.

If he gets a few minutes away from the car this week, Haddock might be able to pursue some sponsorship opportunities, which he said are aplenty here.

Problem is, Haddock is a jack of all trades on his racing operation, so he doesn’t have much time to hunt for money.

Most of the time Haddock drives the racing trailer from race to race. During the week between races he does the maintenance.

“All my crew guys are volunteers,” he said. “All I do is pay for their expenses. I tune my cars and drive the truck and I’m the bottom end guy. I’m just fortunate to have friends who are willing to help me chase the dream.”

His crew flies in Thursday night, works with him over the course of the race weekend with qualifying runs on Friday and Saturday then elimination rounds on Sunday, then they all go home on Monday to their full time jobs.

With all the time spent under the car, Haddock said, it’s hard for him to get out and find sponsors because “money hangs out with money” and he hangs out in his pit with the crew.

In fact, he sometimes doesn’t even get the chance to sign autographs for his fans when they come by between rounds, because he’s too busy “laying under the car putting the piston rods back in.”

“I never get to go out and socialize,” he said. “If I’m in the trailer working on the car it’s hard to go out hunting for money.”

What he has to do, then, is focus on winning rounds. Haddock’s top fuel car is 12th in points in the NHRA. He’s just two positions away from making the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship with a half dozen races left to go before the cutoff of the top 10.

“We still have a real shot at the Countdown,” Haddock said. “It’s a long shot, but it can still be done. If we do get in the Countdown, then the 10 cars get a huge amount of television exposure, so it’s a great investment for a sponsor.”

And maybe with a good showing this weekend he can move up into the top 10, earn a little money, and maybe find a local sponsor that wants to fund a local racer.

“We’ve proven over, over and over that we can keep up with the best of them, but our wallet can’t keep up with it,” Haddock said. “There’s tons of money in the Northwest but how do you get the word out that there’s a really good opportunity here when you don’t have the marketing budget to do all that stuff?”