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David Powers Motorsports
Headquartered in Houston with race operations located in Brownsburg,
Ind., David Powers Motorsports fields the two-car Top Fuel operation
of drivers Rod Fuller and Antron Brown. DPM proudly represents
racing partners Matco Tools, Caterpillar, Valvoline, Toyota, Forward
Sports Marketing, Goodyear, FRAM, Autolite, Ringer’s Gloves, and Go
Fast Sports.
 David
Powers
Biography
Category: Top Fuel
Residence: Houston, Texas
Birthplace: Dubuque, Iowa
Date of Birth: May 30, 1941
Drivers: Rod Fuller/Antron Brown
2005 Wins/Final Rounds: 3/7
Career Wins/Final Rounds: 6/15
Best Points Finish: 2nd (2007 – Top Fuel: Rod Fuller)
First Victory: Memphis 2005 (Top Fuel: Rod Fuller)
First No. 1 Qualifying Position: St. Louis 2006
Career No. 1 Qualifying Positions: Seven
Wife: R.J.
Sons: Michael (44), Steven (43)
Daughters: Robbie (45), Gretchen (37), Hillary (24)
Height/Weight: 6’4”, 210 lbs.
Hobbies: home building and drag racing
Whether in board room or on the race track, David Powers is a highly
competitive and successful individual. The racer turned businessman
has flourished on both the drag strip and in the home building
industry.
Powers, 65, was raised on a dairy farm in Dubuque, Iowa. Growing up
in a family of eight children, the importance of hard work and
family values were engrained from a young age. He also developed a
passion for speed in his younger years. In 1958, Powers teamed with
John Riley to form the Powers & Riley race team. The pair campaigned
a series of fuel altereds over the next seven seasons. In 1964, the
Powers & Riley AA/FA Fiat qualified No. 1 at the Drag News Junior
Eliminator. Powers earned his first Top Fuel championship in 1964 on
the UDRA circuit. He then followed the drag racing trend and moved
to the Funny Car category in the 1970s. After the 1971 season, the
famed Iowa drag racing duo hung up their helmets to concentrate on
personal business interests.
With nitromethane and the quarter mile behind him, Powers went to
work for a homebuilding company in Colorado before joining a
Chicago-based national building company. In 1989, he relocated to
the Houston area, and in 1994 founded David Powers Homes, a luxury
homebuilder in the Houston area. Powers served on the standing
committee of Mortgage Finance in Washington, D.C. for 10 years while
working with the National Association of Home Builders. Powers’
dedication to high building standards has been recognized with
numerous awards, including the Greater Houston Homebuilders
Association “Builder of the Year” award in 2003. He also earned the
National Energy Star Partner of the Year award in 2003 and ’04, and
National Energy Star Partner of the Year award in sustained
excellence in 2005.
Once a drag racer,
always a drag racer
After more than 30 years away from the sport he was so passionate
about, Powers returned to the race track in 2005, this time as a
team owner. He hired champion NHRA sportsmen competitor Hot Rod
Fuller to pilot his David Powers Homes-backed Top Fuel dragster. In
just 15 races, Fuller powered the Powers-owned rail to a victory at
the Memphis, Tenn. event in August and a top 10 ranking in the NHRA
standings.
In their first full season, 2006, the involved team owner saw his
Lee Beard-tuned Valvoline dragster scored two victories (Phoenix and
Englishtown) in five final-round appearances en route to a
fifth-place finish in the Top Fuel category. The team announced at
the U.S. Nationals they would add a second dragster for the 2007
NHRA season. Whit Bazemore was soon named the driver of the second
DPM rail.
Last season, Powers and his two-car effort experienced a banner
year. DPM was the only multi-car team with two cars to make the
Countdown to 1 field. Fuller raced to a career best season, three
wins in six final rounds, four poles, four low E.T. of the race, one
top speed of the race, and a $100,000 payday for winning the
lucrative Technicoat Shootout at the fall Las Vegas race. At the
Denver race in July, Fuller defeated Whit Bazemore in the final
round of the first all-David Powers Motorsports final round at the
Mile-High Nationals. Bazemore also scored the pole at the Houston
race in March. In November, 16-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle winner
Antron Brown was tabbed to drive the Matco Tools dragster in 2008.
Powers and wife R.J. reside in Houston. He also continues to serve
as President of David Powers Homes.
CAREER FINAL-ROUND RECORD
2007
Phoenix WINNER (Fuller def. M. Troxel)
Joliet runner-up (Fuller to L. Dixon)
Norwalk runner-up (Fuller to T. Schumacher)
Denver WINNER (Fuller def. W. Bazemore)
Denver runner-up (Bazemore to R. Fuller)
Reading runner-up (Fuller to D. Herbert)
Las Vegas 2 WINNER (Fuller def. D. Kalitta)
2006
Phoenix WINNER (def. Melanie Troxel)
Bristol runner-up (Doug Kalitta)
Englishtown WINNER (def. Larry Dixon)
Dallas runner-up (Brandon Bernstein)
Richmond runner-up (Cory McClenathan)
2005
Bristol runner-up (Doug Kalitta)
Joliet 1 runner-up (Scott Kalitta)
Memphis WINNER (def. Tony Schumacher)
CAREER NO. 1 QUALIFIER RECORD
2008
Pomona 1 (A. Brown)
2007
Houston (W. Bazemore)
Atlanta (R.Fuller)
St. Louis (R. Fuller)
Norwalk (R. Fuller)
Reading (R. Fuller)
2006
St. Louis (R. Fuller)
Memphis R. Fuller)
 Tim
Buckley
Biography
Residence: Newport Coast, Calif.
Birthplace: Lynwood, Calif.
Wife: Jennifer
Children: Four
Hobbies: golf, swimming
The founder and CEO of Vintage Design Inc.,
Buckley has been an avid motor sports fan for many years. Buckley
first ventured into the drag racing world in 1989 when he partnered
with ‘89 NHRA Top Fuel champion Gary Ormsby and his Castrol GTX Top
Fuel team. Before joining DPM, Buckley exited drag racing for the
ovals of stock car racing where he was the sole owner of VMI Racing.
He owned the NASCAR Truck and Winston West cars driven by Bill
Sedwick from 1997-’03. Buckley founded Vintage Design Inc. in 1986.
VDI is a full service interior design and flooring subcontractor
with regional locations throughout California. In his spare time,
Buckley enjoys spending time with his family, golf and swimming. He
competes in the Master’s Swimming Competition and was the 2005 and
‘07 National Champion.
 Ted
Yerzyk
Biography
Birthplace: Rochester, Pa.
Residence: Avon, Ind.
Birth date: June 1, 1977
Position: Public Relations
Marital Status: Single
Hobbies: Working out, sports
Yerzyk joined David Powers Motorsports in September 2006 following a
near three-year stint with Don Prudhomme Racing where he was the
public relations specialist for team owner Don “the Snake” Prudhomme
and drivers Larry Dixon and Tommy Johnson, Jr. He also spent three
years as a media relations manager with the National Hot Rod
Association (NHRA). He continues to work in a PR role at DPM along
with assisting Powers and team manager Lee Beard in the day-to-day
operations. He graduated from San Diego State University with a
degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations.
 Diana
Hurst
Biography
Birthplace: Lebanon, Ind.
Residence: Avon, Ind.
Birth date: June 17, 1954
Position: Sponsor Relations Manager
Marital Status: Single
Children: Karen (31), Monica (26)
Hobbies: Golf, cooking
Hurst, who joined DPM in the winter of 2006, has been involved in
marketing for more than two decades. At David Powers Motorsports,
she serves as the sponsor relations manager for Matco Tools and the
David Powers Motorsports Iron Eagle Club hospitality area. She also
has worked for Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) and Don
Schumacher Racing.
Tracy
Friar
Biography
Birthplace: Kokomo, Ind.
Residence: Pittsboro, Ind.
Birth date: April 15, 1961
Position: Administrative Assistant
Marital Status: Single
Children: Wren (19), Daniel (16), Erin (14)
Hobbies: 4H activities, motorcycles, snow mobiles
Friar joined the DPM team during the 2007 season as an
administrative assistant for the race team. She became a full time
employee in November 2007 and performs day-to-day office activities
at the team’s Brownsburg shop.
 Stephen
Elliott
Biography
Birthplace: Detroit
Residence: Mesquite, Nev.
Birth date: Oct. 29, 1953
Position: Hospitality Manager/Chef
Marital Status: Single
Children: Heather Marie (34)
Hobbies: Sports, travel
Elliott joined the David Powers Motorsports hospitality team after
the 2007 NHRA season and will head the operations of the Iron Eagle
Club and serve as the team chef. He has a vast background in
motorsports having served in a food/hospitality role under the
direction of H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler at Charlotte (Lowe’s) Motor
Speedway. He also worked in hospitality at the Pontiac Silverdome
and Roger Penske-owned facilities. Elliott worked on the race crews
for Top Fuel drivers Doug Foley and Jack Ostrander for more than two
decades.
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