If your peers call you "Stevie Fast", you would think that would be your nickname. Not true for the native of Augusta GA. Steve Jackson grew up with only one passion... to make enough money to go drag racing. In his teens, Jackson worked two jobs while going to school full time. With a small block Chevy in an S-10 body and little money in his pocket, he would sneak across the state line to Jackson SC to race on Thursday nights. Nonetheless, it would be racing in big money grudge matches where Jackson would earn his stripes as the "Honey Badger".
The concept was simple. Build an insanely fast car that didn't show its true colors until it was too late for the competition know. That will put some extra money in your pocket but requires the tenacity of a honey badger, whose natural enemies are lions and crocodiles. Jackson's next move would change his career forever. Always wanting to beat the best, Jackson set his sights on building and driving the fastest radial (tire) car on the planet. He posted a 4.19 ET at 186 mph to set a new world record, which earned him a call from a Sheikh in the Middle East who wanted to purchase his Orange Car.
On visiting the Sheikh in Qatar, Stevie Fast discovered that the Sheikh had a powerful car that no one could figure out how to get down the track at top speed. After many hours of work in the garage (and at the track), Jackson won the last Pro Mod race in Qatar and signed his first fulltime contract as a professional racecar driver. The Honey Badger would win the ADRL Pro nitrous world championship in his rookie year. With nothing in the racing world secure from one year to the next, Jackson's sponsorship disappeared and a horrific crash in the Shadow (his grudge match car) left him broke and out of racing. But, Honey Badgers never quit.
Once again, fate would deal Stevie Fast an opportune hand. Sheikh Abdulla signed Jackson to race a Pro Mod car in Bahrain. Jackson won four out of the five races and claimed the Arabian Pro Mod Series World Championship. Needless to say, Sheikh Abdulla was quick to sign Jackson as a driver for his Bahrain 1 Racing Team in the E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Division of the NHRA. On Monday following a rain delay at Charlotte, Stevie Fast Jackson earned the World Championship Pro Mod title after winning an elimination round. Never ready to call it quits, Jackson backed it up in Honey Badger style with a Pro Mod final event win at the NHRA Carolina Nationals by defeating Steven Whiteley.
So, what does the 2019 E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod world champion plan to do next? Go racing, of course.
Photo courtesy of RPM: Real Pro Mod
Featuring the world’s fastest and most exotic doorslammer racecars, the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series presented by J&A Service offers something for every kind of drag racing fan. With more than 3,000 horsepower, the "suspended door" Pro Mod cars travel the quarter-mile in less than six seconds at speeds exceeding 250 mph. Visit Real Pro Mod online to learn more.
