LOCAL MOTORSPORTS

Drag racer Spencer Massey is leading the IHRA Top Fuel points standings with a game plan that has replaced rent-to-own with rent-to-win.

Massey and mentor Gene Snow, both of Fort Worth, are renting the Top Fuel dragster owned by Mitch King of Galveston on a race-by-race basis. That arrangement has resulted in two starts and two victories for the 25-year-old Massey, whose professional career is off to a record-tying start.

Massey scored victories in the International Hot Rod Association season opener at San Antonio Raceway in Marion and followed with another "Ironman" trophy-winning run at Rockingham (N.C.) Dragway. Massey matched Gary Scelzi's NHRA Top Fuel debut in 1997, the year the Californian became the first rookie to win an NHRA championship.

Round 3 of the 11-event IHRA Knoll Gas Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series is scheduled for Friday through Sunday at Milan (Mich.) Dragway, site of the Motor City Nationals. Massey will take a 56-point lead (223-167) over Bruce Litton, whom the Texan defeated in the final at The Rock with a hole-shot (0.038-0.069-second starting line advantage) en route to a 4.712-second/313.51 mph quarter-mile pass.

Winning three in a row is Job One this weekend.

"Definitely. We got the crew to do it, we got the parts, we got the crew chief [Paul Smith] and we got what it takes," Massey said. "We're definitely one of the top-notch cars there. Nobody is taking us lightly.

"Everybody says the first win - not that we got lucky - but it's easy to win one race. Then we went to Rockingham and ran a good 4.70 and were nice and consistent. That's what everybody is talking about now, that it's a for-real deal. It's been real exciting."

Massey's meteoric season began when he and Snow approached King, a longtime friend of both, to help Massey earn his Top Fuel license. Massey, who has been driving Snow's Injected Nitro Dragster in NHRA Division 4 events, aced the test in Houston six days before the IHRA opener.

"I knew Spencer was a good driver and a conscientious guy," said King, a 20-year drag racing veteran who put Massey into his recently purchased Murf McKinney chassis. "I had several guys interested in renting a ride, and thought Spencer and Gene would be good guys to work with."

King, 47, was a regular competitor in the IHRA Nitro Funny Car and Top Fuel ranks last year, finishing sixth in the former and eighth in the latter.

King's primary source of income is La King's Confectionery, a wholesale candy and ice cream business on the historic Strand in Galveston, and an associate sponsor on the car Massey is racing. The primary sponsor is Bexar Waste, a trash company, along with Sunset Cove, a resort community on the west end of Galveston Island, and Lucas Oil.

Both King and Massey declined to give specifics on the cost per race rental.

"We've got a deal that's fluctuating according to what the outcome is," King said. "It's worked twice and we're all getting along."

"It's not cheap and not something we're doing to make money," said Massey, a graduate of the NHRA's Junior Dragster programs at Texas Raceway in Kennedale and Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

Spencer's father, Ray, set him up in his first full competitive season in that series 10 years ago. Spencer's ascension through the Super Comp and Top Alcohol Dragster ranks into Top Fuel has been steady.

"Race by race ... that's the deal," said Massey, referring to his IHRA title aspirations. "We'd be dumb if we didn't keep going with the points lead. It'd be awesome for Mitch and the crew to win the championship."