Tue, 17 Dec 2024, 15:05 PM NHRA Legend Mark Oswald Goes Out on Top After Six Decades in Drag Racing

Courtesy of ABM Communications

Mark Oswald

BROWNSBURG, Ind. - Good things happen to good people. Mark Oswald is proof of that. After making a career in the high-speed sport that dates to the 1970s, Oswald has said goodbye to life on the road criss-crossing America on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tour. The veteran driver/tuner, who has served as Antron Brown's co-crew chief since 2008, leaves the sport from the perfect perch, a champion.

Oswald, a native of Cincinnati, has compiled a resume that impresses even the most accomplished in auto racing. He made racing history in 1984 winning both the NHRA and IHRA (International Hot Rod Association) Funny Car championships. Dubbed the "Ice Man" for his always calm demeanor, Oswald owned the IHRA flopper circuit claiming five consecutive titles from 1983-87. He added his name to the NHRA record books becoming the second driver to win races in both nitro categories, Top Fuel and Funny Car, following only racing icon Don "the Snake" Prudhomme. Oswald traded his steering wheel for a computer and crew chief tuning duties in the late 1990s to team up with another Buckeye native, Brian Corradi, forming one of the more lethal tuning duos in nitro racing. In 16 years helping call the shots on the Matco Tools dragster, Oswald guided Brown to 62 Top Fuel race wins and 36 No. 1 qualifying positions en route to four NHRA world championships (2012, '15, '16 and '24).

"Mark will be missed, that's for sure," Brown said. "Mark is just an awesome person, a wonderful human being. He truly was the Robin to Brian Corradi's Batman, the Yin to his Yang. They balanced each other so well. We had so much success and I couldn't think of a better group to spend the last near two decades with than Mark and Brian. And away from the track, Mark is such an amazing fabricator, engineer, designer and builder."

It's clear, Oswald is the full package. As an accomplished driver, tuner, and all-around MacGyver in the race shop, it's easy to understand why Bristol Dragway selected him to join their esteemed list of Legends of Thunder Valley hall-of-fame in 2018. Oswald's name is forever commemorated atop the Bristol Dragway grandstands, enshrined among the likes of other straight-line legends including John Force, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Wally Parks, and his former boss, Don Schumacher.

"I've been doing this for a long time now and I knew midway through the season it was time to get off the road and spend more time at home," Oswald said. "What I enjoy most is the R&D and engineering side of the sport, and the rules have tied your hands in how creative you can be. I love the racing. That passion hasn't fallen off at all, but the travel has gotten very old. The back and forth; always in a rush. Airports and the inconsistencies in flights. I'm just looking forward to slowing down and not being in a rush all of the time. I want to tinker and build things. That's what I enjoy doing."

Along with Brown, Oswald, who now calls Houma, Louisiana home, has worked alongside many legends of the sport. After his Pro Comp driving days where Oswald piloted a menthol-powered dragster with Ross Thomas and Tom Kattleman, the trio graduated to the Top Fuel class, the "Kings of the Sport." They continued to impress on the division three circuit, and the talented driver's prowess behind the wheel caught the attention of the legendary Louisiana-based Candies & Hughes nitro team. He was tapped to assume the team's driving duties in 1982 and went on to win his first two national events that season, including the Summer Nationals in New Jersey. Moving to the Funny Car ranks a year later, his '83 win near Montreal, Canada, matched Prudhomme with both Top Fuel and Funny Car race wins, and in '84 he bested a legendary bunch of Funny Car drivers, including champions Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Billy Meyer, Frank Hawley and Raymond Beadle, to win the 1984 NHRA Funny Car crown. In 1990, he powered the In-N-Out Burger Funny Car for Bill Schultz and the "Over the Hill Gang" team. He finished his driving career collecting 20 NHRA Wally trophies, 18 from aboard a Funny Car. As a tuner, Oswald has also won races with Mike Ashley, including the prestigious U.S. Nationals in 2006, and Melanie Troxel, before teaming up with Corradi and Brown in '08.

Mark Oswald in the Candies & Hughes Top Fuel dragster, 1982

"The NHRA championships are the most rewarding, that's for sure," Oswald said. "The NHRA is the most difficult series, so it does mean a lot more. I won four with Antron and one as a driver back in '84; it's been a great ride.

"Pomona was a storybook ending and it would be hard to ever top that. Everyone keeps saying I need to come back and I don't think you can after that. It was an unbelievable year and season with Antron and this Matco team. Winning a Top Fuel race is an accomplishment given how stout the competition is. We won six. That final Sunday at Pomona, we beat everyone in the hunt for the title and we definitely earned it. It's very satisfying to win and go out like that."

With Oswald's retreat, his role will be filled by veteran Matco Tools team leader, Brad Mason, as Corradi's righthand-man. Mason's car chief duties will now be managed by Chris Watson, who previously held the role of assistant car chief. The bulk of the championship ABM squad remains intact for 2025 with the addition of one new crew member.

"Working with Mark has been like working with my best friend, like a brother I never had," Corradi said. "He's always there for you, always had your back, always willing to listen and we just worked so well together. He'll be missed for sure, but just a phone call away. He won't be at the races, but he'll always be there for us and to help Antron and the team. Mark taught me a lot. He taught me how to win, and great racing and life lessons. When Mike Ashley put us together, he knew what he was doing. Mike was spot-on. It's proven to be a great combination; like it was meant to be. Just like at Pomona last month."