Aug 17, 2026 · 7 min · 3 segments
This week’s *Question of the Week* comes from Brian, who asks: **I really enjoyed the episode about your first national event win, curious if we turn back the clock even more could you tell us the…
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Brian says, "Luke, I really enjoyed the episode about your first national event win.
Curious if we turn back the clock even more, could you tell us the story of your first win in general?" Yeah, um, I love this story, and it feels like it was yesterday, even though it was over 30 years ago, and saying that makes me feel old.
[laughs] Um, so it was, uh, an, a Saturday night in April of 1993 at Texas Raceway, which is the place where I figuratively, in a lot of cases literally, grew up.
[lip smack] It was the first ever junior dragster race contested at Texas Raceway.
For me, and for each of the eight competitors that were, um, in the field, it was the first time that any of us had ever raced in competition.
For most of us, I believe myself included, it was the first time we'd ever driven down the racetrack.
Actually, that's not even, um, accurate because back then a 500 reaction time was perfect, so my best light actually started with a seven.
In fact, my father and George Watson were in the process of building my first junior dragster.
I actually drove a car that was owned by, uh, Hutch, Robert Hutchison, that owned the racetrack at Texas Raceway at the time.
Um, so thanks to him for giving me the opportunity and, um, actually I raced, uh, I r- I raced Nick Duty in the final, our current, um, NHRA Division 5, uh, director.
Um, so lots of cool storylines around that, but i, i- in retrospect, um, what sticks out to me about that day is, like, I was 11 years old, as I was almost 12, and like typical of that age, like I was, I was trying to figure out where I fit in, right? Like, I was beginning to realize that I wasn't going to be a professional athlete as much as I wanted to be.
[laughs] Like, I didn't, I didn't have the, the skill set, the ability, and, um, you know, you got that social kind of awkwardness at that age, and like I was just, was trying to, to, to find something, you know, that I could kind of... a way to kind of identify myself.
Brian says, "Luke, I really enjoyed the episode about your first national event win.
Curious if we turn back the clock even more, could you tell us the story of your first win in general?" Yeah, um, I love this story, and it feels like it was yesterday, even though it was over 30 years ago, and saying that makes me feel old.
[laughs] Um, so it was, uh, an, a Saturday night in April of 1993 at Texas Raceway, which is the place where I figuratively, in a lot of cases literally, grew up.
[lip smack] It was the first ever junior dragster race contested at Texas Raceway.
For me, and for each of the eight competitors that were, um, in the field, it was the first time that any of us had ever raced in competition.
For most of us, I believe myself included, it was the first time we'd ever driven down the racetrack.
Actually, that's not even, um, accurate because back then a 500 reaction time was perfect, so my best light actually started with a seven.
In fact, my father and George Watson were in the process of building my first junior dragster.
I actually drove a car that was owned by, uh, Hutch, Robert Hutchison, that owned the racetrack at Texas Raceway at the time.
Um, so thanks to him for giving me the opportunity and, um, actually I raced, uh, I r- I raced Nick Duty in the final, our current, um, NHRA Division 5, uh, director.
Um, so lots of cool storylines around that, but i, i- in retrospect, um, what sticks out to me about that day is, like, I was 11 years old, as I was almost 12, and like typical of that age, like I was, I was trying to figure out where I fit in, right? Like, I was beginning to realize that I wasn't going to be a professional athlete as much as I wanted to be.
[laughs] Like, I didn't, I didn't have the, the skill set, the ability, and, um, you know, you got that social kind of awkwardness at that age, and like I was just, was trying to, to, to find something, you know, that I could kind of... a way to kind of identify myself.
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