Dan Mercier's NHRA Top Fuel Dragster Team Is Tale of Two Countries

• Montreal-based dragster driver and engineer Dan Mercier is committing to eight NHRA Top Fuel races in 2023 but looking to increase involvement beyond this season.

• Mercier's tuner is Rob Wendland, who is based in Brownsburg, Ind., leads the dragster prep from afar, communicating with crew via Zoom calls 860 miles away.

• The veteran tuner will be managing five experienced team members, four of whom are based in Saint-Remi, Quebec, where Mercier just moved into his state-of-the-art 13,000-square-foot shop.

The NHRA Top Fuel class has a new team . . . sort of.

Driver Dan Mercier and crew chief Rob Wendland aren’t new to the category. They aren’t even collaborating for the first time. But after five years of building Mercier’s dragster, training the crew, and tuning the car at sporadic appearances on the Camping World Drag Racing Series, Wendland has partnered with the Montreal engineer to move toward a bigger presence in 2023 and beyond.

What makes this alignment so intriguing is that the two principals don’t speak the same primary language, their respective shops are across an international border, and the heretofore sacred concept of the crew chief having his hands on the car at all times has given way to the modern phenomenon of Zoom calls.

That’s the unconventional challenge the Groupe ABS/Star Racer Dragster team faces as it prepares to launch its 2023 season at Charlotte’s zMAX Dragway in four-wide fashion this April 28-30. Mercier will compete again June 2-4 at Epping, N.H.; June 22-25 at Norwalk, Ohio; Aug. 30-Sept. 4 at Indianapolis; and at four of the six Countdown to the Championship events. He also will enter the events at Reading, Pa.; Charlotte again; Las Vegas; and Pomona, Calif.

Last year, Mercier divided his racing time between the sportsman-level Top Alcohol Dragster class and the pro-status Top Fuel class. The cars are significantly different from each other, and the race-team hauler underwent frequent “interior re-decorating” with task-specific equipment and tools. But Mercier has decided to stow away his A/Fuel dragster after one last appearance with it at the season-opening Gatornationals in March at Gainesville, Fla.

“For me, Top Fuel was always the unknown,” Mercier, 57, said. “It was important for me to continue the Top Alcohol Dragster program to make sure I continued my long-term passion. But this year, with Rob’s commitment in partnering with our team, we will put the A/Fuel car aside after Gainesville and focus on the Top Fuel Dragster for 2023.

“The goal,” he said, “is to prepare for the years 2024 and 2025.” Until then, he said, his “ideal dream” is to qualify for all the events . . . and winning a few qualifiers [rounds].”

Wendland has let go of his conventional-crew-chief need to have the car at his fingertips at all times. Locked into maintaining his accessory-equipment businesses at Brownsburg, Ind., he has come to embrace the time- and money-saving modern miracle called Zoom.

The veteran tuner will be managing five experienced team members, four of whom are based in Saint-Remi, Quebec, where Mercier just moved into his state-of-the-art 13,000-square-foot shop. So when Wendland continues to train and direct Benoit Duquette, Alex Lanctot, Brent Lagace, and San Antonio native Josh Scott and share strategy with Mercier midweek, he’ll do it via teleconferences.

Wendland said the 860-mile distance between them, which is about a 12.5-hour drive across the U.S.-Canada border, doesn’t concern him all that much anymore: “Everyone has learned how to work remotely over the last few years due to the pandemic, so that’s how we will manage this partnership. We will use teleconference and Zoom meetings to discuss progress on items needing accomplished and any other relevant information regarding the team’s preparation.”

“For me, Rob is the best teacher for the team,” Mercier said. “He knows the equipment, because he built it himself. He is positive and never gives up. Rob has had many notable successes in the past, including working with some of the best crew chiefs in the industry, such as Austin Coil, Brian Corradi, Mark Oswald, to name a few. Having the ability to sign him on board is an exciting opportunity. Now it is time to win some rounds. We have high hopes of developing a professional and well-respected team.”

Mercier works on the car when his three engineering businesses don’t demand his attention. Wendland said Mercier, “takes care of the racks [pistons], and he helps build the short blocks and services the blower sometimes.”

He said Mercier “has the passion and resources to have a top-10 team. I am excited for the opportunity to be a part of this team and share my experiences and knowledge to help develop the future of Mercier Racing.”

Last season Mercier competed at Epping, N.H.; Norwalk, Ohio; and Indianapolis – with mixed results. In his first appearance, at New England Dragway, Mercier qualified ninth but smoked the tires against Justin Ashley in the opening round. Later that month, at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, he missed the field by a mere three-thousandths of a second. At the U.S. Nationals, which Wendland won with driver Terry McMillen in 2018, Mercier grabbed the No. 16 and final spot on the grid. And in his first meeting with Brittany Force encountered problems that Wendland, in retrospect, said were avoidable.

Wendland said he enjoys working with Mercier because “he’s very focused. He’s very critical of what he does. He’s an engineer. Engineers are very critical, very methodical, in their processing. He wants to know about everything: the car, the tune-up, the this, the that. Sometimes, as a driver, if you worry about all of that, maybe you don’t do the best job of driving. But that hasn’t affected him. He just needs more laps. That’s all there is to it. There’s a difference between an alcohol dragster and a Top Fuel car. It just takes laps, and so far we haven’t had that many laps. I’m confident that’s not an issue with him.”

All drag-racing fans can do is wish them “Bonne chance” (“Good luck”).