Bio
Racing runs deep in the bloodlines of the Skillman family; Starting with family patriarch Ray, on to son Bill, and right on down to grandson Drew. Drag racing has been part of the family tradition since the 1960s. After a long break from the drag strip the Skillman's ordered a couple 2010 Ford Cobra Jets and went out to Lucas Oil Speedway for a little fun. A fun night turned into relentless mission to perfect the cars and get down the track faster than ever before. It was that dedication and thirst for knowledge that fueled the family to start the race team.
Only two years after the initial testing at Lucas Oil Raceway, the team was up and running and Drew Skillman won both Super Stock and Stock titles at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Drew was the youngest ever driver to double up at a national event. He was also the only driver in history to win their first national events as a double.
Atlanta was only a start! In 2012, Drew won the Super Stock title at the Division 3 race at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Then he took two more national events in Chicago and Bristol. He also took an ADRL win in St. Louis. He then moved on to win NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series races in Indianapolis and Stanton. These wins crowned him the 2013 Division 3 Stock Eliminator champion.
2013 was a year of huge surprises and delights, but in the end one single point separated Drew from winning the national championship. Although extremely disappointed that one point was the separation between him and the championship, it fueled the family determination even further.
Right out of the gate in 2014 was a huge win, in the Stock Division, at the Division 2 Lucas Oil Series opener at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Back in Atlanta, Drew almost doubled up again! He took one win and a runner up. He duplicated the success at the Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals presented by Tri-cities Area Ford Dealers in Bristol. In St. Louis at the AAA Insurance Midwest National he was runner up. Later in the season, he took another win at the Pep Boys Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.
The 2014 season ended with Drew in second place in the NHRA Lucas Oil Championship for Stock and 4th in the NHRA Lucas Oil Division 3 Championship for competition eliminator. Of all of the rounds Drew participated in during the season, he won 78.3% of the time he left the starting line. Drew also is the current national record holder for the E/SMA and set the record at 8.26 at 161.98mph (Cecil, GA 3/09/13). Drew also dabbled a bit in the Comp division, where he was able runner-up in the Bowling Green race.
In 2015, big changes came into focus for Skillman Motorsports as they entered into the NHRA Pro Stock division. Rookie Drew proved right out of the gate that he was ready for the challenge. In his first Pro Stock race at Pomona, Drew had a hole-shot win over Pro Stock Champion Erica Enders in the semi-final round. Although finishing runner-up to Jason Line with the margin of victory only 0.0155 seconds (approximately 5 feet), Drew would go onto three additional final rounds in his rookie campaign, taking home the Wally in St. Louis, at the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals. Drew also qualified No. 1 three times (Chicago/Reading/Dallas), setting the E.T. record at both Chicago & Dallas. Drew finished 2015 with 26 round-wins, qualifying for the Countdown to the Championship, finishing 5th, on his way to the 2015 NHRA Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, which recognizes the sport’s top-performing rookie.
In June of 2016, Drew and the Skillman Motorsports crew made a change to Gray Motorsports to power the Camaro! His new Gray Motorsports power debuted at Epping, NH. Entering the debut weekend, the team was tied for 4th in points with Allen Johnson.
Drew Skillman/Skillman Motorsports