Interview by Mary Lendzion
Photos by NMCA Staff
For Cody Poston, new experiences are exciting and encouraging.
That is why he has sampled several categories in the NMCA, and why he has been successful in each of them.
He proficiently piloted in Proform Rumble before deciding that he was ready to take on TorqStorm Superchargers True Street. Then, to spend even more time in the driver’s seat of his Camaro, he added MagnaFuel Open Comp to his racing resume while still competing in TorqStorm Superchargers True Street. In 2022, he committed to chasing a championship in LME Street King.
It was an ambitious goal considering he was new to the category and the level of competition that came with it, but he gave it everything he had to achieve it, and by the end of the year, he did.
Ready to see if he could back that championship up in 2023, Poston hit the road running, and at the time of this mid-season interview, he was leading points in LME Street King after a few wins in the category. Additionally, he won the NMRA vs. NMCA Open Comp All-Star Shootout at the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, and because he was the points leader at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Muscle Car Drag Racing at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois, he was able to race the lead qualifier of the event for a chance to earn a Nitto Diamond Tree Ring, and he pulled that win off, too.
Now Poston, whose father, Tim, is holding his own in NMCA Proform Rumble, is focused on the finish line, as well as all of the fun he is having along the way. Read on for more about the cordial yet competitive racer who runs a construction business with his father, Tim, and mother, Sharon, called Horizon Construction in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
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WHEN DID YOU BEGIN COMPETING IN PROFORM RUMBLE?
I started racing in Proform Rumble in 2017, in the same 2010 Camaro I have now. It had a stock LS3 engine with a Brian Tooley cam. Since Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky is our home track, we ran Proform Rumble at the LS Fest, when the category was still part of the Chevrolet Performance Series, before it became part of the NMCA. All of the racers in Proform Rumble were very nice, and the competition was very steep, especially for a racer like me trying to cut a light while footbraking.
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO TEST THE WATERS IN TORQSTORM SUPERCHARGERS TRUE STREET?
I decided to try True Street in 2018 at the race at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio, when I was still running in Rumble. We were just sitting at the track talking about whether I should try something new, and about how cool True Street was with the cruise and the back-to-back passes down track, and I went for it. My car was still basically stock at the time and I was running 11.75-12.00. Running in two categories definitely keeps you busy, especially when a Rumble qualifier overlapped with a True Street cruise or passes, and I missed a couple of qualifiers, but luckily on those occasions, I had qualified well enough prior to missing one. I ran TorqStorm Superchargers True Street until 2020, but I continued to run Rumble and added MagnaFuel Open Comp in 2021.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO TRY MAGNAFUEL OPEN COMP?
I just wanted to try something different and I just liked the way Open Comp was set up. I didn’t have to take the car on the cruise and run back-to-back passes like I did for True Street, which worked out better for me as far as also running in Rumble. Running Rumble and Open Comp was more spread out than running Rumble and True Street, and that was helpful. I will say that when I first started running in Open Comp, it was very tricky trying to figure out where to add weight to slow the car down for qualifying because I didn’t have a weight box in the car. I was judging where to knock time off down track, and that was not easy. By that time, I had put a Whipple supercharger on the car and we went from a stock 6L80 transmission to an RPM Turbo 400 transmission, and I replaced the IRS with a solid rear axle, and I had picked up to 10.50s. We put a new engine in the car in 2022, an LSX engine out of a COPO Camaro, and when we hurt our Whipple supercharger at the race at Summit Motorsports Park in 2022, we had an opportunity to switch to a Magnuson, so we did. We also changed from the factory computer to a Holley EFI system, and with Jessie Coulter helping with the tune, we picked up to a personal best of 8.69, and we decided to try Street King in 2022. I stayed in Open Comp until the race at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina in 2023.
IT IS IMPRESSIVE THAT IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OF COMPETING IN LME STREET KING, 2022, YOU EARNED THE CHAMPIONSHIP. WHAT COMPELLED YOU TO MOVE TO THAT CATEGORY?
Because we had changed the combination and we were going a little faster, I wanted to go from footbraking to transbraking. It felt great to be able to win the very first Street King race that I ran, and that was at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. That weekend, I also finished as the runner-up in Open Comp, so that made it even more special. It still blows my mind actually. I was new to transbraking, and we had tested at the Lights Out race before the race at Bradenton Motorsports Park, and we had also tested at Beech Bend Raceway, and Jessie Coulter did the tuning and the car ran great. He made it so I just had to do my job driving, and that is how I was able to pull off that change of categories and that win. We just stayed focused and calm, and did the best that we could. We kept our heads down and we had some luck. Jessie still tunes for me, and when he is not able to make it, I do some tuning myself. The points chase was very tight in 2022, and I didn’t earn until the championship until the semifinal round of eliminations at the last race of the year at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Three of us had the chance to earn the championship that weekend.
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU REALIZED YOU HAD EARNED THE 2022 STREET KING CHAMPIONSHIP?
I couldn’t believe it. It was amazing and it felt really good to be able to pull that off. My family and my team work so hard to help me, and I felt a lot of pressure to do well for them, too, even though I know they wouldn’t want me to feel that pressure. That was my very first championship, and we really celebrated that.
YOUR RACING IS DEFINITELY A FAMILY AFFAIR. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
I wouldn’t want it any other way. Dad raced back in the day when I was born, and then he just basically stopped and focused on work. When I got into it, he wanted to race again because he was missing it, and we like to joke that mom blames me for that now.
Dad started racing with me in 2019, in Rumble, and we raced in Rumble together until I left the category in 2021. He races his Corvette, and sometimes, we race mom’s Corvette if we are having any issues with our cars. It is special to race with dad. We bounce ideas off of each other, and we will talk about which lane is better and stuff like that. We want each other to have the best possible performance. I will admit that it feels better to come to the track knowing that we are not in the same class like before.
YOU ENJOY A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FELLOW RACERS.
I do. When we are racing, we help our fellow racers and they help us, but we do like to smack-talk when we beat each other. There is constant joking, and sometimes, we are relentless with each other. When we are not racing, we eat together, hang out in the pit area and play cards. Regina and Jeff Puckett, and Steve Satchell are just a few of our racing friends.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN 2023?
If I could back up my 2022 championship, and if dad could earn a championship in Rumble, because he is doing very well in points in that class, that would mean an awful lot.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING WHEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING OR RACING?
Dad, mom, my girlfriend, Lauren Barger, and I all have Harley-Davidson motorcycles that we like to ride around Kentucky. We have gone to Sturgis and Daytona, and some other bike rallies. It is a different kind of thrill from the race car. We also have a small riverboat that we take on rivers and lakes. I have some exciting news to share. Lauren and I are expecting a baby in September, right around the time of the last NMCA race of the year. I know that is bad timing on our part, but we are really excited to add another member to our crew.
(Interview from the upcoming October 2023 issue of Fastest Street Car)
Photos by NMCA Staff
For Cody Poston, new experiences are exciting and encouraging.
That is why he has sampled several categories in the NMCA, and why he has been successful in each of them.
He proficiently piloted in Proform Rumble before deciding that he was ready to take on TorqStorm Superchargers True Street. Then, to spend even more time in the driver’s seat of his Camaro, he added MagnaFuel Open Comp to his racing resume while still competing in TorqStorm Superchargers True Street. In 2022, he committed to chasing a championship in LME Street King.
It was an ambitious goal considering he was new to the category and the level of competition that came with it, but he gave it everything he had to achieve it, and by the end of the year, he did.
Ready to see if he could back that championship up in 2023, Poston hit the road running, and at the time of this mid-season interview, he was leading points in LME Street King after a few wins in the category. Additionally, he won the NMRA vs. NMCA Open Comp All-Star Shootout at the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, and because he was the points leader at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Muscle Car Drag Racing at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois, he was able to race the lead qualifier of the event for a chance to earn a Nitto Diamond Tree Ring, and he pulled that win off, too.
Now Poston, whose father, Tim, is holding his own in NMCA Proform Rumble, is focused on the finish line, as well as all of the fun he is having along the way. Read on for more about the cordial yet competitive racer who runs a construction business with his father, Tim, and mother, Sharon, called Horizon Construction in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
WHEN DID YOU BEGIN COMPETING IN PROFORM RUMBLE?
I started racing in Proform Rumble in 2017, in the same 2010 Camaro I have now. It had a stock LS3 engine with a Brian Tooley cam. Since Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky is our home track, we ran Proform Rumble at the LS Fest, when the category was still part of the Chevrolet Performance Series, before it became part of the NMCA. All of the racers in Proform Rumble were very nice, and the competition was very steep, especially for a racer like me trying to cut a light while footbraking.
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TO TEST THE WATERS IN TORQSTORM SUPERCHARGERS TRUE STREET?
I decided to try True Street in 2018 at the race at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio, when I was still running in Rumble. We were just sitting at the track talking about whether I should try something new, and about how cool True Street was with the cruise and the back-to-back passes down track, and I went for it. My car was still basically stock at the time and I was running 11.75-12.00. Running in two categories definitely keeps you busy, especially when a Rumble qualifier overlapped with a True Street cruise or passes, and I missed a couple of qualifiers, but luckily on those occasions, I had qualified well enough prior to missing one. I ran TorqStorm Superchargers True Street until 2020, but I continued to run Rumble and added MagnaFuel Open Comp in 2021.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO TRY MAGNAFUEL OPEN COMP?
I just wanted to try something different and I just liked the way Open Comp was set up. I didn’t have to take the car on the cruise and run back-to-back passes like I did for True Street, which worked out better for me as far as also running in Rumble. Running Rumble and Open Comp was more spread out than running Rumble and True Street, and that was helpful. I will say that when I first started running in Open Comp, it was very tricky trying to figure out where to add weight to slow the car down for qualifying because I didn’t have a weight box in the car. I was judging where to knock time off down track, and that was not easy. By that time, I had put a Whipple supercharger on the car and we went from a stock 6L80 transmission to an RPM Turbo 400 transmission, and I replaced the IRS with a solid rear axle, and I had picked up to 10.50s. We put a new engine in the car in 2022, an LSX engine out of a COPO Camaro, and when we hurt our Whipple supercharger at the race at Summit Motorsports Park in 2022, we had an opportunity to switch to a Magnuson, so we did. We also changed from the factory computer to a Holley EFI system, and with Jessie Coulter helping with the tune, we picked up to a personal best of 8.69, and we decided to try Street King in 2022. I stayed in Open Comp until the race at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina in 2023.
IT IS IMPRESSIVE THAT IN YOUR FIRST YEAR OF COMPETING IN LME STREET KING, 2022, YOU EARNED THE CHAMPIONSHIP. WHAT COMPELLED YOU TO MOVE TO THAT CATEGORY?
Because we had changed the combination and we were going a little faster, I wanted to go from footbraking to transbraking. It felt great to be able to win the very first Street King race that I ran, and that was at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. That weekend, I also finished as the runner-up in Open Comp, so that made it even more special. It still blows my mind actually. I was new to transbraking, and we had tested at the Lights Out race before the race at Bradenton Motorsports Park, and we had also tested at Beech Bend Raceway, and Jessie Coulter did the tuning and the car ran great. He made it so I just had to do my job driving, and that is how I was able to pull off that change of categories and that win. We just stayed focused and calm, and did the best that we could. We kept our heads down and we had some luck. Jessie still tunes for me, and when he is not able to make it, I do some tuning myself. The points chase was very tight in 2022, and I didn’t earn until the championship until the semifinal round of eliminations at the last race of the year at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Three of us had the chance to earn the championship that weekend.
WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU REALIZED YOU HAD EARNED THE 2022 STREET KING CHAMPIONSHIP?
I couldn’t believe it. It was amazing and it felt really good to be able to pull that off. My family and my team work so hard to help me, and I felt a lot of pressure to do well for them, too, even though I know they wouldn’t want me to feel that pressure. That was my very first championship, and we really celebrated that.
YOUR RACING IS DEFINITELY A FAMILY AFFAIR. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?
I wouldn’t want it any other way. Dad raced back in the day when I was born, and then he just basically stopped and focused on work. When I got into it, he wanted to race again because he was missing it, and we like to joke that mom blames me for that now.
Dad started racing with me in 2019, in Rumble, and we raced in Rumble together until I left the category in 2021. He races his Corvette, and sometimes, we race mom’s Corvette if we are having any issues with our cars. It is special to race with dad. We bounce ideas off of each other, and we will talk about which lane is better and stuff like that. We want each other to have the best possible performance. I will admit that it feels better to come to the track knowing that we are not in the same class like before.
YOU ENJOY A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR FELLOW RACERS.
I do. When we are racing, we help our fellow racers and they help us, but we do like to smack-talk when we beat each other. There is constant joking, and sometimes, we are relentless with each other. When we are not racing, we eat together, hang out in the pit area and play cards. Regina and Jeff Puckett, and Steve Satchell are just a few of our racing friends.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN 2023?
If I could back up my 2022 championship, and if dad could earn a championship in Rumble, because he is doing very well in points in that class, that would mean an awful lot.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING WHEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING OR RACING?
Dad, mom, my girlfriend, Lauren Barger, and I all have Harley-Davidson motorcycles that we like to ride around Kentucky. We have gone to Sturgis and Daytona, and some other bike rallies. It is a different kind of thrill from the race car. We also have a small riverboat that we take on rivers and lakes. I have some exciting news to share. Lauren and I are expecting a baby in September, right around the time of the last NMCA race of the year. I know that is bad timing on our part, but we are really excited to add another member to our crew.
(Interview from the upcoming October 2023 issue of Fastest Street Car)