This will be a big weekend for a 2006 graduate of Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School. Chase Murray will be competing in the National Hot Rod Association’s drag races in Baytown. He is hoping to make a big impression.
Murray has always been interested in motors, cars, and racing. He started practicing with a junior racer in the old Sears parking lot when he was only six years old and began organized racing when he was eight. His dad Walter serves as Murray’s chief mechanic.
His family’s ties to the sport are strong. Walter Murray has always been Chase’s crew chief and working together so closely has formed quite a bond between the two. Murrays’ mom and stepdad, Sheila and Stan Holt, also travel with Chase and his dad to every race. Stepdad Stan Holt owns Lupe Tortilla Restaurants which is Chase’s racing sponsor.
The comradeship and family experience of the drag race community is one of the things that attracts Murray to the sport. “Everybody out here will give you the shirt off their back. If something goes wrong with your car your competitors will be the first one to come over and give you the part you need or help out. It’s really a great sport and that’s why we keep coming back for more,” Murray exclaims.
This has been a good year for Murray in what is the minor league of drag racing. He has won two events and finished second in three other ones. This weekend in Baytown is a big opportunity for Murray since there will also be the top professional drag racers competing in a different category. Those races are determined by fractions of a second and the speeds will exceed 300 miles per hour.
Chase is hopeful he can do well enough to impress the professional racing teams and move into the big leagues. Murray remains confident although he admits the odds are against him. “It comes down to who you meet, who you know, and the impressions you make on that person. So, at the end of the day I’m just going to go around, smile, be my joyous self, shake hands, and meet as many people in the racing world as I can because that could be my ticket to getting into a professional dragster,” Murray confesses.
The O’Reilly Spring Nationals will be April 29-May 1 at the Royal Purple Raceway located on South FM 565 in Baytown.
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