At the time Lawson was crewing for team owner Brad McWilliams who has been a team owner in the alcohol ranks for over ten years. McWilliams, who is handicapped from a past accident, has had a number of drivers in both the Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car classes. His most notable accomplishment was winning the 1999 Division 4 TAD Championship with Darrell Russell as his driver. His other drivers include Tony Volturo, Troy Buff, Ben Harper, Bob Alberty, Warren Dauzat, Jonathan Johnson, Marty Nothstein, Shayne Lawson, Kebin Kinsley and most recently, Brandon Lewis.
“I started racing in 1990 with a Super Gas car,” said McWilliams. “We made the move to Top Alcohol Dragster in ’95 with Tony Volturo as my driver. He drove for me a while, then Troy Buff drove, then I bought Darrell Russell’s car in ’99 and we won the Division 4 Championship with that car.”
“The writing was on the wall with the dragsters and the A/Fuelers back then, so we got into the Top Alcohol Funny Car class with Ben Harper as my driver in 2001. We ran that car for a while, then I took a year off when my dad Byron passed away. We got back into it in 2005 with Jonathan Johnson driving for me. We’ve went through a couple of cars and combinations since, but we got hooked up with Shayne and TigerFlow last year.
“I can’t drive a car, but I really enjoy the tuning side,” added McWilliams. “I like being able to oversee what’s going on with the car. I can’t do a lot, but I enjoy what I’m able to do.”
Despite it initially being a smaller deal, Lawson and McWilliams gave TigerFlow the primary sponsorship position, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After increasing their program with McWilliams, Guest and Yoder also decided to become a part of Lewis’ss A/Fuel Dragster program as an associate. Again, the connection was made in Noble, Okla., at last year’s Division 4 event.
“We talked to Monroe one night after the races,” said Lewis. “He liked what we were doing with the A/Fuel car and has come on board with us as a major associate. They have been a real boost to our program, and we enjoy having the TigerFlow people at the track.”