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After 17 Years, Steve Graham is Back

They say once you learn to ride a bicycle, you never forget how to do it. Years can go by without riding, but when you get back on a bike, you will be able to ride as if no time has passed. Could the same be said about drag racing? Johnson Performance/All Seasons General Contracting Modified racer, Steve Graham, was about to find out. After success in the 2000’s, he took a 17 year racing hiatus, and would return to Bunker Hill Dragstrip to race points for a track championship in 2024.
Back in 1993 after building a Camaro to beat his friends who drove Mustangs, Steve Graham took his car out to Bunker Hill Dragstrip, with the intent of seeing how fast it would go. That one trip to the track would change everything, leading Graham on a path to many drag racing accomplishments.
After finding success as a bracket racer, with track championships in the Pro class in 2001 & 2002, both Earl Gaerte and Brian Olson gave Graham opportunities that he wouldn’t have otherwise had. Legendary high performance engine builder Earl Gaerte, put Graham behind the wheel of his 1955 Chevy. Veteran drag racing announcer, Peru, IN native, Brian Olson entered his Chevy II in a National Open race in Montgomery, AL at the end of 2001 and put Graham behind the wheel. Graham drove Olson’s car to the final round, where he got the win and took home his first Wally Trophy. This began a 3 year stretch where Graham would spend most of his time racing Olson’s Super Stock car, while taking his beloved Camaro out when there wasn’t a Super Stock race on the schedule.
Graham believes that practice makes perfect and spending every weekend racing contributed to the success he had as a Super Stock racer. In 2003 he finished 7th in the NHRA Super Stock National Championship. In 2004 he would get a NHRA national event win at Joilet in Super Stock, and earn the NHRA Division 3 Super Stock Championship. Graham would get a Jeg’s Allstar qualifier in 2005, which would be followed by a 17 year break from the sport of drag racing.
While drag racing was always somewhere in the back of Graham’s mind during his time away from the sport. His hiatus brought more purpose to his life than drag racing ever could. Graham focused on work, which included a lot of overtime hours on the weekends, he bought a house, and most importantly he started a family and focused on raising his son Luke and daughter Mackensy.
At the end of the 2023 season, as Graham's children were finishing sports, he found himself wanting to get back to the track, and decided it was time to give bracket racing a try again. While a lot of things had changed since the last time he raced at Bunker Hill Dragstrip, like the ownership and some of the racers, there were also things that remained the same. The Camaro that he would be racing was that same Camaro that he built in high school and brought to the track in 1993, and the success he would find on the track was nothing short of the success he had years before.
In 2024 Graham entered points in the Modified Class. This was the same class (different name), which he had won track championships in, back in 2001 & 2002. He started the season with a win at the Season Opener and never looked back. With his 14 year old daughter Mackensey at most races cheering her dad on, Graham would park his car in the Coan Engineering Winner’s Circle multiple times throughout the season and would ultimately clinch the 2024 Modified track championship proving that drag racing is like riding a bike. Once you know how to do it, you never forget how it’s done.

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