Jack Harris is no stranger to the sport he competes in today. He started drag racing in 1963 with a Model A Ford roadster that ran in the A/Street Roadster class. Teamed up with partners Lyle Mason & Craig Inglet (Lyle & son Scott are past crew chiefs on Nitro Thunder) the car was powered by Lyle's 327 Chevy engine and was very competitive.

After its initial success, the next step was the installation of a 283 Chevy build by new partner Dennis Saenger. They moved the roadster to a new class (B/Street Roadster) and abruptly set a new NHRA National Record its first time out at Poctello, Idaho in June of 1966. The team reset the record many times over the next few years, the 128.89 mph speed record stood until August of 1968.

In the fall of 1967 a Roy Stein dragster chassis was purchased and the 283 Chevy out of the roadster was punched out to 310 cubic inches to run Jr. Fuel. But at a Division 7 points race at the Las Vegas Stardust Dragway the car weighed in at 930 lbs, and was classified as a Top Fueler. In spite of the fact it was unblown, the car did very well in the top class of the sport. Tagged "The Bad Hombre", the car qualified at every race they entered but failed to win a title.

In 1969 the team stepped up for another new car, a Mark Williams chassis that was run in the NHRA Super Eliminator class as an A/Fueler. At a points race in Mission, BC JACK set a new NHRA class record at 7.42 et. (old record was held by Gene Adams Chrysler hemi at 7.46 et).

In the Fall of 1970 another new chassis was ordered from Mark Williams, a twin engine configuration that would house a pair of fuel burning small block Chevys for Harris to sit behind. With Lyle Mason's and Bruno Perry's engine in the front and Dennis Saenger's and Bill Robins' engine in the rear the "Bad Hombre II" was not only unique but very competitive in Top Fuel. But this timing for this venture was ill fated as the face of drag racing changed in the next two seasons to a rear engine world.

Jack Harris (standing with hat) and the "Bad Hombre" crew made quite a fashion statement back in 1970.

Keeping with the times, in early 1973 the last in the series of "Bad Hombre" cars was parked and Harris began driving the new Garlits chassied Top Fueler owned by local racers Larry Larson, Kenny Robison and Doug Bennett. Feeling quite at home in his new domain, Harris nailed down the Top Fuel title at the Utah State Championships his first time out. "The Undertaker" as it was called, won four straight Top Fuel titles their first season. A great sophomore year in rear engine fuelers.

Yet another Mark Williams chassis was ordered for the 1974 season. Harris kept up his winning ways, bagging several more Top Fuel titles throughout the region. Then in 1975 Jack won the first High Altitude Nationals, a star studded 16 car show in Denver beating Vern Hagstead in the final.

In 1977 Harris teamed up with Craig Inglet, Dennis Saenger and Don Mattinson's "Mountain Raider" NHRA Top Fuel entry. The partnership was very successful and netted another Utah State Championship for Jack. But with the rising cost of racing and his growing family, Harris decided to retire from driving and tend to his auto body shop business.

18 years of 'retirement' went quick with dirt bikes, sand rails and building turbo kits for snowmobiles. Harris also found time to build a log cabin with family and long time friend and racing partner Dennis Saenger in the High Uintia Mountains as a hunting & snowmobile get away. In between trips to the cabin and building & painting street rods he found time in the fall of 1990 to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats to watch the World of Speed Event. Watching Nolan Whites Streamliner make the first 400 mph run in 25 years gave Harris the bug for speed again. (Nolan now competes in the Goodguys A/fuel class). So, 1991 was spent building a full fledge streamliner to run in J/ Blown Gas class (500-750cc) or 45 ci. The chassis was constructed by Tom & Gene Burkland of Great Falls Montana. The Burkland Bros. have their own Streamliner and just last fall it was the first piston driven car to hit 450 mph. Unfortunately the run could not be backed up as both chutes ripped off sending Tom on a 3 mile ride off the end of the course in the mud.

As for their LSR streamliner effort, Jack and son Brett decided to run one of their 650 cc Polaris snowmobile engines complete with their turbo kit. At a whooping 225 hp again first time out Jack broke the current record of 189.86 with a first full run of 209 Mph. The next year Brett drove pushing the record to 222 mph. Brett got his license , broke the record and got into the 200 MPH CLUB.(to get into the 200 MPH CLUB you have to break a record & set it above 200 MPH) all in one day. They had some old timers come up and said that ain't fair as it took them 25 years to get into the 200 MPH CLUB. While at the salt flats Wally Parks & Ray Brock came by to check out the Streamliner, after discussing the good old days of drag racing Wally said you should go to a Goodguys event and have some " fun". Someone just happened to have the latest Goodguys Gazette with Pete Kaiser's Chevy Top Fueler on the cover, bingo the wheel started turning and the "Nitro Thunder" seed was planted. It took two trips to Goodguys events (the first Pomona event won by Dan Horan and the March Meet 1996) to make a concrete decision on what class to run... Top Fuel. A chassis was ordered in the fall of 1996 from long time friend Frank Parks of Neil & Parks. The rest as they say, is new history. See: Nitro Thunder

Since 1997 Harris has had great success with his "Nitro Thunder" cars in the VRA Nostalgia Top Fuel world. Never failing to qualify, the "Sheriff" and his "Posse" race to win and win they have. Sitting in his trophy case is the prestigious trophy signifying the winner of the Goodguys "March Meet" which Harris was won two years in a row - 2001 and 2002. In 2003 he consistanly set top speed marks including a new world record of 265.09 in 2005.

In winning the 2008 March Meet Jack set a new ET record with an incredible 5.56.