Matt Madden was born with a need-for-speed mentality. It’s more than just a cliché saying with this 30-year-old NHRA crew member/hauler driver for John Force Racing.
“My first word was ‘car,’” Madden, 30, said. “Anything that has wheels on it was my kind of thing. I said, ‘One day I’m going to drive a tractor-trailer across the country by myself’ and I did.”
He checked off that over-the-road trucking dream only to have many more cross-country trips ahead with John Force Racing.
The most recognizable name in NHRA, John Force is the winningest driver in the sports history with 18 championships since his start in 1978. It’s a legacy that Madden has been a part of since joining the team in 2008.
“They’re a great family,” Madden said of Force and his family of racers, Robert Hight, Courtney and Brittany Force. Madden has been a crew member/hauler driver for each member of the Force family racers and currently is with Courtney’s Nitro Funny Car team. His girlfriend of almost two years, Kelsey Mosier is best friends with Brittany, so he has often spent time with the Forces outside of work. “They are good people. You see him [John Force] on TV and he’s super high energy. That’s not a ploy for TV; he’s just a ball of energy.”
It was a fitting transition for Madden to enter into NHRA after growing up with a love of racing in Richmond, Va. When he got his license at 16, he began racing various vehicles, including G-Force Karts at an indoor track.
“That was every Friday night, we were there for a couple of hours,” Madden said. “My highlights were I was the No. 1 qualifier for a G-Force 6-hour endurance race.”
However, Madden explained that since racing “go-karts takes a lot of money these days to keep yourself behind the wheel,” the most valuable lessons he learned for his future was working summers with his father, who was president of a construction company and his studies at college.
“When I turned 16 I started working for him in the summer. I was driving fork lifts, dump trucks,” Madden said. “A lot of people get intimidated by the size of over-the-road trucks,” but not him, he added.
To pursue his passion for racing, he enrolled at the University of Northwestern Ohio and earned a High Performance Associate’s Degree.
Instructor Paul Higgins, who taught Madden in a high performance fuels class, inadvertently opened the door to Madden’s future. Higgins asked if Madden would like to tag along to a Super Modified 2WD Pulling Truck event.
“We spent all night building the motor, hanging the body on it and everything,” Madden said, and Higgins, also the crew chief, invited him to help out for the rest of the season with driver Dan Walsh’s truck in the Lucas Oil Pro-Pulling League, a 2WD Super Modified named the Irish Challenger.
The engine block in the truck came from Dell Worsham’s Top Fuel Funny Car team, which Madden joined as a crew member in July 2007. His first experience at an NHRA race was his first day at work.
“I didn’t go to a drag race until I was on the job and then I was hooked,” Madden said. “One of my favorite memories is my first win back in 2008. It was just a crazy day.”
Despite Madden’s misstep of putting a broken header on the car before the final round, Worsham managed to beat his competitors, including the final one that day, Ashley Force, part of the Force family.
“We were in Houston and it was hot, muggy and miserable. There was a fairly large storm bearing down on us, it was one of the quickest turnaround times” than normal for prepping the funny car, Madden said.
It’s a prime example of the break-neck speed these dragster crews operate.
“It’s a lot of work for four seconds,” said Madden, who is the clutch guy, but works where he’s needed. “It takes an hour to have the car ready to make one four-second run.”
Having his CDL has been a hot commodity in NHRA as only a handful of crew members work on the cars and each team must have two drivers. Though he’s driven other big rig brands in the past, he’s impressed with driving the team’s 2013 Freightliner Cascadia.
“The thing that really stands out for me is the interior quality,” he said, adding that the sleeper is “quiet in here, it’s comfortable. It’s a nice truck to drive.”
At home in Brownsburg, Ind., Madden enjoys riding dirt bikes with other team members and spending time with his girlfriend, who is an NHRA administrative assistant to the engineering department.
“I like to go riding,” Madden said. “It’s still in one piece which is pretty good considering the way I ride it.”
Because Madden wants a family one day, he doesn’t know how long he’ll be in NHRA, as a crew member at least, but the experience has been life changing.
“It’s never felt like having a real job,” Madden said. “I’ve met a lot of really great people. What I’ll most appreciate when this whole ride is said and done is my girlfriend – hopefully soon-to-be fiancée – and a lot of friends.”
Q&A with Matt Madden:
- What is your dream vehicle? I love classic late ’50s or early ’60s Ferraris.
- What is your favorite T.V. Show? I’ve always liked “Home Improvement.”
If you became a multi-millionaire overnight after winning the lottery, what is the first thing you’d buy? Another lottery ticket; I think about winning the lottery all time. If Kelsey is going to be reading this article, then a giant ring for her.