From Bradenton to the Big Leagues: Jordan DaCosta’s NHRA Dream Is Just Getting Started

Jordan DaCosta - NHRA Driver for Jordan DaCosta Racing

Jordan recently announced a future in the NHRA as a professional driver with the prestigious Bishop Motorsports Pro Sportsman Team. 

Contact: Jordan DaCosta at jordandacosta22@gmail.com | 631-833-2430 | N/A

            

In this episode of the Break/Fix podcast, host Crew Chief Eric, along with returning guest and two-time NHRA Drag Racing Champion Megan Meyer, interviews Jordan DaCosta, an 18-year-old emerging talent in drag racing from Bradenton, Florida. The discussion covers Jordan’s early interest in motorsport, nurtured by his father, and details his quick rise from hobbyist to professional driver. They explore the challenges and dedication required to transition from local events to joining the prestigious Bishops Motorsports Pro Sportsman NHRA team. Jordan talks about balancing school and racing, his aggressive marketing efforts to secure sponsorships, and the importance of vision and persistence. The conversation also includes advice from industry greats and the value of networking and marketing in racing. Jordan shares his future ambitions in drag racing and the importance of evolving with the sport.

• Joining us for this episode is returning guest 2x NHRA Drag Racing champion Megan Meyer, who you might remember from our Panel episode earlier this spring.  
• How did you get involved in Motorsports? Did you come from a racing family? What drew you in? When did you realize this was more than just a hobby for you?
• Drag racing is all about precision—what goes into preparing both yourself and your car before a big race?
• What has been the most challenging moment in your racing career (so far), and how did you overcome it?
• Can you share a race that stands out as your most memorable and what made it so special?
• When you’re not behind the wheel, what do you do to stay sharp and improve your skills?
• What advice would you give to aspiring drag racers who want to follow in your footsteps?
• What’s next for Jordan DaCosta? Any big goals or upcoming races that fans should keep an eye on?
  

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors, designers, and everything in between. Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder to. How did they get that job or become that person?

The road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.

Crew Chief Eric: We return to the world of drag racing with Jordan DaCosta, an 18-year-old drag racing phenom from Bradenton, Florida with an unwavering passion for Motorsport.

Megan Meyer: Currently piloting a nitrous powered s. 10 Jordan competes in major Florida national events showcasing his exceptional talent and determination on the track.

His journey doesn’t stop there. Jordan recently announced a future in the NHRA as a professional driver with the prestigious Bishops Motor Sports Pro sportsman team.

Crew Chief Eric: That’s right. And joining me tonight is returning guest two time NHRA [00:01:00] Drag racing and champion Megan Meyer, who you might remember from our panel episode earlier this spring.

So welcome back to the show, Megan.

Megan Meyer: Thank you.

Crew Chief Eric: And with that, let’s welcome Jordan to break fix. Hello everyone.

Jordan DaCosta: How are you guys?

Crew Chief Eric: All right, Jordan, it’s tradition on this show that everybody starts out with a superhero origin story, but in this case, we’re at the origin of your origin story. So tell us about the who, what, when and where of you, how did you get involved in Motorsport?

Did you come from a racing family? What drew you in? You’ve only been doing this for about two seasons now?

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, I’m on my second season now. We just ended here in Florida ’cause it’s actually different than the NHRA. But it started out I was pretty young. Used to go drag racing with my dad. He raced a stick shift car.

We lived in, uh, long Island, New York, so we’d have to travel four hours to go to every race. I remember, you know, when I was little, painting the underbody of the car, cutting out the front end, putting a tube front end in it. Every winter we would switch the turbo, do twin turbo, set up single turbo. And then we made [00:02:00] the move to Florida and we just so happened to be able to find a property five minutes away from Bradenton Motorsports Park.

I got my first square body, S 10. I started doing test and tune events every single Thursday. To really just learn and it, it was a ten second truck, I felt ready to start doing events there at Bradenton, we were able to find another S 10 that was faster. I could do like a nine 50 index in it and then still progress as I grew as a driver and learn more.

So I started doing that, and then I didn’t really take it as serious. I just did it as a hobby and then. All of a sudden I met Mr. West Buck at Drug Illustrated and he gave me a lot of great advice and so did Kevin Canto, which is now one of my business managers, and helps me a lot today with everything.

And I started getting sponsors about a season I. After starting,

Crew Chief Eric: you know, you brought me back to the Fast and Furious Vin Diesel. You owe me a ten second car. You know, that kind of thing. It [00:03:00] sounds like your transition from making it a hobby to a profession was pretty quick, and it sounds like you had a plan underneath of you, and you’ve got some people helping you along.

So what were some of the challenges to getting to this point? Now you’re signing with the team, and we’re gonna talk about that more as we go along here. What did you discover along the way? Is it as easy as people make it out to be, to get into Motorsport? Or have you faced with some issues?

Jordan DaCosta: No, it’s not easy at all.

I’m sure Megan can agree with that. Doing it for so many years. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I knew it was going to cost me a lot of time, and you know, I fully was dedicated to it. I still am. I’m a very driven person. I’ve always been a natural leader. I’ve always been hardworking. I’ve been working since I was 14, so I, I knew that if I.

Kept going, even though I didn’t see the results in the beginning right away, that I could get to this point. I’m a big vision person. I could vision myself 10 years from now and I’m big on that. And you know, just to get to where I am today, I [00:04:00] never really thought it would’ve happened, but I’ve envisioned it a year ago today.

It’s definitely a challenge, that’s for sure. But I try to keep my head high and keep pushing and keep doing what I’m doing. I’m always evolving and learning and changing new things on the business side on. The mechanic side and everything in between. My whole program

Crew Chief Eric: for our listeners out there who are keeping up with all the different personalities that we have on here, we recently had another young and up and coming driver who’s working through carting to get to imsa and he talked about the struggle about balancing school at a young age with driving.

Yeah. Here you are at 18. The last two years. Drag racing now into NHRA. How are you striking a balance between school and work?

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, so this year I actually switched to online. It just worked out better because of my schedule here in Florida. You know, I’m, I go to races from Wednesday or Thursday all the way to Sunday.

I was always out of school when I was in 11th grade. You know, this year I did online and I was able to actually finish my whole year’s worth of work before my season even [00:05:00] started here in Florida in two months. So I’ve been done since September and I’ve been fully focused on the business side during the day.

And then I have a job at night where I work in my dad’s shop and then racing on the weekends. So I’ve been fully into this, you know, for about a year now, like just totally dedicated to building my name and progressing as a driver and business person.

Megan Meyer: I wanna go back to what you just said about visioning leadership, the business side of racing.

’cause I know firsthand that it is. So important to really work on the business side of it. Not all racers realize that you do need to treat your career like it’s a business and not just, Hey, I wanna go drive a race car. ’cause it’s fun. So when you’re not behind the wheel and now that you’re, you’re done with school, can you tell us more about.

What you are doing on the business side, and then also what you do to stay sharp for racing, for your driving and, and especially now that you’re gonna be stepping up.

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, so my day to day I like to send about a [00:06:00] hundred to 150 emails a day to companies, preferably COOs, CFOs, you know, people, um, on the marketing side of, you know, the bigger companies.

Now that I need a larger amount of funding, I’m finding myself needing to find those bigger companies. Not so much the local ones anymore. So I, I send up the one 50 a day and I actually find those companies based off of, I’ll be driving around and I just see this company, I think about it, I’ll write it in my notes and that’s how I go.

I watch nascar. I watch F1. I see who’s sponsoring other sports. And also a big thing I think you’ve also talked about on your social media is you don’t really want the companies that are already in the sport, you want the ones that are outside. ’cause those are the ones. That have the funding, that have the pockets to be able to help you and to even just bring them into the sport and just doing that, you bring a new fan into the sport.

So that’s also our goal too, to bring new fans in. So that’s something I’ve been focusing on my day to day, and it’s a lot of fun. You get a lot more, [00:07:00] no answers than not even knows. But you know, out of a hundred maybe you’ll get three people that answer you. You can get some meetings set up. I’ve had some good meetings so far, so it’s pretty exciting.

The opportunity is definitely what excites me the most. Thinking about, you know, what the potential could be with X company.

Megan Meyer: Yeah, yeah. Well, and sharing that vision is so important. And going back to what you said. I like to tell racers like, it’s like imagine you have a a pizza or like a pie. If you’re going after a company that already is sponsoring people in motorsports, you’re just taking a smaller piece of that pie instead of bringing a whole nother dish to the table exactly like what you said.

So I’m so glad that you understand that. And even the fact you had mentioned you might get more, no responses than nos, but just that experience. Of that repetition of sending them out, learning what to say, you know, I’m, I’m sure you’re changing it every time because you’re learning what works and what doesn’t work.

And even just the fact that like if you do get a no, that’s still like a step [00:08:00] in the right direction because it does help you learn those losses help you get closer to your win. And, and you’re definitely well known within the drag racing world because you do stand out because. Not very many racers in our world are putting in the work that you do to get your name out there.

Jordan DaCosta: Thank you.

Megan Meyer: So that’s why when I heard from Chris Bishop that you’re gonna be joining the team, it’s like, oh, that’s a no brainer, because you’ve just been doing so much work to get your name out there. Congratulations. Thank you on that and I’m very excited to follow you. So I do wanna talk about how have you seen the sport change since you first started and the fact that you have raced, you went from New York to Florida, have you seen it change very much?

And then also where do you think it’s going in the future? I’ve seen

Jordan DaCosta: it change a good amount. You know, it’s more focused on the social media now, not so much. As what it used to be years ago and just driving. There’s so much more marketing partners needed nowadays because everything just has rising in price.

[00:09:00] Even you see in nascar, they have new sponsors every single weekend. Sometimes you see that on drag cars too. It’s just evolved so much in the past couple of years that we are bound to change with it.

Crew Chief Eric: So let’s switch gears here a little bit. Let’s talk a little bit more about the finesse of drag racing, because you hear different opinions about it, right?

In terms of motor sporting, some really awesome things going on, like we talked about on the panel with Megan, you know, gender parity and you know, a lot of young people in drag racing, which is absolutely awesome. But there’s a lot of talk around, you mentioned Formula one is super popular, even sports card endurance racing.

And you know, you take this turn like this and your entry speed and your exit cornering and how much did you try? And there’s all these nuances to, let’s say, road racing. And I think a lot of that is lost in translation with drag racing. ’cause it, it’s such a short run. Yeah. But it’s so powerful of a run in that short amount of time.

So what I wanted to do was kind of highlight how it is for you right now. ’cause you’re in the middle of it. If you talk to. Legendary drivers. If you talk to retired drivers, you know the old saying, the older we get, the [00:10:00] faster we were. And again, some of this stuff is lost in translation. So can you kind of walk us through the day in the life of a young drag racer?

What’s it like for you? What’s it like being at the starting line and all that adrenaline and the. Car prep and everything that goes into it.

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, I, I’m an overthinker and I, in the mornings, like on any race day, so like Thursday, you know, you have your qualifying. Friday I have your qualifying. Then sometimes, in my case it’s elimination Saturday and goes into Sunday as well.

I like to get there early. I’m always first, I love the trailer organized. I like to have all my merch set up. I’ll go in early before my parents and my other part-time help comes in and helps me. So I’ll come early set up. I like to sit in the car in the lanes a lot earlier than most do because I like to just sit in the silence and kind of think about my run and what I wanna focus on in that run.

See where I need to improve. Let go of the button different. Try something, you know, new. Like right now, we just did a lot of changes to my car, so I had to [00:11:00] learn how to drive on a radio tire, which is a lot harder than slicks. A lot more times in a radio car, you’ll smoke the tires than in the slicks that I had.

So I had to learn how to go through tire shake wheeling too. Like I had to learn how to pedal it differently and shift at a different rate and be used to a higher wheel speed with those radials. So there’s definitely a lot involved in driving a drag car. It’s not about just holding it and you know, going straight, especially for me, there’s.

You know, I have nitrous, so I’m watching, you know, after my burnout, my nitrous pressure, and I have to purge it down to a certain number, and there’s buttons you gotta hit in between all of that and things that you gotta make sure are going right to be able to go down the track as safe as possible.

Crew Chief Eric: Up until this point, you’ve been working with your dad, prepping your own truck, and you are the master of your domain and you’re very.

Sensitive to the car you, like you said, you gotta purge it down, you gotta do this. If it doesn’t sound right, it’s not running right. We gotta tear it down. But now you’re signing up with a team where the car will probably be provided. How is [00:12:00] that gonna be different for you? What’s that transition like going from driver mechanic to just pro driver?

Jordan DaCosta: Oh, I’ve definitely thought about this. It’s definitely gonna be weird. Definitely gonna, you know, want to get my hands dirty in the pits and help the team as much as possible. But it’s definitely gonna be nice knowing that. They have so much knowledge in their class range. The whole team just, they know what they’re doing and I have full trust in them in the tuning side and everything.

Even their coaching, they’re gonna be coaching me a ton because it’s a total new avenue and class I’m going in. I’m gonna be driving three different classes for them in my first race. So it’s definitely gonna be a huge learning curve for me. I’m excited to be able to go there and I have to fly in ’cause they’re actually in Minnesota, so I have to fly in a day early and then fly out a day after because I still want to help them, you know, bring everything back and go to their headquarters as well.

Crew Chief Eric: Other disciplines of motorsport, even the roundy round stuff. Road racing especially, there are practice days. Do you [00:13:00] get that opportunity in drag racing? Do you get to practice with the cars before?

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, so my divisional races I’m doing with them I think are Friday races, are practice days. But because it’s an NHRA divisional race, I actually have to relicense in all of their cars.

So I’m actually flying up there for a week, the beginning of next month to meet the team. ’cause I haven’t even met them. I haven’t been to their shop or anything, meet them, start to learn how to drive the cars and license. Three different cars so that I’m prepped and ready to go for my first race and not have to worry about licensing on that Friday test day in three classes and try to, you know, scrim that in the schedule.

Are you nervous? I am nervous. I’ve never traveled to a drag race and just raced by myself. I’ve always had, you know, my dad with me and my parents there, so it’s definitely gonna be different, but. I’m also a very independent person. I’m very excited. I’m definitely counting down the days until I get there.

Megan Meyer: I can speak from Chris’s experience because that’s how we run our program, is we provide the [00:14:00] cars, the team, and we just have the drivers fly in and show up. I have worked closely with Chris before in the past, and I know he has trained multiple drivers, so he knows what he’s doing. He is a professional, so it’s like the best team, I think, out of all the NHRA that you could race with.

And yeah, it, it is. So important that you do come in early and like you get to know the team, get to know their setup, learn how they organize their stuff, like what you had mentioned, even just going to their headquarters because sometimes we do get drivers that go through our program and they don’t put in that extra effort.

They end up being the ones that stay with us for the shortest amount of time. You could tell, like they just don’t have that much passion and drive for it. Clearly you do. So I feel like you’re gonna be very successful with Chris and his team. Thank you. So, yeah. Yeah, you’re welcome. So what do you think will be the most challenging moment?

For you going from radials in a drag truck to Super Street?

Jordan DaCosta: I’d say just driving a car, it’s totally different than a truck. And I’ve actually thought [00:15:00] about it a lot ’cause I’ve, you know, sat in drag cars before, like friends of mine. But it’s a total different view and I’m a shorter driver, so we’re definitely gonna have to adjust the seat and do a lot of adjustments.

But you sit a lot lower. My truck is pretty low, but it’s. Still a lot different, you know, than a normal car. So I think that’s gonna be a big adjustment for me. And then also, I didn’t announce this yet, but I guess I will hear, I’m gonna be driving their super comp dragster as well. I’ve never even drove a dragster, never been around a dragster.

I’ve always wanted to. So that’s gonna be a whole new adjustment as well, and I’m really excited for that opportunity with them as well.

Crew Chief Eric: So I’m gonna ask you again, are you nervous?

Jordan DaCosta: I’m nervous. I’m nervous. Excited.

Megan Meyer: Yeah. Well, that’s awesome. Super accomplished. So much fun. It is very intimidating. At first, I remember the first time that I made passes in my super comp, we brought our super comp dragster to Frank Colley.

So I got to license there and because my dad knows nothing about Super comp Dragsters, right? He like, he [00:16:00] can do top alcohol dragster, you know, with his eyes closed in his sleep. But don’t ask him to do anything with bracket racing ’cause he does not know how to do it. He does not care. So we actually, yeah, we had to learn from someone else and it took us a long time to figure it out.

So it will be much easier for you going with a team that knows what they’re doing. Yeah. And they can tell you exactly what to do. Yeah. When to do it. But that’s awesome. Congratulations. Yeah. Super comp is so much fun. Thank you. I wish I could still do it, but we sold my card and so I, I can’t anymore, but you know, maybe one day.

I’ll buy another dragster. Yeah. I wanna go back to your past and talk a little bit more about the truck. So do you have a certain race that stands out that’s the most memorable one that you have? And what made it so special for you?

Jordan DaCosta: I would say, you know, it’s a series, so it’s the Drag Illustrated winner series.

That whole series just changed my whole perspective as a driver, a team owner, and an influencer. So that race. I was able to bring in my title sponsor, which is a local [00:17:00] store, Bradenton performance supply. They’re five minutes down the road from the track, so we were able to get them as a vendor spot and I was able to actually park next to them.

So just the marketing was amazing, that whole series that we were able to be next to each other, you know, having their name on the side of the car and you know, their little storefront, you know, at the track there. I was able to actually park on the pro mod side, and I was the only index car on that side, so I got to be next to Kai Kelly.

I was across from Stevie Fast Jackson. I was next to Erica Enders, Antron Brown, you know, all the big names and the stars, and you know, they actually came up, talked to me, gave me advice, and, you know. Telling me I have a cool setup and all that cool stuff. So it definitely inspired me and to see the humbleness from all the other drivers.

But another thing that kind of stood out to me was I started making these hats that say JDR for Jordan DeCosta Racing, and I sold out of them every single race. So then what I started doing, because I realized there was traction from it, I started making sweatshirts and [00:18:00] shirts and selling that. And then I also made a marketing table for.

All of my sponsors that may have business cards or like a lot of my other brand deals like Dream Giveaway or Racers Club, we have coupon codes and stuff like that. And I saw a big progress from that. It definitely opened my eyes to, and also even because I’m not one of the stars of that series, you know, I’m not in a pro mod, believe it or not, I had people asking for autographs and stuff and it felt, you know, really cool and it.

Just pushed me to, you know, wanna work harder and want to do more to get to where I want to be like the other drivers surrounding me.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, Megan, you’ll recall, you and Erica, when we were on the panel together, shared a sentiment about how the highs are extremely high in drag racing, but the lows can be very, very low.

So Jordan, you know, you talked about some of the good things, those lows teach you a lot in life in general, but especially in Motorsport. So what’s one of the most catastrophic things that have happened that you’ve learned from, or failures that you’ve grown from, from your time in Motorsport so far?

Jordan DaCosta: You know, [00:19:00] there’s a lot of failures all the time.

I mean, finishing my second season off, obviously this season was a lot better than my first, my first, I went without any round winds or anything, and my goal for my second season was just. To get a round win, not even an event win. I didn’t care. I just wanted to win a round because bracket racing and index racing is very hard and I had to learn how to finish line drive and you know, do all that critical stuff of the driving side.

And just as much as getting my car dialed, we had the hardest time getting it dialed. We’ve had issues. We had to change transmissions, we changed drive shaft rear end, we changed nitrous systems. We had issues where the car would just shut off. So. That low felt very low, like I couldn’t escape out of it.

And then the next season came and now I have 10 career round wins and one event win in just a season. It went from really low and you know, not giving up, but still feeling bad about it to going into the next season, trying to be positive, and then doing pretty well. So I’m happy with this. [00:20:00] Last season.

Crew Chief Eric: That brings up another good point. You’re rubbing shoulders with some big names and you’re making your way. You’re just starting out. So when you look over the history of drag racing and NHRA and you’re talking to these people and listening to their advice, what do you think separates a good drag racer from a great one?

Jordan DaCosta: The good ones are great drivers, but the great ones are great drivers. Business people, marketers, and they could do just about anything, not just the driving ’cause the driving is great, but we’re also, like Wes Buck says a lot, you know, with Drug Illustrated, we’re characters. We’re the stars of the show. We need to kind of show that off.

And now that everything has evolved in the past couple of years with social media, we need to follow that trend. Let’s start vlogging. Let’s start a podcast. You know, let’s evolve with the sport. So the great ones evolve. The good ones just. Stay driving.

Megan Meyer: That’s really good advice. And is it so true? And I share that online too as well.

’cause you kind of see the ones that just, they stay stuck in their [00:21:00] ways and then over the years they just kind of fade off and then new talent like you come in. So speaking of Wes, what has been some advice that Wes has given you or Kevin that you could pass on to those aspiring drag racers who want to follow in your footsteps?

Jordan DaCosta: When I first started out, when they saw my car and there was no sponsors, it was just a plain black truck. And they were like, you need to start, you’re young, you are business hungry, and we think you could be a potential star. And they started off telling me, you know, try to find the local guys. So I started off finding local companies and.

I’m lucky enough to have about 10 local companies that are on the car and have been helping me and helping me in the future. One of them is actually a local restaurant that sponsors the Drag Illustrated Winter Series food for us. So I met him from them and he’s actually sponsoring my 2025 season in my truck here.

[00:22:00] And then he’s also sponsoring my 25 season with Bishops Motorsports. So I was able to bring him into the NHRA side and he’s. Such a fan and it’s just so exciting. But also, Kevin, now that we’re looking for, you know, those bigger corporate ones, he helps me with a lot of my wording. So he’s like definitely the punctual guy, uh, that helps me spruce things up a bit.

He’s always telling me I’m going too low on my packages. He wants me to go higher in price, but they just really support me and, you know, every step of the way they’ve. Always had my back no matter what. They’ve always introduced me, and that’s another thing, just networking. You know, if I never met them, I honestly do not know what I’d be doing today without them kind of pushing me forward or giving me that contact.

Talking to everybody is a must.

Megan Meyer: So the local companies that you are bringing on, what is it that you are giving to them in value in exchange for, you know, the exposure that you’re offering for ’em?

Jordan DaCosta: Yeah, well of course you start off with placement on the car and then, you [00:23:00] know, some of my other deals are.

More so I guess ambassadorships, you promote them on social media. Another perk of, you know, having them local is I offer when they go to car shows to be featured in the car shows with them to go to all their brand events and stuff like that and kind of speak out and do a lot of community engagement, which helps a lot with their sales.

And I also try to help a lot of my companies that I’m with try to get into the track as a vendor depending on, you know, what business they have for instance. A local company we have here is Steel supplements. They’re also parent company is Omni Energy. For the past two years of the winter series, they’ve been the official energy drink of the winter series, so I gave that connection to them.

So you also want to connect them to other things that can help grow their brand. Other than just a name on the car and posting social media stuff as well.

Crew Chief Eric: All right, Megan, let’s turn the table. What advice would you give Jordan?

Megan Meyer: You are so far ahead of other races. That’s

Jordan DaCosta: what everybody says, but I, I [00:24:00] could have it my way.

I’d be a pro today. Tonight.

Megan Meyer: Yeah. Well, it does take time, I gotta tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. So it took me three years. Of just training for top alcohol dragster before I even did a, a professional, you know, an HRRA. So it takes time, but you are learning so much that’s gonna pay off so far down the road.

’cause yeah, there’s even racers that have been racing for 20, 30 years that still haven’t figured out, like the things you just said. The importance of networking is so key. So my advice for you is to just keep your head down. Just keep trying to grow your network. You never know who is watching you either at the track or online.

There’s so many times I have heard from brands where they won’t wear their logo on their shirt or a polo when they go to a race because they don’t want to be treated differently because people see, oh, you know, they’re associated with this company. So they’ll just wear, you know, a regular [00:25:00] t-shirt and they’ll just observe and see how drivers interact with fans.

Or are they just sitting on the golf cart, you know, just on their phone the whole time, not talking to anyone? Do they have a clean pit space? Like do they take care of their car? I have heard multiple times from brands. Saying that they’ll interact with someone like on Zoom or email or phone call, and it sounds like a great deal, sounds like someone they would wanna partner with.

And then they go and see them at the Track incognito style and realize, oh, that’s not actually the person that we want to represent our brand. So I feel like you’re on that right path. Just stay professional in person and online. You never know what could haunt you one day. So just make sure you know, you’re not posting anything negative or bad or saying anything bad about someone else out there.

And just, you know, stay positive. Interact with every single person you meet at the track. Treat them all like royalty, no matter who they are. If it’s a little kid or a old man or someone, you have no idea who they are. Yeah, because you never [00:26:00] know. What they do or what connections they have that could help you in the future.

Of course. Thank you.

Crew Chief Eric: Racing is one of the places where the nice guys don’t finish last. They usually come out ahead. That being said, dovetailing off of that, I will bestow some wisdom if I can. And to your point about bringing these new ideas to the paddock and the things you’re doing to promote yourself, we had the opportunity to.

Sit down and chat with Matt Marelli a couple years ago and he, you know, was friends with Ken Block and then he eventually took over the Mint 400 and a lot of other off-road events out west and I went to visit him at the Mint. You know, we got to chit-chatting. He was taking me around and I said, you know, Matt, this seems awful familiar to me.

Like there’s certain aspects of other motorsport at this event. And he goes, yeah. Because I went and checked them all out and then I took the best of that and brought it home with me. So I tell you the same thing is go check out other motor sport disciplines and learn from them what they’re doing, how they’re marketing, how they’re getting their sponsors, and if you can take that back home with you in some way and that propels you, that’ll give you a leg up on your [00:27:00] competition.

Yeah, for sure.

Megan Meyer: Yeah. Yeah. And Matt’s so good at marketing. The mint is on my bucket list. I wanna go there someday.

Crew Chief Eric: It’s an awesome event. I can’t recommend it enough.

Megan Meyer: Yeah. Alright, so Jordan, for you, what would you say to the next Jordan, so the 10, 12, 15-year-old that’s watching you, looking at you move up through the ranks, what would you say to them?

Who wants to do what you’re doing right now?

Jordan DaCosta: Look down and never look up until you’re where you want to be. I’m big on like a not giving up. I know that’s what everybody says, but if you truly believe it and you vision it in your head, when you envision it in your head, it’s going to happen. It could be the craziest idea of me in a top fuel car in two years, right?

But if you believe it, it’s going to happen. It doesn’t matter how long it’s going to take. It could take 10, 15, 5 years. It doesn’t matter. So if you have the right vision for yourself and it’s not a vision from somebody else, you could do anything you want.

Megan Meyer: Such a coincidence that [00:28:00] you said that because I am rereading this book, think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

That’s exactly what this book is all about, is about visioning and making it come to life. If you haven’t read this. You should read this.

Crew Chief Eric: I

Jordan DaCosta: haven’t.

Megan Meyer: Okay, good. Yeah, so that’s exactly it.

Crew Chief Eric: Yeah. My SAT word for the day to summarize that is tenacity. That’s what that all boils down to. Jordan, you made a reference there to keeping your eyes down, meaning looking down the strip, you have a lot of strip ahead of you still to come.

Yes. You’re on a fast track to becoming a professional driver and maybe your. Clinching your first NHRA championship somewhere here down the road, but what’s your five, 10 year outlook? What’s next for you? Is drag racing what you wanna do forever? Are there other disciplines of motorsport that you wanna explore?

What are your goals? What are you keeping your eyes set on

Jordan DaCosta: right now? I’m definitely trying to focus on joining this new team and, you know, making them happy, helping them grow as much as possible, as well as myself. I definitely see myself. Down the line, progressing with the team in class. [00:29:00] So if that means moving up in dragsters or in cars, I would like to do that.

And I definitely could see myself staying in the sport for a very long time because I do want to become a, a full-time pro driver and I definitely always want to stay in the sport, even if that was not to happen. But I know at the right vision it will, just as much as, you know, I want to drive, I want to be on the business side as well, so.

Investing my time into a team I think is definitely worth so trying to help Bishop’s Motorsports grow, not just for myself, but also for them. It’s a big deal to me, so I’m excited for that as well.

Crew Chief Eric: Well, Jordan, we’ve reached that part of the episode where we like to invite our guests to share any shout outs, promotions, thank yous, or anything else that we haven’t covered thus far.

Jordan DaCosta: My first race is June 8th in Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway. We have title sponsor, poblanos Mexican Bar and Grill, so I wanna really thank them for coming on board for the 2025 season and I [00:30:00] hope to make them proud of my new team. Proud.

Megan Meyer: Known for his focus, grit, and dedication. Jordan has set out to make a name for himself in the professional racing world through hard work, passion, and perseverance and visioning.

He’s determined to turn his dream of becoming an NHRA professional into reality when not racing. Jordan is also seeking ways to connect with brands that align with his values and racing goals. His enthusiasm for motorsports and his entrepreneurial spirit are the core of his success. And he’s always looking for ways to grow and improve, both personally and professionally.

To learn more and keep up with Jordan’s progress and hear about his first race, be sure to follow him on social media at Jordan DeCosta racing on Instagram.

Crew Chief Eric: And with that, Jordan, I can’t thank you enough for coming on the show and sharing the beginnings of your Road to Success story with us here on Break Fix and some of the.

Exclusives that you dropped with us, we are rooting for you. We are gonna be watching you and we are wishing you the best of luck [00:31:00] and hope to see you with an A HRA championship title under your belt

Jordan DaCosta: one day. One day. Definitely. Thank you guys so much for having me. It was nice talking to you guys and the advice was really helpful.

Megan Meyer: Yeah,

Crew Chief Eric: and Megan, a pleasure as always. Thanks for coming back.

Megan Meyer: Yeah, thank you for having me back, Eric. Glad to be on. Thank

Jordan DaCosta: you guys.

Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought to you by Grand Tour Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media platforms at Grand Touring Motorsports. And if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article@gtmotorsports.org.

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Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 Meet Jordan DaCosta: The Drag Racing Prodigy
• 01:11 Jordan’s Racing Journey Begins
• 03:09 Challenges and Triumphs in Racing
• 04:36 Balancing School and Racing
• 05:24 The Business Side of Racing
• 09:12 The Finesse of Drag Racing
• 11:43 Joining a Professional Racing Team
• 18:35 Advice and Reflections
• 28:32 Future Goals and Shoutouts

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Guest Co-Host: 2x NHRA Champion, Megan Meyer

Megan Meyer is a highly accomplished drag racer who made history in the NHRA’s Top Alcohol Dragster (TAD) category. As the daughter of legendary racer and team owner Randy Meyer, Megan grew up immersed in the world of drag racing and quickly established herself as a formidable competitor. Her precision, discipline, and natural talent behind the wheel propelled her to back-to-back NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster World Championships in 2019 and 2020, making her the first woman to achieve consecutive titles in the class.

Beyond her success on the track, Megan has become an influential figure in the motorsports community, inspiring the next generation of racers—especially women in drag racing. After stepping away from full-time competition, she has focused on mentoring young drivers, managing the family’s racing team, and expanding her presence in the motorsports industry through media and branding initiatives. Her legacy as a fierce competitor and dedicated advocate for women in racing continues to shape the future of the sport. Check out the panel episode featuring Megan from Issue-33.

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