THE NEED FOR SPEED: Curtis Fox is working on his latest and greatest race car for the 2025 season of drag racing at Rocket City Dragway located in Harvest

BY BOB LABBE | PHOTOS BY JOSHUA BERRY

The need for speed has always been part of the psyche of Curtis Fox. At age 16 he bought his first car, an orange color 1975 Chevrolet Monza, from a local junkyard where the car’s engine needed replacement, and his passion with his first taste of car ownership and upkeep set the stage for his adulthood where he continues his passionate love of cars as well as anything associated with the machine.

Today at age 59, Fox is in constant motion working on his latest and greatest race car for the 2025 season of drag racing at Rocket City Dragway located in Harvest. He is the car owner and crew chief for the defending champion of the racetracks’ Points Championship as his racer named “4-Given” won the pro division with several individual race wins and runners-up. For the last several years, including in 2024, the car was driven by Mark Bedwell, a 58-year-old production worker for Intuitive Research, a contractor for the U.S. Army.

All the victories and accolades are not the entire story for Fox and his love for racing cars as he is confined to a wheelchair and is paralyzed from the chest down. He does not believe in giving in or up. He added, “I don’t let anything stop me as I stay focused and encourage others in similar situations to do the same. I’m in pain constantly, but I stay busy and remain focused.”

Fox suffered a traumatic life-altering injury in March 2008 two years after he bought a Motorcross bike and was on a track and admittedly running too fast and hit a huge jump on the track course and crashed. The incident occurred in mere seconds but forever changed his life. He suffered a broken back and severed spinal cord and was instantly paralyzed. Fox remained in a hospital until early June of that same year when he returned home. Two weeks later, he and Melisa, a woman he met a year earlier, were married and remain in bliss today as Melisa brought two children, Adam and Nick, to the family from a previous marriage.

“She is great, the love of my life who lets nothing stand in her way of helping me as she even helps me work on my cars,” said Fox. “She barely weighs 110 pounds, but she’s the muscle for me as she helps me in the garage where I have a hoist that assists in bringing the car to my eye level. Melisa helps me and doesn’t mind getting dirty. Nothing slows her down.”

At any time, you may see Fox in the confines of his garage area with a wrench, screwdriver or hammer in his hands movin’ and groovin’ to what needs to be done to get the engine in shape and placed in the car ready for race day. “Yes, I tell me people, I’m in a wheelchair and still build 1,200 horsepower engines,” he said. “I’ve learned it’s all about relationships with God, neighbors, family and fellow racers.”

Michael Mewbourn, who works for the City of Athens, is this year’s driver of Fox’s car. The 53-year-old also assists Fox with some of the mechanical work of the racer he will guide down the tracks at mindboggling speed. For all those involved, the efforts are a labor of love.

The car hitting Rocket City Dragway this season is a mostly two-color scheme racer of Indiglo blue and black. With a driver inside, the car weighs around 1,930 pounds and has a dyno-tested engine providing 1,214 horsepower. It’s top time in the 1/8-mile is 4.50 seconds which equals roughly 151 miles per hour, thus the name for the car.

Fox explained, “The 4 is for the car’s time in the 1/8-mile distance and you combine that with given and you get what Jesus did for us. I’m very proud of the name of the car.”

Track owner David Sharp said of Fox and his efforts, “The need for speed never left him and he campaigns several fast dragsters in North Alabama. His religious message with his car stands out at any track he attends.”

Born and raised in Highland Park, an enclave of Detroit about six miles north of downtown of the Motor City, Fox moved to Ft. Myers, Fla. in 1983 where he bought a 1971 Corvette, which Fox described as “needing lots of help including having a bad motor”. He soon reworked the car and even did some street racing with the Corvette before he sold the sports car in 1987. A year later he helped a friend with is Camaro building the engine for what became a fluff-fledged race car. Moving again, Fox worked as a mechanic and began to work on race cars and soon moved to the top alcohol fuel dragsters and traveled and race throughout the U.S. and Canada. He remembered in 1991 that car won five IHRA races.

“I learned early on I was better at working on cars then driving them,” said Fox.

In 1992, he left racing and attended the University of Tennessee where he graduated in 1997 with an electrical engineering degree, but before he left Knoxville and the confines of the campus, he began helping more racers and teamed up with one of the greatest top fuel dragsters Terry Mullins for four years and took his alcohol funny cars across the country and even raced in Japan. “Yes, Terry was great as he even helped me get my first job as an engineer,” said Fox, of Mullins who passed away in December 2023.

Fox left racing for five years during which time he was married for the first time and had a son, Austin. He soon divorced.

Arriving in North Alabama in 2001 as an employee of Northrop Grumman, he worked as an engineer. Six years later, he became an employee of NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center where he currently works as an Aerospace Flight Systems Engineer. His son works alongside him at NASA. “I tried to get my kids involved in racing, but none of them had the desire to race,” added Fox.

Rocket City Dragway became a home away from home for Fox as he soon bought a dragster and found a driver. Now 15 years and three cars later he’s gearing up for another successful year on the 1/8-mile concrete track located just east of Highway 53 off Burwell Road.

His days of sitting behind the wheel of a 1,000-plus horsepower dragster may be over, but as car owner and crew chief he feels he has success in a different and rewarding way. He’s a teacher, saying, “I’ve been in racing since I was a teen. Today, I try to be a good teacher and live what I preach of telling others don’t let anything stop you. I haven’t.”

Rocket City Dragway

Examples of the 2025 lineup at the Rocket City Dragway in Harvest include the 28th annual Old School & Blues Festival on May 24, with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the Isley Brothers headlining the day-long event. Additional artists include Atlanta Star, Latimore, Levelle and many others.

Additional events on the schedule for 2025 include:

• May 2-3: Nitro-Methane Top Fuel Cars

• June 6-7: Night of Thunder & Fire

• July 11-12: Diesel Nationals

• Sept. 12-13: Top Fuel Harley & Harley Drags

• Oct. 2-3-4: IHRA Team Finals

• Oct. 12-19: National Sick Week “Drag-n-Drive”

Details on the events are on the track’s Facebook page. Rocket City Dragway is located at 502 Quarter Mountain Rd in Harvest.