Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 91

DJ AND RYAN M c CAIN
■ BROTHERS DJ (27) and Ryan (23) McCain
have been drag racing since they were kids, even if
it was just against each other in video games. Now
they team together on the track, making a name
for themselves in the no-time and grudge world.
“It’s funny how it turned out,” DJ starts. “Ryan
was always more particular tuning, getting the car
faster than me, getting the fine details on any vid-
eo game. It’s funny how we naturally progressed.”
They started racing together when they were
14, but after receiving a track scholarship to
Coastal Carolina, Ryan decided he could no longer
risk getting injured in the car. Their roles became
more defined – DJ would drive, with Ryan tuning.
It’s a relationship built on trust, an important
factor when DJ is driving anywhere from three
to five cars over the course of a weekend.
“For me driving, who better than to have my
brother tuning?” DJ asks. “He trusts me that I’m
gonna do my job, and I trust him when he tells
me what the car’s gonna do. Just having that trust
in each other, it’s a comfort thing.”
The brothers are most known for their one-
of-a-kind 1971 Datsun named “Bowser.” Tired of
seeing nothing but Mustangs at the track, they
went in search of something unique. DJ found
the car on Facebook, and despite a lot of criticism
from friends, they bought it.
“All I heard from everybody was that it wasn’t
gonna work,” DJ says. “That just motivated me
to prove them wrong. I said, ‘We’re gonna go
through with it. If it don’t work out, it isn’t going
to be for lack of effort.’ We fought with it for a
while, finally got a handle on it, started winning
a lot of races, and everybody was like, ‘Oh, we
love Bowser! Team Bowser!’”
Bowser has indeed worked out, and in a big
way. DJ and Ryan are currently the reigning back-
to-back points champions in the Carolina N/T
small-block nitrous class.
“Winning in 2018, that was pretty good,” Ryan
says. “But winning it this year was kind of a big
slap in the face for a lot of people, because we had
some of those big bore space cars showing up.
And we ended up still bagging a win over them.”
The brothers also rode the Datsun to a huge
win this year at Lights Out 10, defeating a field
of nearly 40 cars, including heavy favorite Troy
Pirez Jr. While DJ and Ryan were going rounds,
they admit they weren’t outrunning everyone
like Pirez was. So right before the finals, Ryan
walked to the Nitrous Express trailer, grabbed
some bigger jets and put a hot tune in it.
“I told my pop and DJ, ‘If we make it to the
finals and we run Troy Pirez, I’m gonna purposely
try to blow it up,’” Ryan recalls. “And we went
out there and pulled that win off. That was like
winning the Super Bowl.”
The brothers stay busy off the track as well.
Both men have I.T. degrees, and Ryan has a
degree in business administration as well. DJ
recently accepted a promotion to become a soft-
ware engineer, and Ryan will be a full-time crew
chief for Webb Tex Racing in 2020. Ryan says he
would love to crew chief one day on a professional
NHRA team, but if that doesn’t work out, he and
his brother have a backup plan.
“If we can’t go that route, DJ and I have plans
of opening a family business. Maybe a race shop,
a restaurant, or real estate. Just something to keep
some money in the pocket.” – C R A I G CO O
DI K DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
December 2019
DragIllustrated.com
| D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 91