When Joe Baker is not involved in a new home construction project, he’s building something else: a trophy-studded drag racing career. In an unassuming garage in East Milton, Baker keeps a wall of awards, a plethora of tools, and one fast Studebaker.
Over his 25 years of racing, Baker has had a tough balancing act of meeting his racing sponsors’ goals, maintaining a business, and keeping his wife and two daughters happy. While he said sacrifices had to come everywhere, 20-year-long employees and a wife heavily involved in his business have allowed Baker to find success in all three of these areas.
Early in his racing career, Baker said he raced at the Atmore Speedway in his 1970 Dodge Challenger earning a whole wall of trophies in the 1990s.
“I won some championships back then,” he said. Baker said he moved to International Hot Rod Association racing (IHRA) from 2000 to 2006, winning ’05 and ’06 then moved to professional drag racing in the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) in ’07. From ’08 to ’10, Baker raced National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) taking Rookie of the Year in ’08. The same year he also won Gatornationals, a NHRA event.
The early years, Baker said, were tough at home missing a few holidays and birthdays. “You had to chase points,” he said, referring to the high finishes his sponsors required. Still, he said both his daughters briefly followed in his father’s footsteps cutting their teeth on drag racing at the Emerald Coast Dragway in Holt. They went on to college, he said, and left racing behind.
Baker said he hooked up with Steve McLemore and Medicine Man Racing in 2009 and has sat behind the wheel of the Medicine Man Studebaker since. McLemore owned a pharmacy, explaining the car’s name.
Despite drag racers spending only a few seconds in a race, Baker said, “We crash more than NASCAR…I’ve seen three brand-new cars this year destroyed.” The reason, in part, he said is the sheer power these cars pack compared to their oval-track counterparts. For example, according to Baker, the Medicine Man carries 2,800 horsepower.
What makes a good driver, Baker said, is knowing the car and lots of practice. Baker knows his car about as good as a person can since he does the crew work on it alongside his long time friend Dennis Brunnworth. Some drivers, Baker said, do the same while others only operate behind the wheel. He said being able to work under the hood has also made him a more successful racer.
This September Baker will be back at the newly reopened Atmore Dragway. It will be the closest Santa Rosa County locals can get to see professional drag racing since the closing of the Emerald Coast Dragway in Holt last year. Baker said he misses being able to race locally without the expense of travelling and being able to see friends at his events.
Looking on to next year, Baker said he has some leeway to pick and choose his races. He also said, “Next year, we’re talking ‘new car.’”
Keep up with the Press Gazette to see if he and his team follow through on this possibility.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Sports: Under the hood and on the drag strip