Decorated crew chief Wayne Dupuy, 43, brings a lifetime of tuning experience to the Cruz Pedregon-owned Funny Car operation. The son of retired NHRA Director of Competition Lynwood Dupuy, Wayne first attended drag races as a youngster when his father owned and operated racetracks in Baton Rouge, La., Atlanta, and Houston. Once he became old enough to compete, Dupuy began bracket racing Top Sportsman Motorcycles. By the mid-1980s, the intricacies and challenges associated with tuning race cars took over, and Dupuy found a home on the working end of a wrench. He first assumed the role of crew chief on an alcohol-powered dragster. A year later, he graduated to the elite ranks of Top Fuel racing, where he worked the bottom end of the dragsters of NHRA legends Connie Kalitta and Gene Snow. Literally working from the bottom up, Dupuy was a crew chief soon. Guiding the likes of K.C. Spurlock, Cory McClenathan, Phil Burkart Jr., Todd Paton, Jim Epler, Cristen Powell, Johnny Gray, Darrell Russell, Morgan Lucas and, most recently, Doug Herbert.