HARRISVILLE — Winning drag races is nothing new to Mark Claypoole.

But bringing a longtime friend along for the ride has taken him to another level.

Claypoole, 47, of Harrisville recently won the Mopar Chrysler Classic, a five-race series with stops in Pittsburgh, Martin (Mich.), Columbus, Zanesville and Norwalk (Ohio).

“There were 150 to 200 cars chasing that series,” Claypoole said. “That was a big one for me.

“Doug (Carlquist) deserves a lot of credit for that. Having him along as a crew chief has done wonders for me on the track.”

Claypoole has been drag racing for 30 years. Carlquist, of Boyers, has been involved in racing for 50 years and races his own dragster in another division.

The duo own more than 250 career victories between them.

“We have the car prepared and ready to go before we even get to the track,” Carlquist said. “The key is to have Mark worry about nothing but racing.

“All of the technical stuff, I take care of.”

And Claypoole appreciates it.

“I know he's given up a lot of his own racing time to go with me,” Claypoole said.

The pair have been friends for 20 years. Claypoole asked for Carlquist's help when his former crew chief “had to get a real job” and couldn't travel with him anymore.

Claypoole competes in drag races up and down the East Coast. Carlquist winters in Florida and Claypoole plans on joining him down there for a race series in February.

In the Chrysler Classic Series, Claypoole won the Zanesville race, finished second in Pittsburgh (New Alexandria), reached the semifinals in Columbus and Michigan.

“We had a bad race in Norwalk, but still had enough points to win.” he said.

Claypoole's 240 points easily outdistanced runner-up Linda Gibson of Ohio, who had 200.

The cars — Claypoole has two of them — goes as fast as 152 miles per hour during a race.

“My whole family does this,” Claypoole said. “All five of my brothers have raced, nephews ... It's in our genes. I've always been around it.”

Claypoole works fulltime for a trucking company and also works for municipalities cleaning up disaster areas. He recently returned from New York City, helping clean up flood damage caused by Hurricane Irene.

“I don't miss a race, though,” he insisted. “I fly in to the race site if that's what it takes.”

And Carlquist has the car ready regardless.

“It's fun for me,” Carlquist said. “Check all the nuts and bolts, do what we can to make it a better machine.

“I still get my share of racing in, too. I won five of the seven races I was in this summer.”

The team plans to stay together next season, too.

“We have to defend that championship,” Carlquist said. “There will be people gunning for us.”

In terms of their racing future, there is no end in sight.

“We'll probably be doing this until the day we die,” Claypoole said.