We all suffer loss and go through tribulations in life. For some of us we let that define who we are and who we decide to become. Certain situations allow adversity to drag us down and never see the potential we have. What I just described is the exact opposite of what Justin Harris has chosen to do with his life.

There are a lot of you in the radial world that have seen Justin at the track or know him through his time on Brad Edwards Radial vs. The World Team. More recently Justin has stepped out and decided to take the leap for myself into the world or side-by-side, tire crushing, heads up radial racing. I caught up with Justin at SGMP for a feature shoot and to gather some knowledge about the man behind that drivers mask. What I learned provided an entirely new perspective on Justin.

Growing up Justin didn’t exactly have it easy, but that certainly didn’t define who he was. At an early age, like a lot of us, his parents split. As if that weren’t rough enough, later in life Justin lost his father, the man who got him in to cars, to a homicide. Justin dad was murdered, and that in itself is enough to make someone give up on all their dream. Justin came from meager and humble roots, to now being a successful business owner, race car driver, dad, & husband.

The south is a hotbed for racing, whether that be drag racing, dirt racing, or any other type of racing. The path that Justin decided to follow was the straight line format though. More than a decade ago Justin found himself at smaller tracks in the south like Ware Shoals, HoH, etc. His love for the sport grew from his teenage years to where it is today. Most don’t know that for a few years Justin worked with Stevie Jackson as well. They are from the same general area, and that experience was a precursor to where he is today.

Obviously a lot of you know Justin from his time working on Brad Edwards team. Brad and Justin have known each other a while, and in fact, the car you see here today is Brad’s old car. Brad is considered an OG in the sport of radial racing. The first to crack off a 3 second pass on radials in fact. So as you can see, Justin has certainly kept the best of company over the years before making the leap into what he is driving now.

When Justin isn’t at the track, which for those that know, you know that this can be more than just some time consuming hobby, Justin is either running his full-time tree removal business, or you can find him on the ball field with his kids. Both of his kids are A students and absolutely love sports. His wife, who runs her own business as well, is a rock of support for Justin.

I asked Justin during my time with him “What motivates you to get up everyday and keep pushing forward?” and he answered me with a profound, yet very humble answer. Justin told me that he never wants his family to struggle like he did. Family is Justin’s foundation and it’s what motivates him to strive for greatness, along with following his dreams. His family is what drives him to want to be successful on track, as well as have continued success with his company, Harris Tree Service & Landscaping.

Now, onto the details of this machine that has been a dream of Justin’s that has finally came true. The chassis updates were handled by Alan Pittman. The 25.3 moly chassis makes sure that Justin is safe at well more than 180 mph. Under the hood lays a TKM 547 cubic inch, conventional headed, big block Chevrolet, with a PTE Gen 2 118mm single turbo. The engine features a beautiful billet intake, along with Brodix Head Hunters cylinder heads and a single set of Billet Atomizer 850lb injectors. Everything is controlled by Nolley EFI and an MSD Pro 600. The entire car was wired up by Devin Vanderhoof with HCR Innovations.

Bolted up to the backside of that TKM beast is a Cameron Torque Converter Services two speed Turbo 400 and an 11” converter. This transfers all the power out back to a fab’ed 9” and rear suspension that was all done by Matthew Smith at Proformance Fab in Roebuck, SC. Attached to that rear is a set of Menscer Motorsports shocks to help plant the Mickey Thompson 275 tires to the ground. To round it all out, Justin is rolling on RC Comp V Series wheels up front, with DBI beadlocked RC Components on rear.

Justin wanted to thank everyone in his life that has made this happen. First and foremost, his wife Jenna, who has stood by and continued to support Justin and his dreams along with their two beautiful kids. He also wanted to thank Shane Dewoody, Chase Johnson, Nick Nichols, and Thaddus Simmons. Without those guys, living the dream becomes much more difficult. If current performance is a looking glass into the future, then the class of LDR cars had better starting watching out for Justin.