NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

Murf McKinney enjoyed a successful career as a Funny Car driver before starting his chassis business in 1981. Since then, McKinney’s chassis shop in Lafayette, Ind., has turned out some of the most competitive and successful race cars in the history of the sport and to this day, it remains a very busy place.

With the start of the 2025 season just weeks away, the McKinney shop, located less than an hour from the motorsports hotbed of Indianapolis, is a beehive of activity and just some of the many projects underway include a new chassis for Daniel Wilkerson and the SCAG Power Equipment Funny Car team, a new front-half chassis for Chad Green and Buddy Hull [Jim Dunn Racing]. Independent Top Fuel racer Lex Joon is also currently having his dragster updated to 2025 specs. There are also numerous projects underway for racers in the NHRA Top Alcohol classes.

Aside from the Mission Foods NHRA series, McKinney also has a number of projects currently underway for the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series including a new chassis for the entries of Bucky Austin and Michael Bartone.

There are many other components that McKinney Corp. supplies to the other builders such as tabs, motor plates, push button aviation latches, fuel tanks, and much more. Nearly every nitro car in the NHRA series uses a McKinney-built fuel tank or puke tank.

Interestingly, many other chassis builders send their tubing to McKinney to be tested since they have the proper equipment to test tensile strength per SFI regulations.

McKinney Corp. also maintains a solid relationship with IndyCar and NASCAR, manufacturing a wide variety of products used in those applications.  On the commercial and industrial side, McKinney works with brands such as Caterpillar and Subaru. Subaru Indiana America (SIA) is a close neighbor, and McKinney often produces assembly line parts.

McKinney’s list of projects goes well beyond work with industrial names, and into the educational realm with Purdue University. They often assist Purdue with welding projects, in particular the Zucrow Rocketry Lab. They also make the 'I" and "P" for the Old Oaken Bucket Trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Purdue-Indiana football matchup. Purdue boasts the “Largest Drum in the World" in their marching band, and McKinney has custom machined parts for it.