Rick Brown still carries the Pro Stock license he earned back in 2002 that allows him to run the NHRA’s elite Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

He just needs the ride. At age 60, the Lebanon resident doubts the chance at just one pass down the quarter-mile strip will ever come.

Then again, as a 13-year old sitting in the stands watching his first event at Quaker City Dragway in Salem, Brown never dreamed he’d have five coveted Wally trophies — courtesy of five national wins — and two regional NHRA Division 3 championships in his 44 years of racing.

A third Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series title in Division 3 might be within reach. Brown enters the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in third place in the Comp Eliminator class, 22 points out of first.

The Lucas Oil Series — which serves as an undercard to the Full Throttle Series — returns to Norwalk today through Sunday.

“We don’t have a lot of time to go test because everybody has jobs,” said Brown, who co-owns a car wash and a storage center and manages several properties. “We do a lot of our testing during our qualifying runs. Sometimes that pays off, sometimes it hurts us. We’re not professionals by any means. To see the Wallys sitting here, nothing comes without having the right help.

“I can drive OK at the tender age of 60 years old, but having the right help behind you is the big key.”

In addition to his wife, Temple, and daughter, Heather, Brown receives support from car owner Don Rettich and crew chief Tom Perdue.

Wendy’s owner John Stock provides major sponsorship on the 2000 Chevrolet S-10 truck Brown most recently drove to a Division 3 victory in Chicago on June 10.

He covered the quarter-mile at 163.06 mph in 8.277 seconds. Division 3 covers Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Ontario.

With the high speeds and high excitement, Brown — a Pro Eliminator national champion at Kil-Kare Dragway back in 1977 — still gets an adrenaline rush from driving. Just not the one you’d expect.

“I get an adrenaline rush more when we’re getting ready to leave for the track,” Brown said. “Once we’re there, it’s calming on the starting line. That’s the best way to be. If you get too much adrenaline going you can really get so pumped up and mess up. It almost becomes like your office and a normal thing.

“You don’t think about it, you just do it. I can almost fall asleep in the car sometimes before a run, and I have. After a long weekend I can sit in the car in the staging lanes and I can actually relax enough (to fall asleep).”

Back surgery in February slowed Brown a little, but he returned in April after having two disks removed and replaced with carbon fiber and having his tail bone cut out and new bones fashioned out of it.

It’s been quite a career for a driver who won his first time out as a 16-year old — “the thing only ran 19 seconds in a quarter-mile,” Brown said — and he’s not ready to stop yet.

Especially with that Pro Stock license still in his pocket.

“I still carry it in case that someday comes along that somebody might knock on the door and say hello,” he said. “I’m 60 years old and with all these young people out there it’s kind of doubtful it’s going to happen. I’m going to still carry it.”