PHOTO : RICK BELDEN
How impressed were you with the fan reception of the No-Time Shootout at Lights Out ?
I knew the fans were going to be there . In the no-time deal , these fans travel everywhere to go see these cars . When I go to races wherever , I have a lot of people who come out just to watch me and other guys like Timmy Meissner . It don ’ t matter if it ’ s 500 miles away . They ’ ll travel from state to state to watch us race . I knew the fans would be there . Donald already has a fan base , so his race is already the biggest race in the world . The no-time thing just put a little more icing up on top of the cake . Everything was good . It was nice and smooth , we were able to finish the race and everyone had a good time .
On top of the No-Time Shootout at Lights Out 9 , you also took on a few highly-publicized grudge races . Your races with J . R . Gray were major highlights from the event . How did all of that come about ?
Me and J . R . are actually good friends , but we still race each other . I ’ d race my own grandma if she had her own car . I ’ ll race anybody , it don ’ t matter . I raced J . R . twice before that race there . I ran him in Michigan last year . I had a hiccup on the line , the car didn ’ t leave . He won that race , took quite a bit of money from me – right around nine grand . That kind of stumbled me because I didn ’ t get a chance to do anything . I ended up running him at Lights Out again . The track was kind of tricky . It had rained the day before , so the track wasn ’ t too good . Me and Dad , we were sitting there trying to figure out what we were going to do to be able to go down the track . We put both our heads together and finally got it . I went out there and went . 001 red . I gave the race away – he kicked the tires .
The one that matters was the one to get the Drag Illustrated cover . Wes ( Buck ) came over and asked me if I ’ d be cool with the winner getting the Drag Illustrated cover and I told him ‘ Hell yeah !’ J . R . was cool with it , so that ’ s what we did . We ran for that , plus the pot was up to $ 10,000 . We ran the race and I won , so I got to take home the money and get the cover of Drag Illustrated .
This wasn ’ t something that just came up out of nowhere , though , right ?
All my races are locked in before I go to the
event , unless I ’ m already at a locked-in event and I just happen to race someone else too . I always have a locked-in race because there ’ s a lot of people who will talk and say they ’ re going to run you , but at the end of the day , unless you ’ ve got a locked-in deal , it ’ s all just talk .
Swanstrom swaps out his tan Nike Huarache sneakers for a pair of Simpson fire shoes as he prepares for a shakedown run in “ Armageddon ” before taking on J . R . Gray in a big-money , high-profile grudge race .
Like this race I ’ m doing today was locked in two months ago . We set up a date and put a deposit up . We got Willie Dog , who is our DP man , so he holds the deposit . We sent two grand to Willie Dog and Boogie sent two grand to him also . Willie Dog holds the deposit money just in case someone doesn ’ t show up . You ’ re supposed to race at 2 o ’ clock , so at 2:01 , if the other dude ’ s not there , there ’ s no fighting or arguing ; the DP man just hands the other guy his money .
Most people in drag racing don ’ t necessarily understand how these big grudge races start . Who calls out who ? How do you lock in the race and work out the details ?
Willie is usually my DP man . There ’ s only a few people out there you can trust – Willie , Mike Hill , Lance Stanford , Jake Harper . You have certain people you can trust to hold all the money . When it comes down to making the final decision if something happens on the track , you ’ ve gotta have someone who both teams trust . I call Dog up or Pops will call Dog up and we ’ ll get a three-way call with the other guy . Even if it ’ s on ( Willie Dog ’ s ) radio show or if it ’ s in private or if we ’ re talking at the track and we lock in a race a month down the road , it ’ s always the three parties getting together to get the agreement down . The DP man writes it all down on paper so there ’ s no confusion when the time comes .
You ’ ve talked before about the economics of grudge racing , how it just makes more sense to race one guy for five or ten grand rather than sit at the track for two or three days , make a few qualifying runs and several rounds of eliminations for less money . Can you expand on that ?
Well , I always tell people you can lose a lot of money in this game . Knock on wood , I haven ’ t lost more than I ’ ve won , but you can lose a lot of money .
You take the Radial vs . the World guys . That ’ s the millionaire club . Those guys have endless pockets and they can do what they want , when they want . Me and Dad , we work hard , and a lot of the other guys in this grudge deal work hard to do what we do and there ’ s a big gamble . But I don ’ t like to go to the event , make three or four shakedowns , then you have to run four rounds of elimination to win , so now you ’ re at eight runs . At the end of the day you ’ re only making three or five grand . Yes , Radial vs . the World pays $ 50,000 or $ 100,000 , but you ’ re up against the millionaire club . They have an endless budget and three engines sitting in the trailer . It ’ s just not worth it to us .
Yes , I did go run Donald ’ s race , but I was doing that just to prove a point that we could compete
May 2018 DragIllustrated . com | Drag Illustrated | 79