Drag Illustrated Issue 153, February 2020 | Page 33
Special Section
ifying sheets and we’re stacked on
top of one another. And first round
is not easy, and it’s not easy all the
way through the final round. There’s
no big window between No. 1-16
anymore.
step sideways, sometimes it might
even be a little bit of a step back
before you move forward. Once you
get enough runs and you have some
of those quirks figured out and you
learn what it likes and it doesn’t like,
you can start to move forward.
Now that you’ve had a full season with
the 959 and your current combination,
how do you plan to carry that success
into 2020 and build on it?
This industry is really about saving
information, recording all the right
information, and then going back
and utilizing that information in
somewhat similar conditions. For
the most part, both cars go down
the racetrack every time. It’s not
about going up there and overpow-
ering the racetrack and hoping and
praying that it makes it down
through there. It’s about going up
there with a confidence that I’m
going to make it down through there
and I’m going to be as quick or
quicker than my opponent. I think
going into this year, I feel real com-
fortable with our combination and
the performance we had. The more
time you spend with a combination,
the better you get with it and the
more you get to know what you can
and can’t get away with.
Pro Nitrous was very competitive
last year, with numerous records,
tight fields and close racing. How do
you feel about the state of Pro
Nitrous going into 2020?
Obviously, we’re all pushing the
envelope going into the low 3.60s,
and who knows, there might even
be a .59 out there this year with a
nitrous car in Pro Nitrous trim. I
think this year you’ll see a lot of
records fall and there will be a lot
of good racing.
Unfortunately, in Pro Nitrous, from
the No. 1 qualifier to the last car in
the field, it’s not a very big window
anymore. These cars are getting in
the Pro Stock-type scenario where
I go a .66 and I’m happy about that
because it’s the middle of the day
and it’s sunny, then somebody else
goes a .65, then somebody else goes
a .67. We’re really cutting the
numbers down to thousands. You
look at some of the Pro Nitrous qual-
What do you think about the two
new tracks on the 2020 PDRA tour?
Summit Motorsports Park and Maple
Grove Raceway are new stops for a
lot of the PDRA racers.
I used to race Norwalk a bunch back
in the IHRA days when I ran Top
Sportsman. Obviously, it’s a premier
facility. The facility is always great,
but it’s definitely a different environ-
ment than we’re used to with the
current tracks that we’ve been
racing at. It’s going to be good. It’s
nice to have a little diversity. Maple
Grove will be killer. It is sometimes
nice to change the scenery. I think
both tracks will be good, and I also
think it will open us up to a new
market and more fans. Maybe dif-
ferent fans, or old fans that wouldn’t
travel as far south or as far east as
we race. I think going to the Midwest
is a good deal. The season looks like
it lays out pretty well.
What are your goals for this season?
I probably have the same goal that
I feel every drag racer pulling in the
gate has: I want to win races.
Records are all good and you can
advertise them and it helps with your
sponsors and marketing, but records
are records. At the end of the day,
people forget who was the No. 1
qualifier, but they remember who
wins the race.
I had my best year in PDRA, but I
want to do better. I really want to
bring home a PDRA win so I can put
one of those 660 Man trophies on
my mantle next to Big Dogs, next to
a Wally, next to an Ironman. I have
those trophies. I’d love to have more,
but I really want that PDRA win.
Someday when I’m rolling around
the old people’s home, I want to be
able to say that I got one of these
and one of those and one of that.
PDRA660.com 33