Dirt
anything is huge at any level. It’s contagious. It’s
like a snowball, just roll, roll, roll. It’ll eventually
slow down and stop, but you know you can do it.
With the current state of Pro Stock, there
seems to be a wide range of viewpoints as far as
the rumored switch to 18 races in 2018. What
is your take on that?
I’ve stated in a couple different interviews that
for one, we haven’t even been told by NHRA any-
thing. I was told there’s a rumor that we (NHRA
and Pro Stock teams) are going to have a meet-
ing at Denver. That’s not even true yet. We don’t
understand it. Right now, if you look at Pro Stock,
it’s probably better than it’s been in the last few
years. It’s real competitive. You cannot pick a
winner at any given time. There’s been more win-
ners to this point this year than they had the last
couple years combined.
I think maybe if they want to try something,
leave it alone and let’s give it another year. Ev-
erything is still new with the EFI and some of
the rule changes they made. There’s nothing that
they’re ever going to do to make people run and
jump to build a Pro Stock car. It doesn’t make
sense just from the cost aspect. It makes zero
sense to invest that much. Don’t get me wrong,
there’s guys with a lot of money, but there’s also
guys with hundred-thousand-dollar Top Sports-
man cars going as fast as we are having just as
much fun. It doesn’t make sense to jump into
this class. If you’re fortunate enough like I am to
be hooked up with the best team out there, then
yeah, you have to; you can’t pass that up. I don’t
know what the fix is other than maybe leave it
alone and see where it goes from here.
What was it about Pro Stock that enticed
you to make that jump?
I ran Stock, Super Stock and Comp. For that
type of racer, Pro Stock is the top of the line.
Of course, Top Fuel and Funny Car are cool to
hear and watch, but Pro Stock, to me, is a lot
like Competition Eliminator. A thousandth of
an edge is huge. It’s the most competitive racing,
in my opinion, that’s out there today. Sure, you
can argue that Super Comp, Super Gas and all
those classes are competitive. If you watch every
round of Pro Stock, you can probably halfway
guess what we’re going to run at the end of the
session based on what you saw at the start of the
session, and half of them make perfect runs. It’s
a big challenge. Plus, I grew up watching some
of these guys. Then Jason, Jeg and I all raced
sportsman at the same time. It’s kind of cool to
move up the ladder. I think I’m at the top and
I’m happy where I’m at. If something happens
to Pro Stock, I’ve had a great time and it’s been
fun. I don’t know if I’d do some heads-up stuff
or some Pro Mod stuff because that’s what the
world’s coming to.
There are sportsman racers who are spend-
ing near-Pro Stock-level money to go racing.
Is there anything you could say to those guys
to convince them to move into Pro Stock
like you did?
I know a lot of those guys and I have a good
relationship with a lot of the sportsman racers
from coast to coast since we’ve been at every race
for the last few years, and I don’t see even the
very, very wealthy people jumping in. For one,
there’s not enough parts. Again, nobody’s going
to go build another two-hundred-thousand-dollar
chassis not knowing the state of Pro Stock and
not having any answers from NHRA. Is Pro Stock
going to last? Is it going away? That’s probably
hurting the class more than if they came right
out and told everybody what’s going to happen
or what they want.
What’s the first step towards fixing
the problem?
The communication level with the racers needs
to improve. I’ve been approached by some of
the higher-ups at NHRA and they ask for your
opinion, but then it kind of stops there and you
hear nothing else about it. If we could all get our
communication level together – and I’m talking
about as a whole group; NHRA racers and tech
guys and everyone else – we could make things
better. This is the most awesome sport in the
world and I hate to see it die. Something’s gotta
change, and it starts with communication.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Pro Stock to Pro Street
shifting gears is just more fun!
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Trevor Eman - pro stock
Issue 123
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