Dirt
convincing Mom. She was just sentimental about
it. I don’t really remember my middle school
graduation and I don’t think I’d remember my
high school graduation, but I’ll always remember
this first radial win, especially with the way it all
came together.
In addition to your radial car, you’ve also
been having a good season with your drag-
ster in PDRA Top Dragster. What’s going on
with that?
The Top Dragster is running great. We had a
runner-up at the last race in Maryland. We were
in the semis and the girl I was racing went red,
so I got lucky. I ran off five numbers because the
low band went out. We went up for the final just
trying to limp it through, but everyone knew we
were way slow compared to our previous runs.
We were pretty tight all weekend. They called
our bluff. But it was awesome just to even get to
a final in that class. I was pretty stoked.
“WE WENT UP FOR
THE FINAL JUST
TRYING TO LIMP
IT THROUGH, BUT
EVERYONE KNEW
WE WERE WAY SLOW
COMPARED TO OUR
PREVIOUS RUNS. WE
WERE PRETTY TIGHT
ALL WEEKEND. THEY
CALLED OUR BLUFF.”
You’re going off to basic training with the
National Guard soon, right?
I’m going to run the WCF with the Jr. Drag-
ster one more time. After that race, I’ll get back
Friday night and go to drill over the weekend,
which is a once-a-month thing. Then I leave
the Monday after I get back from drill. But I’m
looking forward to it. They pay 100-percent
tuition, and I can race a lot more when my tu-
ition is covered.
So what will your summer look like? Will
that take up most of it?
Yeah, 10 weeks of basic training, then special-
ized AIT training to become a truck driver takes
about seven weeks. But the nice thing is once I
come back from that I can take the written por-
tion of the test and I’ll have my CDL. Then I can
drive race rigs if I ever need to.
I’ll definitely miss racing during the summer,
but it will be worth it in the long run.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
26 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 134
PRESTON TANNER