B
MICHAEL
BIEHLE
iehle, who finished
fourth in NHRA Pro
Mod in 2016, grew up
around cars, quickly
taking a liking to trying
to push the limits. With
a family that wasn’t ac-
tively involved in the sport, most of Biehle’s
driving skills were self-taught, making it clear
he had a knack for putting together an impres-
sive run when the situation seemed to indicate
otherwise. In fact, it’s become something Biehle
has become known for, all the while toeing the
line of being too aggressive almost flawlessly.
He talked to DRAG ILLUSTRATED about
his driving style, how he processes a run in the
midst of it and why that can make a difference.
You mentioned a lot of it is feel in the car. When
you’re going through a run, how does that come
into play?
When I let go of the button, that initial hit,
you’re going to make sure that car is going
straight. When you do that, the wheels are up
in the air, so you’ve got to be careful when you
94 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
“THESE THINGS
AREN’T EASY TO DRIVE.
IT’S LIKE WRESTLING A
BULL, MAN, BUT WE’RE
WILLING TO PUSH IT.
I’VE BEEN THROUGH
SOME WILD RIDES WITH
THESE THINGS.”
make corrections. If a car drifts a little to the left
or the right, and it still has the front end hiked
up and you make the correction too early, your
front wheels are already in a turn motion and your
car is going to want to do something real goofy.
It’s going to want to dart to the right or left, so
you really have to feel what the car is doing. If
it’s just drifting a little to the left or a little to the
right, and it still has the wheels up, I try to wait
until it sets the nose down and then just start
making slow corrections to bring it back. Once
you make that correction, if that car is still not
happy, it’s playing a tug of war with you. I’ve had
that happen a lot, where if you’re a little bit out
of the groove, you can feel that car playing tug
of war. It wants to go one way or the other, and
you have to fight it back the whole time. A lot of
times, you fight it back and then you give it a little
bit and if it still wants to go that way, you’ve got
to fight more. If you feel like you have to fight it
too much, it’s probably time to say that’s enough
for this run.
It’s amazing all this is able to go through a
driver’s head in less than six seconds as you’re
going down the track. Does it really slow down
that much for you during a run?
Usually the runs where you’re all over the place
and you’re really having to cowboy that thing
down the line, those usually are the ones that feel
the fastest. If you’re on a smooth pass, everything
does slow down in a car. When I first started in
Pro Mod, it was one of those things where every-
Issue 134
You’ve been able to drive your way out of some
pretty adverse situations and that’s been a
hallmark of your career. Where does that con-
fidence come from?
Sometimes I push the limits on it or whatever,
but it’s kind of one of those things that’s self-
taught. I don’t really know if there’s an art to my
driving style. I do what I do behind the wheel. I
feel like at all times I still have control of the car
before I get out of it. I’ve been through this a
lot. I probably have over-driven cars before, 100
percent. I think everybody in this sport has, but
it’s just one of those things where I have control
of it, and if I don’t feel like I have control over it, I
get out of it. Honestly, a lot of it is just feel. I seem
to have a pretty good feel for the way my cars are
and the way they are set up. The way I describe
it, it’s like driving on an icy road. You just have
to feel which way it wants to go, and it’s a finesse.
In my opinion, you can’t get out there with these
cars and try to manhandle them.
I know it probably appears like I do a lot of the
times, but you have to finesse them and you have
to catch stuff early. If a car starts moving one way
or another, you have to try and catch it early and
make corrections before it gets too bad. You just
have to be able to feel that in the car. Once you get
things past the eighth-mile and you start yanking
on the wheel, you’re asking for disaster. You just
have to kind of feel it, kind of finesse and treat it
softly, but at the same time you have to drive it.
I guess what I’ve learned, there’s just a point
where you can push these cars and there’s a point
where you push them too far and there’s no re-
turn. It’s one of those things you have to really
keep in mind where the groove is and how wide
the groove is at certain tracks. You get over in
the marbles and that thing is going to want to
start pushing, and you’re not going to be able
to bring it back.