thing happened so fast. You come back and you
had to sit and think about what actually happened
on the run. Back then, I couldn’t tell you what
happened as soon as I got out of the car because
it seemed like everything was happening so fast.
As you get trained to do it, your mind slows down,
in my opinion. Your mind just kind of learns to
adapt to that. Now, I go through and I pull the
chutes, and I’m on the radio already talking to
Jamie (Miller, crew chief ) telling him what I felt.
It’s crazy the detail we can pick up in that short
of a run. You drive a certain car for long enough
and you can tell when something is off. Even the
slightest noise, us drivers are able to pick up on
that inside the car.
When you talk about the “Cowboy” nickname,
is there a run that comes to mind that perfectly
sums up that moniker for you?
I’ve had a lot of those moments. At one point,
we were at MIR at a PDRA race in 2015, and this
was when I had my old car. We were qualifying
and the car got out there, and it did something
really goofy, like way down track. We were trying
some stuff with the tuneup and, I’m not kidding
you, the thing just went out there and sat sideways
on me. I caught it real quick and pedaled it, got
it back and got into it, and I went ahead and put
up a good enough number to qualify and we just
barely got in the field in that deal. But it was one
of those things where if I wouldn’t have done that,
we wouldn’t have gotten in the field.
I remember coming back and Jamie was upset
“MY GOAL, AS FAR AS
MY RACING CAREER, IS
I WOULD LIKE TO BE
REMEMBERED AS A VERY,
VERY GOOD DRIVER.
with me because it got hairy out there. He wants
to see me come back safe every time. He’s not just
a crew chief; we’re good friends and we’ve been
doing this a long time together. He was pretty
upset and he made the comment to me, he says,
“If that happens, man, just get out of it. We’ll fix
the car, do something else, but it ain’t worth that,
you.” He said, “Your luck’s going to run out one of
these days.” I don’t know why, but I looked right
at him and I said, “If you think that’s luck, let’s
go do it again.” That was kind of one of the deals
when he realized that’s probably just going to be
my driving style for a long time.
With fields so close and competitive these
days in Pro Mod, that type of driving ability
seems to be something that can really make
a difference. Is that something you take a lot
of pride in?
Oh absolutely. I’ve won races by pedaling it
and being able to drive it to where I probably
should have gotten out of it. With 35 cars fighting
to get into the field or fighting on race day, you
have to hang with these things. To be able to get
one down when it doesn’t want to go down, and
to be able to get qualified or get the round win,
yeah, that’s something I definitely take a lot of
pride in and I think every driver takes pride in it.
These things aren’t easy to drive. It’s like wres-
tling a bull, man, but we’re willing to push it. I’ve
been through some wild rides with these things.
You just have to stay calm and deal with things
as they come.
You’ve put together a great team with a great
car, and obviously your driving is a big part of
that. How meaningful is it to have that aspect
be recognized as well, especially when it all
comes together?
It makes me feel great. My goal, as far as my
racing career, is I would like to be remembered
as a very, very good driver. I think everybody
wants to be that, and to be recognized for that
or complimented for that, it’s definitely a great
feeling. It makes you feel like you’re there and
you’re doing your job like you need to be. These
races are tough and it takes a whole team to win
and succeed, and I’ve got a great team. As a driver,
I want to be able to do my part, and if something
happens, I want to be able to pick up and do my
job the best I can, just like those guys pick up and
do their job the best they can for me.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
July 2018
DragIllustrated.com
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