SUPER TUNERS
PHOTO: JOE McHUGH PHOTO: JAMES SISK
Rickie Smith Pro Mod
The king of DIY, at least in the Pro Mod ranks, Smith has done it all, mostly because it’ s the only way he knows how. The track record of wins and championships speaks for itself, showcasing a work ethic unmatched in the sport. But even Smith has enlisted help, working with Brandon Switzer as his team includes a second car with driver Khalid AlBalooshi.
“ I make my tune-up calls, drive my own 18-wheeler, drive the car and go out and get most of my sponsors. I just don’ t roll in and get out of the way. I try to do my own work. I guess it’ s become I’ ve done it all years ago when I came up through the Pro Stock ranks and I helped a lot of the Pro Stock guys in the early 2000s.
I had my own engine shop, I built my own engines, I know how to read spark plugs and all that stuff. It’ s just being able to stay on top of it. If I had to quit for a couple of years, I would have gotten pretty lost. I’ ve stayed involved and it’ s kept me up to date.
The last 4-5 years it’ s advanced so much. I just didn’ t want to get into having to hire a crew chief with a turbo car, that’ s the reason I stayed with nitrous cars.
( But) what’ s helped me some is I hired Brandon Switzer. He’ s taken over( Khalid AlBalooshi’ s) car and I can focus on my car more. We share information, we try stuff, we go back and forth and
Tim Wilkerson Funny Car
In many ways, Wilkerson is living the American dream. He runs an auto repair shop and also goes 320 mph in his Funny Car, a dream that Wilkerson made reality. He runs his race team out of his shop and Wilkerson has managed to stay successful in a world of super-teams. It’ s never been easy, but Wilkerson has 10 straight top 10 finishes, living the dream while always managing to persevere.
“ I would say I’ m the only guy who does all of it. Maybe Del( Worsham) and I. Fans tell me it’ s cool I do that, but probably in the next 2-5 years that will be over with.
More than anything, it’ s just a necessity. I can’ t really afford to hire a full-time crew chief. Richard Hartman has been a lot of help and I’ ve had good job offers, but I really enjoy doing what I’ m doing.
The coolness of doing it all, it’ s really intriguing to me, the tune-up part of it. The psychology part is the hardest part anymore, but I really enjoy racing the bigger teams.
It’ s good for the sport. I probably heard it 50 times( in Seattle) and I didn’ t even really get a chance to stand around. But it’ s good to see
that’ s helped me with the automatic. It helps to have someone to bounce things off of and we’ ve got confidence in each other.
A lot of it for me is old-school driving, being able to feel it in the seat more than looking at the computer. You feel what the engine is doing and a lot of things you’ ll feel that a computer won’ t tell you. A lot of drivers can’ t tell you that, understanding what the engine is supposed to feel like. I’ ve still got that old Pro Stock mentality. That’ s just the way I’ ve always raced and it’ s saved me a lot over the years.
The torque converter was a learning curve and it still is. I have a little more confidence in it, but I didn’ t have a clue what to do with it. I’ ve definitely come a long way the last few months. It definitely made( the car) more consistent. But a pro in my book runs clutches. An automatic is for people who don’ t want to work on cars, thrash on them. You have to have a better crew chief to run a clutch.”
a privateer running well and I think that’ s NHRA’ s goal to try to keep it close.
The whole sport is trying to have a progression where people end up in Super Comp and then go to Comp and then to Alcohol( Dragster or Funny Car) and then to nitro. That’ s always been the sport’ s goal, but the nitro cars have just gotten so expensive.
I got in this because I like to go fast and I do it because it’ s exciting and I want to be at the top of the sport.
It’ s people, it really is. I know that in my own business. I’ ve got quality people in my auto engine shop and machine shop and this has gotten that way, too, where we train them and some body else hires them. It seems to start over every couple years.
I’ m not bad-mouthing anyone. I get it. But it shows. It takes us 6-8 races to get going and we went through a terrible start to the season where everything went wrong.
The parts attrition( now) is just awful. It goes up 10-15 percent a year. You used to get 10 runs on a rod, now it’ s five. At Denver, you throw half the rods away every run. You used to get 10-12 runs out of crankshafts, now you get five and it’ s a much more quality piece now.
It’ s a good show for the fans, but we know the costs are out of control. At the end of the day we’ re in the entertainment business and it’ s such a unique experience. It’ s a tightrope you walk, trying not to screw that up.
But this and how we’ ve done it is a huge source of pride. My wife came to me about 20 years ago and saw I had nitro Funny Car in my veins. I owned six gas stations at one time and this is way more fun than selling tires and batteries every day. We started at the bottom and we haven’ t gotten to the level of John( Force) or Kenny( Bernstein), but we’ re really enjoying ourselves. We go there to win the race and it’ s a great source of pride for me and a great source of pride for my guys at the shop.”
September 2018 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 89