Drag Illustrated Issue 147, August 2019 | Page 83

I got, Jeremy Ray had it. It was a Buck motor and I didn’t know Charlie from Adam. I think it was 2010 when I bought my first 746 to run Renegade. I called Charlie and said, “Jeremy Ray’s got a motor, I’d like to get it. Do you think if I bought it you’d take care of it?” He’s like yeah, sure. From that day on, I’ve always stuck with Charlie. He’s always been good to me and he’s treated me like family. I look at him like a best friend and like a father. We talked a couple months ago about how you’ve worked with these manufactur- ers, whether it’s Charlie or Brandon Switzer at Switzer Dynamics on developing things for the car. How has the technology in your camp alone changed in the time you’ve been in Pro Nitrous? Well, when I first started it was carburetors, then it went to fuel injection. That was a major deal. But the technology behind all this, I think the number one thing is the motors and the peo- ple that build the components that control the motors. Every component of that motor – the crankshaft, the valvetrain, the valves, to the ni- trous system. What’s really took my racing probably to the next level as far as being able to run that speed and that ET – I always ran Brandon Switzer’s stuff, but the major thing is when I got with Brandon over this winter, we got together and had a talk. I started running his fuel injection system. It’s a deal where he does his own thing and I do my own thing, but I’ve always got somebody there that’s got me and my racing program in their best interests. I like to try a lot of stuff and do a lot of stuff, and he’s somebody that I can kind of bounce ideas off of. It’s probably by far one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my racing ca- reer going with him. He’s one of the most honest people I’ve ever dealt with and probably one of the hardest working people I’ve ever dealt with. I really enjoy his product. This kind of leads to what you asked, but his constant work ethic and Charlie’s constant work ethic and wanting to develop a better product or a faster product or a product that makes more power or consistent power, that’s what’s taken my program to the next level. It used to be that we’d run .90s and mid-.80s in the summer. Now we’re running low-.70s and high-.60s in the summertime. Their work ethic and their will to develop that product and make those products better, the engines and the parts in the engines and the fuel injection system and the nitrous, that’s what’s taken it to the next level. It’s changed drastically. It was only a few years ago that Pro Nitrous was chasing the 3.60s. Now the 3.50 barrier is on the horizon. Are you surprised by how quickly the performance has progressed? I study this stuff a lot and I don’t want to sound cocky or anything when I say this, but I expected us to be where we’re at right now with the ETs and stuff that we run. I study this stuff a lot and I see the potential is there. I figured we would run what we’re running. The thing that’s probably blown me away more than anything is I didn’t think we would have the amount of cars that we have running that low of an ET so consistently. You look back just three years ago and it was pretty much just me and Tommy Franklin. We had four hun- dredths on everybody. Now you’ve got nine cars that are only a hundredth apart – and they’re all running .60s. Every one of them is running .60s. I picked up two hundredths, Tommy picked up WHILE COX AND HIS FATHER, LLOYD, STARTED OUT GOING TO THE TRACK ALONE, THEY SOON REALIZED THE NEED FOR A FEW DEDICATED CREW MEMBERS TO HELP WITH THE BETWEEN-ROUND THRASHES AND LATE NIGHTS THAT COME WITH RACING PRO NITROUS. August 2019 DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 83