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What did it take to win your second PDRA world championship last season ?
The year before last , I by all means should ’ ve won it . I just screwed up at the last race . I put my dialins backwards in my delay box . Just totally screwed up first round and got myself beat and wound up losing the championship . Easily could ’ ve had three in the last four years . I have been going to more and more races , I ’ ll say that . Last year , I went to all of them because I was a little upset about the year before last . I skipped a couple then wound up going into the last race really , really close , then screwed myself over . Last year , I said I ’ m not doing that . I had my mind set that I was going to try to finish it off last year and I did . Four finals in eight races . That was a good deal .
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To come off that success and win at WSOPM , how special was it to start the year like that ?
That was awesome . Like I said down there when they interviewed me , I ’ ve never staged for $ 50,000 before , so it was something I ’ d never done . There wasn ’ t really a whole lot of pressure . I felt like there ’ d be all this pressure on you running for $ 50,000 , but I didn ’ t really feel any of that . It was just like another race and it was really cool . I won a bunch of races over years and years of doing this , and championships and stuff , so it takes a lot to get me excited , but I was excited at the end of that just because of the caliber of people I was racing against and how hard it was .
If you look back at the numbers involved in that race , the guy in the semis laid down a . 002 package on me and I got inside it , but just lucky . I happened to make a really good run right when he made a really good run . I got on the good end of that deal . The stars lined up and I was racing really good and my car was good all on the same day . That doesn ’ t happen every weekend , unfortunately . When it does , you like to cash in and get paid . I felt like everything lined up for me that weekend . It was an exciting win and a really cool deal . I would absolutely do it again .
What can you say about the PDRA sportsman racers and why they did so well down there ?
Well , certainly at a go-fast bracket race , PDRA is going to be the people that show up at the race . That ’ s where it ’ s at . There ’ s some fast cars in NHRA , don ’ t get me wrong , but coming over here , if you can win in this bunch of people going fast , then you ’ ve got some talent . That ’ s why the PDRA stuff rose to the top at that race . If you go to a regular bracket race where everybody ’ s dialed 4.60s or 4.80s , that ’ s a different story . That ’ s a whole different
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race and a whole different bunch of machinery . But if you have a fast race where this is the kind of stuff you ’ re racing , I feel like the people at the PDRA are going to rise to the top of that race and that ’ s why that happened like that . I think it ’ ll happen again if they do it again next year . I think you ’ ll see similar things happen .
You were runner-up at the East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park to start the year in PDRA Elite Top Dragster competition . How motivated are you to keep that momentum going this season ?
I ’ m very motivated . I won that 50- grander , then the next week I went to the Gatornationals and wound up red-lighting in the semis . I absolutely should ’ ve won that race ,
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so that would ’ ve been two in a row . At GALOT , I absolutely should ’ ve won that race . Totally driver error in the final . I had the race won and just gave that away .
I ’ m a little disappointed in myself because I had a really good streak going right there . If I ’ d just stayed level-headed and kept my mind right , I probably could ’ ve won three in a row . That ’ s how you start out . That puts fear in people , right ? You won ’ t be nearly as good as they think you are . You just string together some stuff like that , then you get on a roll . I ’ m streaky like that . I had an opportunity to get on a really good streak . I kind of dampened myself . But I feel like it ’ s very important to stay on a streak like that . If you can get that going , that ’ s the key to being able to do well .
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