of a mix, a heck of a different group that we’ ve got out there, but I certainly relate to the Dallas Glenns more. That’ s more like what I was. I was a guy that pretty much knew every inch of the car inside and out.
If I’ m betting on the future, when these young guys start winning championships and stuff like that, which is going to happen very soon, I’ ll put my money on Dallas Glenn because he’ s the well-rounded guy of all these newcomers out there, and I think there’ s something to be said for being able to work on them as much as you are able to drive them. I think he’ s got a leg up on the competition because of that. If I’ m betting on the future after I get out of the way and turn it over to these young guys, I’ m betting on a guy like Dallas Glenn.
You may have just answered this question in a different way, but are today’ s new, young drivers at a disadvantage in a way, being able to come in and step into a proven car without having to learn some of those lessons that you or even Dallas had to learn on the way up?
Yeah, I think there’ s definitely an advantage that we have that they’ re not ever going to have. They can’ t necessarily come back and provide a lot of feedback to the crew chiefs. We all have onboard computers in the cars, so it’ s not like a driver can lie anyway, but there’ s still certain things that you feel as a driver that the computer doesn’ t show.
I think when you’ ve been on the inside, working on the equipment and on the race cars and on the engine, there’ s certain things we hear in the engine going down the racetrack that they don’ t necessarily know what the difference is. If we happen to lose an engine partway down the track or a part fails, we can usually hear it. There’ s an audible change, and half the time, we can get out of the throttle and save that engine. Some of these new guys, they’ re not going to have that in their playbook. They’ re just going to be either on the throttle all the time or it’ s going to blow up, one or the other. That’ s something that’ s valuable.
There’ s probably times where it’ s better where you don’ t have all that experience because there’ s so many things that can go through your head. When you roll into that stage beam and you’ re trying to concentrate on cutting that light, there better not be anything of any kind going through your mind. You better not be talking to yourself and you better not be listening or you’ re not going to cut a good light. These guys that don’ t necessarily understand why the engine sounds different here or there or what the car did here or
there, that’ s not a problem they have. They probably can get to that concentration level of“ nothing but the Christmas tree” a whole lot easier.
So there’ s pluses and minuses. Obviously I’ m voting for the guy that’ s got the well-rounded experience because that’ s me, but on the other side, I can see benefits to the other way too.
Your son, Cody, has gotten really involved over the last several years. What do you enjoy most about working with him and showing him the ropes?
He’ s been around the racetrack for a lot of years and he’ s certainly been a great fan and
Several of Anderson’ s 111 wins came at the prestigious NHRA U. S. Nationals in Indianapolis, including his 100th.
watched what his dad does, but he didn’ t love drag racing at the young age that I did. He was a golfer. He wanted to golf. That’ s what he wanted to do with his life, and pretty much every race we went to, he’ d just leave on Friday, Saturday, and find a golf course to go to.
What I really got a kick out of – and I certainly didn’ t push him at all – but I gave him the opportunity to work on the car, and I try not to be his boss. I let the car shop guys handle his daily schedule and treat him just like a normal employee. But he’ s pretty much learned to do every inch of that race car just like I had to do. He’ s not a guy that can only do one thing. He can now do a lot of different things. He can wear a lot of different hats. He can work on different cars, different teams. He can do different projects on the car. I love watching that growth, and I know it’ s going to continue.
He definitely has an itch – he doesn’ t have that burning desire yet – to drive a car, but he’ s definitely got a desire. He wants to try it. And I keep saying when I finally get out of here and call it a career for me, I’ m going to let him show what he can do, and I have all the confidence in the world. He’ s a young kid. He’ s a talented kid. He’ s a natural-born athlete. I think he’ s going to do great at it. I’ ll look forward to that day when I get to stand on the starting line and watch him.
I’ m absolutely trying not to force his hand or put any pressure on him and put a deadline on when he needs to get in a race car or do anything, but it’ s going to happen someday. He’ s going to take his shot at it. He’ s going to either sink or swim on that just like I had to do, but I look forward to that day. I don’ t think it’ s that far down the road.
I’ m a realist. I know that for me it gets more difficult every year to find a way to reinvent myself to try and hang with these young guys, and that’ ll continue as years go on. In the back of my mind, I’ ve got to be thinking in the next year or two at the most, it’ s going to be that time to hand the steering wheel over. I’ m definitely thinking about it. He’ s definitely thinking about it. That’ ll be the next chapter around here, hopefully.
KB Titan and Elite Motorsports have had a rivalry for quite some time, but it seems to have escalated at various points this year as the Pro Stock pendulum has swung in KB Titan’ s direction. What do you think that rivalry does for both teams and for the class as far as generating some interest that maybe wasn’ t there in the past?
I think it’ s great for the class. You don’ t have to love each other to go out and race against each other. You don’ t necessarily have to hate each other. You don’ t have to be best buddies. You don’ t have to go spend your off hours from the track together or anything. It’ s OK to not be the best of buds when you go to the racetrack and try and beat somebody, because let’ s be honest, even everybody that’ s on my team or under my umbrella, when you roll up to that starting line, you probably better not treat them like they’ re your best buddies or you’ ll probably go home.
It’ s OK that we have a little bit of a grudge against each other. That’ s good for the class,
104 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 196