INTERVIEW: ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS, LARRY DIXON, JACK BECKMAN, JOHN FORCE

NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES TELECONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

The following are excerpts from a teleconference featuring NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series drivers Erica Enders-Stevens (Pro Stock), Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), and Funny Car racers Jack Beckman and John Force.

MODERATOR: Erica Enders-Stevens is the driver of the Elite Motorsports Chevy Camaro. She is the defending Pro Stock world champion and joins us following her second event win of the season at her home event in Houston. This is her third final round appearance of the year as she’s been number one qualifier at two events. She also won her second consecutive K&N Horsepower Challenge Pro Stock specialty race at Las Vegas. Erica, it kind of seems that Las Vegas kick started the season a little bit for you guys. What did you find either going into that race or at that race that kind of was a breath of fresh air to that team?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: We kind of struggled a little bit at the beginning of the year, as all teams have with the rule changes and the tire and the fuel. The key to our success in Vegas was staying after the Charlotte event on Monday and doing some testing. We made some significant changes to our racecar and definitely headed in the right direction. So Vegas has been really great to my team and I over the last few years. I was very happy to be able to get everything lined up in order to go into that event and come out with a double win again.

MODERATOR: We race in Vegas twice a year. Does it give you that little bit of comfort at the start of the season thinking, If I can get there, we can sort some stuff out, be a great way to boost the season, and at the end of the year hopefully you’re in a stretch for a championship?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, clearly we love going to Vegas because of our past success there. But had we not gone to Charlotte or stayed at Charlotte and tested, we would not have run like we did in Vegas this spring. That was crucial to our success there. Vegas is lucky for us. Some drivers have lucky tracks. Some crews have tracks where they have better setups for. It seems to be a combination of both of those for our team. I think we have 18 consecutive round wins there now. And headed into the fall race later this year in October, you know, that’s the second to the last race before the season ends. Hopefully we’re right in the mix of things like we were last year.

Q. Erica, you’ve been doing this it seems like forever. I wonder if over the years your personal habits have changed in terms of working out or dieting. Your reaction times are amazing. Is that something you can actually work on or over the years are there exercises or programs that you’ve done that keep you in shape?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: Yeah, absolutely. My sister Courtney (Enders) is a personal trainer. She has my entire team and I on some sort of a meal plan. I’m pretty mindful of what I put in my body on race weekends. Obviously living on the road is pretty hard to stay in shape while you’re gone on the road all the time having to eat out three meals a day, just being physically and mentally exhausted. She’s really been a help to me. What you fuel your body with is pretty crucial to how you perform. As far as reaction times and stuff goes, I have a simulator here at our shop in New Orleans. Every race weekend I get in my car in the pit area and I sit in there for 15 or 20 minutes alone by myself and I do a lot of visualizing. That mental side of it really helps to perform the best that I can.

Q. Erica, could you talk a little bit about getting that second championship after coming off of a championship, talk a little bit about maybe the special moments that you’ve had already starting the next season trying to become a repeat champion. Maybe talk about what’s different for you and what you hope will work for you to get you that second one.

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: Yeah, I mean, it was such a dream season last year for my entire team. Aside from my engine guy, Nick Ferri, none of us had won championships before. It was a first for us. We all definitely wanted it very badly. I talk about my team a lot. I feel like people are the most important part of the puzzle. This is the first time in my professional career that I have had such a solid group of guys. I mean, they have my back. They treat me with respect. It’s just an awesome environment to work in. It’s positive. That’s what allowed me to do my job better, I believe. Being able to have fun with these guys, we have a lot of natural team chemistry, we choose to spend our time away from the track together as well. Typically when you’re done racing, you’re just out of there, going to hang out with your family or friends rather than your team. I’ve got a unique environment to work with and they’re definitely the reason why we are successful. This year is a little different. We’ve had a little bit of a target on our back throughout my career, just being a girl. When we started to have success again when I joined back with Cagnazzi in ’11, ’12 and ’13. And our dominant season last year with Elite Motorsports. It’s different to be chased rather than to chase. It’s a little bit of a different mindset. Going through the struggles that we did at the beginning of this year, being able to tackle those issues and come out on top again, the season is very, very long and challenging. I’m sure it will be another knock-down, drag-out fight till the end of the year with Jason (Line) and I. Being in the position we are now, having accomplished exactly what we accomplished last year to this point, last year we had a runner-up at Gainesville, doubled up at Vegas, win Houston, this season we had a runner-up at Phoenix and went on to double up at Vegas and win Houston. We’re on the track to doing what we did last year. But just keeping at the front of our minds that we’re out here to have fun. We’re a lower-budget team but we’re doing the best that we can with what we have. Richard Freeman has just organized a great group of people. I’m really excited and optimistic about what’s to come.

Q. Is there any part of being a champion that you can’t quantify, can’t define, that you either have it or you don’t?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: I don’t know. I mean, I do believe that you either have it or you don’t as far as being able to drive is concerned. But I go back to what I said a second ago: It’s all about the people. When I drove for the team prior to this one, we had the horsepower and we had a huge budget actually, almost a million and a half dollars more per year than what we’re running on at Elite Motorsports. We weren’t able to get it done. I believe it was because of the people.

I’ve got the best people in the world now. I’m a firm believer in the idea that there’s a plan bigger than mine. I understand now why he made us wait. It was all about having the perfect group together.

Q. When tested the car to find what you were looking for, did it come easily in finding what you were looking for, or was it so fine that it took you all a few runs to discover that answer you were looking for?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: We did stay after in Charlotte. We were fighting weather all week. It rained Monday morning, so we only actually got a half a day of testing in. We made six runs, which is a handful. My crew chiefs Rick and Rickie Jones and Mark Ingersoll had a list of ideas they wanted to try. They were pretty significant changes. The Pro Stock cars are very finicky. The work that has to be done on them is very tedious, but at the same time there were some huge swings for the fence that we had to change. We don’t test as much as the other teams because of budget. But since we struggled so much, we had to make the decision to stay. They were changes that we weren’t comfortable making during qualifying or elimination rounds because typically those changes can either make it or break it for you, I guess, without trying to divulge too much information on what we changed. They were huge swings. Fortunately enough for us they were in the right direction. We picked away at it on that Monday test. We started with smaller changes. When we saw we were heading in the right direction, we were able to use that data we acquired to make other changes as well. When we left that test in Charlotte, the confidence in my crew chiefs’ voices was very evident. That’s something I feed off of. I’m excited we did stay and they were able to make the changes they wanted to make. It was definitely crucial.

Q. You’re very dependent then on the crew chief and the technicians working on your car. What kind of stress was it for you to make the runs not knowing exactly whether it was going to work or not?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: I mean, I have all the faith in the world in my guys. I know that we all want it very, very badly, and that everybody is trying their hardest every time we go up there, including myself behind the wheel. Every crew member that I have from my tire guys to my engine guys to my crew chiefs making the calls on the racecar. It was very challenging for us at the beginning when we were uncertain with what was happening with the new rule changes. We had to dig deep and do the very best we could, even when the future didn’t look extremely bright certain weekends at the racetrack, Charlotte for instance. Had there been 17 cars on the property, we would not have made the show. We did not get down any qualifying passes and two were taken from us due to rain. That was a very grim weekend and very challenging. But we all dug deep. Staying after that Monday, it just completely turned everything around for us. I rely on them greatly. I’m there for them when they fall, and vice versa. When I’m not up on the wheel, they pick me up and give me even a better racecar than they normally do. It’s a great team environment to work in.

Q. Erica, question regarding your team championships. Dynasties, great performances are all built on little moments. Not all of them necessarily happen on the racetrack. Where does the 11-minute engine change that your team went through this past week rank for you? Does a moment like that, where your guys do something that is really impossible, yet they pull it off, does that make you a better driver?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: The motor change going into the semifinals in Houston was probably one of the most amazing experiences in my professional career. To be in my pit area when not just my team but Drew Skillman’s team jumped in on my racecar to get it done. We pitted after second round, did our normal maintenance on the car, serviced it for the next round, but we went to warm the car up. There was 15 minutes left before we had to be in the water for live TV. We just manned up. Everybody threw in on the racecar. Drew Skillman’s guys got an engine out of the trailer, took the intake manifolds and carburetors, while my guys drained the water, disconnected the motor in my car. There was one moment on prior to deciding what we were going to do that one person said, I don’t know if we have time. We got to be in the water in 15 minutes. I’m like, We got to try, we got to try. That was it. Everybody pulled their weight, pulled together. I know we talked about this yesterday. But not only did they get it done, but they got it done with zero mistakes. It was just such a cool environment to be in. As far as making me a better driver because of it, I mean, over the years I heard champions like Bob Glidden, Greg Anderson, Jason Line, Allen Johnson say, You got to learn how to win. That is one of those moments I completely understand that. Had I not been in an experience like that before and gone up to the starting line, I mean, your heart’s pounding, things are so crazy, you still got to go up there and get suited up and buckled in in time, then have your wits about you to calm down, get your heart rate under control, get your breathing under control. We were running Johnathan Gray, who is one of the best levers in the class. I had my work cut out for me. I knew I needed to be on the tree. We were able to get it done. That environment in our pit, I can’t wait till people see the footage of it because it was absolutely incredible.

Q. You’re starting to approach Shirley Muldowney on the list of female all-time winners. Do you look at numbers like that or do you let it fall where it may race to race to race?

ERICA ENDERS-STEVENS: Yeah, I mean, I know the two females that are ahead of us right now are Angelle with 41 wins and Shirley with 18. They’re heroes of mine, mentored me, been friends of mine over the years. First of all, it’s awesome to have my name on the list with theirs. If the trend continues with what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last couple years, I’m hopeful we can continue to rack the wins up. I know where we stand with wins as far as those two women go. At the same time we’re going to go out and do what we love, have fun. I’m proud of my team regardless and very optimistic about the years to come with Elite Motorsports. I’ve never had as much fun in my entire life and it’s because of the guys that are involved.

MODERATOR: We are joined by Larry Dixon. Dixon returns to the cockpit in 2015 for the first time full season since 2011. The three-time Top Fuel world champion raced to his first final round appearance in Las Vegas since his 2011 win in Phoenix. He also raced to a semifinal appearance at the season-opening event in Pomona. Dixon was involved in a spectacular event in Gainesville that made news headlines across the country. Larry, let’s start with Las Vegas, rebounding from Gainesville, you made it to the finals, came up just a little bit short. Did you think that was your time to win or did you think you would have a win by this point in the season?

LARRY DIXON: Gosh, looking back on it, I think after the weekend was over, how I feel about this team, the investment that Bob Vandergriff has made in the equipment and people for this season, I felt okay. You’re never thrilled to get to a final round and lose. But where we were last month with Gainesville, ruining a car in such a devastating way, I was okay with it. I think last year, had we gone to the final and not won, I’d have been more disappointed. We really didn’t have the equipment and the people and budget in place last year. You’d almost be lucky to win one. This year I think we have everything in place. Okay, we didn’t win Las Vegas, but I think and I hope that we’ll be back in that position all season long. So you rack it up as points. That was a good race for us from the standpoint we got back into the top 10 in points, and we’re looking to go to another final round hopefully real soon.

MODERATOR: You’ve been doing this since 1995. So far this season we’ve seen six different winners in six different events. What has been the level of competition so far in Top Fuel that you’ve seen?

LARRY DIXON: Well, with the rule package in place, this season it seems you can win from any position. At Vegas we qualified 15th, and here we get to go to a final round. Last week we were 12th, and I think we have a racecar that can win. But so can everybody else that qualifies for the field. The rule package that’s in place, there’s not a lot of room for development. You have a lot of cars that run very similar times. Those early rounds at Houston this past week, everybody was running 370s. If you’re going to be in the game, that’s what you’ve got to do. With that being said, anybody can win if you are running with the pack. So I think just the rule package that’s in place, it just makes for real tight racing, like you see in all the other professional categories.

Q. Larry, to have sat out for the time you sat out, to really get a clear perspective of your career and everything, is this a comfortable, exciting year for you, or is this a more intense year as you try to make sure you try to stay where you’ve gotten back to?

LARRY DIXON: Running a part-time schedule for the last three seasons, it makes me more appreciative of the opportunity to be able to race out there full-time. People that haven’t tried it don’t know how hard it is to come up with the budget that it takes to be able to run one of these cars full-time. As you can see by the (John) Force, (Alan) Johnson team and such, trying to find that money to be able to run a car let alone two cars, just what Bob Vandergriff has done, taking last year one car full-time, one car part-time, running both cars this year full-time, it’s made me very appreciative of that opportunity. That’s kind of how I feel. From that standpoint, I just feel fortunate that Bob thinks enough of me to be one of his guys.

Q. Given that you’ve shown your ability hasn’t slipped one ounce, that the team is working so hard, would there be some place in the remaining schedule where it would just be so heart-filling for you if you could win?

LARRY DIXON: Whatever one’s next on the schedule (laughter). To be honest with you, I mean, there’s a couple places on the tour I haven’t won at. I’ve been very blessed to be with great crew chiefs, great tuners and such that have been able to win at a lot of different racetracks. But I haven’t won in St. Louis. My dad has won at Epping in the past. I never even competed there. There’s places. Gosh, I love racing. Wherever you get to stand on the gas, you’re trying to win every week. I don’t know that any of them shine any brighter than the others, except maybe Indianapolis, I guess.

Q. Larry, after the spectacular crash in Gainesville, in the time afterwards, how many times have you had to explain that to other people and then get back focused on the fact that you’re a three-time champion? Probably not everybody is asking you about that. Talk about overcoming that type of situation and moving on.

LARRY DIXON: Well, I mean, it’s definitely quite a spectacular wreck. I don’t feel fortunate that I’ve done that twice in that same type of accident, but I feel fortunate that the injuries I sustained 15 years ago back in Memphis in the same type of wreck, that we worked really hard on specific areas of the cockpit of that car to make sure if we ever got into a situation like that again, I wouldn’t have those same injuries. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was. Really, General Motors, at the time Herb Fishel, he headed up the racing program. That was on a Saturday at Gainesville. Monday morning I sent off an email to him thanking him again, because we still stay in touch, for what we did to the cars to make sure I don’t break my legs or suffer a concussion, split my helmet. There were so many things that happened. To be able to go through that type of wreck, gosh, the crash box said 109 Gs. I know the last one wasn’t anywhere near that fast. To be able to go through that and walk away, if you look after your safety equipment, your safety equipment will look after you. I’m just thrilled from that standpoint. Never get tired of talking about it because it sure beats the alternative.

Q. I talked to a fan afterwards. He took his daughter to that race. She’s sitting in the stands. She witnesses you doing that crash. Her reaction, he said, was just totally way off the charts. He’s trying to explain to her. What would you say to that fan that went to that race for the first time and saw that crash?

LARRY DIXON: Look at how safe those cars are. You can go through something like that and be okay. I mean, there again, I’ve done a lot of interviews, did a lot that particular week. A lot of them are like, How can you be so insane to want to get back into a car like that? Because that car took care of me. Flying through the air, all that, that part wasn’t pretty, but the fact I walked away from that, it did take care of me. It gives you, I guess, a strong sense of confidence to go through something like that. My car is going to take care of me. I don’t know how else to say it other than that. I mean, you see other types of incidents and stuff. But you got to learn from it. Every incident that happens out there, whether somebody gets hurt or not, you have to learn from it and try to make the car safe. If we didn’t learn anything from past incidents, we’d still be wearing leather caps and T-shirts. Things happen on the racetrack. We’re completely prepared for it. Hopefully people will take that away from it.

Q. Larry, you generated a very large media burst for the sport of drag racing earlier this year, clearly not the way you would want to do it. This transition that’s happening with live television. As a historian of the sport, having been there with your father, all the years with the Snake, give me your thoughts and perspective on how this is going to be beneficial to growing the sport, how it helps you with your interaction with fans. As someone who is an entertainer, putting on a show for people, how do you think more live television is working and how is it going to work in the future?

LARRY DIXON: That question might be better suited for NHRA’s marketing department. My opinion is you hope you can get all that out. I’d rather watch it live during the day than at 3:00 in the morning. More eyes are going to see it during the day than the middle of the night. Hopefully that helps. Obviously, I didn’t want to go through the accident. That got so many hits on YouTube and such. The world saw that. I got emails for interview requests from Germany and England, Asia. I mean, it literally went worldwide. People are obviously paying attention. So if you can flip on the television and actually see it during daytime hours in live time, you can use the social media how it’s intended: for people to be chatting on it while it’s going on, while people are doing their burnouts. You hope that is fun and would generate more fan interest and get more people to tune in. I know we’ve had live races off and on through the years. When I crashed in Memphis in 2000, that actually aired on live television at the time. You hope the supply and demand, you know, people will demand more live footage, live shows. That’s what you hope.

Q. Dave Connolly made the transition into Top Fuel this year. Talk about his season so far. Have you been able to coach him or has he leaned on you to teach him about these cars?

LARRY DIXON: A little bit. A little bit. There isn’t a lot you need to teach Dave Connolly. The guy’s won Indianapolis a number of times. He’s won in every car he’s ever sat in. Just an open-wheel Top Fuel car, that type of power, the tendencies of the car. We drive back and forth to the racetrack together. We chat a little bit before and after the day and the weekend and such. I have an open book. I don’t know that how I drive a car is gospel. If there’s things I can offer him and that helps him, that’s only going to help our team. That’s where my open book is with it. I think he’s doing a great job, no different than our car. We just need more runs down the racetrack to build up our data. Got a lot of new people in our pit, a lot of new equipment. The more runs we can get on both sides will help both of us get to the winner’s circle sooner. He’s doing a great job and he’s going to make people earn their money this year. He does a fantastic job in the car. It’s really exciting to see him go out there and do his thing.

MODERATOR: We’re joined by Jack Beckman, driving of the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger Funny Car. The 2012 Funny Car world champion and is rebounding from probably, as he would say, a disappointing 2014 season. Beckman has one win this season and raced to his second final round appearance at the most recent event in Houston. Charlotte ended a 54-race drought from the winner’s circle. He has veteran crew chief tuner Jimmy Prock. Talk about Jimmy Prock, him joining the team. Are you on the same page now as we’re a handful of races into the season?

JACK BECKMAN: Can I put it this way? Whatever Jimmy says, I’ll do. You said, Talk about Jimmy Prock. I don’t even think he’s the guy whose name precedes him, whose accomplishments go before him. When I heard he was coming over to my car the last two races of last year, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t know what his plans were going to be for 2015. Don could put him on any of the teams. I was grateful that not only did he stay on my team, but John Medlen came over, we kept Chris Cunningham. I’ve changed a lot of things I do to suit Jimmy, burnout routines and a couple other things. I’ve talked about this a couple times with media folks. Sometimes it’s easier for the crew chiefs to change their routine about the driver, sometimes it’s the other way around. The reality is we probably both changed our approaches a little bit. For instance, just the burnout. When we went to Palm Beach, we did 15 test runs. It took us six to get the burnout rpm correct. The difference was the way John and I pressed the throttle pedal down on the burnout. Jimmy had to adjust the car to suit me. Backing up from the burnout, him and Medlen had some preferences for the way they like the clutch movement to be, and it was pretty easy for me to adapt to that.

Q. A thought about the next guy coming up made a comment about getting that second championship is harder than the first. Talk a little bit about that. You got yours in 2012. You’ve struggled a bit since that championship. Talk about getting the next one.

JACK BECKMAN: That was my second championship.

Q. Sorry.

JACK BECKMAN: That’s okay. There is a distinction with a difference. I get it. Sportsman championships don’t get the same press coverage that pro championships get. Let me tell you, they’re every bit as hard to earn but in different ways. A sportsman championship tends to favor the driver because most people have the financial access to build a ‘competitive car.’ A professional championship really revolves around the equipment maybe more so than the driver and a crew chief and things like that, so it’s all about having the funding and not having things go wrong. Yeah, I won it in 2012. Everybody said we had a really disappointing 2013. Well, we really didn’t. We went to three final rounds. Same crew as 2012. Todd Smith calling the shots. We finished third in the points. I wouldn’t by any metric consider that a disappointing year. It’s just that when you come off winning a championship, maybe anything but another championship is disappointing. 2014 the wheels fell off. Incredibly frustrating year, very disappointing. Never finished outside of the top five. Didn’t finish within the top 10. Never won a race. That’s the first time since I started racing — well, I don’t know if I won a race in ’88. But from ’89 on, I’d won at least one race every year in my sportsman car. In 2013 I wouldn’t the Traxxas Shootout. 2014 was the first time in 25 years that I did not win a single race. I can’t put my finger on one specific thing that was the reason for our lack of success. We certainly tried just as hard. I thought we had just as much talent onboard. Things just didn’t go our way. We started off this year with a DNQ in Pomona. But I wasn’t really nearly as disappointed as I thought I might have been. I think the reason is I’m looking ahead and I know what we’re capable of. I know Jimmy Prock’s track record. I know we were going to get a solid foundation underneath us and start winning races. I always said Jimmy needed 20 runs to the finish line with this new hybrid combination before he could start collecting enough data to make consistently quick runs. I think our final round win at Charlotte was the 18th run to the finish line with that combo. I think we’re actually right on target for a great year. Whether that equates to a championship, who knows. With the countdown format, it really changes the composure of the points system. You’ve got 18 races to get yourself in the top 10 position, and then you kind of throw all that away. It’s almost like when NASCAR waves the yellow flag, everybody bunching up, then for six races you better hope you don’t have any silly things go wrong, a bearing seize up, a clutch finger break. In the final round here at Houston, we had an O ring went bad on our fuel slide valve. Stuff like that during the regular season is a hiccup, in the final rounds it could take you out the championship.

Q. You know the psychological aspect and approach to racing. What is the best way for you to overcome hardships when they come up on you?

JACK BECKMAN: Good question. I might take your question even deeper. What’s the best way to approach every single run? I found myself Sunday morning at Houston rolling up there saying, Why am I extra nervous today? I think the reason was I hadn’t qualified number one for so long, maybe I was putting extra expectation and pressure on myself. If you were going to say that not putting undue pressure on yourself is the right way to approach each run, by definition I got to say that’s the right way to approach the championship. It’s certainly easier said than done. But I know I perform better, and I’m certain if answered honestly, everybody would agree that they perform their best without undue pressure. This cliché about digging deep, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, I just think people are missing the mark a little bit on that one. I think when you’re confident, calm and cool, I think you’re more able to go out there and able to execute run after run the way it needs to be done.

Q. Can you analogize for us the intensity that you go through, the moments you roll through the water box on the starting line, to something else in the world of sports, as we are always trying to explain to people who don’t know the sport as intimately as we do, who maybe didn’t grow up with someone who brought them to the racetrack, can you compare your competitive moments when the spotlight is on, what you’re going through, to maybe some other sports. We have the big Mayweather fight coming up, the NFL Draft, all these things that people know and understand. What is drag racing most similar to, if anything?

JACK BECKMAN: Great question. And ‘nothing’ is the short answer. I can delve a little bit deeper. When you throw these words in like ‘analogize’ you’re way past me (laughter). NASCAR, you send a bunch of competitors out there, the event lasts a long time, there’s a lot of strategy and moving around, people don’t show their hand till late in the race, there’s the burst, then there’s the top 10. Usually the person who finishes ninth is pretty happy. The person who finishes fourth says, What a great day, another top five finish. You hear NASCAR drivers say that. I’ve never heard a drag racer lose in the second round and go on TV and say, Man, another top five finish, this is wonderful. Our sport has a winner and a loser. It’s a different format. It’s what makes it so incredible. It’s what makes it so incredibly difficult. So if you were to take that approach, it’s similar to boxing in that you get out there, and at any second any mistake, it could end. You go out there and you have a great round, you go back to your corner. Guess what? You have to get ready to do it again and again and again. At the end of the day there’s one person that didn’t lose. Everybody else, by definition, is a loser in drag racing. I don’t mean to say that as a negative sort of thing. I think it’s what makes our sport so incredibly special. No, it doesn’t last three hours like a NASCAR race with all the strategizing, but you have to be so incredibly mentally focused for a short period of time, then you got to get out of the vehicle, go back, decompress, let the adrenaline come down, interact with the fans. Another difference is I’ve never seen a Major League baseball pitcher go out and pitch an inning, then run up into the stands, sign autographs for 15 minutes, then go back to work again. I don’t know if the average person appreciates that about drag racing. In one day that helmet might be on four different times and you have to completely go into your zone to perform. Then when it’s off, there’s an expectation that you go interact with the fans. I love to do it. There’s a lot of drivers that would rather not do it. They sit in their trailers. I think that’s unfortunate because the fans deserve more than that. But I love that aspect of being able to settle back down, interact with the fans, get your breathing and everything restored, enjoy things for a while, then go back to this high level of focus.

Q. Jack, in listening to everything you’ve said, it’s obvious that the high point of your season is the victory. Quietly, other than that win, what has been the high point of your season?

JACK BECKMAN: That 3.98 (second run) in Houston Friday night. To go out there and wrestle the car to the finish line, put that kind of number on the scoreboard during a day that had seen rain delays for the fans, the hearty people stayed around and stuck it out, Spencer’s 330-mile an hour run in dragster, and our run. It’s a tribute to the folks for waiting through an entire day of delays and whatnot, to get to see that spectacular run, that was a big highlight for me. The bigger highlights for me have come with the helmet off. It is through the Infinite Hero Foundation. Just to put into perspective, the things we are doing, trying to change some lives. At Las Vegas, a mother and father had come up to me and talked to me on Friday. Then Saturday a different father came up and talked to me. Both of them were parents of Afghanistan combat veterans who came home and killed themselves. What do you say to parents like that? To put things in perspective, a bad day at the racetrack doesn’t even register to what these folks have gone through. To know that through our program, trying to raise funds, issuing the grants to places like the brain treatment center, this is not a commercial, this is just to frame what you said, What’s been the highlight of my year? I’m thinking through our efforts there’s a lot of parents that won’t have to say that in the future, that we can get the treatment for those veterans that have post-traumatic stress and are at a high risk of suicide, get them in before the worst happens, get them started on their path back to a new normal. I want to say one more thing. I know John Force doesn’t like to get his back patted here. But I wish sometime, and you have to ask his brother Walker, because John will never take credit for this, if you asked him to briefly list some of the stuff, it would take four hours to do, the things that John does for fans and other racers, and never wants any credit for that. I also got to say this. Maybe one of the highlights of my career, it’s something I can’t wait to tell my grandkids, is that I got to race against John Force. In baseball, you have a pretty limited career because of your physical capabilities. In drag racing, guys like (indiscernible) has proved that if you take care of your eyes you can stay in a car till an advanced age. At 65, John is still the toughest Funny Car driver out there. There’s no question in my mind there’s a little bit extra when John Force is in the other lane. Because you can compete at different ages in this sport, it would be like a Little League player getting to grow up and play against Babe Ruth. John, I want you to know how much it means to so many of the other racers out there that you’re still coming out and fighting the fight, doing the things you’re doing.

MODERATOR: Next we have John Force. In Las Vegas, Force returned Chevrolet to Victory Lane in the Funny Car ranks when he raced to the win against his teammate Robert Hight. It was John’s first win of the season and his 142nd in his career. The win also moved him into the top 10 in points. He is currently tied for seventh in points, 103 behind points leader Ron Capps. John, thanks for joining us. That win in Las Vegas, how much of a relief was that to get that win early this season, after everything you went through last year looking for sponsors, a manufacturer, to get your game going strong this year?

JOHN FORCE: Well, winning is always a good feeling. We were able to put it all back together financially where we can be competitive, run for the title, and build technology and safety. But the win’s good, being up against Robert Hight. We put two Chevrolets in the final. That’s pretty exciting because we carry Auto Club, PEAK, Traxxas and Mac (Tools), we carry them all on our Top Fuel car and our three Funny Cars. It was a win-win for everybody. Good for me. Got a brand-new team, a bunch of young kids. I’m still learning their names. They’re all motivated and they love me. The win just gave us a little kick. We needed it. We’ve had a rough going here the last year and a half. Didn’t win the championship last year. Lost it by a round or two. We’re back in business.

MODERATOR: Did that win put the wind in the sails for those young guys? Early disappointments, did they get down, or were you able to keep them pointed in the right direction?

JOHN FORCE: No, nobody even wanted to party. Work on the Hot Rod, get ready, get back home. We had a dinner when we got to Houston. That was a night we went out and rode the rollercoaster. I spoke to them. Trying to build a team, sometimes you take for granted when you have a team that’s been with you four or five years, everybody knows the drill, nobody makes mistakes, then you put a brand-new team together. Even when they were trained coming from other categories in NHRA drag racing, you got to build them where they can function on a schedule. We’ve struggled a lot. I think at Vegas, we did what we call Funny Car 101. It was towing the Funny Car back to Charlotte. We were either too fast or too slow. We went through a training on Monday when we tested. Yet at Vegas, we’re smoking it to the start line. The cable breaks. Put it back together. Went another hundred feet. It broke again. That was probably the highlight as much as winning the race when I said, Just shove the thing. I was on my bike dressed up because we were running late, had to swap motors. We got it back together, warmed it up. The front main went out of it. We had to change motors. We almost didn’t make the call.

I looked over, here comes Elon Werner. This guy, he’s a big old Texan. He come running across that parking lot. He knew we were in trouble. They were yelling for us to get up there. When he starts shoving that car, I looked at it, your PR guy comes out of the tower, it showed we were a team, everybody thinks the main thing. It’s all about making the calm, putting on a show for the fans, getting a win. We went on to win the race. I even told the media, someday you look out the window of the tower, you see somebody in trouble, don’t ever think if you ran out there and tried to help them how much they would appreciate it, knowing anybody would come to your help, but especially the media that writes about you, let them be part of the action. So he was part of it. Had fun. We went on to win the race.

Q. I’ve used many times a quote of yours from years ago: Getting a second championship is harder than the first one. Can you talk about what you can share and can’t share about driving and winning that’s so special coming from all your experience of winning, virtually nobody else has the opportunity to talk about that much.

JOHN FORCE: You fight for a championship. That’s why right now when I’m struggling and I’m not where the racecar needs to be, nobody knows losing better than me. First 15 years of my career, trying to just win a round. My daughter Brittany (Force) in that Top Fuel car with a brand-new team there, a year old, new guys again this year, Todd Smith, Ronnie Thompson. You know, we’re still struggling. We’re hit-and-miss. She’s been low qualifier. She’s been in four or five finals but hasn’t got a win. You live your whole life for that dream. You go to bed at night, Am I ever going to get it? You wake up in the morning and one day you get it, like I did in 1990. Come back and got it in 1991. Was warned by Prudhomme and Bernstein, you get on a roll, then it goes away. You don’t know what happens. It went away. I wouldn’t say we got cocky. We were five races ahead, and Cruz Pedregon, that hamburger stand from hell, McDonald’s, he would have to win five races straight, and I would have to lose five first round. That’s exactly what happened. I rolled the car over on its roof, hit the wall three times in Dallas, did everything wrong. I sat down and I thought, Wow, is this the end? Is that all there is to this party? Man, my motivation coming out of Pomona, the World Finals, was I’m going to live this and we’re going to fight back and get it back. We came back and won 10 straight. But every win is great because you’re doing it with sometimes a new sponsor. Me being with PEAK now, of course with Chevrolet. I’ll be back to PEAK the next five races in a blue car racing for them. You never get tired of it. But I guess the question was how do you do it? What actually was the question? I’m sorry.

Q. Basically what can you share and what can you not share about winning, with other drivers, basically what is undefinable?

JOHN FORCE: Everybody has to find their own way. My daughters, Brittany and Courtney, set and talked to me, Dad, how do you win? I don’t know. I’m fighting to find my way right now. But it’s an exciting time. You know what I mean? You get a second chance. You lose and you come back. You’ve got to dig deep. One, you’ve got to live it seven days a week. Sometimes I get with my daughters who show up on race day, now it’s time to win. You got to live that gut ache every day, every time you go to sleep, every time you wake up. It becomes a way of life. I think that’s how you become a champion. Robert Hight did it. The Pedregon brothers, I know what they went through. You push every button you can from the team to the sponsor to the crew chief, everything right, then with a little bit of a luck you might get that shot. You just got to live it. I couldn’t sit down and write a formula. I couldn’t write a book on how to win. It’s like anything in life: dedicate yourself to it and you can do it. I’m dedicating myself to it right now. Don’t think I love the gym. I’m in the gym every day now because I’m not getting the performance out of me that I want as a driver. I don’t like getting tired in the middle of the day where I have to get my energy up and get coffee’d up. I don’t like that. I want to be 21 years old again, but that’s the way life is. If I’m going to survive. I’m under contract for five more years with Auto Club and these guys, if I’m going to survive, I’ve changed my lifestyle since the crash, and I live it, and more than most. If you don’t believe me, ask my wife. She’s tired of listening to me. All you do is walk in and talk about racing. I understand that. But there is life in general. Sometimes I lose it. Now I’m teaching the kids the same way, but I love it. Sorry for getting caught up in that.

Q. John, you mentioned being in the gym. I did a story on you 20 years ago. Your ritual before the race was eating Reese’s peanut butter cups that you dipped in peanut butter. What do you exactly do in the gym? What kind of nutrition program are you on?

JOHN FORCE: In the old days I always said, I spent two hours a day in the bar, and now I spend it in the gym. I just changed my lifestyle. That was after the crash. They told me it was over for me. You’re going to be lucky if you can walk, you ain’t driving no racecar. I’m the kind of guy, nobody tells me anything, I’m too thick-headed. I still have problems with my left thumb because I worked it so hard when my wrist was broke, how to get my hands back to where I wanted to be so I could pull a brake handle and drive a steering wheel. I actually created some new problems, and I can’t fix them now. I redesigned my body so the knuckles and the thumb from workouts. The other day in the gym, a guy in the gym was laughing. He said, You used to come in here every other day, you have a gym in your house. I come in there to be in the mode of being around people. The motivates me. It’s kind of guilt that you got to work. You get in your house sometimes, you get a little bit lazy, a little bit sloppy. Mainly I got to where I’m going every day. On the road sometimes we go till late at night, we get up early in the morning, I might miss a day or two. I feel it in my bones when I get up in the morning. It ain’t like you’re a young kid and your body builds back up to where it was. It will never be the same. I found if I stayed in the gym, the gym becomes a place I love. I have music there, TV if I want to watch the news. That depresses me. But I also found there’s so many things I can do. I can study contracts. The guy in the gym was laughing so hard. I was on a treadmill running, trying to read this manual. I slipped. I went down on the ground. It shot me off the back of the treadmill. I looked like the guy in Dumb and Dumber. Shoved me into the wall. I got up, was okay. You got to be careful, focus more on your workout than trying to read contracts. I just love it. I love it. That’s the way I live my life. It’s probably my biggest problem. This weekend I’m going to spend a little time with my grandchildren. It’s my birthday. I’m going to take them to Knott’s Berry Farm. I’m going to swim a little bit with my kids and grandchildren. I’ll probably be in the gym that morning, probably that night. I’m never going to be the guy I used to be, but I can still race with these youngsters out here. I’m going to prove that to everybody.

Q. Question about the past two years. When you found out that sponsors were leaving, it was a real negative. You had to go through it. Now that you’ve gone through it, have new sponsors, just the way you walk, the interviews you give, the young guys around you, it seems like the process maybe has reinvigorated you. Talk about when something negative comes along, it might seem negative for the moment but it ultimately can become something positive.

JOHN FORCE: I was fighting over the weekend with Courtney. She’s probably my problem child. She’s been in Charlotte filming a TV commercial. Her and I, we seem to fight. Brittany and Ashley and I, we all get along. We had our days. But Courtney can send me over center sometimes, just about her approach, the way she is, the things that matter. My wife tells me, You’re old school. Over the weekend racing on Sunday morning, I was being the typical John, coming to the races, bummed out about new deals we’re getting, how am I going to make them work, are they going to happen, is the car going to win today, is the crew going to be able to make the call. Even the girl in the office, John came to me, Joan has been with you 17 years, she’s worried sick over you. You come in here in fight mode. I was kicked in the tail end. I lost half my money. My ego was shot down. I had to pick up the pieces, me and Robert, fight my way out of this mess. I find myself, I’m a great salesman, I’m a great talker, preaching, of how you should do stuff. My daughter came to me after church. Dad, read this from church, from Racers for Christ. The things you taught me is that God tests you. He’ll let you run and do good for a while, then he’ll put you down in a hole. He’s testing you to see how good you are. What we’re seeing is not the way our dad taught us. Sounding like a preacher here. He’s walking you down this road and he’s just seeing how good you are. He gives you the opportunity. He gives you the tools. He gives you a family. You are not addressing it this way. It’s like you’re turning away from all of this. I read this. It was mostly from Brittany. Courtney didn’t even want to sign it. I looked at it. I was very emotional before first round. I called them in there and said, “You know what, you’re right.” But the reason is I’m so afraid of failing you and my grandchildren. I gave you all of this, put you into all of this. You finally learned how to do it, found your way, and I’m going to fail because I can’t find the money. What I love as much in life is driving these racecars. It’s stupid, but I do. I’m hooked, I’m addicted. Every day when I get to that racetrack, I’m a little kid. I apologize to them. I called a team meeting. I said I’ve been the biggest horse’s you know what. Came home, said, I apologize. If that’s what I’ve been showing you, I’m down and out, I’m fighting every day. It looked like I was down and out, but I really wasn’t. It was the way it was coming out of me to everybody. Robert said, “You’re putting us on a bummer.” I got my stuff together. Over the weekend better get into church next Sunday, better listen to what I preach. I got a lot to learn. I’ll be 66 in a few days. I’m not going to let an age limit hold me down. I love it, and I’m going to do it as long as I can get in that seat and do that job. When I can’t, I know when to get out. As I said, these kids work too hard. Sound like I’m getting mad, but I’m not. I’m actually happy today (laughter).

Q. John, have you ever won an event on your birthday, and what did it feel like for you if you have?

JOHN FORCE: I can’t say that I did. I don’t know if I ever have. I don’t know a national event, I couldn’t answer that. (Dave) Densmore has my whole history. But, no, I couldn’t answer that. But, you know, my daughters want a party this weekend. I said, I don’t want anything. I want to be there. I want to stand with you, maybe have a glass of wine. Swim with my grandchildren, get that taste of life. It’s what life is all about. It’s not about a racecar. It takes guys like Robert Hight, Beckman, Ron Capps, turns us into this other person. It’s hard to go home. It’s hard to go home. That thing becomes your life. This is not the Army where we went off to Afghanistan to fight. You know what I mean? Iraq. It is not that. It is not war. But, boy, you start believing it is. You know what I mean? It’s not. We don’t compare to those guys. Those are the heroes. We’re racers and entertainers. You have to look at the ones we lost along the way, Eric Medlen, Blaine Johnson. How did this stuff go down this road? Then you still love it so much, I put my own kids in it. Pray every day they’re going to be safe. I still love it. Love the moment. Love you guys that have to listen to me, same old story, you probably get tired of it. I really love what I do. I really love my people that I work with. I’ve gotten real close like I did with (Dave) Densmore, Elon Werner, talk about stuff, know his family, watch how he tries to write that perfect story, like you all do. Sometimes we get slapped in a story because we did something wrong, and well-deserved, because you have to write the truth. I’m preaching now.

Q. Talk about the Las Vegas win this year. If you look at your entire career, how big does that race rank?

JOHN FORCE: Coming back from a championship when you lost, coming back and winning, it’s great because you realize now that you get it, you know how to work it, how to build a team, how to find the money. When I crashed, it was probably the biggest thing to come back. When they told me I couldn’t, that was probably the highlight of any race, next to seeing my daughters win a race and Robert. I got to be honest. Boy, I hate to be this weak, but when you lose your money, and people with a lot less people than me, I’m probably one of the top money programs in the sport, but I lost from where I used to be. I had to reevaluate my whole company. Money was falling out of the skies, I took it for granted. All of a sudden we had to build. I dug deep. Robert dug deep. We found out where we had fluff and how to change it, how to come back from that. I have people pat me on the back and say, Man, what you did was unbelievable. You came back. You put a race team back together. You may not be great, but you’re in the hunt. Let me tell you something, all that was good, hard work with a lot of emotion. But can you imagine somebody coming back from the war, like Beckman talks about with stress disorder, with things that can happen, losing a limb. Can you imagine what it takes an individual like that to fight back. You see why they need the help. Let me give you one last example that I have never figured out in my life, and I want to hug the guy every time I see him. But Doug Herbert losing his two sons, I dropped to my knees when I heard it. Just in fear of losing my own children. Prayed for him. You talk about a tough individual that came back. When I saw that racecar at Charlotte with his boys’ pictures on it, that is what drives him in life now. That is what his life is all about. It gave him a purpose. You have to believe that. You talk about coming from something. So to have me complain, I’ve had financial, I lost a crew chief, I got young crew chiefs, I broke my legs, that is nothing. I don’t know if I could have recovered from what he went through. The Eric Medlen deal wasn’t even my son. I watched John Medlen rise from that. I’m amazed. The loss of a child, there’s nothing harder than that, anything. I can’t imagine it. Scares me every day. I move ahead. I try to build good racecars that are safe. I try to give them the best instructions that I can. There’s a lot better people than me out there. You know what I’m saying? Every time I think of Doug, it’s just unbelievable what he’s been through. He’s my hero, I tell you that right now.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports