Courtney Force’s first love was an NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car -- the one her dad John Force drove when she was a kid. Barely old enough to walk, Courtney was hooked. She decided one day she’d be a driver just like him.

 

Now her moment is here. Instead of drawing pictures of her dream car in a child’s hand, she’ll drive it.

 

NHRA Full Throttle Series Drag Racing is contagious. Once one member of a family gets hooked on the sound and speed of it, others are sure to follow. Just like John Force and his three daughters Ashley, Brittany and Courtney -- all drag racers. Just like Bob Tasca III followed his grandfather Bob Sr. into the sport -- and now his son Bob IV is in a junior dragster, too. The story is the same for Tim Wilkerson, who drives the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang Funny Car and serves as his own crew chief and that of his son, Dan.

 

It’s what NHRA has named “Nitro Generation,” and it’s the big theme for 2012. 

 

It seems everyone on the “One Ford” Funny Car teams is related to someone else in the sport -- and that what Nitro Generation is all about.

 

Jamie Allison, Director of Ford Racing, John and Courtney Force, Tasca and Wilkerson all have plenty of stories about what racing with family means to them. For John Force Racing, hiring John Medlen back also falls into what being truly a racing family is all about.

 

The entire Ford Racing NHRA family is buzzing with anticipation of what 2012 will bring -- hopefully, an NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car Championship.

 

JAMIE ALLISON, DIRECTOR OF FORD RACING: “The start of a new season always brings with it some of the most exciting times of the year. Hope runs eternal. Our goal is certainly to bring back the NHRA Full Throttle Series Funny Car Championship title back to Ford. We are about excellence and a dedication to excellence and a lot of hard work…There has also been added excitement, with John as a proud father announcing the addition of Courtney to the “One Ford” Funny Car team. That just brings a lot of excitement for the fans, and obviously bringing Courtney up to speed into her full season this year. What a line-up of drivers we have ... We have supreme confidence going into this season here at Ford. John (Force) gave me some great news over the weekend, that John Medlen will be coming back home to the Ford team. With the driving force behind the safety program … his hands are all over some of the programs we have in the cars today. It’s very exciting, because it is about engineering excellence; it is about great teamwork; and with the addition of John, he also told me he has Ron Armstrong on board and Dickie Venables. He calls all of them his new brain trust. I’m excited to have the new brain trust within the Ford camp.”

 

JOHN, THERE’S NEVER A DULL MOMENT FOR YOUR TEAM AND YOU MADE YET ANOTHER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT THIS MONTH. HOW WILL YOU FOCUS ON DRIVING THIS SEASON?

 

JOHN FORCE: “First, let me say it’s a new season. John Force, my people, Robert, Mike Neff, everybody involved, my daughters, that includes Ashley, Brittany and Courtney, to me it’s all about heart. It’s about family. I gotta be honest, when we lost Eric Medlen in 2007, I’ve been mental over that. Then when his dad (John) left us I was mental over that. Just a lot of things were not in line for me. Yeah, we were able to come back and win championships, but just something was missing. For me, for this season, in 2012, I got a new leg, I got it rebuilt, I’m back in the car already testing in Florida. No. 2, I’ve got my youngest daughter Courtney coming in. I’ve got a new sponsor, that’s exciting, in this economy, to get a new sponsor. Luckily I’ve got Ford and Castrol, Brand Source and Mac Tools, all these people. But to have Traxxas on board, to bring new money into this deal, it shows in this economy there’s a future. And then to add to that, with Ford stepping in, ‘here’s what we want to do because safety is so important to us, we want to rebuild that program with our engineers, we’ve always been working on it, but I’ve got to admit, with my own people on overload, losing John Medlen, losing Austin Coil, as much as Jimmy Prock and Neff and Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas -- everybody worked -- it was hard to run these cars, stay in the game, and create safety, because racing and safety has got to go hand-in-hand. When I got the call over the weekend that John Medlen…and I’ve tried to get John Medlen to come back here because John Medlen, one, he’s a workaholic, and two, he does it for his son and the other children, and that is to build safety. He lives it, and you can’t buy that kind of loyalty, for a man so dedicated. He created the Eric Medlen project, but he had to leave. When they told me John walked into the building it was just like a big load was lifted off of my back, that everything was back to the way it used to be. It may not be perfect, Austin Coil has left us and I thought he might return this year. But not Coil. I’m excited. I think John Force Racing can continue to win championships and continue to build safety and I’m really excited to have John Medlen back and my youngest daughter in the seat of this Funny Car doing a pretty good job.”

 

JOHN, TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT WHAT JOHN MEDLEN WILL BE DOING AT JFR.

 

JOHN FORCE: “John Medlen is the one who had really always worked in growing our operation. He was a machinist by trade. John Medlen got into, I call it a widget maker. Everybody can get ideas, but somebody’s got to put them on a piece of paper and somebody’s got to take it to a machine. We’re building John Medlen a team. Ron Armstrong, one of the brilliant men of our time in racing, with the racing computers and things he’s done is willing to work side-by-side with John Medlen and we’re going to add to that team. We’re looking at two more individuals we’re talking with. But John Medlen will take the lead. They will be a team. We don’t have any egos here. The only egos are probably me and Courtney. (Courtney laughs). I just threw you in. But I’m excited because safety is priority, and that’s the first thing John started talking about. He said ‘I know you ran the new three-rail dragster that Murf McKinney built that the Ford engineers worked on.’ He said ‘I really want to take a look at that. I want to get involved with that again,’ because my daughter’s driving it. Brittany, and he wants to make sure that it’s safe. It’s giving her a year to test her driving skills. We don’t want to just build safety for the Fuel Funny Car ranks. We want to build it…we’ve got Brandon Bernstein, Morgan Lucas…all them kids over there driving these hot rods and rules have been changed and we want to continue to stay after it. John Medlen will lead that charge from Brownsburg, Ind. It’s one of them deals that I turn…the braintrust had a meeting this morning, and actually Dickie Venables has come back to John Force Racing. He left because he had the opportunity to have a lead crew chief job and we never had that opportunity when he went with Tony (Pedregon). Now we have the chance for him to overlook the Top Fuel dragster. But I told him safety is priority. And that’s what I told him. We were really impressed with the way the car left the starting line, went out 2-300 feet, rattled, shook, smoked the tires going through the process, didn’t get many runs on it, we were focused on the Funny Cars. But John Medlen, with the Ford engineers, will have that charge.”

 

COURTNEY, YOU’VE ALREADY GOTTEN A LOT OF ATTENTION THIS YEAR, AND IT WILL REALLY ONLY GET CRAZIER. TELL US ABOUT YOUR RECENT TRIP TO CHARLOTTE FOR NASCAR MEDIA WEEK.

 

COURTNEY FORCE: “I just got back from Charlotte. It was a good day. We started off, we had a television interview around 6:45 in the morning, but everything went really good. Just kind of talked about where the season was going, with our new sponsor on board with Traxxas. Then we went right over to the headquarters at Charlotte Motor Speedway and met with a bunch of media. We had a Q&A with NHRA and all of the media who were there for that event. It was me as well as Alexis DeJoria. It was kind of cool, the women coming into the Funny Car ranks this season. It’s definitely going to be fun. I think it’ll be an interesting season. We’re both kind of new to it. We’re both learning together, going out for our rookie season. It went good.”

 

QUESTION FOR BOTH OF YOU. TALKING ABOUT THE NITRO GENERATION – THAT’S NHRA’S FOCUS THIS YEAR. WHAT DOES NITRO GENERATION MEAN TO YOU?

 

JOHN FORCE: “I’m part of that, even at my age, because it is about the future. I know that retirement is in my future. I’m under contract for the next four-five years, but basically with my leg repaired I’m back in the game. I had my ACL replaced the day after the (NHRA Awards) banquet, and I’m up and getting around. I feel better than I’ve ever felt since the crash. At the end of the day it is about the kids and when I say kids, I mean Neff, and Robert Hight and the crew chiefs -- these individuals that are getting the chance. There hot rods are good. It’s a braintrust and that’s why it was so important not for me, and I want to win another championship -- and I want to win another championship, I want to win No. 16 for myself and my sponsors -- but not just for me, it’s more about the future … that the next generation steps in. The Nitro Generation, and they take these kids where they need to be, and along the way they keep them safe. I even found myself getting a little bit lazy where every week I talked safety and all of a sudden it’s every month. And what do we do, need another crisis to wake us up? John Medlen, God bless him, was an awakening to that, because when I got that call I thought ‘we’re going the right direction and I know he’s the guy that can lead it.’ “

 

COURTNEY, WHAT DOES NITRO GENERATION MEAN TO YOU?

 

COURTNEY FORCE: “Obviously, it is the next generation of drivers. I think it’s kind of the sons and daughters that are following in their parents’ footsteps, I think. For me, it’s me following in my dad’s footsteps, along with my sister Ashley. I think it’s kind of cool. I think it’s a new, younger generation of drivers out on the NHRA (Full Throttle Series) circuit and we’re all getting our chance and our opportunity in these cars. There’s so many drivers out there, the veteran drivers that are going to be beating up on all of us, but they’re also the ones we’ve always looked up to, like my dad. There’s just so many drivers that are still in the game and they’re going to be hard to beat. But it’s kind of cool having a younger generation out there and I think it’ll be a pretty neat season to watch.”

 

JOHN FORCE: “What excites me is when I see other drivers, and not just the Ford drivers, Wilkerson talking to Courtney about the racetrack, driving at night, Bobby (Tasca III) out on the starting line every time she ran down in Florida, in West Palm Beach. Because they care, but other drivers coming around -- Ron Capps, Jack Beckman, all these drivers there to help. Beckman came over and said ‘tell Courtney I’ll be right there with her when we’re staging’ because she’s learning all these things. It’s a whole new game. But she’s holding her own. She did great in Super Comp and even winning in A Fuel dragster in Seattle. So only time will tell. She has a lot to learn. She has a new sponsor with Traxxas and all the other sponsors will be on her hot rod. It’s a pretty exciting time. We know that between John Medlen and the Ford engineers and Ron Armstrong, and others that may join this team, we’re still in negotiations, that I know my daughter Courtney will be safe in the Fuel Funny Cars and my daughter in that dragster, because we’ve got people who really care.”

 

CAPTAIN THUNDER RACING.COM: “John, they’re grown girls. They’re grown-ups, they’re race car drivers, but I’ve got to imagine they’re still daddy’s little girl. How do you stop yourself from going Richard Childress-on-Kyle Busch in the garage area when they’re your daughters like that?”

 

JOHN FORCE: “You mean if another driver picked on them? Well, because first of all, there’s an old expression that your children, you have to be strong with them. You have to teach them, and you can kill them with kindness. If you let them get away, it’s like your kids wanting to run into the street. You’ve got to get them in there and talk to them and educate them and get them right. Make them stand in the corner if you have to. So I have that side as a parent, because I want to keep them safe and I want them to learn, but yet I have the side of being a boss, and if they’re not out there at the ropes like Robert and Mike Neff and myself, or they’re not doing their job being there on time in the morning, that is the stuff I’ve really been teaching them in the last five years, from A-Fuel. Hell, they didn’t even know how to get on an airplane five or six years ago. It took years for them to find the NHRA circuit and to read what the life is really about. Not just driving the race car on race day. I say five years ago -- 10 years ago when I started teaching them this business, when they came out of high school. But they traveled with us for years. I’ll be tough with them. I want them to be respectful to the other drivers. Courtney always is, as was Ashley, and I want them to race fair up on that starting line, and if you win, be humble, and if you lose, always tell the other guy good job. Keep your nose clean, because we are a family in racing. And what you learn is when you see that other guy on fire, you’re standing there praying for him, even knowing he could take you out in the points. Because we all have families. We don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”

 

JIM PELTZ, LOS ANGELES TIMES: “John, what’s the main piece of advice you’ve given Courtney about the attention with the public, with the media, with handling that whole aspect of it?”

 

JOHN FORCE: “I’ve told her don’t take this job for the money. The fame will follow if you do your job, but do it…for the paycheck you get, and we haven’t even negotiated that – I was lucky I got a sponsor with Traxxas – but it’s not about a paycheck. I’ve told her priority is you’ve gotta love your team. You gotta love the fans. They’re your lifeline. Without them you’re nothing. You’ve gotta love the media like they’re your best friends. Always show them the respect. I said at the end of the day, you’ve gotta love your job. Because even if you’re making money like the top guys that are out here on the circuit, if you don’t love what you’re doing it’s a lot of work. Because you live it, seven days a week. Maybe some of the guys get the chance for golfing or vacation, but at John Force Racing everybody’s got three jobs. If you’re a driver, you also work in the shop. You do media. Everybody has multiple jobs to keep us busy. We don’t have much downtime. But that sharpens your skills. That’s why I loved it when they had open testing. Boy, the drivers were always ready to go. It ain’t like they set out for two or three weeks. But Courtney’s really evolved well. She listens to Robert and Mike Neff, she listens to me, but mainly with Ashley. Ashley’s shown her all the ups and downs, the goods and the bads. But at the end of the day, if you don’t give the media a good story and you don’t be honest and you don’t be excited, they’re not going to write about you. And if they don’t write about you, you’re dead. And if the fans don’t cheer you, you’re dead. The sponsors won’t pay. They want a driver that wins, but they want a driver that is the whole package. I think Courtney’s got so much to learn, but I think she’s got a great shot at this.”

 

TERRY BLOUNT, ESPN.COM: “John, are you committed to going to a Top Fuel dragster with Brittany? Is that still up in the air? How serious are you about eventually adding a dragster to the program, and probably with Brittany?”

 

JOHN FORCE: “Well, the budget’s really tight. I was lucky to get the Traxxas program. I’ve got my Road Show out there and, of course, the TV show with Ashley. The money’s gotten thin. The gravy’s gone. Endorsements that we used to make… a lot of that has changed in this economy. That’s why to bring some new life in here with Traxxas, the biggest name in radio-controlled cars, I played with them and they’re not only a collector piece, but they’re fun for a family to spend an afternoon playing with these cars and racing them. Now the drag cars are going to be cool. I look at a number of things, because Ashley, you know, hasn’t said she’s coming back, but it’s clear to me that within a year to two, she’ll be back in the seat. Now, you gotta look at what racing allows. We’re only allowed four Funny Cars. And now we’ve got Bobby Tasca III with his own team and Wilkerson, that’s six Fords. So what I want to say, what my game plan is in the future, is probably not to stay with four Funny Cars. What I’ll do is pick up a dragster, that’s why I’m moving ahead with the dragster. Because we get too many of us running into each other and winning is why we came, so if I was, in a perfect world, and I’ve talked this over with Robert and the braintrust, that I would drop a Funny Car team in the future and I would bring in two dragsters. That’s why we started the process with the dragster. That way you’d have three Funny Cars and two dragsters, because they need to be able to share technology. That’s why you need an extra dragster, and the Funny Cars, with three of them we’ve got plenty. So, yes, it is about money, and it’s about Brittany, where she wants to go in the future. She really wanted another year or two in A Fuel, to sharpen her skills and try to run for a championship, but we just didn’t have the budget. So what we did was we put her in part of the safety program, to where some of the money that could go to the development of safety, through our sponsors headed by Ford, that we would enable to test it through her car while she sharpens her driving skills, so to speak. And that was the direction for the dragster, and that’s why Dickie Venables was brought into the loop to lead that dragster charge, but also so he could help the other Funny Cars if we had a man down or a man sick. My car struggled last year, but that’s because Dean Antonelli and Ron Douglas had to focus on Courtney. It used to be if John Force got beat, we immediately went into what we’re doing the next week. What was our game plan? What was testing? Well, they had to go over and run Courtney’s car and it really hurt us. It took us the wrong direction while Mike Neff and Jimmy Prock and Robert were killing them out there, or at least until the Countdown. So I got a team for her. It’s got a skeleton crew, and we’ve even got guys on the Road Show, when they’re not working, they’ll be out working on the (Top Fuel) dragster and its test sessions. But we’ll show the dragster at all the NHRA national events carrying the Brand Source logos and on top of that, with Brittany out there at every race signing autographs, to go to the same process as Courtney in the Funny Car. If we can find a sponsor definitely, but Traxxas give us hope in this economy that NHRA is a great place to race and a great place to invest your money, and I’m already gone into savings again to make a lot of this happen, but you’ve got to spend money to make money and that’s what we’re doing.”

 

KAY PRESTO: “This is for Courtney. Courtney, I know this is new for you in the Funny Cars, you’ve done very well in your other careers in drag racing. Who has done the most coaching to you? Has it been Ashley, or dad, Robert, Mike or who?”

 

COURTNEY FORCE: “Everyone’s really put their two cents in pretty evenly. Dad probably has been the largest part of this because he’s been there really through every step of the way, has guided me through the transition into the Funny Car, but he was there when he was just towing me around the parking lot at the shop in a chassis, a Funny Car chassis. He’s the one who’s taken a lot of time with me. He’s been very patient with me and gone through this process very slow to make sure that I am ready to go into the pro ranks. It’s been a long process, but he’s given me a lot of advice. Ashley’s also been there to help me with that transition from a dragster to a Funny Car. It’s been pretty nice having all four of our drivers help me through this process, but I’d definitely say dad has had a very large part in that.”

 

KAY PRESTO: “How difficult a transition has it been, if so, from your last racing to the Funny Car? What are the changes and what have you experienced that has been the most difficult and the easiest?”

 

COURTNEY FORCE: “The biggest difference for me going from a dragster to a Funny Car is learning how to steer this car. Dad calls it manhandling the car. I think that was my biggest change, trying to adjust from that. But you know, being in a Ford Mustang is something that I love being in and am comfortable in and I feel safe. I just think steering down the track, getting to the other end and getting the feel for what the motor’s doing, and knowing when something’s wrong and when to shut down and when to make changes to it. Just learning in the seat of the car -- every time I make a lap I’m learning something new, and I think that’s probably the biggest thing I can do in order to be a better driver.”

 

KAY PRESTO: “How much more comfortable are you now that you’ve done the testing?”

 

COURTNEY FORCE: “I’m much more comfortable with it now. Obviously last season we were driving the Funny Car with a restrictor plate on it. I couldn’t have as much power as I would’ve liked to with the BOSS 500 motor, but it’s definitely taught me a lot, just having seat time, learning with new things. In West Palm Beach, we struggled a little bit. We have a new chassis; a new car. We had our Traxxas test body on that weekend as well. But we definitely learned some new things. We have a whole new team on board, as well as Ron Douglas and Scott Wible tuning my car. It took a couple days but that’s what test and tune is all about. It definitely went well. We had a lot of testing days there, but I think by the end of testing we definitely got our stuff together and I think we got our car figured out and ready for Pomona. I’m very excited and very excited that Jamie’s welcomed me to the One Ford family.”

 

BOB TASCA III, DRIVER OF THE MOTORCRAFT/QUICK LANE FORD SHELBY MUSTANG FUNNY CAR: TELL US ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE HAD GOING ON THE LAST TWO MONTHS, FROM CHECKING OUT THE NEW SHELBY BODIES TO VISITING FORD MOTOR COMPANY IN DEARBORN.

 

TASCA: “It’s been a busy off-season. We tested in December in Palm Beach. That was real important to me because I wasn’t happy with how our car ran throughout the year. We started to run better toward the end. Went to Palm Beach, had a tremendous test session. Definitely gave us a lot of confidence going into the season and getting ready for the January test session, with that 4.05 run at 313. Then from there, went to the (North American International Auto Show) in Detroit. That’s the show I love to go to. It was the debut of the all-new Ford Fusion, which has been a project we’ve worked on the product committee that I’m involved with for Ford for the last four or five years. To see that car unveiled at the Auto Show was a thrill and it was very, very well received. The new MKZ, the concept was released at the Auto Show, and from there went right down to Palm Beach to spend another week. We had Christmas in between, but I can tell you one thing, the boys at Tasca Racing haven’t had too much of an off-season.”

 

QUESTION FOR TIM WILKERSON. TIM, YOU BATTLED THROUGH THE PRO WINTER WARM-UP EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE SICK. HOW DO YOU STAY MENTALLY TOUGH IN A LONG SEASON?

 

WILKERSON: “It’s kind of like what Bob said. It doesn’t seem like there’s much of an off-season anymore, but we’re just trying to get our new car working. We actually went back to a three-rail car that John and Ford initially built back a few years ago after Eric’s accident, and we’re excited to have that car back underneath of us. I think it’s going to make a difference for us this year.”

 

NHRA’S FOCUS THIS YEAR IS ON NITRO GENERATION. FAMILIES WHO PASS ON THE LOVE OF NHRA DRAG RACING FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. WHAT DOES NITRO GENERATION MEAN TO YOU?

 

TASCA: “To me, it’s the reason why I’m here. I remember growing up as a kid, listening to the stories of what my grandfather did back in the 60s, and I was always fascinated by them. He had got out of racing before I was even born, so it took a few years for the whole circle to come all the way around, but I remembered seeing pictures and the stories and being around Bob Glidden and John Force, people who really inspired me to get behind the wheel to see if I could drive one of these cars, and then to be able to put a sponsorship together with Motorcraft and Quick Lane and Ford, brands I grew up with as a kid. I remember walking through the parts department (of the family Tasca Ford dealership), asking my dad why some boxes were blue and some were red, and got the whole story about Motorcraft. So it’s a dream come true for me, and certainly a privilege to be out there representing Ford, Motorcraft and Quick Lane to all their dealers and distributors and most importantly, fans.”

 

TIM, SAME QUESTION FOR YOU.

 

WILKERSON: “You know, really I’m in a little bit of John’s shoes. We’re trying to pass the torch to my young son Daniel, and he’s made a couple of races a year for the last couple three years and hopefully that’ll happen to us in the next year or two. It just depends on how things go for us sponsor-wise, of course. But it’s very exciting to see the young kids on board. I saw a lot of him in Courtney last week watching them test, and just the fire in her eye. It’s always good to have new blood in the sport. I’m excited to see her out there. Every day Daniel would call and that’s all he asked me about. He never asked me how I did; he asked me how Courtney did. I thought that was kind of neat, too.”

 

TIM, TELL US ABOUT WHEN DAN FIRST EXPRESSED HIS INTEREST IN DRIVING A FUNNY CAR. DESCRIBE HIM AS A DRIVER.

 

WILKERSON: “For years, Daniel’s been going with me like Bob talked about. When he was growing up, we were driving around the countryside racing an Alcohol Funny Car for many years when he was a real little kid, and when we started racing, our budgets were basically local stuff. When we got to run in the alcohol cars, we’d make a little bit bigger circuit around the Central United States here. He got to noticing that. I thought that was kind of cute. ‘Boy, now we’re going different places and we’re racing louder cars. Like Bob said, it was really a kind of neat transition to watch him go through. When he decided he wanted to race cars, he started out in the junior dragster league and raced them for three or four years. Then we started with a Super Comp car, and he raced that two or three years. Then when he was 18, we got an alcohol car. For a couple years he actually ran an Alcohol Funny Car and pretty much done it on his own. That really worked out well to transition him into a Nitro Funny Car. He’s just one of those kids that everything he’s ever driven, he’s done a really good job at it. I think if he was a taxi driver he’d never have an accident – one of them good kids. He really does a good job and it’s always exciting to see him out there. He kept me in the playoffs last year, that’s for sure. If he wouldn’t have went to Indy and beat Johnny Gray in the first round, I probably wouldn’t have been in the top 10.”

 

TASCA: “He helped me too, Tim!”

 

WILKERSON: “See, that’s what I mean. That was a good thing we did, when we took him to Indy, wasn’t it Bob?”

 

TASCA: “I can just tell you from being a new driver compared to all the experience Tim has, I think Tim and John, they almost take for granted they can almost drive these cars with their eyes closed, but to see Daniel jump in a Fuel Funny Car…and let me tell you something, these aren’t easy cars to drive, OK. If everything goes perfect, you can probably have someone out of the stands drive. But those are few and far between. To see Daniel jump in that car with virtually no seat time compared to everyone else out there, and to perform the way he does every time he gets in one of those Fuel Funny Cars, it says a lot about his ability as a driver.”

 

WILKERSON: “Thanks Bob. It’s nice of you to say that. I’m always proud of him. I didn’t realize at Indy there, we’re looking at a qualifying sheet, and I said ‘boy, look at that, Daniel, you’re the fastest Ford on the qualifying sheet!’ That made me pretty proud that year, I can tell you that.”

 

BOB, YOU HAVE FOUR SONS AND BOB IV IS IN A JUNIOR DRAGSTER. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WATCH YOUR SONS HAVE THAT SAME INTEREST IN DRAG RACING?

 

TASCA: “It’s awesome. He’s always asking about it. Now his younger brother Austin, last night he asked me ‘Dad, I’m going to be seven this year, so I’ve got to call Uncle Roy (Hill, who owns a drag racing school) and get the junior dragster lined up.’ It’s great to see the tradition continue. I’m not pushing them in that direction. He has a lot of years ahead of him in school and hockey and all the other things he’s got to go through and if the good Lord wants him to go down that road, I told both of them, I said ‘You both better be crew chiefs. The pay is a whole lot better and there’s no risks. Or limited risk involved. Who knows where they’ll go, but I know they love the sport of drag racing. They love being out on the road with the family when we do the summer trips. I think that’s a huge part of what’s the best about NHRA Drag Racing, and that’s the family and the generations of the sport.”

 

DWIGHT DRUM: “Obviously you have season goals and probably, I’m wondering if they do change during the season, and if there’s any best way to handle goals on your teams.”

 

TASCA: “I can answer that. I’ve told people many times -- the only reason why I’m out there is to win a championship. Period. If I didn’t believe I could win a championship, I’d hang up my firesuit and go back to the dealership and sell some Fords and some parts. That’s our goal. Obviously to achieve that goal, you have to do a whole lot of things. Blocking and tackling. Qualifying for races. Our immediate goal is to qualify for Pomona and then go on down the road. But from an attitude standpoint, just to get everyone thinking in the right direction, it’s about winning a championship. John emphasized that. He’s built a program … it’s just incredible what he’s done over the last 20 years. We’re out here trying to do the same thing and I believe going into my fifth season, with my experience and my core team staying together and a lot of the stuff we’ve done through testing, this will be my best shot at a championship since I started racing.”

 

WILKERSON: “I have to agree with Bob. We don’t go out there to get beat. There’s no doubt about it. After having my best year ever in ’08, we finished second, then ’09 we finished fourth, and in the last two years we’ve been 10th. That’s not what we go out to do. We go out there to make all of our sponsors proud and I think finishing in the top 10 is a good goal to have in the beginning of the year, but it’s really not why we go. We had a big team meeting over the winter about that. The guys were, if you can imagine a group of guys that were, and I’m being realistic, we’re pretty much the underdog when we’re out there, but my guys almost won the championship there in ’08 and they’re really disgruntled about being 10th. Which is really good for me and bad for everybody else. That’s going to be a good thing. At the end of the day, we’re dedicated to going more rounds, being more consistent, having a better car than we’ve had in the last couple years. We’ve done a lot of testing, trying a lot of stuff. Some worked, some didn’t, got me off-kilter a few races in a row. But I’m thinking we’re going to be a bigger pain in their sides than we have been in the last couple of years.”