Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kenny Conversation | 3-Time World Funny Car Champion Ron Capps | Episode #22

Transcript

Kenny Conversation | 3-Time World Funny Car Champion Ron Capps | Episode #22 · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello everyone and welcome back to Kenny Conversation, brought
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to you by Jags Where's that die cast, the leader in high
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performance aftermarket car parts.
0:11
Remember to go to jags.com and they're telling me to tell you
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truck parts, Jeep parts, anything you need.
0:19
I say this all the time, how lucky we are here on Kenny
0:22
Conversation to have the greats. And I have friends, but there's
0:28
a handful that are closer. And this next gentleman, my dear
0:32
friend Ron Caps. Ron, welcome to Kenny
0:35
Conversation. You got friends in low places,
0:38
Kenny? No, I don't.
0:40
You're awesome. Where are you at, buddy?
0:44
That's beautiful in the background there.
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This is, this is our home and it's beautiful because, well,
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first of all, my wife, we never had any racing stuff.
0:53
I I know you've gone through this.
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So for years, no racist stuff was allowed in the good part of
0:57
the house, right? Which was great, and I'm glad.
1:00
Otherwise it'd be like, it'd be like behind you, I'd have all my
1:03
knickknack teenager stuff. But once we won the first
1:07
championship, mellow yellow right there.
1:10
I love it. 2016 it was allowed into the front the family room.
1:15
It was like furniture. Yes.
1:18
Then we won the second one, which is Camping World, and it
1:21
was allowed in the family room. So now they now I sit and watch
1:24
my flow racing or my dirt racing and watch you and I watch the TV
1:29
and there's the two trophies and it just reminds me, so I I it.
1:33
I've moved up in the world where my racist stuff has made it into
1:36
the family room. Now, you know, there there's so
1:38
much to be said about that, you know, Kenny conversation.
1:41
I always remind everybody it's just that.
1:43
But I went into the Great Dick Trickle, you know, one of the
1:47
greatest racers of all time, circle track racer.
1:51
But I went into his house and there was nothing in there.
1:53
Just couldn't tell he was a race car driver.
1:56
And I learned at an early age that sometimes we keep racing
2:00
out of our house because there's an old saying that competition
2:04
will kill you, just eat your brain up.
2:07
But when you've done what you've done three time champion, those
2:13
those are nice pieces of furniture they can, they can
2:16
double this furniture. I agree.
2:18
Yeah. Well, listen, let.
2:20
Let's get right at it. I've kind of been doing
2:24
something here lately with some of the great ones like you.
2:27
And then I want you to respond. So listen to this Ron Capps,
2:34
driver and owner of the Napa auto Parts Toyota Supra.
2:37
But here here's what I want you to listen to close three time
2:42
NHRA Funny Car champion as of right now and help me 76 wins,
2:51
76 wins. You have drove for the greatest
2:56
and a lifetime of memories and drag racing it it it takes a
3:00
while to get to 76 wins and knock out three championships
3:05
and and not very many people can do it.
3:07
Ron, when I say that, what goes through your mind?
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It's weird here, and you say it. It still is.
3:16
Yeah, it's weird to you. The 70.
3:20
I forget what when it was when I tied my hero, the legendary Don
3:23
Purdon, who I got to work for. And it's weird because those
3:26
numbers were lower because back in the day.
3:29
And again, you can relate to this because things were
3:32
different back then. There was a lot of match racing,
3:35
that's what. That's what made the Snake in
3:36
the Mongoose and Raymond Beadle the Blue Max and all these, you
3:40
know, Shirley and Big Daddy when when they were at their height,
3:46
you know it was match racing. You could go see a drag race,
3:48
see the snake in the Mongoose, literally.
3:51
I got 2 bumps right now. I'm about ready to cry because
3:53
those are my days. Tuesday night or Wednesday night
3:56
you can see them at some small track in the middle of America
3:58
and. So the national event, NHRA,
4:02
national event numbers weren't always huge for some of our
4:05
heroes and drag racing for sure. And I'm sure it's that way in in
4:08
NASCAR as well. A lot of small tracks where they
4:11
weren't necessarily a NASCAR win, so there were a.
4:15
Lot more wins than and trophies probably.
4:18
Dick Trickle probably had 10 times most of the 200 wins, but
4:22
they ran 100 * a year, so hard to compare.
4:25
And they ran a dirt tracks. Yeah.
4:28
Yeah, so yeah, 76, when I hear you say all that is, it's
4:32
strange to me. It still is strange that the
4:34
championships I fought and I was runner up to probably I was the
4:39
Cinderella story, literally the media.
4:41
I mean, until I won finally 2016, I was more known for not
4:46
winning and coming down the wire and coming this close to
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probably four or five in my career that let down the last
4:52
day at Pomona where we had a shot of winning and didn't.
4:55
So those came quick all of a sudden.
4:58
You know, with the 2016 and then all of a sudden boom, we want
5:01
another one at 21 and then last year won it again, which was my
5:04
first year as an owner. So yeah, when you say those
5:07
words, it's still weird to think I got to do it for a living for
5:10
this many years, 28 or 29 years. And I still sounds like you're
5:15
introducing somebody way cooler than I am.
5:17
When you say all that, I'm thinking about the We lost a
5:21
great one. The country music singer Kenny
5:23
Rogers. They said he was a Kenny Rogers
5:25
was a 40 year old overnight sensation.
5:29
So you're 58 years old right now.
5:31
So you're you're telling me you you're a 50 year old overnight
5:34
sensation? And and I've said that to people
5:37
before. Yeah, literally.
5:40
I grew up on the sport. And again, a lot like you.
5:42
I I've read about you and heard you talk.
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My dad race on weekends. He's a drag racer in central
5:47
California. Small track.
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And I always worked on them, but I knew I wasn't going to have
5:51
millions or a sponsor or a lot of backing to take to get a ride
5:55
like we see in the world today. So I just, I knew I if I ever
5:59
got a chance, if one person gave me a shot, I'd get my license in
6:02
a dragster. I better know what's going on in
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the car and mechanically. So all those years of being a
6:07
crew guy and working on him and helping set him up, it worked.
6:10
When I got my chance to get a license, I did really well
6:13
because I felt like I'd been in the car.
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And also I think when I got to work for like Don Purdome that
6:18
first year driving the Copenhagen car, I went from just
6:22
being a A guy wanting to to do it for free, to be in in this
6:26
Rockstar world of the biggest sponsors in the world driving
6:28
for the biggest name. But all those years of working
6:31
on it taught me when to shut the car off when I thought something
6:34
was wrong, which wasn't always but most of the time.
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And I saved a lot of parts, a lot of money and more
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importantly, a lot of work for the crew guys.
6:42
Because I was one. I didn't want to bring back a
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hunk of junk blowing up to the crew guys to have to work all
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night and then me grab the rental car keys and go, all
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right, I'll see you guys in the morning.
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I'm off to a dinner so I I think that really helped my career.
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Later on as a driver man you're just you're just hitting me with
6:57
all these notes. I mean I I I worked hard on you
7:00
and you you just you just went bam, bam, bam, bam.
7:03
And and these are things I want to talk about but I'm going to
7:06
call an audible when you when you think and we're going to get
7:11
to the US Nationals in just a minute.
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We haven't even started the Kenny conversation yet but we
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haven't. It's crazy that's how good you
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are. You're loaded with you're a
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great speaker and that's why you have a great sponsor like Napa.
7:25
But I want to call an audible here you you mentioned it
7:30
earlier Snake versus Mongoose Match Racing.
7:34
Shirley cha cha no Downey. I mean, I really, I mean I I
7:39
got, I really got goosebumps. I mean it very emotional for me
7:43
and I know people were crying in line when they come to get the
7:47
snakes autograph up there at Indy Don.
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I guess my question is like anything in life were those were
7:55
those magical days in drag racing?
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Will we ever see anything like that again?
8:01
No, it's awesome. It was awesome.
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In a lot of different sports and arenas in the world.
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But for drag racing, Oh my gosh, you know, I played with those
8:12
Hot Wheels. I built those little models And
8:15
then as I Fast forward and obviously getting to drive for
8:17
the snake but getting to hang out with a guy like waterbed
8:20
friends and meet Raymond Beadle and Big Daddy.
8:25
Don Garlic's going to get up and speak in an event with him and
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just crazy stuff for me as a kid where most of when I was growing
8:32
up, I mean, you know, all of my friends wanted to be astronauts
8:34
and. Firefighters and all the cool
8:36
stuff, man, are you're staying on Earth.
8:41
True. You wanted to be done.
8:44
For Dom. We're Tom McHugh and the
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Mongoose, you know that. That was why I wanted to do so
8:48
think. You know, I I always said I was
8:51
born 2530 years too late because I felt like if I could travel
8:55
the country with a ramp truck, right and have a sponsor and
8:59
race every night of the week or just about.
9:01
And go town to town and just pack up and show up.
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Unload the car and put on a show and have fans pack them in on a
9:07
Wednesday or Thursday night and drag race for a living and make
9:11
a living doing it. I thought, how could it get any
9:13
better? I mean it.
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There's there's just no way. So a lot of.
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I think a lot of reasons back then was way cooler.
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And we don't have the nicknames. We don't have the cars with the
9:21
old school nicknames. It's all sponsors and stuff on
9:25
them, but for. I think you and I and people our
9:29
age grew up in such a perfect time in the world.
9:33
We came right at the right time in cars in general and just cool
9:36
cars and muscle cars and racing and never going to be the same
9:39
going that way. And I think, you know, we just
9:42
perfect timing. You bring a I don't.
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I don't know if this is a conversation, but what was it
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about those days? It wasn't Don Garlics.
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It was Big Daddy. You know it wasn't Don for Dome.
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It was the snake. You know it wasn't.
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Surely it was cha cha man. We just.
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That was the thing back then. And it made it.
10:02
Made for a lot of fun, didn't it?
10:04
Yeah, yeah, great, great childhood.
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I mean, yeah, great. Just a great childhood for me.
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I mean, you know, it was everything in the world to get a
10:13
new model that came out or a new hot wheel set, you know, and set
10:18
that thing up and have the parachutes pop out and just it
10:21
was just a great. And then they go to the track
10:23
and actually meet. It's making the Mongoose or or
10:26
braman beetle or Big Daddy Dawn garlic set.
10:29
That's that was what made it cool, I think, All right, let's
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let's get to it now. And the reason for everybody out
10:35
there that is just joining Kenny conversation.
10:38
The reason we're looking back is because the man you're looking
10:41
at right now, Ron Capps, just won the US Nationals and it was
10:45
completely badass because it was unbelievable.
10:48
It was very emotional. Course, Ron, you had the Hot
10:51
Wheels car and then you took the chance to to bring the snake in.
10:56
You brought him in and you had the pressure of him staring at
11:00
you and and and you're like, yeah, there he is, man, and and
11:05
you do it. You win it all.
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You win the US Nationals. Just capsulate that that week
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for me. It was a few months of breaking
11:16
down, sometimes thinking it's not going to happen.
11:18
I mean nowadays to do something like that is so many attorneys
11:22
and so many things you got to. Jump through to get it to
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happen. We did what what the Hot Wheels
11:27
people told me because I was on them all the time and I was
11:30
dealing with all these people with the word global in their
11:32
title and their e-mail. And it it was, they said I did
11:39
about a year and a half's worth worth of work in about 3 1/2
11:42
months. Putting that deal together,
11:43
because it was an idea that I had a rendering done and it was
11:46
just craziness and then I had to get the okay from the snake
11:49
right? And.
11:52
We the guy that did our rendering probably made it
11:55
happen more so because the rendering was so cool.
11:58
We put it on what is our car now is a Toyota Super Funny Car.
12:02
But the way that he did this Hot Wheels car, the same car that
12:05
you and I played with his kids and put that paint scheme on our
12:09
car, it looked like it was a hot wheel from when we grew up and
12:13
it had the modern day look. But when I sent the text to
12:17
Snake, I was in a parking lot in Ohio on a Monday after a race.
12:20
And I he was sitting and having coffee in bed.
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I woke him up and it I said, I'm going to send you a text.
12:25
I just want you to think about it.
12:27
And he was just quiet. And he just kept saying the F
12:30
word. He's like, he's like Jesus.
12:36
He goes, are you serious? And I go, I'm going to try to
12:39
pull it off. I just need to know if it's okay
12:41
with you. So, you know, snake, it was
12:43
first it was an idea to do a surprise for him and that ain't
12:46
going to happen. He I work for him and you know
12:48
him. Full and surprise off on him is
12:50
probably not the best idea, but crazy.
12:54
And then just working hard to get it done and then to have him
12:57
show up. And then to, you know, tell me
12:59
that. Don't make this trip worth a
13:01
waste to for me to come out here.
13:03
If you're going to suck, ask when he's your hero.
13:07
We love you, Snake. We love you.
13:10
He just got more and more excited and he was asking me
13:12
daily, how are things going, how are things going?
13:14
And you know, it was a slow process and I can tell you.
13:18
Probably with exception of a few days and we've been a few weeks
13:21
out now since we won that race. I've either heard from him text
13:24
wise or a phone call that he is still on Cloud 9 from that that
13:28
day or that weekend and that win.
13:30
Just to hear him say that and the emotions that he had.
13:34
We went to the victory dinner that night and it was just cool
13:37
to see him and you've gotten to hang out with him a lot here
13:39
lately. You know you guys go to Sturgis
13:41
and you hang out a bit. He's a different person.
13:43
He was when I drove, definitely different person when he drove
13:46
because I had. Beetle and Waterbed and all
13:48
those guys tell me how much of a Dick he was back then.
13:52
I mean hardcore hated. Yeah, you didn't want to drive
13:56
for this guy back then and you definitely didn't want to work
13:59
for him unless you expected to be the best and and and I saw a
14:02
little bit of it, but he had mellowed a lot when I went to
14:05
work for him so I understood that passion for winning and why
14:08
he is the snake. So it it was cool to see him
14:11
more relaxed and kind of just enjoying the weekend.
14:14
Man, you you just said so much right there.
14:16
I feel like this is a therapy session for me now because
14:20
because listen you know, I'm this isn't even a question.
14:23
This is a conversation. You know my my brother Rusty, he
14:27
was mean. And I love my brother and I I
14:30
love Mike and I love my dad and mom.
14:31
I love you know. But just you know I learned that
14:36
Rusty was in like you mentioned earlier about you and me.
14:39
I'm getting ready to go up and work on my dirt car here in a
14:41
minute. You and I do it all.
14:44
So with Rusty, if you wanted to win, you just did what the hell
14:48
he told you to do. And when people would get in
14:52
Rusty's way, and I think this is what you're explaining about
14:55
Don, is that they knew what they needed to be done.
14:58
And if you if you got in their way, they just didn't have time
15:01
for you, right? Yeah.
15:04
And it's funny because I'm a little more politically correct
15:06
and I'm I'm, I'm the New Times. Worried about hurting people's
15:10
feelings at times, right? You're my brother.
15:15
Yeah, it was a different era, but there's a reason those guys,
15:19
Rusty and I and I got to hang at that time working for Snake
15:21
because the Miller deal and got to go to a lot of races and
15:24
watch Rusty in his prime, I mean Bristol on a Saturday night.
15:30
You know, sponsored by Miller, you you got to sit right there
15:32
in the pit or be in the pit. So I got to see him listen on
15:35
the radio, the intensity. He was so much time for no man.
15:38
I think that's why they get along so well, him and walk for
15:42
Evans. They're all mean.
15:43
Yeah, Walk. OK.
15:52
I'm going to ask you to do something that I don't know how
15:54
much you can do, but you know Jags has always been a part of
15:58
me for 17 years and I did a small little hole shot years ago
16:04
in the Prostock car. So here you are at the US
16:08
Nationals and what I'm going to ask you is it's something that's
16:12
normal to you, but assume we have some new fans on here.
16:15
So when does this process of you getting in the car?
16:20
To me, it's so claustrophobic way more than our cars and you
16:26
get it. I mean, I feel that way.
16:29
What goes on? And and I don't be long winded
16:32
here, but I mean you get the uniform on.
16:34
Not the uniform, but you get in the car right before staging.
16:37
You're rolling up there now. We got mind games, the lights.
16:41
Walk me through that process for the US Nationals.
16:44
What? What does Ron Caps, what are
16:47
your idiosyncrasies? What do you go through and just
16:50
get me to the light? Yeah, you know.
16:54
You say claw. It's funny because Tony Stewart
16:56
finally got in a Funny Car here recently and and he just kept
16:58
fighting me. I said, dude, you're a Funny Car
17:00
guy. Look at you.
17:01
You're not a dragster guy. And I ripped the awards when I
17:04
won the championship. I ripped him in front of the
17:06
whole crowd for him to get in a Funny Car.
17:08
And then he was, he was joking with me, but he was mad that I
17:11
made him go do it. So he jumped in a Funny Car here
17:13
recently. And I'm like.
17:15
This is a guy that's driven like you midgets and Sprint cars and
17:18
wing Sprint cars. If you ever sat in an outlaw
17:20
car, it's just as claustrophobic.
17:22
I mean, you got the the wing over you and you're down in
17:24
there and you're hauling ass into these corners wide open.
17:27
It's just different, right? You would love it.
17:29
And it's not that much claustrophobic.
17:32
Or maybe it is actually, the more I think about it, Maybe.
17:36
Yeah, but. Our cars are so much different
17:39
in the fact that we're center steer.
17:42
So you're sitting in the middle of this chassis.
17:43
I've got a little butterfly steering wheel.
17:46
It takes 2 guys to buckle me in. And so when I raised SRX
17:49
recently, or the Prelude of the Dream or these Sprint cars, I go
17:53
jump in. It's funny because I'm always, I
17:57
get in, I go like this and you know what?
17:59
I'm and they're looking at me like they're I'm waiting for
18:01
somebody to buckle me in. And I forget, you know, you do
18:04
it all yourself. So in in the Funny Car you get
18:07
in and and we have 15 total straps.
18:10
So we've got arm restraints, leg restraints, head from the back
18:14
to keep our head from going forward.
18:15
It's -9 G's when a parachutes hit and then I have these 4
18:19
straps in front because it's +5 1/2 six G's on a run.
18:23
So you have all those straps, you got to be hooked up.
18:25
So once you do the burnout and you back up, you got to remember
18:29
that we have a handbrake, we don't have a foot break, we've
18:32
got a clutch. That's a centrifugal clutch,
18:34
much like a mini bike like when you and I were a kid would, it
18:37
would sit at idle, you give it gas and it takes off.
18:39
You don't need to use a clutch, right?
18:41
RPM comes up, it starts to move. That's what the clutch is
18:44
basically are like in a Top Fuel or Funny Car.
18:47
So when you're a fan and you're watching the drag races and
18:51
those two little top lights call prestage light, that's basically
18:54
once both cars get those done and you only go in and light
18:58
those two top ones. You don't want to light any more
19:00
than that or you're you're sort of.
19:03
You're not breaking a code, but you're just you're not supposed
19:05
to because those first two means you're about to be ready.
19:09
So once both cars have those two little prestays, lights, okay.
19:13
Now you flip your visor down, you turn your fresh air system
19:16
on, do whatever else you got to do.
19:18
In our case, you pull the fuel pump all the way on 1000 one
19:21
1002 and you let your foot off the clutch and that's when you
19:25
hear at the races, you hear the RPM drop a little bit and when
19:29
it happens. That centrifugal clutch is
19:31
slightly loaded and I'm holding the car with the brake.
19:34
I am, I am, I am like a cobra with my foot ready to snap the
19:38
throttle pedal and let go with the brake at the same exact time
19:42
when the Christmas tree comes down eventually.
19:44
So that's what we're doing in there and we are.
19:47
That's why we talking about John Forrest and him staging and
19:50
playing games and waiting, because once you let your foot
19:52
off the clutch, it starts building heat.
19:55
Now if you're in there and you're waiting and somebody's
19:58
taking a little bit longer. And pro stocks a little
20:01
different because you have a clutch and you got the thing on
20:03
a chip and you're bringing the RPM up.
20:05
So they pro stock has their own way of staging and again, people
20:11
start to play games that could mess with the tune up in the car
20:13
and get in somebody's head. So that's basically it.
20:16
Other than that we when we match the gas on these funny cars and
20:19
Top Fuel dragsters, we don't shift.
20:21
A lot of people think that we make all these different shifts.
20:23
They're they're preset adjustments that the crew chief
20:26
sets on those clutch timers. So once I hit the gas there's a
20:30
button under the gas pedal it starts these timers and the crew
20:33
chief has to set him before the run and he's got a sort of
20:37
educated guess of what do you think the track will take.
20:39
And you match the gas and you hang on for dear life and you
20:43
just try to keep it straight and and it sounds easy.
20:46
And in the top field dragster it is easier.
20:48
They're they're longer they're more forgiving.
20:50
You in a dragster you steer it maybe this much at the most you
20:54
don't want to get an all teeter tottery right.
20:56
The Funny Car you hit the gas and it's this all the way down
21:01
and that's when a run looks straight from the outside.
21:03
If you're in the tower and you see a pretty straight run we're
21:05
still in there going like this because it is so evil.
21:08
Handling engines in front stiff chassis there's no suspension
21:13
there's no noodle Ness like a top fuel car it is the most And
21:18
I've gotten to drive some pretty cool cars.
21:20
Dirt cars, Sprint cars, midgets. It is the most.
21:25
Evil. Evil.
21:26
Just you do not know what the heck it's going to do.
21:29
For the hell out of me, I, you know, just I was too old to do
21:32
it. Yeah, you would love it.
21:35
I'd love to put you in someday and just have you do a burnout
21:37
and a launch. I think you would.
21:39
You would. You wouldn't stop talking.
21:41
You would love it. So you don't want to get into a
21:45
little bit. Did we just lose off the Great
21:48
Austin Coil? Was that still alive?
21:52
Still alive? Is he in trouble right now?
21:55
Who we lost was Walt Austin. Pat Austin.
21:59
OK. Yeah, really sorry to hear about
22:01
that. I'm thinking about tuners and
22:05
you talking about tuning your car.
22:10
I I mean, not not correct me. I mean I'm, I'm a big, big rat
22:14
drag racing fan. I love you guys.
22:17
I'm coming Sunday here to watch you race.
22:20
I know that, you know, in our type of racing, you know, we
22:23
don't want to spend the tires. And we want to, we want to
22:25
perfectly match our horsepower to the ground and that's going
22:28
to win. Same with you and I just kind of
22:31
said it in a dummy way how how hard And and I know I'm taking a
22:36
shortcut but how hard is that to do what you said you know tuning
22:44
everything before you make your run You know air temperature
22:47
track. Tell me all those idiosyncrasies
22:50
once again that go into matching that power to the ground.
22:53
It is nuts when you walk in our trailer I'll show you our crew
22:57
chiefs could literally be a better weather person on the
23:02
local news than any of them. They know more about what's
23:05
going on. The weather at the track.
23:07
He's got four or five that he's watching and it is crazy because
23:11
one little change and here's I tell fans all the time the real
23:14
gear heads because you know we check altitude of the near the
23:17
track, we check the airport and they they get a basic altitude.
23:20
Well, they're going to you're going to know what the
23:21
temperature is. You kind of see the forecast and
23:24
then we have all these weather stations.
23:25
But when you get to things like humidity, it's not just
23:27
humidity. They break it down to the pieces
23:30
of water per parts of air and that'll give them these water
23:34
grains and it'll actually break it down that minute because a
23:38
little small change in water grains, which is a fraction
23:42
number of humidity will change the tune up compression ratio
23:47
and things that they they do to these engines.
23:50
It is amazing to me how many things have to go right, one
23:55
little timer off a little bit on a fuel system to rich in a valve
23:58
where he may have added a little bit of clutch.
24:00
And when you add a little clutch it creates a little load on the
24:03
motor where you better add a little Nitro.
24:04
So I'm talking a tiny little twist of a knob and they've got
24:07
it looks like a nuclear plant in this timer box and so everything
24:11
has to be stove perfect. I'm telling you, it's crazy what
24:16
what has to go on for these cars to hook up and run 330 miles an
24:19
hour in 1000 feet. It it boggles me as a driver
24:24
when I step on the gas and it flashes the 5G's and then the
24:26
clutch comes in about a second and a half in the run and it
24:29
pins it up close to six G's and you're thinking how on earth are
24:34
these Goodyear staying stuck to the track and catapult to me
24:37
like I'm in a Star Wars movie. It just goes I mean it's it's
24:41
nuts and you it's just it's it, they are they're amazing.
24:46
These crew chiefs they they didn't all grow up with
24:49
mathematician brains. But what they've done and
24:52
figured it out has it the if you could say the worst guy out
24:56
there, then the 16th lowest crew chief and talent is still one of
25:01
the most amazing minds to be able to figure out how to get
25:03
these cars to go down there in my mind.
25:05
And that's. I asked.
25:07
I I had an ideal. These are all the things you
25:10
were going to say. And I think the.
25:12
I think the fans, I think the fans are you know it to me, it
25:16
it it is, it's science and it is absolutely insane.
25:20
So John force you, you finished second to him like you mentioned
25:28
this earlier about 20 minutes ago?
25:31
You finished second him and you know and they called Harry,
25:34
Harry, Gant and NASCAR run second a lot.
25:37
They call him the bridesmaid. You finished second to force
25:42
three times in the points, more than more than that three times
25:47
on the last day by very close margin.
25:51
Enough. It could have gone either way,
25:52
but many more times. Just second, you know, maybe as
25:56
close on the last day. But yeah, so.
25:59
Me and Bobby Lobani, we are really good friends and and I've
26:02
got over it. But he broke my heart outrunning
26:06
me for the championship back in 1991.
26:09
And I tell people I see see that that blink of mine as as Bobby
26:13
Lobani. But now we love each other.
26:15
Never did hate him, just man, we were competitors.
26:19
So what about you and force I mean.
26:23
You know, I know he's a legend. He's 75 years old, right?
26:27
And he's still kicking ass. When I say John Force and what
26:31
he put you through, and I mean this fun loving, right?
26:35
Give me your thoughts. I fans come up all the time and
26:38
they're like, I'm sorry about the hat, take a picture, you
26:40
know, they'll have John force everything.
26:43
And I'm like, I love John. John is one of the reasons I'm
26:46
where I'm at. He took me under when I was
26:48
driving top field dragsters my rookie year before Funny Car.
26:51
He took me under his wing at a small race in Spokane and taught
26:54
me how to leave on a really crappy crummy track and to to to
27:00
make sure we got down the track for the fans.
27:01
And I didn't know how to do that in a Nitro car.
27:04
And he taught me some cool stuff and later on he wanted to hire
27:07
me. Before Don Purdom hired me, he
27:09
was trying to hire me to be his second Funny Car team.
27:11
He. Knew you had talent.
27:13
He saw something in me and we and we got to hang out a lot and
27:17
I it it was I could write a book but there's a lot of stuff in
27:22
there I couldn't put in there. It was just a lot of fun
27:24
craziness you'd see in a Days of Thunder type movie, you know and
27:29
but to answer your question, I I am.
27:32
I tell fans all the time I am more than okay with being second
27:37
to John Forrest at anything. Bristol Dragway is the only
27:41
place that I've won. I don't know anybody's won more
27:44
races than John Forrest at. I think I've won.
27:46
We won there again this year. I just have this great luck and
27:49
John, I won one more race there and John Forrest, which you
27:51
can't. Say that.
27:53
Take that you. So I'm going to make a shirt up,
27:57
I think. But he will never be caught.
28:01
The amount of wins he has, he will never be topped.
28:05
He is a freak of nature in a lot of different, a lot of different
28:09
ways. He's still out there whooping
28:11
her ass right now. He still comes up to me every
28:13
Friday. He called me when I became
28:15
A-Team owner and I was middle of January, crying on a 10:00 PM,
28:20
you know, not wondering even how I'm going to pull this off.
28:24
He was calling and saying whatever you need, kid, You need
28:26
money. Do you need advice?
28:28
What can I do to help? And this is the guy that I
28:30
battle for, for my livelihood. He loves the sport.
28:32
He needs you in it and he he calls all the time.
28:35
I've got so many great voicemails saved on my phone.
28:38
He's just he's got the heart this big And so I I do not mind
28:43
being second to him at anything. I I it's again talking about you
28:47
and I grow up a certain time in the world.
28:49
I'm blessed and I'm going to be so happy to brag on how I got
28:53
the race with the legendary John Force.
28:55
Boy, I mean to tell you now, I, John and I did an autograph
28:59
session, I think King of Prussia.
29:01
Miller Motorsports and we drove to the airport together in a
29:05
rental car and and I became so happy as Schrader would said
29:10
Schrader looks at me, goes Herman.
29:11
He says you're so messed up. You make me feel good about
29:14
myself. I wanted to look at force and go
29:16
force. You're so messed up.
29:18
You make me feel good about myself.
29:20
He he told me little little things that I'll never forget.
29:23
He said, you know on Sunday nights or whenever he gets back
29:26
he he has to go to the mailbox. He's got to get the mail.
29:29
He can't go home and you know. It's in a weird way I know how
29:34
crazy he is but but not in a in a bad way just that mind always
29:38
just digging you know and and that reminds me of you though in
29:42
in a in a calmer manner. So the next conversation is you
29:48
are able to keep sponsors. You got it going on your your
29:52
website is awesome. Your social media is awesome.
29:57
It seems like you got Paul with you, you know, at the right
29:59
time. What is what is it that you got
30:04
personally? Because I I believe you're the
30:06
one that pulled this off. I know you got help, but you you
30:10
got it going on with Napa auto parts you're you're you're good
30:13
with them. What is it that you do that the
30:15
other people don't do? I've paid attention more than
30:21
anything else. I mean, I learned early on
30:22
driving for the snake. We would, you know, we'd go on
30:25
Earnhardt's bus at a NASCAR race.
30:27
So we go see Penske at an IndyCar race.
30:28
And I was really always paying attention to way these, these
30:32
people operated and the way they were at the racetrack, the way
30:35
their pit area was. I was always infatuated with the
30:39
way Penske and and Snake would make comments and I just always
30:42
pick up on little things that people I wanted to emulate in
30:45
life, right? The right way to go about
30:47
things, yeah. I mean the way scooters were
30:49
parked in a perfect manner at a Penske pit area.
30:52
Oh, that is Rusty Wallace all the way.
30:54
That's Rusty, and it sounds dumb and I've told people this
30:58
before, but I'd still I'll pull our scooters up and I'll move
31:01
them out in front of our pit area.
31:02
It's those little things that obviously have worked for
31:06
people. But it it it's just yeah it's
31:08
just I paid attention and I I knew watching Snake that you had
31:12
to have you had to have a good race car but his one of his best
31:15
sayings where you can't win the Kentucky Derby riding a mule and
31:19
and you have meaning that if I was going to be a team owner I
31:21
better have the best team. We may suck at other things but
31:25
we better have a good race car on the track and it better be
31:27
competitive. And I I hit a home run because
31:30
I've got a great team. Beyond that, they're great fun
31:32
to hang out with. But I just I just paid attention
31:37
doing the first year in Napa. We were doing these commercials
31:40
and Michael Waltrip was my teammate at the time and Twitter
31:44
was just on the horizon at that time.
31:46
And he he got me on Twitter while we were doing some
31:49
downtime and it obviously became Twitter and social media, and he
31:54
told me I should probably jump and I go, Who gives a crap about
31:56
what I'm thinking on a Tuesday afternoon?
31:58
He said I'm. Telling you make me money.
32:00
Well, let me show you. I mean, so it's just those
32:03
moments in life and I think, should I listen to what I just
32:06
heard from somebody or pay attention?
32:08
And sometimes it's like, Nah, they're full of shit, But
32:11
sometimes you go, there might be something to it.
32:12
And I've been lucky enough just to to listen to the right people
32:15
at the right time and and try to pay attention, I guess, more
32:19
than anything. Yeah.
32:20
Well, Ron, look at you. I mean we we could go another 30
32:23
minutes easily or five hours, but we need beer for that.
32:28
We even need beer. I love you to death.
32:31
And then here's why. Because you've always been good
32:33
to me and I really appreciate that.
32:35
I admire you because you know. We we kind of I don't know what
32:42
it is but we just we get along real well and I want to thank
32:45
you so much for coming on Kenny conversation and you're going on
32:50
and I'll I'll see you here on Sunday.
32:53
You got it man. I love the show.
32:54
I love every morning having my coffee and listen to what you're
32:57
going to rant about and you're one of my favorite people and
33:01
and you're the first word out of my mouth when somebody says I'm
33:05
going to be new on social media. Who should I follow?
33:07
And it's always you. So and thank you for Jags for
33:10
sticking with you even when you're throwing F bombs and all
33:12
the other stuff. There ain't a lot of sponsors
33:14
that would let somebody be themselves and I I brag on that
33:17
all the time jaggy and and all those people there are just salt
33:21
of the earth. And yeah I, I, I, I'm, I'm
33:25
blessed to be on the show. I've been a huge fan and
33:27
obviously a friend of yours. So thank you again for having.
33:30
Me. All right, well, everybody,
33:31
listen. Remember we are in podcast form.
33:35
You can listen to us on the way to work and on your way back
33:38
home, Spotify iTunes. The Kenny conversation just
33:43
keeps on rolling. Until next time.