You’re entering a new season as the reigning Funny Car Champion and you’re once again retaining all your crew members. What confidence does that give you heading into 2024 as you chase a fifth championship?
“We are One Team, All Team here at TSR, but having a group of guys that have earned your trust gives me a lot of confidence because I don’t have to worry about what’s happening on the car or what they are going to drag up there to the starting line. We have a group that is well-oiled with a lot of chemistry, synergy and energy. I’m super confident in everything that my guys do. They’ve earned my trust over the years and I trust them with my life. That’s not taken lightly, I really mean that. I know that when we drag it up there, it is done up and put together as well as possible. Tony’s going to be learning to drive the dragster this season, so it’ll give us an opportunity to help those guys also if they need it. With the confidence I have in our guys, I know we should win another championship this year. It’s going to be tough out there, but it’s one less thing that we have to worry about that we can go up there with the upmost confidence and just really race on Sunday and worry about being the best racers that we can be.”
You got more seat time during the off-season by competing in the PRO Superstar Shootout, where you finished runner-up. How valuable were those extra runs?
“The PRO Superstar Shootout was great to kick off the season a month early. It was nice to make more runs and we still need more runs ahead of Gainesville. Our pre-Gainesville testing will also be big. We’re trying to find a little more horsepower. We saw (Bob) Tasca III run 341 miles per hour in Bradenton and (Austin) Prock was running 337 and 338. However, I think a lot of people may not understand that ET (elapsed time) is everything in drag racing. Miles per hour is a direct correlation to how much horsepower you’re making. I feel like we have a little work to do with that, but it’s all about getting down the track with all eight cylinders. I know the miles per hour number will come around in our favor. We definitely need some more test runs. It was great to runner-up at the Superstar Shootout. It was awesome to have an opportunity to win that much money, but tough to runner-up and have it slip through our fingers. But that’s drag racing, there’s going to be a winner and a loser. We’re champions and we know what we have to do to work hard and get back on top. I’m excited for the season and having Tony as my teammate.”
You’re entering Gainesville as the event’s previous winner the last two years. How special would it be to win three in a row there to start the season?
“It would be really unbelievable to be able to win Gainesville a third time. It’s so hard to win any of these races and anything can happen. We’re going to go out there and work really hard to kick the season off. Gainesville has come around and been a better track to me the last few years. We have a lot of data to go off of, so we’ll go out there and see what we can do.”
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