Tommy Johnson Jr., driver of Don Prudhomme’s Skoal-backed Impala Fuel Funny Car
Todd Dziadosz Photo
Tommy Johnson Jr. had a short answer. “I hope it’s more money; that’s a good level to start at. More sponsors, with more notoriety in the mainstream media would be the next level and everything would fall into place after that. I hope.
Ron Capps, driver of the Brut-backed Fuel Funny Car
 James Drew photo |
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Ron Capps said, “We may have seen it today (Saturday) with live TV, the fact that they gave us a slot of live TV today and all the racers pulled together and we made it through there and gave them a great show, that’s probably the next level. By far, more money to be out here running like this
“But I’m going to drink the Kool-aid® for a while. I believe in these guys and I’m excited about what’s coming up. I think this is happening at a good place and a good time in our sport right now and I think this could be a really good deal. People have their doubts, but right now I think my job as the (NHRA) points leader is to try to be a little bit of a leader in a way that I think we should believe in them (HD Partners) right now.
Capps continued, “Everybody has bitched about the NHRA for a long time and we can’t just throw them under the bus because they made a decision to do what we all wanted them to do. So, I’m excited to meet Hartenstein and hear what they’re going to do and I’m going to do everything they ask me to do. Whatta we got to lose? But, (laughing) I really want to see if Eddy knows who I am.”
Tony Pedgregon, Quaker State-sponsored Fuel Funny Car
Ron Lewis Photo
Tony Pedregon saw the next level as, “Not any single thing, but a big marketing push is very important. We need to expose this sport to the audience that’s outside of our current racing audience and the facilities need to improve. I believe that if more facilities were like this (Infineon Raceway) we could make improvements to Seattle, Memphis, and some of the tracks that need to be addressed -- and they need to accommodate more people and we’ll see the turnout continue to increase. But we need to see growth in a few areas. We need to see TV (ratings) increase, facilities to continue to improve, and the powers that be need to continue to market the sport -- that means taking the professional driver and marketing the ones that promote the sport in a good way.”
