"He has qualified for nine out of 10 races that he's attended, and he is doing a great job and he has won rounds against very seasoned veterans based solely on his driving ability. Also, our whole team is having their rookie season in NHRA Pro Stock," Rick Jones said. "The other candidates have a lot of experienced crew chiefs and team members behind them. I have a lot of respect for the other candidates, and I'm really happy for Rickie that he is included with them as a candidate for Rookie of the Year."
With fewer than 95 runs on the car that he helped build from the frame up, Rickie Jones has sunk his teeth into his work and shown exceptional aptitude.
"I think I can always be better," he said, citing shifting on time and conducting more effective burnouts (which he said "seem to be the hardest part").
Shifting is only slightly easier than a burnout, Jones said.
"If the car makes a nice, straight run, it is easier to focus on the shift light and really nail it. If the track gets greasy and you're moving around some and you have to steer it and keep it in the groove, it is easy to lose focus and miss it by 2-300," he said. "Trust me -- it is definitely not as easy as it looks to drive a Pro Stock car. But I'm getting better every run, and like everything else, it is just going to take more seat time."
His burnout is a work in progress, he said.
"It is all done by feel," Jones said of the warm-up maneuver. "You have to feather the gas pedal just right. If you're too low, you'll jerk the clutch out of it, and the clutch setting could be off a little and could hurt the performance of the run. If you're too high, you could damage the engine or take a chance at weakening or breaking valve springs, which also hurt performance -- not to mention how crucial it can be to burnout across the starting line, hitting the mark in the groove.
"It's easy to mess up and hard to be perfect every time."
Funny choice of words that was. Dad Rick, one of the sport's top chassis builders and a
former Pro Stock Truck driver and four-time IHRA Pro Stock winner in 10 finals, said his son "has always been a perfectionist, and he is very methodical. From as long as I can remember, he has always been interested in racing and has studied and observed some of the best drivers in the class."
Rickie said he knows that upbringing has been immensely valuable.
"I've grown up around it every day at the shop and at the track," he said. "To build parts and watch Dad talk about ideas, things like that are really inspiring. He's my boss, my dad, my best friend. I’m so thankful for my parents, Rick and Bonnie Jones, for trusting me with this opportunity.
"I am 21, but I've been around a lot of smart people, like Warren Johnson and Kurt Johnson, at a young age. I tried to soak up everything I could. I didn't ask too many questions when they were at the shop, looking at their cars. I didn't want to show disrespect. I'd just take this piece of the puzzle and that piece of the puzzle -- and I'd ask a million questions of my dad. And he'd explain it five million times before I got it!"
Keeping up with the Joneses could be tough, even back when Rickie still was in high school. Father and son were inseparable at the racetrack.
"We talked about my driving when I was 16. My parents got me a Junior Dragster when I was 10," he said. His father reminded him that at age 16, driving those was not an option any longer, and he questioned Rickie about whether he wanted a future in driving. Of course, he got an enthusiastic yes. But he didn't indulge his teenage son, at least not right away.
"My dad was heavily involved in IHRA at the time, and I was like his co-crew chief. He was teaching me the ropes. And he was starting to ask my opinion," the younger Jones said. "When he was driving, it was up to me to line him up and set the wheelie bars and make the last-minute call on reading the track.
"I guess I was kind of forced to learn it," Rickie Jones said. "But it comes with time. It takes time. I changed tires for him and worked on the back half of the car. I learned how the car works, clutches, transmissions, everything."
Evidently he paid proper attention, for his dad said that as a driver, "He has very good car control. He is doing well staging and handling the car down the track also. And he is very good at relaying information to me about what the car is doing."
Rickie Jones said, "My reaction times have been pretty good -- other than Atlanta, where I had a 70-something. I'm usually around 30 or so and have been in the zeros a couple of times."
As long as he is trying his best to be the best he can be, Rickie Jones said he knows his father is the best team owner in the world. "He's not like some team owners who demand results right away," the son said. "He understands driving because he has driven some. He gives great advice and guidance."