NHRA INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS (DALLAS) - HINES/JOHNSON

ANDREW HINES KURT JOHNSON

THE MODERATOR: I will begin with Pro Stock Motorcycle and before I introduce Andrew, one note: the Pro Stock Motorcycle playoff round consists of three races – vs. four for the other categories – so the pro stock motorcycle fields for the two-race championship will be set this weekend in Dallas.

That said, Andrew, You just moved into first place with your win in Memphis and you’re 97 points lcear of fifth-place Angelle Sampey. As you begin to think about Dallas, this weekend, are you concerned with clinching your spot in the championship, or seeding?

ANDREW HINES: I think right now I’m more concerned just about winning the race. We’re in a position right now that’s pretty good. We’re No. 1 in the points. We haven’t been there at all this year, so right now is one of the best times to be there. We just had a good race in Memphis and won there the last three years in a row, and hopefully we can roll into Dallas with some momentum. I’ve never raced there before so it’s going to be a new experience for me. We’re just focused on trying to make that last Countdown to 1.

Q. As a past champion, you gained a lot of experience, what other experience did you gain in your championships helps you the most now going into the format of the Countdown?

ANDREW HINES: I would say knowing how to handle the pressure of the final few races of the year. The last couple of years I’ve had to squeak out at the end and I’ve had to perform toward the end of the season and get those extra points to get that championship.

So this year, it’s kind of the same deal because we have to basically try and win three championships in one year because you have to get in the top eight and then the top four and then you know hopefully we’ll have a chance to run and be (the POWERade Series world champion) at the end of the year.

So having the pressure from the last few years has really helped me lately. That really kept my mind set right in Memphis. I was concerned about just winning the race, not trying to over think too much.

Q. I think it’s been 2000 since they (the motorcycles) have raced at Texas. What kind of adjustment will that be? Will you try and feel things out?

ANDREW HINES: I think it will be a pretty level playing field. As everybody knows we had a new race this year for all of categories which was in Norwalk, and we went out there and won the event. It was great to get the inaugural race win there.

Coming to Dallas, it’s about the same position for everybody. It’s been so long since motorcycles have run there that they are going to be quite a bit faster than they were the last time. So everybody is going to be kind of on an even keel again. So that will make it easier on me since I’ve never been down that track before. Luckily my brother (Matt) is the defending champion from back in 2000, and he can give me a little insight of what I can do to maneuver down the lanes as much as possible. So luckily I have him on the team right now and he’s really been pushing us along lately.

Q. Andrew, can you talk about this Countdown format, how has it changed, if it has changed the way you approach going to the race each week. You talk about three playoffs, is that what you’re talking about?

ANDREW HINES: Yeah, it’s definitely changed my mind set race to race. Right now we are really on offense. We are trying to gain as many points as possible before a couple of years ago we had a pretty good lead coming into these last few races so we could kind of play defense and make sure we go a couple of rounds where now we need to go out there and win every round possible.

Another thing that’s changed is how we’ve worked on our engines back in the shop during the first four or five races before the cut at Indy, we were not going a whole lot of engine swaps at the track, just running what we had normally and we were not running as hard as we normally would. Now that we are in the Countdown after Indy we have really been turning the screws with the motors and to change a couple race to race and just tried to get every horsepower that we can and trying to develop more and more horsepower back at our shop, which is something we don’t normally do during the season. We just try to get our package perfect throughout the year, where this year we’ve been trying to find more and more horsepower race to race and trying to save it up for these last four races of the year.

Q. When you talk to the fans, and I know all of the drag races are very fan accessible, do you get the feeling they like this format? Do they get it with all of the point changes? Is it too complicated? What’s your feeling about that

ANDREW HINES: I think some of the fans are really for it. Some people don’t really understand it. It’s pretty confusing. Some of the crews out there don’t even quite get it yet. So it’s a little different for everybody out here.

I’m still a fan of the old points system because that’s the way I won my championships and that’s the way it’s been for who knows how long. It’s just a new curveball in the whole program and everybody is going to have to deal with it right now. Luckily it’s playing in our favor. I think right now how we are doing, I don’t think we would still be I don’t think we would be first in the standings. I think we would still be six or seven rounds behind. So I’m a big fan of it right now, but I wasn’t at the beginning of the year.

KURT JOHNSON

THE MODERATOR: The next driver I’d like to introduce is Pro Stock’s Kurt Johnson. He is currently in fifth place, two points behind Allen Johnson for the fourth and final spot in the Countdown to 1, the championship round. Kurt, where are you on strategy heading into these last two races in the Countdown to 4?

KURT JOHNSON: Obviously we need to keep our momentum. Our car is performing well. I’ve been driving good all year. Kind of had a slip up at Memphis but going into Dallas, we had good success last year and a race that we felt we could have won. I think I won there a couple of times in Dallas (1993, 1995, 2000) and I just lover racing at the Motorplex. Hopefully we can pick up, we were fourth going into Indy, only a point out of third and coming out of there, we’re not too depressed. We know we’ve got our work cut out for us.

Q. I’m trying to get a feel here for how the drivers feel about the Countdown and you’re on the outside looking in on this thing and I’m sure you’re not a real big fan of it. Do you see the necessity of it? What’s your opinion on the whole format?

KURT JOHNSON: I guess it’s sort of a playoff type strategy where, you know, it comes down to the end and you have to perform at your very best. You know, for me it kind of adds some excitement to it. It’s almost like three battles in a war, trying to make the first eight and then the second battle of going down to four and then whoever is going to be champion. It’s definitely added some excitement to our camp.

Q. When you talk to the fans, do you get a sense that they like it, they get it, that they feel it’s necessary. What do you get from the fans out there?

KURT JOHNSON: Well, I think, you know, as long as the announcers and the media, as long as they pump it up and explain to the fans what’s going on here, I think everybody is going to catch on. Everybody that I talk to thinks it’s pretty exciting.

Q. I’ve got a champion question for you. Do motorsports champions have common traits and abilities do you think, and if so, could you identify a few?

KURT JOHNSON: Well, I think it all comes down to focus, focusing and paying attention to detail. Everybody has pretty much got the same equipment out there, as far as the Pro Stock category goes, it’s so close and so competitive, it’s definitely going to come down to the driver and you know, Jeg is doing a good job, Allen is doing a good job, so there’s a lot of good drivers. I drove good for the first part of the season and we’re going to have to step it up at the end. There’s so many good drivers that pay attention to detail and focus; it could be a common trait, I would say.

Q. And what traits do you think you might have picked up from your dad (96-time winner Warren Johnson) over the years?

KURT JOHNSON: Obviously the work ethic. You know, you’ve got to work at this stuff if you’re going to be successful. You know, and paying attention to detail. You can work your butt off all the time and sometimes not get anywhere, so you’ve got to pay attention to what you’re working on. You know you have to fix what’s broken on these cases and not really worry about the rest, and that’s what I try and do. I would say we’ve been successful at it.

Q. Looking at how these first couple of races have shaped up and everything, has anything really surprised you about how this Countdown has unfolded in terms of the format and how it’s really made things interesting?

KURT JOHNSON: Well, I guess you could say that, you know, the leaders in Pro Stock race and Dave (Connolly) and Greg (Anderson) have done a good job all year long and over the last couple of races, you know, they did an excellent job.

I know being around as long as I have, there have been a lot of changes. I hope they are using all their luck up right now. You know, everybody else is going to have to step up a little bit and to the four is definitely going to be interesting going into the last two races. It’s all hills and valleys up there, so hopefully we can get on a hill here.

Q. As a follow up, was there ever a point where you could feel reasonably safe with this? I guess will it be like after this race, and that you kind of know what you have to do as long as you qualify?

KURT JOHNSON: I figure if I can win the next two races, I’ll have a lock on that top four. But until that happens, you know, we won’t know until Richmond especially coming out of the 5 4 right now. There’s four good cars and three good cars behind me. Allen Johnson right ahead of me; I’m within reach of Jeg. You know, there’s a bunch of us from the top two that are all tied together there.

You know, we are just going to have to get down and get the job done. We feel that ACDelco Chevy Cobalt can perform. We’re going to have to go for the pole there at Dallas and try to get those eight qualifying points, that’s for sure. Qualifying points are huge right now and only being two points out of fourth place, that can make a difference in qualifying. So every little point helps right here.

Q. It looks like the playoff or the Countdown has worked to the disadvantage of Greg Anderson, who has dominated the class the last couple of years. Do you still see him as the toughest competitor you have in the category?

KURT JOHNSON: Well, they are all tough competitors. Consistency is going to be the biggest key to winning and obviously he’s been doing a good job over the last couple of races. The points have tightened up. David Connolly has, too. We survived Indy. We had some parts break and we had a lot of stuff go wrong at Memphis. You know, it was just freak stuff and you can’t have that happen at this point in the game. You’ve got to go out there, we’ve got to be tough, we’ve got to win rounds and especially these next two races.

Richmond is probably going to be the trickiest because we are not sure what condition that racetrack is going to be in. The only thing that saved us was the cool weather conditions. Hopefully you’ll have a surface like Bristol where it’s massaged, the ground, and it’s equal for both planes. We hope both planes are equal. That will be the key these next two races.