Q: What’s it like working for Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch and having that name behind you? E: It’s kind of like when I came to the first (Anheuser-Busch) convention. I was walking out on stage in front of everybody with my dad and I was really, really nervous to go out there in front of all those people. But I knew the fact that I was with him, I was going to be okay. That’s how I feel when I go to the racetrack with Budweiser on my car. I feel 10-foot tall and bullet proof. I feel like I’ve got the best sponsor, the No. 1 sponsor in sports alone, aside from motorsports. B: It’s the ultimate feeling. Just like Jr. said. You come into the race you know your equipments looks the best and with Budweiser it’s also an amazing feeling to know that we have the support of all the wholesalers across the country. It’s really special.
B: Last year we had a One Night Stand. That was a great job by Kim Carmine and her group at Columbus Distributing. That was really cool. But everywhere we go, the wholesalers across the country do a great job. It’s amazing that everywhere you go there’s point of sale up in retail locations. E: Couple of times I got to tour some of the breweries. How clean and neat everything is. You can’t eat any food when you’re walking through there. It’s a lot of fun just going in there and seeing how that side of the business works and how it all kind of comes together and comes full circle to what we do. And it’s cool when you go back there and you see people working on the line wearing your hat or your shirt. They watch and pay attention to the races. It’s cool knowing that you’ve got that kind of support from the people aside from the executives that sign the paper. You’ve got the support of all the people doing all the manual labor, all the hard work.
B: We pull about 5 Gs off the starting line and about a negative 5-1/2 when the chute comes out. E: It’s nothing like that on our car. I was expecting to get outdone on that question. We get lateral Gs when we go into the corner, to the side so probably 2-1/2 at the most.
B: You’ve got your helmet on, you’re strapped in real tight. You feel it on your body, but the discomfort comes when the chute comes out. When it hits you, it hits you pretty hard. That’s when you really feel it. The belts tighten up and your neck kind of snaps back. It’s a feeling like no other.
B: You get used to it but you feel it every time, but it’s part of the adrenaline rush. E I’ve got a question. “Do you all wears Hans devices?” B Yes E: Before that, what did you all use? B: Just seat belts and a Simpson neck collar – that was it.
B: I work out about 5 times a week and I watch what I eat. E: I always tell myself I’m gonna start. I just need to get over that first initial hill and I’ll be okay. B: Like you said, it’s tough when you’re traveling. I try to make time and try to find a gym in whatever city we’re in and try and work out.
B: In our sport if a car loses traction you’re basically dead meat. When it smokes the tires all you can hope for is that the guy in the next lane is doing the same thing. Then it’s a pedal fest to try to get to the finish line first. E: There’s a lot of things, I guess that get you pretty upset in a race car But probably when you’ve got a problem with the car, the car is handling one way, and you make an adjustment and you keep hopping back and forth. I did that all day Sunday… when you make an adjustment and go too far the other way and it was never dead on what I wanted it to be. Q: To Dale Jr.: When switching teams why did you have to switch the cars as well? E: Actually we didn’t switch the cars at all. I just got all my seats and put them in Michael’s cars and painted them red. He got all his seats and put them in my cars and painted them blue.
B: Mine was a Mustang Cobra. I always loved them. B: Yes, I did E: When I was a little kid, all I ever wanted was a 4 x 4 S10 pickup. That was my dream car. I eventually got it and ended up flipping it over.
B: I’m an alternative rock fan. I like Linkin Park That’s my band of choice right now. E: I like alternative too. Korn and some of those bands.
E: I just got into the Ipod thing B: I’ve got two of those. I love those things.
E: Yeah I have a whole celebrity page B: I’ll have to check it out. E: Mostly it’s all old stuff . Stuff I grew up on. Stuff you probably wouldn’t assume I’d listen to but that’s why I picked it because people will be surprised about it. Editor’s Note: Link to Apple’s iTunes http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=Q/D8soTQhw4&offerid=78941.10000341&type=4&subid=0
E: No, I looked in there and it wasn’t in there. Comment: What are you doing wrong, Buddy? E: I don’t know, I’m kinda glad I wasn’t in that one.
B: I’m into CSI-type shows. That ‘24’ show. I’ve really gotten into that show this season. I’ve got one of those tivos so whenever I come home, I get to watch it. E: I have all the Seinfeld stuff tivo’d, Saturday Night Live. I’ve watched ‘24’ a couple of times. It’s a pretty good show. I watched something real funny the other night it was Jeff Foxworthy’s roast on comedy channel. I think Ron White is the funniest guy I’ve ever heard in my life.
E: It’s hard for me. You’re full of adrenaline after running for 3-1/2 hours. It takes hours to chill out. It’s either you pass out or you’re up til 4 (a.m.) B: Sometimes you’re all relaxed and you get back to your hotel room and you’re out. But sometimes your mind is still going, you’re still jazzed, you’re still pumped up and you want to go do something else.
B: Yes ,you’re anxious – you’re not nervous, you’re anxious. You’re ready to get to Sunday and get to raceday. E: Normally I get to sleep but I wake up about 2 o’clock. Gotta go watch TV, get something to eat, get to bed about 4 a.m. B: Yeah, I do that too.
B: I sit in my trailer and mentally go through the procedure we do on the racetrack. The starting procedure especially because sometimes where we win our race is on the starting line. Mentally in my head I’ll keep going over and over and concentrate on catching that light and doing the best I can on the starting line. E: It’s kind of a lot of the same thing going on with me. I guess not as pressure packed as Brandon’s deal where he has a lot of things he has to have happen in a certain period of time. I kind of can let the race come to me where I bet he’s a lot more mentally focused. B: Our attention span is within milliseconds and then it’s over. E: I try to stay loose. B: You can stay even and concentrate on certain parts of the race. In our deal you have to be on it. Q: The engine in your car makes a ton of heat but does your clothing and the color of the car contribute to the heat? E: I wondered how my dad drove that car for so many years being black – it’s way hotter because it sits out on the starting line for a couple of hours before the race starts so it’s definitely a lot hotter inside. The average temperature inside our cars is about 140 degrees. It’s probably a lot hotter around the dragster. B Fortunately the motor is behind me in the dragster. It’s not like the funny car, the engine is in front and you’ve got the heat coming back at you. E: I guess it’s better when the air starts moving around you in the cockpit E: It was 145 degrees one time in Michigan . I had a temperature gauge in there and it’s like, “whoa, man, it’s hot in there.”
E: They weigh you at Daytona at the first race. If you weigh 180 pounds, you have to have so much lead in your car, 170 (pounds), so much lead. So the more you weigh the less lead you have to have, the lighter your car is. So we always put a lot of lead in our pockets and in our belts and we turn our physicals in weighing about 175 and we’ll get on the scales and weigh about 190 pounds in a matter of 2 days. They figured it out this year. They come calling for all of us. It was pretty funny. Q: Besides racing, what sports do you like to watch? B: I’ve always been a big football fan – college, pro, anything like that. Sports in general. Any kind of sports. I live on ESPN. E: Football, professional football and college basketball. I pull for the underdog . I like to see the 14 or 12 seed team and see how far they can make it. That’s a lot of fun to watch. Q: What is your favorite track? B: I guess Las Vegas. We’ve got some history there when my father and I became the first father and son to win together at that track. That’s a real special track. But as far as a favorite one, I love racing them all. E: I think Daytona. When I was a little kid I used to go there all the time. Just couldn’t wait for the July race to come around go to Daytona. It’s always been my place.
B. I’m a craps player E: I like to play roulette. I like to scream and shout when I win. That’s one of those games where you can get loud.
E: There are a lot of things that I enjoy in life that are apart from racing. I like to do a little deer hunting every once in a while. That’s a lot of fun for me. I think the coolest thing I’ve ever done, that reminds me sitting up here with Brandon, was standing at the tree one time when John Force and a couple of guys took off . That’s the craziest feeling ever. It was like my whole body was about to implode and then explode after that. If you ever get a chance to stand at the tree when these guys take off., I don’t there’s a feeling like it in the world. Just keep your eyes closed because they’ll literally burn out of your skull I’ve got a lot of hobbies, a lot of stuff I do. B: Mainly golf. I let my mind go, but it’s so frustrating!
B: Our fans are able to get right next to us in the pit area. That’s part of it and that’s how our sport is. E: You can get about the same access in our sport. We’ve got hot passes. We’re signing autographs up until the point we’re ready to climb into the car for the race. Just not quite like Brandon’s deal. You can buy a ticket and you can literally go right up to his car. Our sport is growing so fast they had to put a little clamp on it and slow things down a little bit. It’s a lot of fun. The fans get to see what’s going on. If I had that opportunity to have that access at a Formula One race to see Michael Schumacher, that’d be the coolest thing in the world. That’s the way I look at it! I know the fans really enjoy it.
E: Being with Budweiser, they let you be yourself. They like our personality and they feed off that and they allow us to do what we want to do. Don’t necessarily have a lot of guidelines. Budweiser is a lot of fun. They’re all about selling beer. But the beer sells itself. B: That’s true. Performance-wise you always want to do your best for Budweiser. That’s the ultimate is to try to win. That’s the best. |
