Dave: Hey John.
John: Hey Dave.
Dave: How are you doing buddy?
John: OK.
Dave: Good to have you on the show by the way.
John: Good to be on the show.
Dave: Always a treat to have you with us.
John: Thank you.
Dave: Not tell us about Charlotte, you guys had a rough time. You had a brand new car, huh?
John: Yea, they build a brand new car, kind of the next generation. It had some things on it that NASCAR is putting into regulation next year like the ignition boxes on the dash board, so they can see you are not running traction control or things like that. The car was really good in qualifying practice. In qualifying we are not sure what happened. We think we got the engine too cool, because it never temperatured the whole time we ran. We talked about it an awful lot trying to figure out why it happened and ways to make sure it never happens again. Going into the race we only had three laps of practice. That really hurt us. Having a brand new car we never got to go out to figure out where we needed to be. Michael’s set ups are really unique. I do not know if anyone could drive them but Michael. Jr.’s set ups are more traditional, so we went off of what Jr. had. Not completely though since the cars were built completely different, so we changed the shocks and did some other things. We went into the race blind and just adjusted on it. With the race going green for so long and starting in the back got us behind. Then we got going really good for awhile then we came in to change tires and made an adjustment to tighten it, and it went looser. We are really not sure what caused all that. I heard some others struggled with that too. Probably not getting practice time to get the car where it needed to be at the beginning of the race is the main thing. With us it becomes a bigger issue, because when Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli talk about this stuff they have notes to go off of with running the same car going into the race with little practice. Being a new team and not really working that much together. We got behind the eight ball a little bit. Hopefully it is not an excuse. It is to answer some questions and then down the road we tested down at Greenville Pickens yesterday trying to get the Martinsville car ready. I wish they had a test left so that we could test at Atlanta or an areo-track where we could get a hold of the balance of the car and what the new cars are like. We have not had that opportunity.
Dave: Martinsville is a track you have ran well at in the past. Maybe you could tell them a little more distinctly what needs to be done so you can go fast.
John: I think that we have talked about it a lot. I was over at shake a rig today doing some work. Which is a seven post rig that attaches to three places on the car and then goes underneath of the tires and it simulates the race track. It is for shock absorbers. You can do some spring work and different things like that, but you do not do much simulation work other than shocks. They do a lot of it like a lot of teams.
Dave: Did Petty Enterprises use it?
John: They used it. There is one in ARC here and one in Indy and one here in Charlotte. There are several around the country you can use mostly in automotive street car applications. General Motors and people like that have had them for a long time. It is not really new to motorsports per say, but it is new to NASCAR. The engineers come from all over, so you get that melting pot of technology, bringing some of that new stuff in. There are so many other things going on it is amazing. Then I went over to the race shop and we talked about Martinsville and Atlanta and all the things coming up.
Dave: Did you see the Indy car series finale Sunday?
John: Yes and I have to say that we held our breath and still are in some ways for Kenny Brack, pray for him and his family. Of course the first thing you think about is Davey Hamilton and how bad he was injured. It takes a lot of strength to recover from those things. I do not know anymore than what I heard on TV, because I have been out of touch. It was a great finale and a great series. They have great races. Obviously it was spectacular race to the end of the season, having all those guys in touch with the championship. I have mixed feelings. I have friends at Panther, then of course my cousin owns a team. I do not really know any of the drivers that were running for the championship, but I do now people associated with the teams. It is great for the series and I have to hand it to Tony George, that is one big trophy. He will have to build a new house to get that thing in.
Dave: That was a big deal. I have to tell you about this. The gentleman that owns Texas Motor Speedway, Eddie….
John: Eddie Gossage.
Dave: He put together this thing called Heroes of Indy. He had these roadster replica cars with motorcycle engines. They look like a roadster with a roll cage. It has side pods on it almost like nerf bars so you do not run over a wheel and get upside down. He had a race before the big race on Sunday. Let me think of all who was in the race…. Arie Luyendike, Scott Goodyear…
John: Gordon Johncock
Dave: Bill Lucovich
John: Poncho Carter
Dave: Parnelli Jones
John: Johnny Rutherford
Dave: Lloyd Ruby and Jim Maklereth. Oh and Tom Sneva was in it too. I have to tell you John there were rumors from the guys working on the cars that someone offered them 2,500 if they would let them work on the car for the night. They turned him down, but there were rumors of cheating. Parnelli was mad. These guys I mean Ruby and Makelreth are in their 70s and I tell you those boys wanted to win.
John: Did Poncho win?
Dave: Poncho started 8th and lead at the end of the first lap. He went up high like Hornish does. I have no idea how he found grip but man he lead her from the first lap to the last. He had Sneva pounding on that thing. It was an unbelievable show.
John: That is a great group of racers obviously, and I think they should have got out and fought at the end. (laughing)
Dave: I tell you what Parnelli was about to. He got turned around a few times and was not very happy.
John: I can imagine. Parnelli is as tough as they come. All those guys are!
Dave: There are no light weights in that deal.
John: Maybe Arie, he already got hit once. I think it was at Texas wasn’t it. I am not laughing about it, just making light of it.
Dave: Your god father AJ was the grand marshal and they asked him…. The radio network covered it as a regular race and it will be broadcast Thursday night here on WIBC. It will be a part of the Indy Racing Weekly show. We asked AJ why he did not run. He goes "I worked on these boys in their youth, there is no use to do it again." (laughing)
John: Did you have a chance to see Arie Luyendike’s son had a big accident too. He is like his dad, he is very quick. It is good to see him racing. I saw Arie last year in Phoenix. I was signing autographs and this guy comes up and grabs me by the head and I cannot move. He whispered something in my ear, I don’t remember what but it is probably something I cannot repeat. I am like should I look at this guy or what and it was Arie. It is a great group of guys with great personalities.
Dave: Arie was at the drivers meeting with a stack of magazines getting autographs from the guys he was racing against.
John: I would imagine he would be, all those guys are legends. That is why they are all in the race. I wonder why my uncle was not there.
Dave: I do not know.
John: That would have been cool. If my uncle would have been in there I think AJ would have put on a helmet. (laughing)
Dave: Yea, because big Al ran the pace car and Rick Mears was the flagman. They started them by age, so Ruby and Mackelreth.
John: Oldest to youngest. Arie had to be the youngest.
Dave: And Goodyear. They were in the back. Scotty’s car broke.
John: I guess Parnelli did get in there to work on a car. (laughing)
Dave: Sneva was POUNDING on the bumper of Poncho Carter. It was a great show. Those guys like I said on the show, they may have snow on the roof, but there is a fire in the kitchen. Those guys were fired up. It was so much fun to watch.
John: I did a legends race and Cale Yarlborough spun me out twice and (intelligible) once. I was bleeding at the end of it. My elbow was swollen and bleeding. I was trying to chase them down, but not without my car. I would not want to get beat up.
Dave: It was a great show. I don’t know why they didn’t have your uncle there.
John: There are so many guys that you just think of that would be so great. If they put them all together again I bet you would have a huge crowd show up to watch those racers of the past.
Dave: Well good talking to you this week. Good luck.
John: Thank you.
Dave: We will talk to you again Tuesday night.
John: I’ll be here!
Dave: We know you will.
John: Alrighty. Thank you.
Dave: Bye.
John: Bye
THE END