| Q. |
When
you attended your first drag racing event in 1996, which
one of you was interested in drag racing, and how did
you persuade your brother to go. |
A.
Stu |
It
seems such a long time ago now. Richard told me about
what he had seen at Santa Pod. I wanted to see it for
myself, it’s difficult to imagine when someone
describes it to you. You just have to see it to believe
it. |
A.
Rich |
I
was the first to attend. I had been customising cars
for a while. I was looking for more action, but the
shows didn’t appeal. I’d seen the reports
on drag racing in the back of the magazines and the
action sounded interesting, I had to go and a have
a look. I think it would have been the Main Event 1996.
My
first impression was the noise, I had never been
to a dragstrip, and on parking up at Santa Pod, I
couldn’t get over the bank fast enough to find
out what was producing that amazing sound. As I watched
the classes got faster and louder until Top-Fuel!
You always remember the first time! It’s not
so much what you see as the feeling! The anticipation
and expectation as they fired up under the tower,
the tremendous noise of the engines and then the
breath stopping and ground shaking noise as they
went down the track. I was hooked. Access to the
pits only heightened the experience, all those teams
working flat out to turn cars around. Customising
would never be enough. I told Stuart exactly what
I had seen. We returned to see more. At that stage
we did not know how but somehow we had to do this.
|
| Q. |
After
seeing your first top fuel event what was it that inspired
you to be a part of this sport. |
A.
Stu
|
Essentially
I’m not a good spectator, if I see something that
interests me I want to know more, what makes it work,
how I could do it, how might I do it better.
After
spending a bit of time as a spectator
it became apparent that what really
interested me was the fury in the
top fuel pits between rounds. The
decisions and changes being made
by the crew chiefs, It was the orchestrated
frenzy to turn the cars around, the
engineering and problem solving under
pressure, the techniques in use,
the team members having such specific
tasks to achieve against such a tight
time schedule and their speed orientated
approach. I could see the challenges
and the reward that was being strived
for. It was the fact that despite
all that effort, success and failure
could rest on so little. Nothing,
even the minor items could be overlooked
during a turn around.
At
the time I’d noted the efforts
of the likes of Andy Carter and Eddie
Corr and could see what was being
achieved by them against bigger teams
with larger budgets. I identified
with this position and could see
that smart thinking and hard work
could triumph against the odds. There
was plenty to provide inspiration
around that time. There were the
Teams from Jens Nybo and Peter Lantz,
Viveca Aversted, Barry Sheavills,
etc. etc.
An
opportunity to work with Andy Carter
arose shortly after and I successfully
applied for the job.
|
| Q. |
In
1998 you went to America to compete on the NHRA/IHRA
circuit, what was the experience like working in America
and what did you learn, obviously you wont give too much
away. |
A.
Stu |
Going
to America was a good learning experience for me. 99%
of the work on a top fuel team is done away from the
track. You have to see the amount of work involved to
believe it. It was also good to get close up with some
of the American Teams to see what can be done with the
backing of large sponsors.
You
have to realise that only hard work
will do in top fuel, there is no
space for personal heroics. You have
to take your place in the team structure
and do your job. You do your job
and then some more, and then when
you think you’ve finished you
haven’t, more effort is required,
more thinking, more energy, more
than you think you have, if you can’t
do that you’ll fail, to succeed
you dig deeper and find more, you
can achieve goals you never thought
possible, that’s the reward.
When you work as part of a team that
believes in itself then you learn
this.
|
| Q. |
Stu
you were in to the drag racing scene, so why in 2001
did Richard decide to follow you in to the sport. |
A.
Stu |
I
had been working on teams and Richard had been spectating.
I think as is the case for many teams a situation arose
where we were short of crew for some reason. I was asked
by the team owner what skills my brother Richard had. “Well
why is he stood watching, tell him to get a team shirt
on, we need a hand”. |
A.
Rich |
It
was a case of being in the right place at the right time.
You don’t turn down an opportunity like that. When
you get that job you hold onto it by any means necessary.
You
know that everyone watching would
give their right arm to take your
place and if you don’t perform
then you let the whole team down.
The
pressure can be immense, you know
that the smallest details of your
task can affect whether the car
runs or not, the team owner is
trusting you to get it right, the
driver is trusting you to get it
right, the team are trusting you
to get it right.
|
| Q. |
What
was it like working in drag racing in Europe after your
experiences in America. |
A.
Stu |
At
the time there appeared to be some differences to the
scene in the US. Although on the surface the cars appeared
the same, everyone, spectators especially, would be aware
that the US cars were faster. It was only when you looked
a little closer though that you began to understand what
was actually being done in Europe. Many of the teams
did not have large budgets or extensive spare parts like
the US teams. In a class known for destructive engine
explosions you would find the teams making massive efforts
to make the parts they had work and to keep turning the
cars around between rounds
.
For many teams simply getting more parts from the trailer
was not an option. You had to learn to work smart. You get
to see a lot of on the spot problem solving, thinking and
solutions coming from all team members. We all have stories
of working to repair damaged parts with minutes to spare.
Seeing Top Fuel from both a US and European perspective gave
me good grounding and plenty of ideas of what I wanted to
do. |
A.
Rich |
As
an example At the 2004 Main Event we were crewing for
Smax Smith on the “Promise Dreams” car he
was driving for Knut Soderquist. A clutch malfunction
occurred before the first round warm up on finals day
resulting in us having to strip the clutch out of the
car when we should have been pushing down to the start
line. The other teams warmed up, we were still trying
to repair the problem as the other cars pushed down to
the startline. The time was ticking away fast and the
other teams were surely thinking we would not make the
race. We knew we had to get there, every last effort
was made, split second decisions were made and the warm
up was missed (not ideal), final checks were conducted
and the car was rushed down to the start line to take
part in the first pairing against Andy Carter. We ran
4.96 losing to Andy’s 4.88 a loss on the board
for Smax, however, under the circumstances the team had
triumphed against all odds to get the car out and racing.
It
was not a good example of how you
want to run a race but was a great
example of the tenacity of a team
to not give up. When you have experienced
these problems you find you can draw
on your experience and the team can
turn a problem around into a success.
This was a crucial point for team
spirit and the experience prepared
us for the rest of the rounds in
Europe that year. By Norway we ran
4.8 seconds and were no.1 qualifier.
|
| Q. |
In
2000 you purchased a chassis with a view of starting
your own team, what was the deciding factor in this decision
and who made it. |
A.
Stu |
Firstly
the car was the first car to ever run 4 seconds in Europe
4.98 @ 294mph. Owned and built by Peter Lantz and driven
by Kent Persson. We knew that the car would be available
when Tommy Moller had a new car built by Peter. We had
checked the car over and knew it to be good. A deal was
struck and we had taken our first steps to a Top Fuel
team of our own. We just knew we could do it. |
A.
Rich |
We
both decided to do it. Again at the time it was one of
those defining situations which you have to go for. It’s
not simply the car though. Actually building it up into
a viable team is much more. A trailer, tools, equipment,
spares, a pit and pit equipment take a lot of time and
money to arrange and the whole thing relies on the team
of people who will work it. |
| Q. |
You
have the car, you needed a team to crew it, how did you
select and meet your team members. |
A.
Stu |
By
the end of the 2004 European Tour with Smax, we had seen
quite a few of our future crew in action (not necessarily
directly working on Top Fuel cars). We had seen how some
teams which seemed to be short of nothing didn’t
gel for some reason and conversely how the team we had
been a part of had pulled together to overcome what appeared
to be unbeatable problems. We had noticed that an entire
team could easily be disrupted by an individual or an
incident and the importance of team working above all
else. With this in mind we selected our crew based on
the specialist skills they had and also the way in which
they worked as part of a team. We were clear that the
crew was as much of an important unit as the car. No
member of our crew is more or less important than any
other. They are all essential. We expect everyone to
undertake the tasks at hand with 100% effort whether
it’s sweeping the floor or rebuilding the engine. |
A.
Rich |
We
started from a position of what we didn’t want.
We quickly arrived at the crew we have. |
| Q. |
What
are your views in general of the coming 2007 season. |
A.
Stu |
Top
Fuel is a very steep learning curve. Just when you think
you have a handle on it, the goal posts move, new teams
arrive, cars step up, parts change. We are learning all
the time. Top Fuel in 2007 will be very tough. The quality
of the cars is amazing and with some of the teams importing
cars directly from the States we can expect some amazing
performances.
For
McDonald racing we will be making
110% effort to improve on our 2006
season. We are looking to build our
relationship with sponsors for the
2007 season.
|
A.
Rich |
We
were very happy with our efforts in 2006 . On the budget
available to us some very significant achievements were
made. A final round appearance at the Main event and
a 4.97 @ 296mph in the first round of qualifying at the
European Finals were no small feats. The 4.97 was the
result of very hard work by the crew who had been at
the track for over 5 days at that point making sure everything
was in place for us to do 4 rounds of qualifying and
3 rounds of eliminations. It was a major disappointment
that in round 3 of qualifying we suffered a failure of
the clutch system whilst attempting to improve on our
previous time. Due to the nature of the damage we were
unable to effectively repair the car at the track and
had to retire from the race. We will, therefore, be looking
to build on our 2006 experience and step up our performance
in 2007. |
| Q. |
Anything
to say to your fans and sponsors. |
A.
Stu |
We
have received some amazing support from you all. Please
keep it up we really appreciate it. |
A.
Rich |
Thanks
to everyone. If you see us at the race please call
by the pit to see the team in action. You will find
us to be the most approachable team in the whole pit!
Keep
a check on our website for news and developments.
|
| Q. |
Finally
what do you do away from drag racing, do you have any
hobbies what do you do to relax. |
A.
Stu |
I
do technical deep scuba diving. |
A.
Rich |
Technical
diving… Now that is crazy! Even reading about it
is dangerous. I’ll stick to Top Fuel. |
