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Scranton, driver of the Pro RWD Turbonetics Toyota Celica, has been one of the more high-profile competitors since joining the sport compact ranks in 2002. The former NMCA record holder has earned 11 NHRA sport compact victories in two seasons of NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series competition. Scranton clocked the quickest run (6.740 seconds) in NHRA Sport Compact history this May at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown , N.J. He earned one victory in 2003 (Moroso) en route to a third place finish in the Pro RWD standings. In this Q&A session, Scranton discusses his domestic racing days, what it was like to join the sport compact wars and the experience of winning the first StreetGlow Extreme Rush.
Q: How long have you been drag racing?
 SCRANTON : I think we've been doing it for about nine years. For the last three years, I've been doing it as a full-time professional.
Q: Where did you start racing professionally?
SCRATON: We started in the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) racing a Mustang and also at the Fun Ford Weekend events in what they called a Pro 5.0/NMCA Super Street car. We raced against people like Bill Glidden, Bob Glidden's son, and some pretty well-known guys on the domestic side of things.
Q: What times were you running with the Mustang?
SCRANTON : When we finished racing the Mustang in 2001, we went undefeated with that car. It was a 2000 Mustang with a single-turbocharged small block Ford on 10-inch tires. At 3,100 pounds we went 7.45 (seconds) at 197 (mph). We had the fastest car at the time and both ends of the record. We were the only team to sweep the whole season undefeated. Then we came along to the import side of things and had a great season last year and this year we struggled a bit.
Q: How did you guys decide to go sport compact racing in 2002?
SCRANTON : Turbonetics is the one that really opened our eyes to this side of the fence. We didn't realize how big this stuff was. We heard from some of the folks at Turbonetics when they would come to the races with us how big these import races were. Turbonetics was actually showing the Celica that we raced last year at some of the bigger import events. Then when we went to SEMA in 2001, we had the Mustang and the Celica both in Turbonetics booth and the amount of draw that the Celica had over the Mustang was tremendous and we thought there had to be a way we could get things figured out to a point where we could come race on the import side. Turbonetics and Kelley Aerospace gave us that opportunity and we owe them greatly for it and we're very happy with the NHRA series.
Q: What did the Scranton Brothers think of their first-year of sport compact racing?
 SCRANTON : At first the level of competition stood out. When we went to Gainesville for the first race, we noticed that some of the teams were more about the lifestyle things, but by midseason you could tell the performance of the cars greatly increased. These guys went from running 7.40s and 7.50s to 7.00s. It showed me that this stuff is for real. You see what the Bullish guys are doing, now Steph (Papadakis), Venom is capable of flying. Even in the other classes, look at (Lisa) Kubo and what Shaun Carlson has done. I mean, you can't compare that to any other form of racing right now. As far as what they're doing with the parts they're having to use is pretty incredible.
Q: When you clocked the first sport compact 200-mph pass last May at Englishtown, what was the feeling like?
SCRANTON : That was something that I don't think we'll ever forget. We didn't really think we'd go 202. I mean, 200 was the goal and we thought that if we did it, it would be like 200.15 or something. To go 202 like that was just incredible and to do it that last run of the day with all my sponsors there to see if firsthand was just a big monkey off our back because it was pretty much expected of us to get the 200-mph mark first.
Q: You guys experienced some backlash from the import crowd because of the V-8 issue. What was that like? Did you ever considering leaving the sport compact arena?
SCRANTON : No. I realize now what they were saying. They had a valid point, but by the same token, we had a valid point. We looked at the rulebook and the V-8 was legal and we had a car that was already 90 percent done that we had to finish and it already had a V-8. So, I think none of it was personally directed toward us, but more or less directed toward the sanctioning bodies to open their eyes that the V-8's would run away with this deal. If we came out here with this car that we have now with a V-8 engine, there's now doubt in my mind that we could go 6.40s and 6.50s at 2,600 pounds. So, it's probably a good thing. It's kind of half-and-half because some fans really liked it and some fans booed it. Now, with the V-6, we're doing the same thing a lot of the other racers out here are doing with six cylinders. So, now you've got four-cylinder and six-cylinders and there's nothing that anyone can complain about.
Q: How was the transition to the V-6 engine this season?
SCRANTON : We didn't think it was going to be this hard. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we didn't think it would be this hard. Things are starting to come around on the engine program and we go through these new car blues all the time and eventually it'll settle down and everything will sort out. It's just taken a little longer than we've anticipated.
Q: What was the feeling after winning the first StreetGlow Extreme Rush at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago this spring?
SCRANTON : That was huge. To see Warren Johnson and Jeg Coughlin and all those guys you see on TV. My biggest thing was, I wondered if they'd even notice us. If they would even walk out on the race track and give us any kind of attention and they were all up there watching us. That was pretty cool. I think they can really relate to what we're doing because horsepower per cubic inches is what they rely on and for us to make seven horses per cube is pretty good, that's a lot better than what they're doing by a long shot. And we're doing it with stock parts. That race was just an incredible deal for us.
Q: How would you assess your first season in Pro RWD?
SCRANTON : Like anybody else in their first year we struggled. We made some huge waves, running that 6.74 early in the year showed we have the potential to put some good runs together. We tried some development stuff that didn't work the way we hoped it would. When you develop a new engine program it's a trail-and-error deal. Sometimes you have to fail to succeed. We've got all our ducks in a row and we're looking forward to testing in February.
Q: You're going to campaign a two-car team with Tirso San Juan driving the second Celica in 2004, what's the reasoning behind that?
SCRANTON : Basically to give our current sponsors, TRD and Turbonetics, twice the bang for their buck. I know the importance of winning the championship and in order to compete with some of the other teams, especially the StreetGlow team, we need all the data we can gather. This will give us twice the date and twice the exposure and hopefully corporate America will take notice and come knocking.
Q: What's your long-term racing goal?
SCRANTON : To be the John Force of sport compact racing. You know, that's something I think can happen as long as everybody is heading in the right direction. The thing about this series that I really like the most is that even though you compete against these guys, everybody is friends. We're all buddies, we all hang out together we all chew on the fat and we know that if this deal is going to continue to go forward, we all have to work as a big team and push it forward and bring big sponsors in like StreetGlow, AEM, Venom and Turbonetics. That's something that on the domestic side that we came from was non-existent. Nobody really wants to sponsor those cars because the fan base just wasn't there. This is really huge and it's just going to get better and bigger I think. |
