TONY PEDREGON – CHAMPIONSHIPS VALIDATED
Tony Pedregon found it
hard to hold back the emotions Sunday when Robert Hight was eliminated from
championship contention. The moment of a lifetime had arrived and he couldn’t
fathom the reality that he was a champion.
One would have thought Pedregon might have been accustomed to this experience considering he'd won a title in 2003. That was then, in 2003 while racing for John Force Racing. This was now, racing out of his own wallet.
“The money isn’t the reason I started doing this,” Pedregon said, as he stood on the championship stage. “I wanted to do what my dad did and I wanted to go fast. But, it’s become a lot more about that.Two hard-fought championships; two different pathways
Tony Pedregon found it
hard to hold back the emotions Sunday when Robert Hight was eliminated from
championship contention. The moment of a lifetime had arrived and he couldn’t
fathom the reality that he was a champion.
One would have thought Pedregon might have been accustomed to this experience considering he'd won a title in 2003. That was then, in 2003 while racing for John Force Racing. This was now, racing out of his own wallet.
“The money isn’t the
reason I started doing this,” Pedregon said, as he stood on the championship
stage. “I wanted to do what my dad did and I wanted to go fast. But, it’s
become a lot more about that.
“This has been an
emotional day for me and I know we didn’t win anything this weekend. This
championship means that we did this better than any other team out there this
season. We have had a lot of great companies behind us. When we left John Force
Racing there weren’t many who thought we could do this. There were a couple of
times that I woke up and I wasn’t sure either.”
The champion that stood on
the stage was the same rambunctious kid who traveled to the drags with his
parents.“I’m a second-generation
racer, born and raised in
The 2007 Funny Car title
was all about validation for Pedregon.
“To be able to win a world
championship is what you aspire to accomplish,” Pedregon said. “At the time I
was a driver and that's the ultimate goal. As we all know people change
and things evolve and grow. When I went out on my own -- against the
views of a lot of critics -- I mean they probably couldn't understand because
they didn't walk in my shoes for eight years but I really felt it was a good
opportunity to do it and the short term financially I knew there was a big risk
involved, that was the scariest part.”
Pedregon said the 2007 championship pursuit was much different of a challenge
than he encountered during his title run in 2003 under the John Force Racing
program.
“You have to take into account, who do I compete against?” Pedregon said. “I
compete against the John Force Racing team and they throw 4 cars at us. Then
you have Don Schumacher’s team which throws three cars at you and that's a
pretty tough company.
“It goes without saying for us to be able to slide into that company and win a
championship made a statement. For me, the most important thing was to
surround myself with good people and good partners and I think we've done
that. Once you have that it's up to myself, Dickie Venables and these
guys, we do the rest of the work. This, if we can pull it off, is more
gratifying than when I won the championship in 2003.”
Branching off on his own, Pedregon said, was a frightening experience.
I believe sometimes you have to take a chance and I was willing to do that. I think the scary part was the financial part of it. I mean these cars they'll consume everything the companies give you and then some. If you allow it to consume your own personal then it will, it'll take all you've got. That's one thing that I've learned about business.
“I believe sometimes you have to take a chance and I was willing to do that,”
Pedregon said. “I think the scary part was the financial part of it. I
mean these cars they'll consume everything the companies give you and then
some. If you allow it to consume your own personal then it will, it'll
take all you've got. That's one thing that I've learned about business.
“For me there was a balance, I mean I don't have the blank check to work
with. We've got a pretty strict budget to work with and I would say we've
done a lot for what we've had to work with because it may appear that we have
the kind of budget but I can tell you right now that I'm certain we don't have
the budget that Schumacher does. I can tell you without a shadow of a
doubt that we don't have anything close to what Force has. That's okay
because they've been here for many years, 30 years or so and I've been here on
my own for four years so it's been a challenge.”
Pedregon’s rise to the top of the class is something he said was achieved by
the help of family, friends and those close to the team.
“There’s no doubt that I’ve had to rely on people like [brother] Cruz who have
helped me,” Pedregon said. “[Crewchief] Dickie Venables assumes a lot of
responsibility that I put on him. We have great partners like Larry Minor and
the Maloof Brothers. Those are the guys right there that have come through and
made it a little easier for us to compete with these guys financially.”
Pedregon’s feelings weren’t
hurt that the championship scenario played right into his hands following
Because Pedregon didn’t
accomplish the latter, he had to take the former route.
“I knew that just one team was going to benefit more than any,” Pedregon said.
“For things to have shaken out the way they did in Vegas -- I mean it was a
little unexpected for all of us, us included. The key for us is that we
did capitalize on the opportunity that was there. Call it a break, call
it luck, sometimes there the same. Sometimes luck is when opportunity meets
preparation and it was out there and we made the best of it.”
Part of that luck, some say, was in meeting Cruz in the semis at Vegas. That
led to suggestions of a planned outcome.
“Without a doubt I knew that going in,” Pedregon said. “Cruz and I had a very
brief conversation in his pit area right near the CEO and VPs of Advance Auto
Parts and that was the extent of our conversation. For any of the critics
that are going to question, this team isn't structured like maybe some other
teams are. I don't have the luxury of going to Cruz and saying, ‘Hey I want you
to do this because I don't own that team.’
“He would love to renew his contract and extend his contract out and when
you've got that kind of person there,” he continued. “For anyone who says, ‘oh
that looks suspicious.”
“Then we can say that Jeff Arend's red-light looked kind of suspicious and
Jerry Toliver's first round looked suspicious too. That's just the way it
went that day. Call it Vegas luck. Call it what you like, but things
worked out well for us. I don't know if we could have asked for a better
situation but against Cruz our car went down the track as it did the first two
rounds.
“We were pleased with that and we were pleased that we crossed the finish line
ahead of Ashley so I know mentally yeah it's taken some of the pressure off but
not all of it. For me as long as some of that pressure's on I know I'm
going to get in this car and do the best that I can.”
If the situations were reversed and he was in the trio that lost first round,
would he still be a fan of the Countdown.
“Unfortunately I still would be,” said Pedregon. “I think there are some
improvements that could be made. I've had two races work out great for me
but honestly I'd love to see three or four races determine a champion.
It's because of things like what happened in Vegas that I've said that I think
it's a great concept but I think it needs a little bit of tweaking. I
believe in ten cars not eight.
“Why are they asking 10 drivers to stand up there if their not paying for
them? I think that's very unfair. We had a meeting and I hope that
some of those things are addressed because I mean we are the ones that put the
show on, we're the ones that put it on the line and I hope this relationship is
how a partnership should be. We should meet somewhere in the middle so I
should hope that there'll be a compromise and in time I would hope to see a
slightly better system. In terms of what it's done for the sport and the
excitement, I think it's a great concept, I just think it needs a little refining.”