Keith Haney doesn't even try to defend the logic. Because, in his words, there isn't any logic which can rationalize a person bolting radial tires to a nearly 3000-horsepower racing vehicle.

"A dumb person does it," Haney admits.

Those are Haney's words, not this writer's.

Haney races in the Radial vs. The World division, a staple of the radial drag racing movement. Essentially, he's got a Pro Modified capable entry with radial tires underneath.

"You know, drag racing in a whole is crazy anyway," Haney explained. "I don’t care whether its Top Fuel or whether it’s anything. It’s all crazy, and you know, the little tire stuff has just drew a lot of attention. Where can you go and all these fans are out here. I mean, you go to an NHRA race, you get these fans.

"But you go to the normal race track, you don’t get fans like this. We have a couple programs in Tulsa that have it, the Throwdown’s do. Then our new radial race that we added, we’re going into our fourth year with that and it’s good."

Much to his chagrin, Haney and brash Drag Radial promoter Donald Long are on the side of the tracks waving the radial racing banner.

Haney has every reason in the world to put his radial endeavors on hiatus, as he's crashed three times his Enigma-bannered entry already in the last two seasons.

"Pretty tough decision for me to put this back together after the last time," Haney admitted. "We made some mistakes and we come out fast too quick. And we just didn’t concentrate on some of the other issues that happen when you go too fast. And that was our fault. "

Maybe something was sending a message to Haney, who crashed in his first outing with the Radial vs. The World car. He was inclined to quit.

"Oh yeah.," Haney said. "And you always have that, especially when you get in a wreck. You think of your kids and your family and all that stuff. You know, at the end of the day, it’d be like you saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want you to go drive to work today’. Because it can happen to you going to work."

"Or you could wake up and not feel good today, and all of a sudden, you’ve got cancer. So, if I live my life, and I want to teach my kids that way if you live your life that you’ve got to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow, you can’t.

"You can prepare for tomorrow, but you can’t worry about tomorrow. You’ve got to live today. And, you know, that’s one of my quotes I do every day. You know, because that’s how I feel today. And I try to live by that. Quitting, that’s just tough for me to do."

Haney will readily admit the prospect of driving this volatile combination pales in comparison to the thought of having to be buddy-buddy with the Pied Piper of radials Long.

"I don’t like him," Haney said emphatically. "Don’t like him. We have some mutual respect for each other. I bring some fans out. But I’m one of the guys that everybody else is scared to be. I care about drag racing more than I probably do any sport. I love baseball, football, all that. But I care about drag racing.

"So, a lot of these guys would love to say and s*** talk, if you want to call it that. They would love to do it, but they’re worried about what somebody else is going to think. Everybody knows who Keith Haney is. They know that I’m a real, I’m a Dad, I’m a parent, I’m a husband, I’m a great business owner. People love working for me.

"I’m not the guy that everybody, some people may think, ‘Well, he’s an a-hole,' but that’s ok.

"It’s no different than the fake show at Street Outlaws. It’s just fake. They all think it’s real, but it’s all plotted. It’s no different than watching whatever series you like. The Walking Dead that ain’t real, is it? No, but they all believe something’s real in it, right?"

And for Haney, there's nothing more real than the challenge of racing a Pro Mod car on radial tires.