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.

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 Southern California,” said Pedregon, whose father was the legendary ‘Flaming’ Frank Pedregon. “I came from a pretty modest upbringing. There were five of us and our parents used to have to tie us up to the driveshaft of the car with a rope to keep us from running all over the place.”

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 Las Vegas. All he needed to do was qualify and the championship was his unless a driver set a record and won the race. If he won the first round, the door was slammed shut.

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.”