Piston rings are metal bands on the piston that help keep combustion pressure from leaking and help manage engine oil. If they scrape against the cylinder walls, they create extra friction and heat, which can wear the engine faster.
Cylinder walls are the inside surfaces of the engine cylinder where the piston slides. If the surfaces create too much friction with the piston rings, the engine can wear out faster.
Piston ring design is how the rings are built and shaped to seal properly and slide with less rubbing. The goal is less friction and less wear while still keeping the engine sealed and lubricated correctly.
Total Seal is a company that makes piston rings for engines. They’re being discussed here as a brand that makes rings aimed at reducing friction and engine wear.
This is the show’s drag-racing segment tied to NHRA events. It’s basically the part of the podcast where they talk about what’s coming up in the drag racing calendar.
The “NHRA countdown” is the final stretch of the season where points matter most. It’s when teams have to perform well because the championship is getting decided.
“Nitro cars” are drag racers that use nitromethane fuel. It helps them make a lot of power, but it also means the car needs special setup and careful handling.
A performance transmission is a stronger, race-focused gearbox. It’s designed to survive hard acceleration and deliver the right gearing for fast launches.
A torque converter is a part in an automatic transmission that helps the car get moving smoothly and strongly. For racing, it’s tuned so the engine hits the right power right at launch.
A junior dragster is a smaller drag-racing car for kids and teens. It’s often how young racers get started before moving up to adult classes.
Term
NAPs
“NAPs” sounds like a nickname or group name for people the speaker knew at the track. It’s probably not a general car term, more like a local racing-community reference.
Pro Stock Bikes are a motorcycle category in drag racing. The bikes are based on real models you can buy, but they’re modified to race hard and launch consistently.
Miami Hollywood Speedway was a drag strip in Florida. The “tree” reference means it was where they first experienced the start/launch setup as part of racing and announcing.
Division III is a regional part of NHRA drag racing. It groups events and people by location, and it’s often where careers start before stepping up to national events.
The chief starter is the lead official in charge of how races get started at NHRA events. They coordinate the starting crew and make sure the launch process is run correctly and safely.
Term
safety safari
“Safety safari” is a colloquial term used in drag racing for the safety-focused crew activity around the track and starting area. It generally refers to personnel checking conditions and responding to safety needs before and during events.
The “first hundred foot” is the very beginning of a drag race, right after the launch. It’s where cars are accelerating the most, so officials pay close attention to how things are going.
Track prep is what drag-race officials do to make the track surface consistent. It’s meant to help cars get good traction safely, instead of slipping or behaving unpredictably.
A racetrack is the specific place where cars race. In drag racing, it’s a straight strip, and officials watch it closely because car problems can spill onto the track.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made by Chevrolet. People often choose it for racing because it’s built for speed and handling. The podcast mentions a specific older generation (C5) that was used at the track.
“Hyper focus” just means concentrating extremely hard. In this job, it’s about staying fully locked in so nothing unsafe gets missed.
Term
flip the switch
“Flip the switch” is a motorsport slang phrase for initiating the race start sequence (the moment the starter system authorizes the launch). It’s not about an actual electrical switch being flipped by the driver.
“Alcohol” here means a specific type of racing fuel used in some drag-racing classes. It’s different from regular gasoline and changes how the car is tuned and run.
Term
showdown
“Showdown” sounds like a specific race category or segment the event uses. It’s the kind of label crews use to decide who runs what.
The starting line is where the race cars line up to launch. In nitro drag racing, it’s also where you’re closest to the intense blast and noise when the cars fire up.
“Flipping the switch” means the official starts the race and the cars are released to launch. With nitro cars, the moment they go is especially intense and requires instant control.
“Trackside” means standing right next to the racing action on the track. It’s a closer, more intense way to experience the cars going down the strip.
Term
V in between the lanes
The “V in between the lanes” refers to a specific spectator viewing area on a drag strip positioned between the two racing lanes. It’s described as a spot where fans can see and feel the cars’ passes closely, which the speaker claims changes how people understand the physics and forces involved.
Pomona refers to the NHRA drag racing venue in Pomona, California, known for hosting major national events. The hosts mention it as a place where fans can be brought trackside for a particularly immersive experience.
Car
top fuel dragsters
Top Fuel dragsters are the extreme drag-racing cars built to go as fast as possible over a short distance. The starter’s job includes watching for safety and readiness before the race begins.
A burnout is when the driver spins the tires to heat them up before the run. It helps traction, and it can also show if something is going wrong with the car.
Parachutes are used to slow the car down after the drag strip run. Officials watch that they deploy properly and that nothing is left stuck in the system.
The pre-sage lights are early signals in the drag strip countdown that tell the starter the cars are staged and ready. Once those lights come on, the starter is ready to trigger the final start.
In drag racing, staging is when the car is lined up and ready to launch. If a driver doesn’t stage, the officials have to decide what to do next so the race can start properly.
A “burn down” is when the car keeps running while it’s waiting to be allowed to start properly. It wastes fuel/time and can create timing problems, so officials try to avoid it.
Pro Mod is a drag-racing class for cars that are heavily modified for maximum speed. It’s not a stock car category—teams build specialized machines to go as fast as possible.
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car that’s meant to be practical for daily use. It can be used to transport items, especially when you’re loading gear or using a trailer. The podcast brings it up in that “moving equipment” context.
Term
top end of the track
On a drag strip, the “top end” is the part near the finish where cars are going their fastest. It’s the stretch where you can really feel how fast everything is happening.
In drag racing, “hitting the throttles” means the driver floors it at the start. That quick action helps the car accelerate hard and get up to speed fast.
Term
monitor that's slightly delayed
The monitor is showing the action with a small time lag. So what you see on screen happens just a moment after it actually happens on the track.
Term
six figure checks
“Six figure checks” just means extremely large money payments—hundreds of thousands of dollars. The point here is that getting a top seat can cost a lot.
Person
Ron Cap's motor sports
This is talking about Ron Capps’ racing team. He’s a famous drag racer, and his team is the group behind the cars and drivers.
NAPA Auto Parts is a company that sells car parts you can replace after the factory parts. Here, they’re being used as part of a sponsorship/rebrand story.
An apprenticeship is training where you learn a job by doing it with guidance from experienced people. They’re saying it can be a good path instead of a traditional college degree.
UNOH is a school/training program the speaker says some of their team members went through. They’re using it to show there are practical routes into automotive careers.
Junior drag racing is racing for younger drivers. The speaker is saying someone’s racing experience doesn’t automatically mean they know how to work on cars.
A drag race car is built specifically for straight-line acceleration over a short distance, typically with specialized traction, gearing, and engine tuning. Because the driver’s experience is so different from everyday driving, communication and storytelling matter for fans who can’t “feel” what the driver feels.
Concept
first runs
“First runs” are the early test passes where the driver and team learn how the car behaves. It’s when they figure out what feels right and what needs tweaking.
A short block is basically the engine’s bottom half. It’s the part racing teams build so they can swap engines quickly without rebuilding everything from scratch.
A “points lead” means one team has the most points in the season standings. It matters because it can change how teams approach races and how much they need to gain or protect.
A “hot track” is when the racing surface is warmer than usual. That can change how well the tires grip, so the car may need different setup to launch well.
A funny car is a type of NHRA drag racing car with a short, wide body and a highly modified, purpose-built drivetrain. They’re known for extreme acceleration and for being difficult to drive precisely because traction and clutch/engine management are critical.
“Motor-wise” means how the engine is performing—how strong it is and how it responds when you put power down. If the engine isn’t right, the car won’t run its best.
“Sonoma” is a well-known race track in California where major racing events happen. They’re saying the qualifying there is especially cool because it runs into the evening.
Niki Lauda was a famous Formula 1 race car driver. He had a serious crash and later came back to race again. Here, they’re talking about a photo related to that accident.
A diesel oxidation catalyst is a part in a diesel truck’s exhaust that helps clean up the smoke and gases. It works by turning some of the harmful stuff into less harmful emissions before they leave the tailpipe.
A diesel particulate filter is a device that catches soot from a diesel engine’s exhaust. Over time it needs to clean itself out so it doesn’t get blocked.
“OEM replacement” means the part is made to replace the original factory part. The goal is that it fits correctly and works the way the truck’s system expects.
Remanufactured means the part was taken apart and rebuilt, often using some original pieces plus new ones. It’s usually cheaper than brand-new, but quality can vary by supplier.
An internal combustion engine is the kind of engine that burns fuel inside the engine to make power. Fogging oil is meant to protect those internal parts during storage.
Term
double divisional
A “double divisional” is an NHRA race weekend where more than one set of competitors/classes are running over the same event. It changes the rhythm of the weekend, so teams have to plan for long days and quick turnarounds.
Term
towed out there
They mean they transported the race setup by towing it, usually with a truck and trailer. That’s common for race teams because the car is set up for racing and you want it protected on the trip.
In racing, a trailer is basically the team’s mobile home and storage. When you’re at the track for days, it’s where people sleep and keep their equipment ready.
LIVE
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ring. This is WFO Radio.
Hey everybody WFO Radio is back a little NHRA Nitro as we second off weekend so to speak for
the Mission Foods drag racing series and then it'll be on to the western swing Sonoma,
Seattle, back-to-back, little minor break, Brainerd, Minnesota, the big go. Just like
that the NHRA countdown is upon us. Regular season championships will be decided is crunch
time now. We've said it for so many years when Alan Reinhart would join us on the show
on Tuesdays like the western swing is where you got to have your stuff right. You got
to be a contender by the swing or show it on the swing. Now the swing is like a swish
right now with the two races Sonoma and Seattle maybe in the future another comeback who knows
but you still got to have your stuff right. So we got a big show for you today Ron Capps
gonna be on the show after the big Ron Capps Motorsports double last race out in Norwalk
Maddie Gordon or Maddie Gordon interview fire. It just was amazing not because of me because
of Maddie. Everyone loving Maddie Maddie has been everywhere because the girl can tell
a story. It's just that simple. What is it about Maddie? She can tell a really good story.
She's a storyteller and the people who are storytellers like John Forrest is a storyteller.
It's not that he's a maniac. He's a storyteller. Maddie is a storyteller and throughout the whole
interview she's just telling these great stories about what she thought. We're gonna see we're
gonna put Capps who's a pretty good storyteller to the test here on this show. Also Sadie Glenn,
Sadie gonna be joining us. Sadie a friend has taken over the world by storm. She is a man.
She reminds me a lot of so many of us like myself who work in drag racing but dream so big that
someday maybe if the thing goes in the right direction and she did it she won a Wally and it
was amazing. It was like tearful and have to have Sadie on the show. She was on Life's a Drag
last week with Elon and Abby. They did a great job but we got to have Sadie on the show. She's
got to start a surprise set up for Sadie. Gonna be fun and I'm gonna ask her also a little bit
about all this top dragster stuff. Fast cars, slow cars. I've lost the plot. I'm lost. What are we
what are we doing? I love this stuff. What are we trying to accomplish? What's wrong? What's fit?
What are we fixing? I don't know. See what Sadie says because she's a top dragster race. She goes
680s. She's not slow by any means. And Kenny Labansky. Kenny like the modern era Buster couch.
What is that? Yeah, the guy in the red pants guys. The guy with the responsibility of flipping the
switch when nitro cars are in the final round. Kenny's gonna be first up. I think it's great.
Like every other chief starter of the NHRA has been this known entity like this position of
high regard and respect. And so Kenny is out there doing a great job kind of under the radar.
And so we're gonna get to know Kenny Labansky a little bit. What is it like? What is his job?
What does he do? How does it all go? How does he stand it? Being out there. I'm a little further
behind him, but it's tough. We're gonna do all that on the show. We ask you to share the show.
Of course, yes, have a great day. Hopefully you had a great 4th of July, all that stuff.
But I do want to shout out to a couple of the people who make it possible. We'll get into it
later. But Jesse Converters, Global Emissions System Incorporated, the G-Sport brand,
and the DPFX fit. Catalytic Converters guys for over the road trucks. You already heard a little
bit about Total Seal Piston Rings. Larisse Motorsports Insurance though. I didn't buy the company,
but I'm definitely a client and I like their product because I know my race car is protected
somehow, some way from the havoc that can happen to use another term, if you will. But this is
racing specific. LarisseMotorsportsInsurance.com. FTI Performance Transmissions and Tour Converters.
Shout out to those guys. Paul Lee in a very rare position. Got a chance to win a lot of money.
Redline Synthetic Motor Oil, HussiePerformance.net. Shout out to Hussie, our friends at Bernie's,
a Speed Shop, Fogget, of course, Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, and Marvin Rodax Coffee
and Grills.com. We'll get into the sponsors. A little more in depth, including our patrons,
but right now, let's bring on the chief starter of the National Hot Rod Association,
Mr. Kenny Labansky. Kenny, welcome. What's going on, Joe? No red pants, Kenny. I thought we had
an agreement. Not right now. Those are for race days. I got it. I'm kidding. I'm
kidding, of course. But you do get to wear the throwback scheme and the whole safari this year,
the starting line crew, that I think it's a brilliant idea, and the fans have responded,
at least the ones I've heard of. What kind of response have you gotten to the starting line
crew and your gear this year? Everything's been positive. I mean, when we came out in Gainesville,
people were really happy about it, honestly. It's probably been, what, 31 years since anyone's
had red pants on out there. Every race we go to a couple of drivers, fans during the track walk
will come up and give some compliments, and they're really taken to it. I hope it's something that's
going to continue when we move on to further seasons. You must have selfie. You've got to have the
selfie with Kenny on the starting line. People are already chiming in. People from overseas.
Greetings from the Netherlands, from Danny and Aga, from DHRA. You've got fans from across the pot.
Yes, they came over a couple of years ago and worked with us in Las Vegas in the spring,
as when I met them, actually. And then last year, someone came over that they knew and they sent
a timing shirt from their association to me, so I owe them one back, probably one of the new white
ones. Ah, there you go. And look, there's a conversation between them, like, hey, were you at
Santa Pond? All that. The drag racing community extends beyond our borders. That is, so let's
talk about you personally, like, all right, how did you get into this, Kenny? What's your story and
your road to your position? I've got questions about the responsibility that goes with being on the
starting line. But most importantly, how did you fall in love with drag racing? It's usually never
an accident. What was the deal? So it would be my dad's fault. He and his buddies were drag racing
fans long before I came around. So once, I think I was about two when my mom allowed me to start
going and my dad had a big passion for it as a fan. So I thought that. And where's home for you?
Spotsman, New Jersey was originally and now I'm in Indianapolis, Indiana.
So your original track was English Town? Yep.
So many time there. Wow. I raced juniors there. After that, I raced my street car here and there
a little bit and then I was going to be there anyway. So I started working. Wow. It's kind of
taken off in a way that I never would have expected all the way to be
being the chief starter of the NHRA. It's pretty crazy to think back as the 10-year-old kid running
in junior dragster out there with the NAPs and everybody. So on that, David NAP was a friend
and may he rest in peace. I know Eddie Craywick was the track manager for a little while. What
era of English Town? Like who was around you? Who was running the show? Was it Eddie's era?
Was it David? When David was doing it, paint the picture for us so we can understand what chaos
you came up through. So I came in just after Eddie started going to the pro stock bikes.
I worked a couple races here and there, some of the bigger stuff, but
they had just moved on to a different general manager who didn't last very long. But
I worked with David NAP a lot. Paul Bailey and Tom Rusko was on the starting line as their main
starter for 2009 to 2018 when they closed. And how I lost my home track. I got the Miami
Hollywood Speedway tree back there. That's where I got my first runs in as an announcer, as a racer.
I miss it deeply. It's like having a part of you cut out, but it's been gone for a long,
long time. The English Town folks still going through it. Oh yeah. If you follow any of their
pages, they are still wishing it would come back. I mean, everything's out there. They're still
operating as a drift track and motocross and everything else. So I could see why they want
that to come back. But it was a heartbreaking day in early 2018 to get that phone call. But
my wife said when one door closes, another one opens and
the NHRA was not far behind calling me to come out and start working. Wow. So
that's an interesting connection that I was not aware of. You were able to come out on the tour.
So talk a little bit about that. We could wax nostalgic about E-town as much as we want.
And certainly would love to see the drag racers who invented the place get to use the place at
some point again in the future. But that could just make us all angry. So let's focus on the
positive, which is you've blossomed. You've done a great job out there and a very challenging,
difficult position. As I understand it, I've never heard anyone complain. The racers,
they're the first to complain. I've never heard anyone complain. So how did you
get the opportunity at NHRA and walk us through to how you ended up as the starter?
So I started in Division III, which is the mid-north central area.
Yep. Indianapolis, Norwalk, Will Tharp, Division Director.
Yep. I did that for about three seasons. And then 22, I got the opportunity to come over to
the national side as the assistant starter and just kept working and doing what I love. And
somehow, I guess, PRO was very happy with me and upper management in our company
decided that they wanted to go this way. And last year in 25 was my first season
leading the way for every national event. And then in Gainesville this year is when they
debuted the chief starter position again. So that was a pretty big deal.
A big deal. I'm thinking about Buster Couch and Rick Stewart and Mark Lyle was a great friend.
May he rest in peace, passed away saving someone's life like amazing. Mike Giddings,
this is a very rare position. One of one in NHRA and I'm sure that they, you know, like to bring
back the chief starter position, they weighed that very carefully. What goes into the job,
Kenny? Talk a little bit about what you're doing up there. You're leading a crew. There's the whole
safety safari is part of it. But whatever that you are able to share with us, so we understand
there's not just the guy flipping a switch on the starting line. You're the leader of a team
out there in many ways. Yeah. And some people think it's just switching, flipping the switch,
but that's not all that goes into it. Probably the first hundred foot is technically my area
of expertise, but, you know, I help in with all the track prep decisions and trying to make sure
that we're going to have a safe and good racetrack. I'm always just watching the cars, you know,
watching the racetrack itself is the best thing you can do to figure out if something's wrong,
because if something's coming out of that car, it's going to be on the racetrack.
Um, you know, Dallas Glenn had an issue last weekend in Norwalk, and he's coming back and
I could see a couple of specs of something. And as he came past me, there was just a big puddle
of fuel. So, you know, fuel, maybe not that big of an issue, but when it's pouring out of the car
like that, you can't let him go down. So we're always looking out safety is number one.
Performance of the track is number two. And you just go on from there.
Yeah, that right there is what I want to get into in that. You have to, you bring these decisions
home, I'm sure. Sometimes when it's a tough decision, you got to cut someone off and
bust her, got a lot of fame for that. But I'm sure he carried it before I tell you about that,
though. You got people shouting out, man. Moody Drag Racing Chronicles says,
what's up, Kenny? Friday night's under the tower. E-town for life. This guy,
Fast Eddie, ran junior from 97 to 03 out there at E-town. Great hearing from Kenny, says Troy Hall.
C5 Pete raced E-town up until 2008 and from 2008 until it closed. English Town has left
huge mark on the sport of drag racing. It was a big event. You know, probably one of the big
four at the time when we were running over there. We never had the official final event.
Yeah, we did the 2017 race and thought we were getting another one. And February of 2018,
we got, they got cut off at the knees and they probably deserved that final moment. It would
have been huge, but what can you do? Yeah, what can you do? It would have been too crazy. People
would have been cutting things apart and they've been blow torches. They would have been taking the
scoreboards. They would have been walking out with the scoreboards. It would have been crazy.
I would have been one of them. Yeah, me too. You get a second tree back there.
So someone wants to know if you apply for the job of starter. I think that's the kind of job
where they come to you and can you talk about that, how it went down? Yeah, I mean, that's kind
of how it went. You know, when I started working at English Town, every year that the divisional
would come through, I would hand Dave Moon my resume. And probably by the third or fourth year,
he was like, I get it, Kenny, you want to do more work. English Town really liked having me there.
So they didn't want me to do too much of divisional stuff.
So nothing really happened until the doors closed. And it was probably within the week
after getting a call that they closed that division three called me to go out there.
So I packed up the car, my wife, and we moved to Indianapolis and did the division stuff,
which I really enjoyed for a couple of years. And then when I got the opportunity to be
on the national side as the assistant starter, things just panned out the way that they were
going to. And now I get to wear the red pants. It's just like that, kids. All you kids out there,
you want to know how you get a job. This guy just laid it out, right? Let him know that you want it,
right? He told Dave moan to the point Dave moan, maybe was a little annoyed, but he got the message.
And then you moved. Oh, man, I don't know if I want to move, then you don't want the job,
you moved to do it, you brought the fam. That's great. All right. What what makes a good starter,
Kenny? What are the skill sets? What's the skill set that you employ that you believe
makes you a good starter or would make because local tracks? Maybe they'll watch this and maybe
they're trying to coach up a starter that needs to be good. What advice would you offer?
Well, every everybody's going to do it a little different. As you've seen watching on the national
side, every every chief starter has had a little different twang to him. My thing is patience.
Just keep your calm. You know, if you're getting flustered, you're flustering the driver,
you're getting the crew riled up, you don't want, you don't want to make a situation that's already
negative even worse. So just being calm and being able to talk people back from the edge sometimes,
you know, if you're shutting somebody off, they're usually not going to be happy.
I've had some pretty rude things said to me sometimes and you don't want to fire back and
get people more fired up. So you just got to be patient. You got to pay attention. There's a lot
of stuff happening very fast and the higher and faster you get in ranks of classes, you know,
the faster your decisions have to be. So you got to be on point.
You know, a lot of people give me credit for being able to hyper focus, I guess is the best term.
But I'm always trying to watch out for the drivers and my people and the crew and making sure nobody's
going to get hurt in any situation. Now that makes sense. All right. So you mentioned fast classes.
Let's talk pros. Although Lonnie wants to know, and this is a good question, I've seen you start
everything right? He was just the chief starter start every class or just the majority of the
classes alongside with an assistant. Like I remember like Buster, you know, being out there
forever millions of pairs, right? Like that's not that's not right. Like there's got to be
other people that can flip the switch. Yeah. In case so for Lonnie, you know, what classes
other than the pros do you jump in there for? So I mean, I'll jump in here and there throughout
the day, depending on how many people we got working with us up there. Normally I'll start a day. So
either super street or stock. And then I'll let my crew handle the rest of them. Then we decide
for who's going to get alcohol? Who's going to get showdown? You know, I try to keep those consistent
for those classes. But I've started everything that we have out there. No problem.
That's great. That's great. Okay, so this this guy Troy, he goes ask him about the Jason Collins
deal. Like we all lived that one together, right? I mean, that was a little new. You know, that
usually doesn't happen with someone tagging the wall lightly. I knew the rule was he could hit
the wall or cross the centerline. You know, he didn't hit a block. He didn't hit the tree itself.
So I watched him get the steering wheel back on there. I was confident that that was just a
mistake that they made. They backed the car up. And there was nothing coming out of it.
There was no damage to the tire or the steering that I could see. There was a little cosmetic
damage. So I was on the radio with Mike Rice saying, you know, just confirm that he's good
because I'm good with his car. And Rice said, no, he's good to run. And we sent him on their way.
And he went straight down the track. I think he went 577 if I remember for the win.
Yeah, one the round. That's he got there first in a great race that was out of control. And there's
a video that was under control, but it was amazing to watch of Jason and Courtney calling that race
somewhere in my social feeds. One of the first things I did with my Meta Glass is just walking
in the studio there catching that run. Amazing. That'll be bringing that up forever. Quick
decision making. All right, let's talk about how the pros are different. Nitro in particular.
I get to stand on the starting line a little bit further back than you. And I'm happy about that.
You are getting blasted by nitro cars every time down. One of the rarest places in the world.
What is that like? And how is flipping the switch for nitro cars different just in terms
of feeling and responsibility? You know, I don't want to say there's more pressure because I try
to treat every class out there like it's a big deal. You just got to be quicker. It's going to
be more violent up there. We chew a lot of spearmint gum, which helps kind of take the nitro
out of your eyes and kind of let you breathe a little bit better, which is a little trick.
I don't know if I would trade a lot of things in the world for it. It is one of the best
experiences you could have. So I like the thing that we're doing now. We're bringing fans out
there to stand kind of trackside and giving more people that experience, which is great because
not many people get to do it and it is a life changing experience.
I agree. think it's one of the best things we do, especially in certain places.
Pomona is one where we can can get people out there to the V in between the lanes
and they are changed forever. They're literally changed forever. They come up as one person with
a certain understanding of like life and physics and expectations of what parts of their body can
vibrate and then they leave different. They're like, oh, I never felt my spleen before. That's
different. It will certainly show you some things that you didn't know existed in your body or
try to keep my nose clear. So I'm not spitting anything out of my face as every pair goes
down the track, especially if you got Randy or someone with a TV camera in your face.
Right. Exactly. All right. I think I might have a video of you in action. Let's see what we got.
Let me see what I can bring up here as Kenny Labansky, our chief starter for the NHRA,
making his first WFO appearance. I think this one says short. Let's see if this is
going to work. There he is right in the middle.
Maddie Gorton historic first win and Ron is signing on in that moment.
Like you got to do the same thing every time. Can you can you share with us like how you
process the lights coming on and the flip of the switch? Is that something you can share?
Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, if, if you really get to watching me, I kind of
take the same steps over and over. I kind of walk, walk the same circle if you would.
You know, so like top fuel dragsters, depending on which one's coming at me first and the burnout
and trying to watch it go by, see if anything's coming off on the burnout or if I could see
something spraying out of one of the lines. So watch them go past me. Then I'm watching them
come back. I'm trying to look at the parachutes, make sure there's no pins left in them. Just
trying to look at everything operational on the motor. If the car's a canopy car, making sure
the canopy is closed, just trying to look out for them. If they didn't see something during
their turnaround or something I forgot, just trying to pick up the slack for the team,
you know. So then they get back. I kind of look back at the track, make sure none of my crew
guys are out there still picking up parts, you know, make sure everything's clear and safe to go
down. So then I'll kind of walk back into my position, do one more once over on both cars.
Then I'm watching the crew chiefs, then they'll signal to each other when they're good to go.
And after that, I kind of focus in on the lights. And then once I see two
pre-sage lights, I'm hitting that switch. And it's their game after that.
Wow. That is awesome. And it is. It's their game. I've been watching your thumb.
But since you're coming on, I'm going to focus on this guy. Buster Couch, what do you say about
Buster? I mean, he's a legendary figure. I never got to meet Buster, but I was aware of Buster.
And Rick Stewart and everybody, Mark Lyle, of course, you coming in rather recently. I don't
know what connection you may have had to any of those gentlemen, but you certainly
know Buster and his legacy. What does it feel like to stand in that spot?
It's a huge honor, honestly. To do it even before the title change was one of the greatest things
that I've ever gotten the chance to do. And to get the official title and to put on the red pants
is a really big deal. It means the absolute world to me. I love getting to come out and do this.
And I hope I'm making those guys proud that were before me. And I'm just going to keep working
forward. And hopefully I get to do it for a very long time. That's my plan.
Well, you're doing a good job. And I admire what you do. And I appreciate what you do.
And everyone around there, like Kenny is a well-liked guy out there.
And in my estimation, nobody's told me anything. Is there anything that we didn't discuss that I
didn't ask? I didn't ask the right question. You got to know about this, Joe. Is there anything
that we didn't cover that we needed to? Not off the top of my head. I'm always open to doing
more shows if we've got more questions or if people start asking stuff after this.
And we've got to get together again. I'm always game to do that.
All right. Here's one before we go. We've got Ron queuing up down there, but I'm not going to bring
him and you on. So there's no, like, you know, we can't be building relationships between drivers
and chief starters. Got to keep those walls separate. But what's your decision process
when drivers won't stage, i.e., a burn down? That's a good one, right? Because we love a
burn down. The announcer's staging dual burn down, whatever you want to call it. Like,
I wanted to go a minute and a half, two minutes, four minutes, five minutes, not cool.
At some point, the starters got to do something. What's your philosophy on that?
So, you know, nitro is a different ballgame. You're probably not going to get too many of them,
but sometimes you got to hustle somebody around. The other classes, you know, it all depends on
what class you're running. Everyone's got a different wait time that they could sit there
before motors get hot. And you got to worry about engine problems or oil downs. I think my
favorite one was back in Gainesville a couple of years ago during ProMod. It was probably two,
two and a half minutes long. I'm all for, you know, if the racers want to play games,
then you guys are going to play games. I try not to step in. If it gets a little carried away,
or we got to start worrying about that there's going to be problems. That's when you'll see me
walk up and motion some people forward, but I'm all for, you know, let the drivers play. This is
their arena. I like it. You know, we, the announcers, of course, we love it. I think I was on the mic
for the one you're talking about. I love that stuff. At the same time, there's also, there's live TV,
and is there a storm coming? You're factoring in all of these things that people probably don't
even consider. We will have you back, Kenny. Thank you. I appreciate you coming on the show. What
were you about to say? I was just going to agree with you on that. Yes. Well, that's the thing
that people don't realize. There's 10 factors that they didn't consider. Are we live? Is Fox going to
go to the next sport at the strike of the top of the hour? Are they going to give us an additional
minute? That 20 second burn down could be the difference with ProStock getting on the air,
not getting on the air, being on like FS5. There's all these different elements that maybe people
don't understand. Hopefully they understand a little bit more, though. Kenny, thank you for
coming on the show. I'll see you next weekend in Sonoma. I appreciate you greatly, and I'm glad
that you're the guy that wears the red pants as well. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate it. There
goes Kenny Labansky, chief starter for the National Hot Rod Association. Great job. Appreciate Kenny.
And yes, like I do my own job, but I monitor other people as well. Like what are they doing?
What's going on out there? What's this person's job? Or is this person doing a good job? And
Kenny is well-loved out there, and I appreciate him for coming on the show. Ask him about his cat,
Nacho. I encountered the cats before he came on when we did the test. I met Ash. I met the
cats. He's a cat guy. I'm We got that connection as well. All right, Ron Capps coming
up next. We're going to talk about Matty Gordon and also Ron Capps won something. Did he? What was it?
Maybe we should all just leave. That was Cat's last thing he said to me before I talked to him
now. He's like, maybe we should all just leave when Matty jumped up on the stage. A great moment.
We will talk about that. If you're a fan of Ron Capps or if you're a fan of Nitro, if you're a fan
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Hey, Brown and Ron Capps, who joins us now with his monster energy hat. There he is. Ron Capps,
what's up? How are you? Congratulations. Hey, I hear you just fine. Good. How are you? I'm well.
And then do you remember that moment where you looked at me and you said, we should all just
leave. Yeah, I was going to head to the back gate. I said that if I happen to win, I'm just
going to probably leave. And if she wins, I'm, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. And I
didn't. It's funny watching everybody's different posts and videos from the top in,
you know, because obviously we're down there watching the monitor. Yeah, the look, you know,
Shelly and Taylor were there down at the top in. Joe Sable from Carlisle is down there. Obviously,
Paul and Ted, everybody from our team. And just to, to watch it back was, I had no idea. I was in
my own little world and hearing the cars at the top in. Fans will understand when you sit near
the top end of the track, you actually see cars come at you before the noise. And way down there,
you hear the throttles being hit by Antron and Maddie. And we're watching a monitor that's slightly
delayed. And so you're looking and I, they were locked together. And obviously, I know how good
Antron is on the tree. And you hope that, you know, that we give them a good run for the money,
their cars running great. And then all of a sudden on the monitor, Maddie's car just drives away. And
I just, it was so surreal to watch that happen. And it's pretty cool to watch back. Oh my gosh,
I can't even imagine. Like in an interview like this, you've been on a lot. I don't know how many
of your 80 wins you've come on WFO radio, but quite a few, I would say at least 25, like a lot,
like a lot, you come on a lot. This one is different. so different because
it's your first double up as a team owner, which is rare and not guaranteeable. Like that's math.
It's the crazy cosmic deal. And the pride, like I want to get into pride, like some people put
pride as a sin. No man, pride is what makes things happen. And you did something that was totally
against conventional logic. You gave a job to someone who had never done the thing that you
were giving them a job for, drive a top field dragster. There were people, I'm sure they had,
they had six figure checks to drive your car to be part of Ron Cap's motor sports.
And you went against all of that. And it paid off. Yeah, you know, we've talked about it since
we made the announcement that we were bringing Maddie in and I've talked many times about how
this all started with Andretti's and kind of bring them into the sport. And then things kind of fall
apart there. And then just kind of navigating and then having, you know, the people from Carlyle
want to rebrand the whole Carlyle tool with Napa auto parts and just it just the way it
fell together. But we were committed and I already, you know, it was already going behind the scenes
and really we didn't have anything signed till Saturday. I think Maddie and I sat down and we
actually signed the contract with her and got everything done in Dallas until October. So
there was a lot of stressful moments going on behind the scenes. But yeah, the way we built it
around her, I mean, it just everything the way it culminated. But, but you know, I keep, yeah,
there's a lot of Maddie out there and there's a lot of excitement with the fans and Maddie, but
you can't discount what Rob Flynn and Troy fashion, Chuck Grosspitch, the whole team, we built.
I've got a lot of young guys on my team and you and I do the yes program with these kids on Friday
mornings. Yeah, thousands of them sometimes on Friday mornings that come out from high schools
that don't know what they're going to do. And we tell them there's so many good avenues with
Napa and the Carlyle team and the apprenticeship and these colleges you can go to for two years and
these options that kids have now that want to work on cars, be it, you know, a hybrid or an
electric car or old school cars, but rather than go into a four-year college and we preach to these
kids that there's great options out there. But you walk in our pit area and we've got a very young
group and my team personally, several on my team that went through UNOH and UTI and all these colleges.
But her team, we put together a super young team. One kid I know for sure,
junior drag race with Maddie and it never worked on a car. So it was this
Git Rob Flynn. We won it from the beginning and then things didn't happen. He went over to Rick
Wehres and so then it fell back into our lap. But you know, Maddie and I have had this conversation
and it's not Maddie that beat Sean Langdon. It's not Maddie that beat Tony Stewart. It's really a
good car. And I think Amanda Busek, we talked to her at the beginning of the Fox show. I said,
this is a win waiting to happen, but not really thinking, you know, it was going to happen this
soon or the way it went down. And obviously she had to race some really good cars. We had the
Spencer Massey matchup that almost didn't happen where her day almost was done before a Chuck
Grosspitch got the car started there with Rob and the guys. So so many things that just happened.
But I keep, I want to reiterate how good our team is and how I walk in that pit,
I walk into Rob's lounge and I have to look around and go, my God, I can't believe I own another team.
But it's cool to go in there and sit down and see the approach they're going to have,
talk to Guido about our approach and just watch everything came together. And it is much more
and Maddie's obviously doing a great job at everything she does. We knew that and I knew that.
Some people did you know that she would be this that natural with the media, the storyteller.
I don't know if you heard at the start of the thing I watched. We put up some clips
from her interview last week and just the storytelling ability that she has like that's
that's it. We're quantifying it for others even like you need to be able to tell a good story
when you're in a drag race car because no one knows what it's like, man. We can't feel that.
You got to tell us. You got to tell us the story. And that's how force made it became famous.
Yeah, Elvis. He saw Elvis at a thousand foot. What? What do you mean? Yeah, told a great story
and she's got this ability to bring you in the car with her. Yeah, that's what's unique. Well,
if you talk to her, she's going to tell you we spent a lot of time talking about her first runs
or how it's going to feel well before she got her license. I mean, we had a year to build up to this
and interviews and the way I wanted her to drive the car and things I liked and didn't like from
watching people that I thought were great drivers and the way they were off the track. There's so
many billboardy interviews out there that are just, you know, we used to joke about it, but Mark
Martin was like, he'd get out of the car back in the day and ask, I love Mark Martin, by the way,
and he would just rattle off the sponsors. And it was like Kenny Bernstein, great about
rattling off the sponsors, but you tone that out a lot of times as a fan. You've heard it,
you know it, you see it, right? You see all the stuff they're wearing and we're wearing and so
we wanted to leave her. Listen, Snake hired me and I never had to go to school for media
and he never asked me to nor did any of my sponsors and we wanted to do the same thing. And I had
you, I had Bruno, I had so many people when this was building and we knew we were going to hire
before we even announced the sponsor, pull me aside and say, do not change her, please do not
change her, which I didn't plan on doing anyway. And so to answer your question, she reminded me a
lot of me, but she reminded me a lot of Blaine Johnson and the way that she is around the car,
the way she drives it, the way she feels it. If you talk to Rob Flynn, he's going to tell you,
because I hear him telling people all the time that he cannot believe the feel that she has for
a car and the things that she notices and relays back to the team is unbelievable. And I used to
have that told, Roland Neon used to tell me the same thing and so I know Blaine was the same way.
And so a lot of drivers out there, I'm just mentioning those few things that really caught my
eye and I knew that she'd be great. I knew she'd be great at just being herself and I knew she'd
be great in the car and around the car. So the rest of it just comes. I mean, she obviously messing
around and walking the trailer early on, one or two races in, she's with our new kid that builds
the engines and she's helping them build the engine. And then that engine went in the car and I think
they ended up beating Tony Stewart at whatever race it was. So how many drivers in the pit,
including myself, got to put together a short block that's going to go in the car that you're
going to drive 330 and beat one of the biggest legends in the sport. So just little things like
that that go on behind the scenes that fans don't even know about. And I knew it. I knew that
she'd be great. It's fun to watch the fans sort of get to know her a little bit more.
Well, you deserve it. You do. You do. I know like we've, I ask you about this all the time, but
it's, it's true. It's counterintuitive. You went in a different direction. It's paying off.
Hopefully others will do the same. But apparently you also won something. So I guess we got to
talk about Cap's win as well. Right? Right? Do you ever get to talk about yourself anymore? You
have to win. Hey, I've said this to you too. I'm okay with it. Trust me. I'm okay when the
cameras come around. You should see our media requests that we had last week from Allison,
our publicist, and Jessica of what Maddie and I did media-wise last week. And Maddie had a lot
more requests, trust me. And this week, including your show, it is every day and it is nonstop.
News Nation, right? She did News Nation or is about to do News Nation?
Yeah. She did News Nation last week. It's just been unbelievable to watch. And I love it. I love
every bit of it. I love the fact that I won my 80th win. They had a banner and it went up on social
media and I saved it and it's gone. It's like, it was so overlooked, which, which again, I am so
okay with. I wake up every morning and I'm like, I can't believe that happened. I forgot that we won
with a funny car. So Guido had a great post on Facebook and I want to share it. It's his personal
page. My wife had to show me. I didn't even see it, but he just had a great post just talking about
the teams on that side of things and Rob and how everybody came together. But again, man, we just
got such a great group that we put together and young, young, several kids on her team had never,
I mean, I think the bottom end guy worked at a gas station. That was his only job before he had
hired on our team. So it was really cool to watch these guys get hired. And it says, for all you
kids out there, or parents that have kids and don't know what they want to do, it's possible and
probable that they can end up on a race team if they wanted to or a great job. And we're, we are
proof our team is proof. Trust me. Yeah, I'm looking at Guido's post right now, like more words
that have ever come out of Dean Antonelli publicly in one spot. Amazing. Just really good. And we
will share that as well if he's cool with it. Let's talk about your round by round. But I do want
to put a period on that in that the youth, right? Like we want to know we want young people to be
involved and interested in the sport that we love, right? Like why, why don't the young people
and then you put like one of their own in front of their face and all of a sudden networks want
them and the requests go up. It's not, it's not trigonometry here. It's young people like to see
young people like themselves to know that they can do it too. Like, oh, that's for me. Yeah,
it's a different world when you and I were younger. It is so crazy. Education-wise, but also the
workforce out there and so many opportunities that kids can go write to work. And it's two years of
your life. And then if you don't want to do it, if you do, you got enough money, you can buy a house,
you can start a family, all kinds of great opportunities. You and I, we were dying to beat
our friends to a job, right? I had 10 of my friends wanting the same job at the same machine
shop in our little town. Now it's the other way around. These people are clamoring for people
to come to work. So I love when you and I and Bob Taska and we talk to these kids and let them
know that there are some great options out there and the world is their oyster right now, so to
speak. So I had my little nephew with me there and I walked into Bob and I was like, hey man,
you know, the big problem is that he doesn't get to see the yes program speech. And he's like,
can you give him the quickie version? And he pulled him aside and he gave him the
what for? For about a minute. Did he give him the AI part? I love that part. He gave him,
he gave him, it wasn't as stern as it can be, but it was definitely an intense experience for the
15 year old. We were young, it was called Scared Straight, right? MTV. Yes. It captures the soft,
open, the nice, it's going to be okay kids. And then Taska comes in and gives them the real deal.
All right, let's talk about your round by round. Bobby Bodie first round. That's never easy. You
guys uncorked the 927. Then you go up against JR Todd, 94-3. Then you go up against Alexis,
having one of her best races. 405 had to catch it there, setting up the final round against
Jack. Just kind of walk us through to the final round and then I want to talk a little preparation
for the final. Yeah, Bodie's fun. I love that kid. He keeps reminding me that the odds that one of
these days he's going to beat us. I always say when you say that, it's going to happen. Great
car. I hate racing them because they're going to go down the track. JR fighting us for the
points lead. They're right there and great run again by Guido. We're just starting to hit our
stride and that's another team up there and the points that we knew that we could gain a little
more ground. And then of course, Alexis' team running great with Zippy and all them. And that's
a big, that's a car that you're going to have to battle down the road as well. Guido shut me off.
It didn't run as good as it would have. They started putting a cylinder up, but it was a hot
track. Obviously they lost traction, but we went down there pretty far and then they hit the button
on me and shut it off. It might have got a slain choice, but it didn't in the final because they
shut me off and it didn't matter. Beckman, those guys picked the right lane and that's another
team. Obviously we got to go through for a world championship and they were running great. It was
Jack's birthday, so I thought, oh my God, I'm outgunned here. And another great run by Guido and
the guys just, it was, you had to be perfect. I mean, you had to be perfect as a driver and keep
it in the groove. Very important, very hard to do in a funny car. And very, you had to be perfect,
clutch-wise and motor-wise because it was tricky. It was hot, sun, disappearing, sun coming out.
It was one of those days where Guido earned his keep. I mean, he's, you know, the scoop,
ice cream scooper. I gave the, I don't even have one. And I had to get, they don't make any more
than one. Vader won't make you another one. So that thing is so huge, but I was so, I was more
excited about the interview watching Fox later that as soon as I got up to the winter, so if I
gave it to Guido, I mean, it's just that thing is he earned every bit of it. So big, big, big win,
gained a lot of ground, the points. I'm not sure how much that means anymore, but I mean,
it means a little bit of money. If you can win that regular season, it means you get a jump on
the points going into the countdown. Obviously, we've got a lot of races left, but it definitely
is cool. Well, you do have a considerable lead just looking at it moments ago.
Matt, he's fourth in the points, your first in points. 121 ahead of Matt Hagan, 123 ahead of
JR, 128 ahead of Jack. So you got a Troika of killers champions right behind you, but 121 point
lead. That's a pretty solid lead, but can't get away with it. Guido was kind of funny. I did want
to do an interview with him and he's like, Oh, you remember, we're here. I was like, Hey, you're
the one running off the starting line, dude. And he, because he takes the short shoot under the
tower and he's like, or walking fast, walking fast, okay, with authority. We don't run on the
starting line. He never runs. I would be concerned if he was. Truly. Getting ready for Sonoma,
a track that you love going there, coming in off a double. Can't imagine it would be better than
that. Normally the family is there hanging out, enjoying, having fun, not this year. You put
them all to work. Everybody has a job. Taylor getting in the shirts, everyone, Shelley, everyone
working. Be a little different, but it's going to be a big race regardless. Yeah, a lot of fun.
We do the motor home thing and our friends and family and the barbecue and stay at the track.
It's been a ritual. We're doing a brewery kickoff at Russian River the Wednesday. We always do that,
the kickoff. That'll be fun for the fans that live near there. A lot of crazy other stuff with
partners and people that come out to that race. The weather's always great. And it's always a big
event for us. And it's my home really closest to my home and Maddie's home. So pass the robles and
and where I grew up just close to where she grew up. There's only a few hours south of there.
So that's definitely a home track. I just got Nitro Mall is going to have a brand new shirt.
They will have there at the tent for people going to that race and online of Maddie's first win.
It's a very cool design. Taylor on our team designed a first win that they can pick up at
our pit area and our kiosk right there, the Maddiel sign. So two really cool things
the fans can get that the first win shirts are awesome. Both of them. Fans are going to love that.
So and just kind of gearing up for the race day. It's a big event for us. So obviously you want to
carry that momentum and then it's back to back with Seattle. So that Friday night at Sonoma is
probably I would say possibly it's probably the coolest qualifying session of the whole season.
And it's the sun goes down and records fall and and it's a it's a cool place. So you don't get
much better than that five o'clock session going right into the eight o'clock that night. So it's
old school flames for the fans and and very cool. So we'll see we can't extend the points lead.
There you go. Ron, thank you very much. I appreciate you greatly. Congratulations on your
success to this to this point this season. 80 wins. That is an unbelievable milestone.
You know, John Forrest, right? Like this guy like incredible, but 80 wins. Let's not let's not
and you got a lot more coming to get a lot more coming. So good luck. Check it out, Joe. Yes,
Nicky. Yeah, picture. Yes. You will never guess who gave me that picture and he actually took that
and sent it framed. My buddy Whit Baysmore, who's a great photographer of Nicky Lauda.
Nicky Lauda. It's a great close up shot of them all burned up from his accident.
And he sent that to Caden, my son. And we put it right up there. It's pretty cool. Obviously,
wit's a great photographer. And that was very cool of him to do that. People always ask when they
see me in front of all this, what's that picture? So there you go. There it is. A little Formula
1 crossover there, which we all greatly appreciate. And Ferrari back in the winter circle again,
two different cars. That's pretty cool. Way to go, Caps. Thank you very much once again. Appreciate
you. Thank you. Ron Caps with us here on WFO Radio is 80th win. But first is a team owner for
Maddie Gordon and has got all that cross pollination. Doug Gordon as well in the double double, if
you will, for Maddie Gordon, Ron Caps Motorsports. All right, we got one more guest to go. She's
Sadie Glenn, broke the internet, probably got more pub than anybody except Maddie,
probably number one, Sadie number two, Caps number three. So if you love the underdog story,
if you love the person who dreamed big, who made it and got it and did it and accomplished,
you're going to want to share the show for this one. And we've also got a little surprise. Hopefully,
it's still a surprise for Sadie. Before we hit the break, though, I want to remind you Scott
Bathurst was on last week, we announced the RL shirt club return RL shirt club.com. You join for
a membership and once a month, they send you a shirt, you don't know what it's going to be,
but it's going to be cool. And that's the thing. And it's shipped to your door for like 26 bucks.
You can't even buy the shirt for 26 bucks and they're shipping it to your door. Go to RL
shirt club.com and sign up and R WFO Patreons. They're going to get a shirt to one a month.
I gave away our shirt yesterday and Bob H from Ohio got it done. Congratulations, Bob,
a tremendous victory for you, Bob. And I'm super excited. But when we come back,
we're going to hear from Sadie Glenn. Going to talk about top dragster. What's up with the top
dragster? We're going to find out after this. Looking to replace your OEM diesel particular
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It's available at summitracingequipment.com. Go to Summit and get yourself a can of fogget and
support our next guest who had Jim Greenleaf on the starting line, look pumping his fist big time.
I'm super excited. She joins us now. Sadie Glenn, what's up Sadie? Hey.
This show is going exactly according to plan. Had Kenny on nice, strong number, people want to learn
about the chief starter of NHRA, good guy, red pants. Then Ron Capps, somehow closely affiliated
with Maddie Gordon. So the numbers went skyrocketing up and now, and now the closer. Oh man, the
serious. Okay. Sadie, I relate to your journey so much. You love drag racing so much. You love the
people. You are around people who have natural ability and you watch them easily float in and
out of the winter circle. I won. And you worked so hard for this thing. And then you won it and
you did it and you accomplished this dream, this life like what, what do you make of all of that?
Well, I went, I've gone like two whole days without crying, but now you're going to make me
freaking cry again. Sorry, I was unable to make you cry on the stage and I felt very disappointed.
Well, okay. So I'm going at it again, cried my guts out to Amanda. And then on the drive to you,
I was like, Oh my God, I have to give another thing and get it together. And I got it together
so good, Joe, that I forgot to thank my husband.
Is that true? Normally I'm on the case for that. Did really you forgot to?
You, and you, you teed me up too. And you said, is there anyone you'd like to thank? And I said,
thank God, my car is right here so I can read all of my sponsors.
It doesn't seem to keep us Glenn. And then I just dipped out.
He's okay with it. He doesn't know. Oh, he laughed. He was like, I was upset.
And because I'm like up here and then all of a sudden I realized what I did. And he goes,
I don't give a crap. Like he, you know, luckily I married a saint of a husband, but yeah, I didn't
thank him in either. So yay. Yay. Didn't thank my husband. That's all right. Who does all the
work on the car and all the things. And I just, yep. Well, listen, it takes a village. This is
very hard to do anything. But on this given race though, and I don't know, I feel Sadie and I
have had some conversations about, you know, like I hate to say it, but the keyboard warriors, man,
they're out there and they stick in your head a little bit. They do. They stick in your head.
You went to the double divisional. You towed out there by yourself is my understanding. Like
you're out there, you and the dog in the rig from Charlotte area to Norwalk, Ohio area.
That's not easy. You slept on a, is it an air mattress? Did you sleep on an air mattress?
I'm going to have to take some notes on that. How to stay comfortable sleeping in the trailer
because I'm a hotel guy, man, but that's the only way to do it. You did that.
You showered in Baters campground showers. You wanted this pretty, pretty, pretty bad.
Well, so I was looking at the hotels for the double divisional and they were close to $2,000.
And I was like, okay, I would rather spend that on anything else, honestly.
And I asked Dallas, I said, well, maybe we can stay the whole two weeks because that would
have been collectively 3,000, 3,500. And I mean, I totally get why it's expensive in Norwalk,
but we don't use the pools. We're leaving at 6.45 or getting home at 10 o'clock.
We are literally not using any of those amenities. So I was like, okay, we have a really good split
AC heat in our trailer. And I said, let's just act like we're going camping, which I
don't think I've ever done. But I was like, I'll get an air mattress. I have AC. I bought an espresso
maker. All the important stuff. Notice in no toilet. I said, what do I need to survive?
My lattes, mac and cheese. So got a microwave. Well, I already had a microwave, but
so it takes like with stops, like eight hours, eight and a half hours from Morseville to
Norwalk. And, you know, it's, I'm trying to get there before five. So Will Ray,
that usually parks all the national event people, he's like, I think I've got a spot for you.
But like the rain is coming. And so like there was a, like a torrential
downpour coming. So I'm like trying to beat the rain. I'm trying to make sure Will doesn't get
soaked in the process of waiting for me. And so I pull in and it's just starting like, okay, here
we go. So I got parked, you know, my trailer is only 34 foot. It's not super hard to park. So
me and Henry just, and then park. And I was like, okay, let me, my car was still tied in. And I
was like, okay, I got like this queen size air mattress and I blew it up. Like I let it blow
up or whatever. And with the car in, there was no space in my truck. Like you couldn't even walk
around it. And I was like, okay, I have to take the car out. Like, and so I'm, it stopped raining
for a second. And I call Darian Bosch, because he's one of our good friends. And I was like, Darian,
can you please help me push out my car? And I'll put the cover on it, it'll be fine. And so he's
helping me push it. And he like, after we push it, he just like looks at me, I was like, what?
And he's like, do you have easy ups or anything? I said, yeah, he goes, okay, I'm gonna help you
with that too. And I was like, thank God, because then all of a sudden, the torrential downpour came.
And so all of a sudden, a guy from two trailers over that I didn't know at the time was Lester
Johnson's son, Andrew, he comes over and helps us with the easy up. And we it's like, we just looked
so sad afterwards. And just I have, I was like, I'm gonna get here and die of pneumonia, because
I'm so soaked, like, I'm gonna make this whole trek by myself and my dog, and I'm gonna die of
pneumonia the second I get here. And so we get the car out and I was able to like move the bed
to like the back of the trailer so like we could have like room for my suitcase.
But you know, at that point, it's like eight or nine o'clock. And, you know, I just keep calling
my parents and we're just like laughing. I was like, what am I doing? Like,
What are you doing? Exactly. What am I doing? It's gonna be so fun.
So it was just it was crazy. And this is what I want. This is why like this is what
what or why are any of you people doing this, including myself? Like, why are we doing this?
There's some reason. And you got a great experience as in this guy coming over and
congratulating you after your win. And you know what, you and John force have something. Look at
that. Like, you have something in common. You are part of the point 0001 percent
of Earth's population that have a Wally, where the rest of us do not have such thing. In fact,
he does not have a diamond Wally does as an owner. But as a diamond Wally, you have that that he
does not have. That was crazy when like, the whole experience like I don't remember talking to you
really at all on stage. Most people say that that's I blacked out. I was like, wow, I didn't
think that was going to happen. Because how many times have I seen Dallas or any of my clients do
this? Like, you know, I've always danger like, if I ever do this, you know, this is what I'm going
to do. It's going to be perfect. And I'm going to be so well spoken. And I'm going to thank all the
people I need to thank. And I'm not going to sound like a robot. And none of those things happened.
And so, so I was waiting for the winter circle, but like, I was parked in the lanes, and like,
they still have to run the pro finals. And so I'm like, trying to get out of like Aaron Stanfield's
way, you know, but I'm kind of blocked in. And then all of a sudden I see everyone's scurry. And
John force is right there. It's like, what is like, we've never met. You know, I'm like,
I know who he is. He has no idea. Like he told, when Dallas his rookie year, he had a bunch of like,
meet and greets and stuff with Dallas. And he like, every time he'd be like, you look like Brad Pitt.
So like, he thinks my husband's Brad Pitt, which that made his head go like,
and so he only knows my husband is the guy he thinks looks like Brad Pitt. And so I just was
like, what, as you could see by my face in the other photo, I was like, what the French toast is
going on. I was like, this is, this is crazy. I don't like, I saw him on the golf cart because
he was waiting behind. Was it Jack's car? Yeah, I would imagine. Well, we were getting ready for
that, but it wasn't happening for a little while. Like why was he just sitting over there? I was
like, Oh, he looks so cute. It is a little golf car, you know, like good for him. Here he comes.
All of a sudden he's walking. I was like, like no one prompted him. No one like,
Elon was there that worked with him for 2000 years. But Elon wasn't like, John, get over here.
No, I kind of witnessed it too. Bizarre. Bizarre. He's on the move. Look, John is going to do
something. What's he going to do? He's going to congratulate C. No, because listen, I think he
does know you at some level. I think everybody knows you at some level that you are one of these
people that loves drag racing so much and are clearly doing it, man. You're doing it. You're
out there. You're winning wallies. It's right behind you. But listen, I wanted this interview
to be a little different. I wanted this interview to be different. You were on with everybody is
great. So, you know what? I wanted something to be different. I have to call in
his first return to drag racing since his unceremonial retirement. This is why my
wally didn't feel complete. It's Sadie. Sadie, I figured I can't even get on my old show to say
congratulations to you. I had to tell Joe Costello. Yeah, that's what I do.
Yes. Yes. And I initiated the call. Let's make a make it very clear, Jason Logan,
that they're trying to take credit. You saw that, right?
Thank you. I'm so sad you weren't there. I was crying listening to your interview
with Amanda. I was like, I mean, I started crying. I'm like, good for Sadie. I was like,
almost said a bad word, but it was so awesome. I'm so glad you do. I love it.
It's so great. I haven't cried in forever. And as soon as I turned the corner, because like,
all I could think of was, okay, like I'm parked on the left side of the track. So like, how,
how's this going to go? And Cliff is like waving me over. I said, holy crap, it actually happened.
I saw the red light. Like, I don't know why, but you know, 10 seconds down the track,
I was like, put your arm up. Yeah, you did the fist bump.
As soon as I saw it, I was like, what? So let me ask you this question. I've been watching
soccer. I mean, the World Cup has taken over everything. And after all these matches, the,
whether you won or lost, people are still out there taking in all of the, the vibes of the fans
and bring it. How long did it take you to get out of your fire suit and put the car away after
you won? Okay. So, um, we did the winner circle. And then since I was parked on the left side,
I was like, I really just like, we don't have a golf cart. Like I need to drive it. You drove it
back. You did the, I drove it back, but I was like, okay, I can't, I can't go like the long way,
like on the pro side, because I just raced, I just drove to the lanes. I drove over here, drove,
like, I don't have a ton of fuel left. And like Dallas has Henry and I was like, okay,
like I'll go as long as I can. And if I run out of gas, like I'll just stop and then you can
bring me fuel, I guess. And so I was in my suit, obviously that whole time. And then all of a
sudden we're like, we instantly started like packing up because Dallas, you know, as soon
as he's done driving, he loads up and drives his big rig home. So I'm like, okay, I know that, um,
he like, they're waiting for him. And he's like, Oh, I'll help you load a little bit. And I was
like, okay, like, thank you. And so all of a sudden I was like, I have left my whole laptop
and all my cameras and everything's still in the media room. I was like, I that's a lot of money.
I have invested. I really need to go get that before like they close up or this. So I
still in my suit. Yeah, you still did your job. That's the whole thing. Like you were you had
client stuff going at the same time as this was happening. I was like, what is going on? I was
like, yeah, I still I need to get all my stuff. So by the time I got back, Dallas had loaded
everything, which was so sweet. I mean, it's not a ton of stuff to load for my car like
easy ups, but it was so sweet. And um, he's like, you know, he had to get going. But I,
I was still in my dang suit. I think I drove to the hotel. Okay, so sorry.
And then I stayed eyes and then so I the second week, we decided to stay in a hotel because
so the first week, it went great, but then a hotel opened up because Dallas was there.
That makes perfect sense. It will. Yeah, he was he was gonna stay in, you know, camp with me.
But he's like, I bet you just want fresh towels. I said, correct, I do. You put the point in a
hotel. So point of that, I was in my suit still when we got to the hotel. And I was like, I just
really want to shower so bad and maybe something to eat, have an eight all day. Like I don't know
what it is. You don't eat when you race. You don't eat when you drive. Not intentionally.
Dallas sometimes does like he'd be like, unless he's like, got a really bad reaction time, he's
like, oh, I gotta get a sandwich, you know, like a PB and J. I'm like, okay, dude.
So I think between the semis and the finals, I had some mac and cheese on my trailer.
And yeah, that's, you know, congratulations. One second. Just I want to get these guys in
like C5 Pete Woohoo, Sadie, Monica, congratulations, Sadie. You're rockin' and climbing Wally.
We're in a college where she was such a great victory, says Keith. I love watching the other
pros congratulate her, save the best for last. Sadie, everyone is talking about said Dallas is
just a bystander in your race. I don't know if you look at all like. I only see the one in the
middle, Sadie. This one, these people who I know you know, Matt and Angie Smith, we need a Dallas
Glenn DeKal on the bike, says Matt on his motorcycle. Why do we need a Dallas Glenn DeKal? We need
a Sadie Glenn on your bike. I think that's from like an hour ago. I just didn't put the comment up
there. Hi, Sadie, congratulations on your win. How are you doing today? Enjoying the interview?
Oh, I get what Matt meant now. I would thank Dallas if I saw his name on the side of my car.
Right. Exactly. Her social media is so fun. Love you. I'm sure you love that one, right?
Angela says we love you, Sadie. Angie said, Angela. I miss you, Angie.
Yeah, Angela. Angela. We were all crying. Yeah, we were all crying with you. What was I gonna ask
you something, but you're out of practice. You're out of the broadcast practice is the thing.
You'll get it. Here's Elon. Sadie is the best. So happy for her and Dallas and Henry and everybody.
Guys, I'm stalling for you, Jason Logan. What do you got? I'm just so happy that Sadie won. I mean,
and just the fact that this one's going to say the fact that you forgot your husband
during all of your interviews at the banquet, I believe I was pretty much on the scene making
sure he did not forget you. That's what I'm saying. See, it would not have happened if you were there.
I know. I would have definitely made that happen. Well, okay, so Dallas's championship speech,
he just had bullet points. I started writing it out for him and he's like,
nah, I'll just wing it. And so I do remember him putting my name very last, but it was funny when
you were like, hey, hello. It was just great because in the headset, we're all like,
everybody producing and doing like, is he going to thank his wife? He's not going to forget his wife,
is he? And I wrote, hey, don't forget your wife. And I just put it up there because I got it.
And then that's what he threw whatever the G spot. It looks so beautiful tonight.
Yeah, the G spot moment. I totally forgot about that. That is my favorite moment of all time,
you guys. It was great. That's what they say. He looks like a little kid. Like,
he looks like a little, like a little guy when he does it. Like, he's like, uh-oh.
Oh, no. Oh, he did. That's forever. That's forever. I might have to show up at the
banquet just to see all of this stuff again. Oh my gosh. And when that happened, my phone,
like, good thing my phone was on silent. My phone blew up from like other people in the banquet,
like, dying. It was so, it was incredible. It was like one of my favorite moments. I would never
change it ever. G spot. I know. We got, we got to break that habit. Yeah, you think like.
So you've got a spot at the banquet. Angela says that you can sit at the
Angela.
Say, do you have any questions for Jason Logan while we've got him? Because this is his
unceremonious return to drag racing. You know, remember he walked away from us to go do something
that he had going and now he's back and we got him on the spot. I'm sure you've got a tough
hardball question for this guy. Okay. I was unceremoniously sent away.
Okay. It's gray area. It's all in the gray area.
Sadie was one of the first people I told I was out. I was leaving and I was not okay with it.
I know you were. No, it was I.
So question hard hitting journalism question number one.
Um, do you sleep better at night because you don't have to deal with all of us?
It's not so much dealing with all of you. It's dealing with everyone in airports.
Oh, let me say to me. I mean, I wish I was there to see you win.
Um, I wish I was in all the great stuff that happened in Norwalk, the Matt Hagan ice cream
victory. Oh my God.
That was fantastic. I listened. I still watch by the way, everybody. I know it's what's
happening out there. Um, but, uh,
Norwalk, Ohio, I'm cool not going back there. It's it rains all the time. There's nothing open
late on a Friday night after we were running late and you got to sit in the Taco Bell line for 45
minutes to realize it's still just Taco Bell. Um, yeah. And all the other Nitro teams are in the
same line with you. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, uh, we just won a taco. No, St. Dusky closes up shop.
And Manny's, they still haven't figured out when we show up like they don't know, like,
why is it so crowded tonight? It's like races in town. There's a race. Yeah,
the same race that I talked to you about last year. Remember I told you, like,
why didn't you hire some more people for this race? Oh yeah, we only got one server.
You would think that they would want to make a killing, you know, like bring the forces.
Status quo. Let's just keep it rolling. The best thing about Norwalk is Summit Motorsports
Park and Bill Bader and his family. That's it. That's the reason we all can confirm those showers
are so nice in there. There's only $6. And I was like, I mean, I have traveled with Dallas
a few times and, you know, taking showers at Love's truck stops, you know. So I was like,
I just need cockroaches not to be on my leg when I'm showering. And these were like 10 out of 10.
I was like, oh my God, okay. Like, obviously bring all the things like your towel, all that,
like whatever, but super impressed. You have sparked like prior to your experience,
the idea of driving from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Norwalk, Ohio for the double
divisional followed by the National, which includes Super Street was not on my radar,
but that you've green lighted the showers. You said that it was a wonderful experience.
Yes. My friend Rick went and he said the tow was not bad 20 hours, 18 hours, something like that.
That's a little strong for me. Florida, you know, for seven hours, Florida. It takes me three hours
just to get to Jason Logan. And I kept my stuff. If I can't get there with stops, which I have a
baby bladder in nine and a half hours, 10 hours, I start getting a real cranky. Yeah, start getting
a real just to get to Rockingham 12 hours for me. Like, why am I doing this? But you got to do it
because we're going to be there. So well, right. Like if you want to do this, this is what you've
got to do. Or don't do it. Go get double like, yeah, double divisional is the best thing ever.
Go get your Wally. He's going to do it. I know. What do we wait?
They don't they don't run Super Street Nationals as much as they should.
Yes. But I do want to ask you something serious, though, Sadie. And Jason, you're going to be a
part of this. Sadie, what's going on in Top Dragster? Please. Oh my God, I saw that today.
What? I've lost the plot. I don't know what's going on. What's happened? What are we? What's
the problem? First, you have a 680 car. Your car is not slow. You have a 680 car that but it's not
the slowest car, but it's in the middle. So you are in the middle like I'm rocking like I make a
living like 27 to 34th, you know, and they cap it at 32. But I've been alternate a few times.
What are we trying to solve? Like start there. Best is your knowledge. Because so what is the
thing that we're trying to solve? And please give a brief explanation for Jason Logan.
Oh my God, Jason, I read the release. Are you emotionally available for what I'm about to
tell you? I am. I am because it's one of those. Yeah. Okay. So it's one of those things. I was
just like, that's like, who better to talk about this than our most recent Top Dragster winner?
Some of these guys are like, Oh, she wins one. So then she's a pro in her category.
And she raised, she's a part timer. She raises five to seven times a year. Perhaps the world's
most recognizable Top Dragster racer, perhaps because I make fun of myself on the internet.
Okay, so Top Dragster, the talk of the town for several years was saying, you know,
I think the bump was like a 750 or some something like that. I don't know. And, you know, there's
slower cars that sometimes make it in. Like, for example, Anthony Bertosi has two cars.
If the field's not super fast, he leaves his 610 car at home and I don't blame him.
Why pound on that thing if you don't have to. And also his Anthony Bertosi, he's kind of a bad dude.
So he can race whatever the heck he wants. And so, I mean, I've raced in classes with Anthony
in his 610 car or his 730s car. And so I, you know, this was not a conversation 10 years ago
when I was racing Top Dragster full time before I moved across the country with Dallas when he
got the job. Like maybe it's because I was in division six and I was like a 740 car and
I was running with my family and it just like 610 really wasn't a thing yet.
I mean, maybe like one or two. And they never made it down the track anyways. So like you kind
of always wanted to get them anyways. But you know, since then it has evolved and people can,
you know, print tickets in 610 cars and that's fricking cool. But so the last few years there's
for some reason upset that a slower car was doing well. I guess I don't know. It's really hard to
interpret because I get both sides kind of. But I'm kind of more on like the slower side
because I raced within my means. I have bought my whole car myself through,
you know, my business and luckily being successful at that. And obviously I have sponsorships
that have provided, you know, Goodyear tires, all this, you know, all this great stuff. But
as a whole, besides the engine that Ken Black gave me, like I paid for all of that myself. So
gosh, where do I even want to start with this? Right? It's like, I don't understand.
It's so like it's, it's, it's funny because like face value to me. I'm like, okay, so your argument
was that the slower cars have an ease like a greater chance of running their number more often.
Okay. Like I know it absolutely is harder to make a 610 dragster repeat, but Darian Bosch does it
all the time. He's got how many world championships. So like some of the people that were in the
comments were like, well, it's just harder. And I was like, Oh, okay, but nobody made you spend
that money. Like no one said, Hey, buy 30 pro chargers and have four cars. Like, I don't know.
It felt kind of at first. I was like, why? Like if it's a bracket race, which it is,
why, why are we like the, the essence of bracket racing is so everyone can race within their
means. If you want to have like a hoopty, like you just drove it off. Like I drove, I raced my
Toyota Tacoma in high school. Like it wasn't a hoopty, but like that's not a race car.
You know, I could race that against Joe Schmoe in a really nice Nova or, you know, like it
levels the playing field. And I believe that in top dragster, it, it's still bracket racing guys.
I just don't understand. Yeah. So I read it and I'm like going, all right. The best part was the
disclaimer. Well, that was like a joke. Right. Okay. Yeah. Right. Which they tagged me in and I
was like, let me untag myself before a boomer thinks this is real. Yeah. Cause I was like,
Jason Logan. Yeah, right. But I'm like going, what is going, I mean, it's exhibition. What are we,
you know, so, okay. That's what I want to know. So when NHA made the rule for say top dragster,
it was a Norwalk divisional and all of a sudden on the discord chat, I'm like unloading my car
and they're like, Hey, we're having a top dragster, top sportsman driver meeting. You were at the
meeting. Yes. Okay. So we've got someone who was at the meeting. All right. But disclaimer,
I was only there for the first 15 minutes of people trying to yell over each other because
I got super overstimulated having like four people try to yell over each other. And two,
I still was working for clients and I was like, Oh, gotta go. Oh, and it was going to be another
hour of that anyways. So basically, the six 10 guys are mad that it's not more of an elite class,
per se. I think they want it to be kind of like the PDRA had that like elite 18 or elite 16 normal
16 making up the 13. So I did a little bit of research. Yeah. And the thing about PDRA is it's
mile racing. And so there is no six 10 floor and I talked to a couple people today that said a lot
of these guys, some of these guys with fast cars don't want to slow their cars down for the six 10
rule, which is a safety rule in the NHRA. So they want to run as fast as they possibly can to the
eighth mile. But those guys aren't going to run quarter mile. Because if they like a mile, they'd
be running quarter mile. It's not like if we my opinion is if NHRA said you could go bracket racing
580s, I don't know if these guys would. I think they want to run all out to the eighth mile. Yeah,
save their stuff because that second half of the track is really tough on the equipment. Now,
people mentioning Mario MKD pit reporter, I think he's doing a good job because whatever
we're talking about, he's making it funny. Yes. And I'm so sorry if I'm rambling. It's been a crazy
couple of weeks trying to like getting everyone's opinion just like pop, like it's
your class. This is a big deal. People are talking about expanding it to 48 to 64. Like where are
all these cars? It's a performance category. You've got to qualify. That's why you got a super
charger on your car, right? Sadie? I mean, isn't that the reason? Because you have to qualify.
Right. And there's the I take chances that I might not. But am I, you know, fiscally able to
maybe, but would it be responsible? No. Could I buy a pro charger right now? Yes.
But the process of putting everything else to change it over would be crazy. Would I love a 610,
620 car? Absolutely. I would never say no. But I'm also realistic that, you know, I'm a part-time
racer. And that car runs like at the divisional, the double divisional and the national, I ran
686 to 688, except two runs, which were a 90. And then on race day, a 93 I dialed because the
air was so gross. That car's printing tickets, which is the point of bracket racing. So I
understand, you know, it, it's really tough to gauge the mile per hour difference. If you're a
610 car, but on the same end, it's very much the same when they're coming. Like if you think you
can spot 30, 40 miles an hour, good for you. Like I cannot. So I just dial it pretty honest. And then
I look in my baby mirrors, you know, so, but with Mario, he like, we're good friends. People are
like calling like, oh, Mario's talking crap about you. I said, no, he's not. Like he's doing it right.
He's brought a lot of attention, like all joking aside, as you are the face of top dragster racing,
which every one of those classes should be thankful that someone in the class gets attention from
Jason Logan. Like if you can make Jason Logan pay attention to whatever the class is, be appreciative.
But Mario is doing a great thing. He is making people interested in top sportsmen and top dragster
to awesome categories. And the fact that they're in any way having any trouble for any reason,
bad fast door slammers and dragsters. Period. Yeah. And if anyone knows those things,
it's Mario and Darian. Like he's won championships in both, I think. I know that he has in top
sportsmen. I don't know top sportsmen, I think is the deal. But regardless, he almost doubled up
two years ago. Yes, that was crazy. Yeah, I could if I could be 10% a bad dude like that, that'd be
sweet. He's a robot. He's one of those, you know, one of those so good. So, you know, I see both
sides, but like the passion beside behind the six 10 cars against the slower cars. I'm like,
Yikes, that's very intense. I agree. Very intense. And so I'm just like happy to be here. I'm like,
Hey, if I qualify, like see at the finish line again. That's what's so great about you, Sadie,
is because you've got a career doing something else, helping other drag racers do their thing.
And then here you come out. Hey, how about I just drive this little car down the track?
Hi. Sorry I beat you. See ya. Bye. That's your attitude about it.
Sorry. I just had so happy to be here and that I qualified.
I'm going to beat you now this race. I mean, is it time for six 10 index, you know, pro trees.
No, I mean, if you want to have a separate class, but like is any trade does not have a time.
We don't add another class guys. It doesn't. There is no time. And so, you know, I don't mind
this that they adjusted it to 720. Like I was fine with it being 750. If you qualify, like if we're
in division six, like when I would qualify going seven forties, like if you get in, get like just
who cares. Right. If you don't like that, you know that there's going to be slower cars or whatever.
Just don't go to those races. Like I don't know. I don't know what the.
Well, it's an imperfect world. It's not going to be perfect. You're never going to get exactly
like everything you want rolling in with my slow stuff. Right. Well, I got a question now for
you, Sadie. I got a question. Now that you've won a race, now you've experienced the winter circle
with Joe Costello. What song did they play for you when you walked up? Did you have a walk up song?
I don't, I don't think so. But I told Joe that I totally blacked out. So maybe they did.
They play. Did they not play anything anymore? I don't think there was any. If memory serves me
correctly, there was no music because of the Norwalk speaker issue. Oh, God. Yeah, that was
so now speaking of blacking out. Now I remember I had to kill like five minutes up on the stage,
just figuring out how to get rid of the echo like. Yeah. Which you did so good, by the way,
from like the behind the scenes. I was like, you could not pay me to have Joe's job right now.
Hey, is it still echoing? Oh, yes, it is. And it's echo echo. We'll be back. So what you're
saying, Joe, nothing's changed. This was a very unique situation to those giant speakers that
they have. It was. Oh, yeah. Well, I've never heard it that bad. It was, it was a special kind of
thing. Yeah. All right. This guy was bad there. This guy wants to know if there's going to be a
Sadie first win shirt. So I think so. Like we're in the process of building a house. And so I'm
like trying to be an adult. But there's only one first win, Sadie. Do it. Thank you. I know. But
like, would that totally be like egregious of me and like, Oh, I won one. I'm so cool. Speaking of
egregious. Look what I'm wearing. You know, Joe, Joe Castell is the king of egregious. Just go.
Yes, you got to do it. Are you kidding? It's SR driven media. I don't know. just
don't want people to think that I'm too like, I think I'm too cool now that I finally won one.
I'm just excited. That's our job. That's why we're here. You don't have to think that.
Some of the people, man, which I'm getting better at not being an adult is overrated.
Thank you. See five Pete. How do I decide what races I'm going to go to? Well, since we're
in North Carolina and Division two. First off, top dragster doesn't run at every race. They run at
10 nationals a year ish. And so first off, I always choose the ones that are closest. I always
try to do Gainesville if I can get in. If you can get in, you know, I have sat all winter
and I'm like, Oh, I just need to race blah. And so I usually just stick on the east coast. But
every time we go to Seattle, since that's where Dallas and I grew up, we always keep a tally
every year on how many people like, well, why didn't you bring your car out here? 40 hours one way?
Right. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not driving across the country. So it's right. It's true. But you are
available. But you are available to take a nap until would you drive someone else's car, Sadie? Do
you have a thing about that? Oh, yeah. But people don't typically offer me their cars. If the option
is available, they're like, Dallas, I'm like, Hi, I also raise like
Listen, I can confirm our audience. They say they will purchase. We now have four shirts. People
don't know how you how you do that. But to be honest, I sent the classic graphic guy
yesterday. Yeah, I guess for shirts. So Scott was on the show last week. Yeah, he's super nice.
The RL shirt club were bringing it back. And so our audience is hopefully doing it. We gave away
one to our Patreons, which is cool. He the guy's been doing it forever, man. He's had personal
He's so cool, like the designs. Yes. Yeah, that's the drag racing artwork. It's all about the art.
Anything we didn't ask you about there, Sadie, that we need to talk about anything we got to
mention before we part ways? Nope, just like to thank my husband because I didn't. And I love him
and he's super handsome. And he he's a saint, even though I think he's a little bit scared of me,
even after 15 years. But that's how you make a good marriage. There it is.
Sadie, how's the house coming? How's the house? Good. So I haven't been there all last week. And
then I was gone for two weeks. But I think they're gonna they're just doing inspection stuff right
now. So they'll do the insulation. I don't know. This is the part I was like, I'll choose the design
and all the fixtures things. But as far as like building the house, like, you know
what they're talking about. So that's that's you, brother. So be free. Spread your wings.
Sounds like a reality TV show starting. Sadie picks the stuff Dallas makes it happen. Hygiene
I was like you because his family used to like flip houses and stuff growing up. So I was like,
you know what they're talking about. I don't know what they're talking about. Like,
I just go dead eyes, you know, when they talk to me. So I'm like,
so they said like mid November, they want a gay chain for us to move in.
There you go. I can confirm guys breaking news. This Angela person is in fact Angie Smith.
I will I told you that you wacko Jack. I'm just kidding. She'll buy a shirt.
Oh, five. There it is. That's your quota, Angie. You got to get five.
Except I wouldn't make Angie buy one. No, that's the thing.
Well, two things can be true. Once you see Angie wearing it, everyone's going to want to buy one.
Dude, I really didn't think anyone would surpass her win in Maryland.
And like, like mine, I was like, Oh, God, like, I really thought like that was as good as it was
going to get for me because I just like bawled my eyes out. And then a couple of races later,
I'm bawling my eyes out again. 75th season of NHRA. It's been a crazy emotional season.
One of our listeners mentioned he's cried. He's a man. He's cried twice this year.
C5 Pete, I met him. I've cried twice this year. Angie's win and Sadie's win.
Thank you. We were crying too.
I just, I was like, Oh, okay, any, any remaining like mascara, like all my photos are going to look
like a sickly Victorian child because my eyelashes are blonde. So like all my
winter circle photos, I'm just going to look sickly. I was like, thank you.
Okay. So really quick. I've been like looking, I was like, what does this remind me of?
And it's very much giving Jordan Vandergriff in the lanes. Have you? Okay. So let me,
not just in the lanes. He walks out on the stage like that.
Does he? Dude, he's so cool. Okay. Let me. Yeah, it's giving Jordan. Okay. Here's his Instagram.
Where, where, where, where, where? Oh, here we go.
Look closer to your camera. Now it's working. So dreamy. There he is. Those are the same.
Does that mean I am as cool as him? Yeah. Sponsored athletes from beats. He better be
sponsored by them if he's rocking that thing the way he is. Dude, I would hope so.
I would hope so, Jordan. You shouldn't be giving free public that to some electronics company.
Exactly. Just because you want to be the guy with the headset.
You kind of look like a DJ, but it's okay. He does. That's why I'm wearing these today, Sadie.
Jason, you got any final thoughts for Sadie here? I'm so happy. I literally cried as well.
And I was like, I go, I know her. And that's kind of the, that's the part I miss about
being at the races. Like you said, I know her. I know it. All those late nights, you know, that
we're like after the races and we're in the media room trying to finish our jobs. Like people don't
see that, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So kudos for all the hard work. I'm glad you paid off. Thanks, man.
Super happy. What a good surprise. Great stuff. Yeah, that's our surprise. That's what you get.
It's me. Yay. Yeah. Perfect. Good. I figured, I figured you'd like it. And I think the audience
would like it too. We haven't heard from Jason Logan in a while. I know. Let's talk about soccer.
You want to? Yeah. Well, I'm going to let Sadie get back to her job. Sadie, thank you very much.
I know soccer because of Ted Lasso and that is it. That's it. That's all you need to know.
As do most Americans. Thank you, Ted. All right, Sadie. Congratulations. There she goes.
Bye, Sadie. Bye. Wally winner, Sadie Glenn. That was very cool. That was super cool, Joe.
Come on, man. Like some things are just bigger than everything. Yeah. And like I've seen her,
you know, Sadie and I became friends out there and I'm watching, you know, thinking my own thoughts
about one day I'd like to have a division of Wally. I'd like to have a car on the track. That's it.
Really, to be able to participate at all in any way since the 90s. And here she is, she's doing
everything she's got to do. Everything like every hurdle that is in her way. She's just
dealing with it. And then she goes out there and she wins. And seeing the reaction of everyone,
like there were genuine tears. It was great. Thank you for coming on to emphasize the moment.
Listen, and I didn't know she drove up there by herself. I didn't know it was her and Henry.
I mean, that's what sportsman racing is about, right, Joe? I don't know, but that's what I hear.
So listen, no, so I can this is this is where it could become contentious. And I hope that my
involvement helps prevent it. Nobody can possibly understand unless they do it. Right. And that's
why sportsman racers sometimes will shake their fist at the cloud. You know, whoever it is,
management, you guys don't understand what we're doing here. It's so freaking hard. And they can't.
They can't understand until you until you drove 12 straight hours
to get somewhere just because you want to do this and they don't do it in your state
or the neighboring state. And you got to go three states away to get close enough to do it,
because that's what you like. That's how much you you love NHRA and you want to be a part of it.
And and and people don't understand. And there's no way they can't understand,
which is why Bo Butler says that everybody should have to drive a race once to see what's up.
Listen, let's let's talk soccer for a second. Is that still even happening? Is that happening?
I think the United States that we're we're not in it anymore. So like no, we lost last night
because anybody watching this? What what's happening? Listen, catch me up. So Joe,
the World Cup has been fantastic. I don't care what you like soccer World Cup report. Yeah,
I don't care if you don't like soccer, the just the atmosphere, the vibe, everything around it.
It's Olympic-esque. But, you know, you got play, you know, countries that don't, you know,
snow ski, you know, Columbia, maybe you know, anyway, you got countries like that out there.
Today, before I got on this show, I was watching Argentina and Egypt, the great Mosalah,
the Egyptian king going against the great Lionel Messi, the all time goal scorer of the World Cup.
Two, talk to me. Egypt was up to nothing, Joe, with about 84 minutes into the game.
Here comes Argentina. They pull one back. Now it's 2-1. They pull another one back three,
like three more minutes. Now it's 2-2. Lionel Messi hit the freaking screamer. Then they
score another one in added time. Three to two. Argentina moves on. It was absolutely crazy.
And they've all been playing all the games have been like that. I know you got Argentina friends,
Joe. I do. I do. And I know I was like, I was super happy that they were losing.
No, I was. I want them out. I wanted Brazil out. I want to see that was when we were still in. I
was trying to soften the bracket. But now I don't care. No, listen, here's the deal too. And those
of you who don't know anything about soccer, the United States team is a paper tiger. We stank at
this sport. And last night it was, it was grossly. Were we even a paper tiger? Were we even a tiger?
They were starting to get, you know, people were jumping on the bandwagon quick.
I was like, no, they haven't played anybody good yet. Wait till they play somebody good. And they
got, they tried to play pretty. Oh, I can't stand it. It's terrible. And the fact that Cristiano
Ronaldo's out now, we, they, you know, all the, all the fun stuff's getting ready to happen.
Had to have Leonel Messi stay in.
Yeah. Well, Messi, so the, as you may or may not know, you'd know, but the games are being played
right down the street. Yeah. Less than five miles away. World Cup fever has gripped Miami. I was in
the Miami airport. The Tartan Army was walking around. It's, it's, it's a thing. I like it. I
don't want to, if I have to join a group, if you put me in a good, like the people who are liking
it and enjoying it or the people who hate it, like vile poison, I'm with the people who like it.
I, I get it. I get the party nature of it, the nationalism, the pride. Everyone coming here to
the United States of America and enjoying and appreciating how great America is for our waffle
houses and whatever the crazy thing that we don't even consider is special ranch dressing. Like,
we don't consider that special and these people are coming and they're loving our country and
like, what's, come on, what's better than that? That's the best part about it. Yeah. That's the
best part about it. And like, I hear people all day long, you know, uh, hey, you know,
yeah, everybody's wearing their, their favorite shirt, their, their team shirt. And, you know,
I'm like, and it's just a starting point. They're like, people are like, I can't, the ranch
dressing thing just kills me. Right? It's like, how, how, how would our lives be different if we
didn't have ranch dressing? And you see these, you know, people just trying to shove it in their
bags, going back to the great American sleepover. That's exactly what that is. I love it. Yeah.
Crazy photography. Is that, is that Krista? Yeah. Cause you know, she sent me, she didn't
send me, I acquired one of her fantastic photos of Kenny, which I did not put it up. Look at how
great that photograph is. Fantastic. I hope that's, I hope that's Krista. But yeah, so that's
Krista. But yeah, so it's a, but it's been great. It's a month and it's awesome. And then tomorrow
you got France and Morocco. Oh my God, that's going to be, I'm wearing my, my Neville's hat.
Cause that's my team. We got bumped out by Morocco.
Joe. Yes. The Netherlands went out. Oh yeah. The NFL is trying to, is they're squeezing your
internet connection since you're talking too much about soccer. Are you happy? Are you good?
How's the job? Job's good. It's hot. I don't know why I decided. Listen, I know why. It's,
it's a thousand degrees outside. I'm outside. I'm inside. I go back and forth. That's where
I work right there. See, there's a boat ramp. I drive that car in the water. So you check that car
out. I've been on that car. I've had that experience. I've felt going from driving to floating and what
it's like. But hopefully Joe soon I'll be moving inside. There's all paperwork and there's all
kinds of stuff. But for what I was doing, what I left to go do is take it a minute. So we're
seeing how this plays out. So we miss you. You're missed. Fans all the time. I miss you guys.
I miss you. And it's exactly what you said. It's, it's nothing about, you know, I love the music
Jason play. It's just like the people. It's the people again. We have informed this great friendship
with everybody out there and we do this circus thing. We're all in the circus. Yeah. And yeah.
And as much as I, I said, I don't like, I'm glad I ain't going to Norwalk. I mean,
the racetrack is the best part about that whole race. That's the thing. It's a compliment to Bill
Bader. And yeah, it really is. It's a compliment to Bill Bader. Hopefully he's like, they're putting
down our neighborhood. No, no, we're just talking about how great your track is in the best neighborhood
that you could build a track in. Right. Exactly. I brought the nephew. We went to, we went to Cedar
Point. That was cool. Went to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That was cool. We had a lot of fun.
But the best thing was the racetrack. Yeah. Dude, so you, I heard you talking about
put a stick in Bob Tasker on your 15 year old nephew. Oh yeah. I did. Dude, you gave my kids
in Bristol, God forever and a day ago, the same type of speech that I know Bob Tasker gave.
No, mine was way worse. I said something that was very controversial at the time.
My kids would never say that. You're going to tell people there were seniors in high school
and Joe just was like, stay away from girls. Do this. Don't worry about college education.
You can get a job being an eight. I mean, dude, you that's not true. He's telling the story wrong.
I believe in a college education. It's not for everybody. But no, what I told his 19 year old
kids is like, guys, don't get anyone pregnant. That's it. That was the advice from Uncle Joe.
Sorry, too young for that. Let's be honest though. That's that's that if we're guys,
that's really all the advice you really need to give them. Don't get anybody pregnant until
you're ready. And everything also fix itself. Let's be pretty much pretty much. Yeah. And that's
that's what that's the standard. That's the standard advice I give to, you know, all you
young people out there. Don't you may think about it, but don't don't do it. You can do it.
Just make sure everything's, you know, anyway, this is what I miss seeing you face to face show
in the hotel lobby or over dinner. Yeah. Well, that's I figured this was a perfect opportunity
for you to reemerge into the into the world. What about have you had any good dinners? Have
I had any good dinners? I think there's been
no, no. We haven't really been to big dinner places. Chicago, not really ran late.
Maryland. Oh, yes. But privately, like not with the NHRA squad. My friend Bill lives in D.C.
And Maryland and the district is a thing. Get in a little early, stay Sunday night,
go out in D.C. The best dinners you ever going to get, you could go to a different place every
single time and never run out of choices. My friend brought me to this amazing place that I
would have never in a zillion years have selected. And it was awesome. I had a fantastic steak.
It was it was experienced guys like, you know, I don't know these stats. My friend Bill's like,
this chef is top five in the world on this ranking and all these things. And this is his lounge
act. And this is what's cool about it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, all right, I'll go. It was amazing.
Is it was it Jose Andres? I don't know who it was. It's like, I don't know who it was.
Maryland was great. New England, of course, had typical New England fare had my chowder went down
by the ocean, had a couple of good deals down there. Then went to Bristol. Bristol was very
typical Bristol. A little bit of a little like a tick about everyone else staying close at the
hard rock and we staying far. That got that got brought up. Like we're still staying in the normal
vet meta view, which is fine, which is far and now 30 minutes away for 38 minutes away. And
everybody else stayed at the hard rock. And the new, you know, relatively new hard rock is
pretty close. And it's like at this whole Bristol thing going. So, you know, the topic was broached
like, hey, you know, there's a hard rock. There was that. And then Norwalk Norwalk was Norwalk.
We we just did a deal and I had the kid with me and it was his first like full on drag racing
experience as a teenager. And I felt like it was great. It couldn't have been much better.
Matty Gordon. I got a hug. Yeah. The gray over my shoulder. He's over my left shoulder. The nephew.
I will say, Joe, I will have FOMO on the Western swing. I do like as much as people don't
necessarily like going all the way to Seattle. I like Sonoma. Those are two of
my favorite places to go. I'm going to have FOMO. Yeah, I can't help you because yeah,
I know you will. It's it's actually that to maybe the best back to back. Sonoma is unbelievable.
I want to say since we're public, we got a very big audience here. Jason Logan, people are signing.
We got like over 500 people out there watching live. This is going to be a huge the Sadie Glenn
factor. We're on caps. Kenny, everybody really brought it. I want to use my opportunity to say
thank you to the powers that be whoever it was that came together and made Sonoma happen in 2026.
Last year, we were at the race and there were all these rumblings and who knows exactly how
close to the brink we might have been. I don't. But I heard rumbling when you and I were hanging
out of that weird place by the airport. Remember that? Oh, yeah. In Sacramento. Yeah. In Sacramento.
It was very possible that we were not going back there. That was on the options list. Not going
back. We might not come back. Yeah. Whoever put their selfishness aside and worked it out. And I
know the two organizations. Thank you. Thank you. This is one of our best races and Seattle.
Same deal. Jason up there. The nephews coming to Seattle as fam is coming up. We're going to go to
Mount Rainier. Got to have that market, man. Got to have it special and all these racers with respect
who like I'm not going all that way. That's that's on you. That's a mistake. Yeah, you should go.
You got real hardcore drag racing fans. You heard the story about John Forrest doing a burnout
and people, you know, running out random people running out onto the track topless, pressing
there up against his glass random people. That is a market that drag racing has been cultivated
and we owe it to them to keep keep it alive. And if you, you know, like I'm not going to that,
it's too big a hassle. Think about Sadie and the hassle she went through just to chase her dream.
Come on now. Hey, I got a question for you. Yeah. Final final thought. Final thought. Is there going
to be a cacklefest in Seattle? Unknown. I don't know that. I don't want it. You don't. Don't.
We'll turn off the feed. Let's not go negative. Go negative. Don't do it.
Also, you have to, you have to get the scones. I don't know if you got scones last year. I did.
I did. I know about the Nikki scones. I know all about. They're pretty tremendous. So good.
So what is this? You think you can't get on your own old show now, huh? Listen,
they had Sadie on last week. I can't get on. Did you ask to be on? It was my creativity that
requested you. I don't ask. Yeah, you don't ask. It's all right. Now you're back. You started
this stuff. You know, we don't get asked. It's all right. Thank you Jeff for keeping us out there.
Appreciate you. Do you have a final thought for the audience? I do miss everybody. Listen,
I don't miss all the travel. I gotta be honest with you. It's tough. No, it is. I got a 15 year
old here that I really kind of like looking at and like watching grow up a little bit more.
So that's kind of cool. You know, over 25 years of being out there. That's a long time being in
some place, you know, quarter century. Yeah. A third of NHRA is a third of NHRA's entire existence.
I should get a diamond Wally just for that. But you know what I have, Joe? What? I got this.
Oh, whoops. And I can tell you care greatly about it.
Whoops at that. All right. Hey, man, it's good to see you. Likewise. I know you and I talk a
bunch, but still it's good to see you. This is on the air, man. This is different for the whole
world to see and Sadie loved seeing you. And I'm glad you came on. Thank you for making the time.
I know you are busy, but this needed a little. I'm not enough sometimes a little extra emphasis
and you help bring it. So I appreciate you anytime you want to talk to me, Joe. I'm here.
All right. Thank you very much, Jason. There he goes. Jason Logan.
Tremendous, tremendous originator of life to drag. And they'll be on tomorrow,
12 noon Eastern time. And the other show went a little longer, but I am okay with it. We had Ron
Caps. We had Kenny LeBansky. We had Sadie Glenn. We had a deep dive into top dragster.
We'll bring it all. We will bring it all. Big thanks to Marvin Rodak, RodaxCoffeeandGrills.com.
Guys, if you like coffee, hot sauce, spice rub, go to RodaxCoffeeandGrills.com. Marvin Rodak,
just like that. Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School, the Dragster Adventure. You can drive a dragster.
Why does Sadie want to go through all that? Why? Call Frank, do the Dragster Adventure,
you'll get a little taste. Just that simple. Our friends at Bernie's Speed Shop,
B-U-R-N-Y-Z-Z.com, hit the website, buying and selling on consignment. If you've got a special
car and you want it sold, call Josh Hart and his team. Folks at Fog It, get a can of Fog It
at Summit Racing Equipment. Obviously, for the inside to protect your engine and your finally
done cylinder hone, but it works on everything. You'll find a zillion uses and it's a great way
for you to support the show and the sport and goodbye something at Summit, just like that.
Our friends at HussiePerformance.net, not just copper gaskets anymore. David Allen and the team,
give them a call. Of course, Redline Synthetic Motor Oil, Larisse Motorsports Insurance. Thank
you, Larisse. Total Seal Piston Rings. When was the last time you listened to Hidden Horsepower?
TotalSeal.com. FTI Performance and DPFX Fit, the Jesse Converters. Thank you, guys. Remember,
life's a drag on tomorrow, 12 noon Eastern time. Thank you, Sadie. Thank you, Jason. Thank you,
Kenny. Thank you, Ron Caps. WFO, guys.
About this episode
NHRA countdown energy fills WFO Radio as the show looks ahead to the Sonoma–Seattle swing and the pressure of the regular-season stretch. Ron Capps is teased after a strong Norwalk double, while Maddie Gordon and top-dragster standout Sadie Glenn are set for storytelling-focused interviews. The centerpiece is NHRA chief starter Kenny Lubanski, who explains what the job really involves beyond “flipping the switch”: leading a safety-first crew, track prep input, and constant observation for issues. Lubanski also shares his drag-racing roots from English Town and his rise through the NHRA ranks.
#NHRA #dragracing #nhraresults
Ron Capps, Sadie Glenn and NHRA Chief Starter Kenny Lubanski join WFO Radio. Ron Capps returns to WFO Radio following his 80th career victory. Capps will give the details of his final round win over Jack Beckman and his double up win as team owner for Top Fuel star Maddi Gordon. Sadie Glenn goes WFO for the first time following her Top Dragster win at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals and NHRA Chief Starter Kenny Lubanski gives his perspective on the job once held by Buster Couch.
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