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How long have you been drag racing?
Swill Racing has been in organized drag racing since 2001.
How did you get your start? The Swill Racing team,
consisting of Pat Carroll, Dale George, and myself all went down to
the WFC 2 at Joliet, drank ALOT of beer, and decided to build a
Renegade car.....the class was cool and it seemed to fit our budgets
(at the time).
What’s been the biggest challenge to your racing program this season? Compared to last season?
The biggest challenge so far for 2003 has been getting all the parts
to build our new motor. Last year, our biggest challenge was our power
adder switchover from nitrous to a blower.
What would you consider your biggest accomplishments as a racer?
Beating Mike Post during 1st round eliminations. at the 2001 NMRA
World Finals (the year he won the championship) and beating Bob Kurgan
during 1st. round eliminations. at FFW's 2002 Cordova race certainly
was 'intoxicating', for lack of a better word. Whenever you manage to
score a win over one of the big hitters, it's exciting and somehow
makes all the effort worth it...
What’s gotten you hooked on the Mustang drag racing scene?
Pat and I have been into Stangs for years. Since the mid-1980's, the
mustang has always been the perfect car to modify and beat on. It
really is addictive. Dale on the other hand started out as a Chevy
chump, but Pat and I whipped him into shape. It took year or so to
fully get him broken, but now his blood runs Ford Blue!!
What are your plans for the future? The future is NOW for
Swill Racing. Our chassis has proven to be pretty reliable, so we've
put every ounce of effort this off-season into our engine program. If
we fail to produce in 2003, we might have to call it quits. If we do
well, who knows....a new chassis has been talked about for 2004 and I
personally would like to "share the love" and get Pat or Dale
licensed-up and behind the wheel of the Swillbeast. We'll just have to
wait and see what our future situation looks like and then do what's
best for the 3 of us.
What changes, if any, do you feel the sanctioning bodies need to make
in order for our sport to prosper? The sanctioning bodies
need to do more in the form of providing coverage for their racers.
NMRA does a pretty decent job already. Both NMRA and FFW need to get
REAL TV coverage of the events. Every time I turn on TNN or ESPN2, I
see import crap. How is it that the rice-squad can score a full 30
minute show dedicated to showing the racing action and racer
interviews and not us?
Who are your biggest friends (or enemies) at the track?
We are friends with everyone. There isn't a racer/team out there we
wouldn't help if they needed it. Swill policy: Our beer is your beer,
until our beer is gone, then your beer is our beer too.
Who do you fear having to see at the starting line? Why?
We don't 'fear' anyone. Just like the old-school mafia guys used to
say: "It's business, not personal." We don't care if John Force is
driving the Renegade car in the other lane, our goal is to send him
home to his momma.
What would you tell someone looking to start out in the heads-up
racing scene? You will spend more money buying the wrong
equipment than you will buying the right equipment. From day 1 till
present, we've replaced almost every part on our car. It's all an
expensive, time consuming game trial and error. So ya better have a
strong will and a fat pocket book, or a couple of great partners like
I do.
Very briefly, tell me the dumbest
mistake you've ever made at the race track?
hmmmmmmmm.....back in 2001 at the NMRA's Michigan race, I single
handedly cost us the whole weekend during Friday night's test & tune
with a couple of strokes of the keyboard and my absent mind. What
happened was this: At the time we were still running the nitrous.
Before each pass, I would program into the EPEC the amount of total
timing Dale wanted. At the time, we were using about 26 deg. of total
timing(10 deg. initial set a the distributor and 16 deg of advance set
in the EPEC). Well, Dale told me he wanted 26 degrees, my dumb-ass
programmed in 26 deg. of advance, neglecting the 10 degrees of initial
advance. This all added up to a grand total 36 degrees total timing!!
Which is great, if you are running N/A and not spraying a 300 shot of
the sauce through your motor.....That first (and last) pass of the
weekend was our fastest 1/8th mile ever until that point!!
Unfortunately, at about 661ft down the track, the motor started
liquify. We melted a few pistons, blew a hole in the side of a
cylinder. head, and melted a hole in the eng. block's driver side
deck. Needless to say, when I confessed my wrong doing, my teammates
took it all in stride and didn't kill me.
Anyone you’d like to thank, wives you HAVE to thank, other things not
mentioned you feel are important? We'd definitely like to
thank all of the sponsors listed elsewhere in this profile. We
wouldn't be racing without all you. Our wives deserve all the thanks
in the world for putting up with all our crap. And we'd also like to
thank anyone who's ever helped us work on or tune or gets parts for
the Swill car. You know who you are. Thanks also to everyone who
surf's the www.swillracing.com
website
and have made the site a big success!!
What music do you listen to? Who’s your favorite?
Hmmmmm...very interesting question. Dale and I are pretty much into
rock & roll, and metal. However, Pat the "Wicki-wicki Man," has
recently been luring Dale over to the darkside of dance music. It's a
constant struggle.
Any nick names for you? I have only one nickname:
Sandtrap. Given to me by Dale and Pat. One night 2 years ago while
testing at Rt.66, I was so happy the Swill car made it down the track
without a nitrous backfire (after 3 previous backfires), that I was
cheering in the car after the traps and forgot to hit the brakes. I
ended up running out of track and putting the car (gently) in to the
sandtrap at the end of the track. Now, as provided by my clever
teammates, there is a sign attached to the rollcage for me that reads
"Stop after traps."
Do you have any pets? Yes. Between the 3 of us we have 3
dogs, 2 cats, 2 fish, and a guy named Lumpy.
Do you have Kids?
Me - no. Pat has a son, Jack. Dale has a daughter, Miranda.
What do you like to do as a hobby outside of drag racing?
There is no life outside of drag racing.
What track do you dislike the most? Atco wasn't all that
it was cracked up to be, and the drive there sucks!!
Which is your favorite track to race on? Bowling Green is
always the most exciting race, while Rt.66 is right out the back door
and hooks hard.
Do you have a lucky charm? What is it? Yes, it is
an inflatable sheep.
If you could meet anybody you wanted living or not who would it be? Why?
We'd prob. all like to meet and thank the guy who invented beer.
Additional Comments: Thanks
to the Hardcore staff for including us in the awesome web site!!
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