Ford Performance NASCAR Notes and Quotes
Charlotte Media Tour – Charlotte Convention Center
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Ford Fusion — HOW IS 2018 LOOKING FOR YOU? “Yeah, 2018 is looking on paper to be an exciting year for myself personally and for Front Row Motorsports. I never thought that I would be able to stay in the Monster Energy Cup Series for as long as I have. I am going to make my 400th start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, my hometown track, so I couldn’t have scripted that any better. That is a neat accomplishment and one that kind of suck up on me. That is going to be pretty neat at Atlanta. From a race team perspective I feel like Front Row Motorsports has taken another step to being more competitive on the race track and off the race track. We have had some of our long term partners come back again and Ford has stepped up their program a little bit and committed to Front Row Motorsports as much as they ever have. It is a long hard process to turn from a startup team into a race winning team, which Front Row has won a couple races, to be a consistent contender for top-10 and top-15’s. That is our next goal. We are up against Penske and Hendrick and RCR and Roush Fenway that have been around the sport for 25, 30, 35-years. Front Row has only been a full time team for nine seasons and I am embracing working with Bob Jenkins and our group to try to get better. I think what Furniture Row Motorsports did last year is kind of a shot in the arm to some of these smaller, newer teams in the last 10 years. As the tides continue to turn in our sport that over the next 10 years, I think Furniture Row, JTG, Front Row, Stewart-Haas Racing, some of the newer teams in our sport will take the place from some of these more established teams. I don’t know how or when that is going to happen but our sport has always had that turnover every 20-25 years and I think in the next 10 years you are going to have some more turnover.”
YOU MENTIONED THE FORD INVOLVEMENT, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? “What makes a good race team from the start of NASCAR’s formation has been manufacturer support. You can’t be a successful race team with sponsorship dollars as your only source of revenue. I think the Petty’s and Wood Brothers and Junior Johnson, Bud Moore and some of these teams from the ‘60’s, ‘70’s and ‘80’s, they will tell you that what established their teams as championship caliber teams was the manufacturer support. Extra revenue, engineering support to get you over that hump. For Ford to believe in Front Row Motorsports and to have an appreciation for what Bob Jenkins has done financially the last seven or eight years has been special. For us it means more engineering support. Some of it comes in cash and some of it comes in resources. More wind tunnel time, a closer relationship with our big brother, Roush Fenway Racing. They have a lot of tools that over the years we haven’t had access to. That has opened up some of these tools and resources for us to use. Some of the tools Penske, SHR and Roush have been using. Some of the simulation tools and testing tools. Just the data and information that they have. We haven’t been subject to that and now we are. That is another step in Front Row being a little better. Our engines should be more on par with what our Ford teammates have had in years past and I think that with that comes the extra pressure from the drivers and crew chiefs. We have to elevate our game a little bit to make something happen with the extra resources that we have.”
WHAT ABOUT YOUR DAD’S INVOLVEMENT IN THIS SPORT LED YOU TO WANT TO PURSUE THIS AS A CAREER? “My dad’s involvement in the sport really paved the road for me to make a career in motorsports. I wouldn’t necessarily say just his driving part but my dad started 50 Cup races and some Grand National races and ARCA races. Have owned race tracks and race teams. They owned engine shops. He is an employee of Speedway Motorsports today. I think the relationships he made along the way and my family members made along the way helped a lot. We didn’t have a huge checkbook and unlimited funds when I was young and trying to hone my skills and get established as a young kid that wants to race. The relationships my father and uncle made over the years helped me get that engine from someone or go test somewhere or get some free passes when we needed to bring a sponsor to a race. Relationships are important in any circle in this world we live in but I think they are very important in the motorsports world. I am glad my dad didn’t burn any bridges, had a lot of good contacts and friends. That helped me a lot to get a few doors opened for me. I had to work hard to keep those doors open but without my father and uncle being involved in the sport in the 1980’s it would have been hard for me to break into the sport.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO DRIVE ATLANTA? IS IT A GOOD TRACK FOR YOU? “It has a special place in my heart. I lived in one of the condos there in 1996 when they were resurfacing the racetrack. Every morning I would sit there at the glass and see the bulldozers and grading equipment tearing down the track and repaving it. I can remember when the track was ready to go and Jeff Bodine qualified like 197 mph and standing there watching that lap and thinking, ‘Man, that is super fast.’ Yeah, I raced my Legends car there as a kid in the 90’s and early 2000’s and my dad still works there and has an office there. I made a lot of laps there in my father’s El Camino on a Saturday afternoon just riding around the race track before the security guards realized there was somebody on the track. I have had a little success there in all three series. I have been in contention for some wins and have a few top fives and top-10s but it would be really cool and special to win at Atlanta or to just have a really good day. A top-10 run would be special. Atlanta is a great race track. It is fast but it also is abrasive enough that the tires wear out and you can move around and pass if you have a good handling race car. Atlanta Motor Speedway is a cool track and I like going there.”
WHERE WERE YOU IN LIFE WHEN YOUR FATHER WAS DRIVING ARCA AND HAD THAT BROKEN NECK? “I was probably an annoying little kid that he didn’t want to have at the race track. They didn’t have motorhome lots and playgrounds like they do today. I remember hanging around the race when my dad would be working on cars. They had their shop in Unadilla and my grandmother would watch us when my dad would go racing. It wasn’t until I was probably seven or eight years old and he was just racing some local short track stuff when I really remember going with him to the race track. He broke his neck at Talladega in an ARCA race and he was able to recover and come back. He had to wear a halo for six or eight months but was able to come back and race again. That gives me motivation and drive that some of the challenges that my father went through and that I drive in a generation that I have a Hans device and carbon fiber seat that is custom molded to my body and I am very grateful to have a safe environment I can race in. Thanks to guys who some paid the ultimate sacrifice in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s to help develop the safety of our race cars.”
HOW EXCITED ARE YOU FOR DAYTONA AND YOUR CHANCES THERE? “Yeah, I always tell people that I feel like we have as good a chance to win the Daytona 500 as anyone. We work extremely hard on our speedway cars and I have been grateful to drive some fast Fords over the years and the FR9 engine that Doug Yates and his camp provide for us is a great engine for the speedway races. We have a little different rules package with some springs and shocks and setup we can run at Daytona with a little different schedule and flow for the weekend. It will be a little different than normal so I am excited to hit the race track on Saturday and qualify and run the Duels. It will be a tough weekend and always challenging to win that race. Going into the weekend I feel as good as anytone should. It is our most important race of the year to get a good start to the season. I think it is a tone setter. You don’t have to win the race to have a good Daytona 500. If you can get out of there with a top-10 or top-15 it puts you on the right path going to Atlanta and Vegas. It is hard to overcome a DNF to start the year.”
“I have thought about that some a little bit and I think I have a pretty good track record on and off the race track. I would have liked to had more wins in the win column over the years. I feel like I missed a few opportunities when I had cars that could have contended for wins and maybe missed out on a few but I think that my attitude and maybe my track record off the race track – I try not to burn any bridges and try not to take for granted what I have. I feel like every year is a make or break year for me. I have never had the sense of everything being paid for me the next 12 months or year, even if I have a multi-year contract. I try to treat that as a race to race deal and there are a lot of young kids and veterans that are good race car drivers that deserve a ride but there are only 40 cars. I try to keep that in perspective and try not to take advantage of any situation and try not to get too comfortable, work hard for my sponsors and be a good employee for my team owner. At the end of the day I am a race car driver and have a boss like everyone else and that is my team owner and general manager. I try to work hard and do a good job for them.”
“I feel like behind the wheel I stay focused over the weekend. I try to give good notes, work with the crew chief, make our race cars better and try not to be selfish. I try to help the team that I am working on. I am a driver and that is part of the pie. I am not the king or the emperor. I think some drivers in our sport feel like they are the king of their team. You know what? The crew chief and guys that mounts my seat and body hangers all play a part. I am an important part of the puzzle because I am the guy holding the steering wheel but I try to make our team stronger wherever I am racing. That is being a good teammate, being a good teammate on and off the race track. I take every race very serious and it is my job. I don’t just show up and think that I am a hired race car driver to go race on Sunday and I don’t have any obligations Monday through Saturday.”
WHAT YOUR YOUR THOUGHTS ON LANDON CASSILL LEAVING THE TEAM? “At the end of the day there are more qualified drivers than there are seats. Matt Kenseth is a good friend of mine and he is as good a driver as anyone on the track. If I had a team, it would be hard to pick anyone over Matt Kenseth and he doesn’t have a ride this year. I think Landon is a good talent. He is smart and has a good feel for what makes a race car go fast and I enjoyed having Landon as a teammate last year but at the end of the day there are a lot more qualified drivers than there are teams right now. I hate that but I have to look after my best interests and I can’t dwell or worry on that. I know what I can do and my job description and what I have to do for my owner and sponsors and work hard to make that work.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL JOINS THE TEAM AND IS A MASTER AT WORKING WITH SMALL TEAMS. DO YOU THINK HE IS A PERFECT FIT? “He has done a good job taking that 95 team from a part time team to one that ran top-15 and top-20 pretty consistent last season. We raced with him a lot. He is a hard worker. He comes from a good mold. he has a different background than I do but he doesn’t take anything for granted. He works extremely hard and is motivated to win races and to get to that top spot. I think that is something in our sport that you have to stay hungry. Even if you have all the talent in the world, if you aren’t hungry and continuing to learn and understand the new technology and working with new crew chiefs and engineering staff you will fall behind pretty quick. You can’t just rely on your God given talent to go out and run fast. You have to be everything, so Michael has a good work ethic and a good moral compass which I am proud to be his teammate and it will be fun for us to challenge each other this year.”
ANY SUPERSTITIONS OR HABITS ON RACE DAY FOR YOU? “I don’t have any interesting habits, I will say it like that. I am an old school guy. I go to bed early and try to eat a good breakfast and get my eight hours of sleep and don’t go out drinking the night before a race. I don’t eat unhealthy meals on Saturday night and I don’t eat a bowl of Fruit Loops on Sunday morning. I try to kind of stick to that routine and mentally I try to prepare myself the same way going into every race. I review last years race, review weekend notes, look at what my teammates are doing. When you talk about making decisions on race day, you make a decision based on what type of knowledge you have in your head so I try to make sure I have knowledge fresh in my mind to make good decisions behind the wheel. I don’t have any lucky underwear or set my alarm at a funny hour or anything like that. I do the things that have worked for a long time. I just try to keep it simple and get a good nights sleep and feel ready to go Sunday morning.”
IT SEEMS EVERYONE IS LOOKING TOWARD FORD BRINGING THE MUSTANG CUP RACING NEXT YEAR. WITH TOYOTA HAVING THEIR NEW CAR LAST YEAR AND CHEVY THIS YEAR, COULD THIS BE KIND OF A LAME DUCK YEAR FOR FORD? “I think that could be a good excuse if the Fords don’t perform but excuses don’t get you much in the Cup Series. Ford Motor Company doesn’t want an excuse. Mr. Edsel Ford doesn’t want to hear an excuse. We have to go out and work. Sometimes the fastest car doesn’t always win. Kevin Harvick beat those guys at Texas. That was the third race to the end of the year and a 1.5 mile, smooth track that is very important with aero and he spanked ‘em. I think that we can all agree that the Toyota’s will be, in my opinion, as good as they were last year. If the new NASCAR Hawkeye system patrols the bodies like we all anticipate I think it will bring them down a little bit. I think they had a lot of gray areas that NASCAR couldn’t check consistently and they beat the system a little bit. I think Toyota will come back down to earth some and hopefully it will prevent the Chevrolet’s from taking advantage of those gray areas. In this sport, we go through cycles. Every three or four years manufacturers develop a new engine, a new body style, and they are hot for a little while but it doesn’t last forever. We part next to each other in the garage for 38 weekends a year and it is hard to keep an advantage that long. On paper our body is three years old and they have new bodies but we have to overcome some of those issues and be better. They will be screaming next year when our new car comes out and our engineers are going to do a good job and make that race car pretty sexy. Toyota and Chevrolet did their jobs and hopefully NASCAR does their job and controls some of that to keep the playing field even. I look back and encourage my guys to look at Texas with Harvick winning that race. That was just three races ago. And our cars will be better this year than they were last year.”
DO YOU FEEL BALANCED FOR DAYTONA? “Yeah, it is a new rules package. Not aero but there is no rear[spring rule, no trackbar rule, no shock rule like we have had in years past. You will see the cars lower to the ground and travel lower and drive a little different. I think the speeds will be different because the cars will be lower. We can work on the balance some. It will be interesting with the cars being impounded Sunday after qualifying and before the race on Thursday. We will have to take a little bit of that in consideration because there are some things you can do for qualifying that make speed but the cars don’t drive as good. It is usually a balance of having speed but handling good. We have seen in the past some guys that qualify on the front row can’t run 500 miles because their cars are too slicked out and the guys that are going to win the race are going to be fast cars but you have to have a comfortable car. It will be interesting. That first practice on Saturday, the crew chiefs will have to make a conscious effort to have both. It doesn’t make me nervous but excited to hit the track. Daytona and Talladega have had the same rules the last three or four years so I am glad we will have to work on our cars a little bit.”
