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From my out-of-print book. I own all rights.
Spencer Massey started his career driving in a championship contending Top Alcohol Dragster in 2006 and moved up to Top-Fuel by 2008; he won the 2008 IHRA Top-Fuel championship. He was hired by Don Prudhomme to drive his Top-Fuel Dragster in 2009, Don’s final year of owning a team in the NHRA, and he represented Don well by winning 2 races and finishing in 6th place. He was then hired to drive for Don Schumacher in 2011 and last year he narrowly missed winning the championship, walking away with 4 wins and 45 elimination round wins; they are running even stronger in 2012. You may want to say he is so dominating because he has been blessed with great crew chiefs and Dragsters, but I kid you not, he exceeds in his job of just cutting okay lights; he almost embarrasses his opponents by being one of the best, if not the best as he bleeds pure passion for being the best he could be always.
PK: What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
SM: I actually love the countdown; it makes it to where you have to work hard to get to the top ten in the middle of the season, or any part of the season. Once you’re in the countdown everybody pretty much gets re-zeroed up to certain points for whatever position you’re in, but it makes it that much more of a dogfight towards the end. An old system, meaning that the driver could of walked away with it where we start the countdown, Indy or the next race after Indy, to where the championship could have been already locked up and made it a not interesting final few races; so I love the countdown.
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
SM: I would change it, I like what we got going on. Obviously there’s times where teams are getting backed into the corner and that times happening like right now in our 2012 season. You look at the alBalooshi car where the Al-Anabi guys, there in a position where they need to step up. You look at some of our (DSR) cars, there are a lot of good cars out there that are on the bump right now and it’s getting to the point where they have to step their game up and make it into the countdown. Once they get into the countdown then it happens all over again because there’s ten of us that are pretty much equaled out and we can all win that championship. That’s what makes it so exciting, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in this class?
SM: It takes dedication, devotion to your racecar, to the crew guys, to being focused, to just knowing what to do; knowing your job, knowing your game. When you get up there, you know you have to be the best or very best, of the very best because right now this is what it is. Knowing exactly what your job is to do, who your racing, the situations on the track, cutting a great reaction time and keeping it in the groove and then, hopefully, celebrating at the end; at the finish line.
PK: Can you take me through what you do on a run from the burnout to the completion?
SM: To start out Todd (Okuhara, Crew Chief) tells me to go out there, do my burnout, have fun and do my thing and I say, “Alright man, let’s do it” and we fire the car up. I set the fuel pressure to a certain pressure during the burnout, Todd will tell me to pull forward and I watch Phil Shuler’s (Crew Chief) motions as he’s pulling me through the water box and he tells me to stab the gas. I’ll do the burnout generally till I pass the Christmas tree, the 60 foot marker, I’ll shut it off, roll over to Scotty Okuhara, he’ll look over the motor, look at the dash, we’ll start backing up. He’ll put me in my tire tracks as I’m backing up, he’ll tell me to stop and then he’ll pull me up to the beams. He’ll walk back and as him and Todd look over the motor, set the fuel, set the idle, I’m sitting there positioning myself getting focused, getting ready.
Staring at that tree, looking at the groove, getting ready for my job at hand, which is about to be driving an 8,000 horsepower Top-Fuel Dragster. As soon as Todd tells me to go in, I’ll flip my visor down and slowly let the clutch out until I start rolling forward to pre-stage the beam on, and I’ll pre stage; I’ll stop. Wait on the other competitor or if he’s already there, (staged) I’ll stop, take my foot off the clutch and slowly start inchin it in until I turn on the stage bulb. Whenever I stage I’ll take all my focus from the staging beams to the amber beams and watch ‘em for any sign of flicker, and as soon as they flicker, as fast, as hard, as quick as I possibly can on the gas, off the break to the steering wheel. Manhandle the 8,000 horsepower machine all the way to the finish line, get to the finish line, hit the parachute button or reach up and hit the levers, whichever ones easier done, and get off the throttle, get on the break as fast as I can.
As soon as the parachutes hit at the car starts to settle down I’ll reach over, shut the fuel off, let the motor go ahead and die, make the turnoff, jump out, and if the win lights on hopefully we’re celebrating in the final round. Here comes my guys, either going to service the car or celebrate in the winner’s circle.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
SM: My favorite racetrack would definitely have to be my home track at The Texas Motorplex. (Dallas) It was my very first time I ever saw a nitro car run, or smell the nitro or anything back in 1986 when it was first opened. It was my first time to win a race in the Junior Dragster’s was at that track, my hometown track; I gotta love it.
PK: You have only been completed two full seasons in Top-Fuel and for those entire seasons you left first 89%, and 84% of the time. Over your career it’s very fair to say you react first about 85% of the time. You are the best in the class for having a really great light at any time, even when the tune is not enough; you still deliver with holeshot wins even in the final. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
SM: I say being a good factor is starting in the Junior Drag Racing categories. Going from that to bracket racing, Super Comp cars, or Doorslammers, knowing the tree, just knowing the staging procedure from burnout to the time you’re gonna leave. No matter what kind of car you’re driving, from Super Stock, Junior Dragster, Super Comp, to Top-Fuel Dragster’s, it’s the same job you do no matter what. The more consistent you are the most consistent the Crew Chiefs can be, which make for a better race car and I feel like it all comes from just bracket racing. The more you see that tree, the more you’re comfortable with it, the better you’re gonna be because it’s gonna be more natural and more automatic.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to drive in another class, or be a crew chief, or a team owner in any class?
SM: I always wanted to drive Top-Fuel Dragster’s because they been the kings of the sport since, well forever. All my heroes I ever looked at, that’s what they drove. The fastest and quickest cars in NHRA Drag Racing is Top-Fuel and that’s what I always wanted to drive. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll drive anything with four wheels on it and you never know. My goal would obviously be 20, 30, 40 years down the road or 5 years down the road would be to own my own Top-Fuel team, to drive my own Top-Fuel car, to even drive the rig or motorhome from race to race and yes, I would love to tune it..
I even try to help out on Top-Alcohol Dragster teams now and tune the Top-Alcohol Dragster that I used to drive. I would love to get in there and help Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara out and tune our car, but they already have a handle on it so maybe one day I could be a part of it and get my hands dirty with em.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver/rider influence any of your daily driving habits?
SM: My daily driver is a 2009 Chevrolet pickup; it’s a crew cab, four door. I have it actually lowered from stock 3 inches in the front and 5 inches in the back with some “22’s on it, it looks awesome. My favorite color is black, I don’t know why, I guess I worn black my entire life, so I have it blacked out and it just looks clean. I put it in my stacker trailer that I pull behind my motorhome and it’s a 2009 45 foot Sport Coach Legend and it’s a very nice motorhome. I drive it to every race, basically live outta the thing going from race to race, so it’s my daily driver I drive it more than I drive my pickup truck.
Influence from Drag Racing to street? I drive probably maximum 60 MPH from racetrack to racetrack, because I get to go 330 MPH on the racetrack. It’s where I get to slow down from race to race where I get to go 330 at the racetrack.
PK: What win and single run mean more to you than all the others?
SM: That one’s kinda a tough one, there’s a lot of great runs, a lot of great races that stick out. Obviously my very first win in Top-Fuel was amazing with Don Prudhomme winning in Joliet. (Chicago) A huge race last year was Reading against Del Worsham, we took him out in the final round where he actually ran the record setting run back then at a 3.73 and we won on a holeshot, and as a driver winning on a holeshot; that’s as good at it gets.
PK: How does it feel to drive such an aggressive Dragster, especially recently when you ran a 3.728 and earlier in the year when you ran 332.18 mph?
SM: Driving a car like that, that performs like it does that just puts a lot more confidence in myself as a driver, for the crew, for the Crew Chiefs, and just to know exactly what we have to do out there, that’s just to go down the racetrack. Whenever we have to step up and run numbers, we can and Todd Okuhara, Phil have proven to myself and to everybody out there in Drag Racing and to Don (Schumacher) that they know how to get a racecar down the track. Not only can they get it down a hot racetrack, they can get it down a cool racetrack and what do ya know; it’s the quickest and fastest car in the NHRA right now. It just helps me as a driver to be that much more focused and to stay on my toes and do my job right, cause those guys are doing their job right every time.
PK: What are your feelings on the sport’s decision to move to 1000 feet?
SM: I like 1000 foot, I drove in IHRA in 2008 when we were still quarter mile and drove in NHRA in 2008 as well for one race when we were at 1000 foot, so I actually been back and forth between thousand foot and quarter mile in the same season; I like it. It’s a tighter format because it makes reaction times become a bigger situation or that much bigger of a deal, the Crew Chiefs have to focus because right now we’re running so close and it’s kinda because the 1000 foot era. Beforehand the extra 300 feet would allow something to smoke the tires, engine to expire, it helped out on a lot of parts failures, it helped out on tire failures. In turn, I think it helped a lot from saving cars from going down the road and well, not crashing, not having anything bad go on with them, so I feel like it’s safer, I feel like it makes it for better racing; I love it, I’m ready to go 1000 foot right now.
Spencer Massey started his career driving in a championship contending Top Alcohol Dragster in 2006 and moved up to Top-Fuel by 2008; he won the 2008 IHRA Top-Fuel championship. He was hired by Don Prudhomme to drive his Top-Fuel Dragster in 2009, Don’s final year of owning a team in the NHRA, and he represented Don well by winning 2 races and finishing in 6th place. He was then hired to drive for Don Schumacher in 2011 and last year he narrowly missed winning the championship, walking away with 4 wins and 45 elimination round wins; they are running even stronger in 2012. You may want to say he is so dominating because he has been blessed with great crew chiefs and Dragsters, but I kid you not, he exceeds in his job of just cutting okay lights; he almost embarrasses his opponents by being one of the best, if not the best as he bleeds pure passion for being the best he could be always.
PK: What are your overall feelings on the countdown and is it a good system for the NHRA?
SM: I actually love the countdown; it makes it to where you have to work hard to get to the top ten in the middle of the season, or any part of the season. Once you’re in the countdown everybody pretty much gets re-zeroed up to certain points for whatever position you’re in, but it makes it that much more of a dogfight towards the end. An old system, meaning that the driver could of walked away with it where we start the countdown, Indy or the next race after Indy, to where the championship could have been already locked up and made it a not interesting final few races; so I love the countdown.
PK: I am not a fan of good teams being told the best they can finish is 11th. Since, the NHRA resets the points at the start of the countdown to make the points race tighter, I feel that the NHRA should qualify everyone for the countdown who has run every countdown qualifying race. It would eliminate anyone getting locked out of a top ten and a top ten finish can still be a goal for everyone. Would you modify the system for teams that peak at the wrong time and get locked out of the all-important top ten when they may perform better than a locked in top ten finisher?
SM: I would change it, I like what we got going on. Obviously there’s times where teams are getting backed into the corner and that times happening like right now in our 2012 season. You look at the alBalooshi car where the Al-Anabi guys, there in a position where they need to step up. You look at some of our (DSR) cars, there are a lot of good cars out there that are on the bump right now and it’s getting to the point where they have to step their game up and make it into the countdown. Once they get into the countdown then it happens all over again because there’s ten of us that are pretty much equaled out and we can all win that championship. That’s what makes it so exciting, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
PK: What does it take to be a successful driver in this class?
SM: It takes dedication, devotion to your racecar, to the crew guys, to being focused, to just knowing what to do; knowing your job, knowing your game. When you get up there, you know you have to be the best or very best, of the very best because right now this is what it is. Knowing exactly what your job is to do, who your racing, the situations on the track, cutting a great reaction time and keeping it in the groove and then, hopefully, celebrating at the end; at the finish line.
PK: Can you take me through what you do on a run from the burnout to the completion?
SM: To start out Todd (Okuhara, Crew Chief) tells me to go out there, do my burnout, have fun and do my thing and I say, “Alright man, let’s do it” and we fire the car up. I set the fuel pressure to a certain pressure during the burnout, Todd will tell me to pull forward and I watch Phil Shuler’s (Crew Chief) motions as he’s pulling me through the water box and he tells me to stab the gas. I’ll do the burnout generally till I pass the Christmas tree, the 60 foot marker, I’ll shut it off, roll over to Scotty Okuhara, he’ll look over the motor, look at the dash, we’ll start backing up. He’ll put me in my tire tracks as I’m backing up, he’ll tell me to stop and then he’ll pull me up to the beams. He’ll walk back and as him and Todd look over the motor, set the fuel, set the idle, I’m sitting there positioning myself getting focused, getting ready.
Staring at that tree, looking at the groove, getting ready for my job at hand, which is about to be driving an 8,000 horsepower Top-Fuel Dragster. As soon as Todd tells me to go in, I’ll flip my visor down and slowly let the clutch out until I start rolling forward to pre-stage the beam on, and I’ll pre stage; I’ll stop. Wait on the other competitor or if he’s already there, (staged) I’ll stop, take my foot off the clutch and slowly start inchin it in until I turn on the stage bulb. Whenever I stage I’ll take all my focus from the staging beams to the amber beams and watch ‘em for any sign of flicker, and as soon as they flicker, as fast, as hard, as quick as I possibly can on the gas, off the break to the steering wheel. Manhandle the 8,000 horsepower machine all the way to the finish line, get to the finish line, hit the parachute button or reach up and hit the levers, whichever ones easier done, and get off the throttle, get on the break as fast as I can.
As soon as the parachutes hit at the car starts to settle down I’ll reach over, shut the fuel off, let the motor go ahead and die, make the turnoff, jump out, and if the win lights on hopefully we’re celebrating in the final round. Here comes my guys, either going to service the car or celebrate in the winner’s circle.
PK: What is your favorite race track?
SM: My favorite racetrack would definitely have to be my home track at The Texas Motorplex. (Dallas) It was my very first time I ever saw a nitro car run, or smell the nitro or anything back in 1986 when it was first opened. It was my first time to win a race in the Junior Dragster’s was at that track, my hometown track; I gotta love it.
PK: You have only been completed two full seasons in Top-Fuel and for those entire seasons you left first 89%, and 84% of the time. Over your career it’s very fair to say you react first about 85% of the time. You are the best in the class for having a really great light at any time, even when the tune is not enough; you still deliver with holeshot wins even in the final. How do you stay so focused and what do you attribute to being the most important factor?
SM: I say being a good factor is starting in the Junior Drag Racing categories. Going from that to bracket racing, Super Comp cars, or Doorslammers, knowing the tree, just knowing the staging procedure from burnout to the time you’re gonna leave. No matter what kind of car you’re driving, from Super Stock, Junior Dragster, Super Comp, to Top-Fuel Dragster’s, it’s the same job you do no matter what. The more consistent you are the most consistent the Crew Chiefs can be, which make for a better race car and I feel like it all comes from just bracket racing. The more you see that tree, the more you’re comfortable with it, the better you’re gonna be because it’s gonna be more natural and more automatic.
PK: Do you have any aspirations to drive in another class, or be a crew chief, or a team owner in any class?
SM: I always wanted to drive Top-Fuel Dragster’s because they been the kings of the sport since, well forever. All my heroes I ever looked at, that’s what they drove. The fastest and quickest cars in NHRA Drag Racing is Top-Fuel and that’s what I always wanted to drive. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll drive anything with four wheels on it and you never know. My goal would obviously be 20, 30, 40 years down the road or 5 years down the road would be to own my own Top-Fuel team, to drive my own Top-Fuel car, to even drive the rig or motorhome from race to race and yes, I would love to tune it..
I even try to help out on Top-Alcohol Dragster teams now and tune the Top-Alcohol Dragster that I used to drive. I would love to get in there and help Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara out and tune our car, but they already have a handle on it so maybe one day I could be a part of it and get my hands dirty with em.
PK: What is your private ride and does your career as a driver/rider influence any of your daily driving habits?
SM: My daily driver is a 2009 Chevrolet pickup; it’s a crew cab, four door. I have it actually lowered from stock 3 inches in the front and 5 inches in the back with some “22’s on it, it looks awesome. My favorite color is black, I don’t know why, I guess I worn black my entire life, so I have it blacked out and it just looks clean. I put it in my stacker trailer that I pull behind my motorhome and it’s a 2009 45 foot Sport Coach Legend and it’s a very nice motorhome. I drive it to every race, basically live outta the thing going from race to race, so it’s my daily driver I drive it more than I drive my pickup truck.
Influence from Drag Racing to street? I drive probably maximum 60 MPH from racetrack to racetrack, because I get to go 330 MPH on the racetrack. It’s where I get to slow down from race to race where I get to go 330 at the racetrack.
PK: What win and single run mean more to you than all the others?
SM: That one’s kinda a tough one, there’s a lot of great runs, a lot of great races that stick out. Obviously my very first win in Top-Fuel was amazing with Don Prudhomme winning in Joliet. (Chicago) A huge race last year was Reading against Del Worsham, we took him out in the final round where he actually ran the record setting run back then at a 3.73 and we won on a holeshot, and as a driver winning on a holeshot; that’s as good at it gets.
PK: How does it feel to drive such an aggressive Dragster, especially recently when you ran a 3.728 and earlier in the year when you ran 332.18 mph?
SM: Driving a car like that, that performs like it does that just puts a lot more confidence in myself as a driver, for the crew, for the Crew Chiefs, and just to know exactly what we have to do out there, that’s just to go down the racetrack. Whenever we have to step up and run numbers, we can and Todd Okuhara, Phil have proven to myself and to everybody out there in Drag Racing and to Don (Schumacher) that they know how to get a racecar down the track. Not only can they get it down a hot racetrack, they can get it down a cool racetrack and what do ya know; it’s the quickest and fastest car in the NHRA right now. It just helps me as a driver to be that much more focused and to stay on my toes and do my job right, cause those guys are doing their job right every time.
PK: What are your feelings on the sport’s decision to move to 1000 feet?
SM: I like 1000 foot, I drove in IHRA in 2008 when we were still quarter mile and drove in NHRA in 2008 as well for one race when we were at 1000 foot, so I actually been back and forth between thousand foot and quarter mile in the same season; I like it. It’s a tighter format because it makes reaction times become a bigger situation or that much bigger of a deal, the Crew Chiefs have to focus because right now we’re running so close and it’s kinda because the 1000 foot era. Beforehand the extra 300 feet would allow something to smoke the tires, engine to expire, it helped out on a lot of parts failures, it helped out on tire failures. In turn, I think it helped a lot from saving cars from going down the road and well, not crashing, not having anything bad go on with them, so I feel like it’s safer, I feel like it makes it for better racing; I love it, I’m ready to go 1000 foot right now.
