Kris Hill - did you ever write . . . (1 Viewer)

Kris/QuillHill,

When you recover from the meltdown in Seattle this weekend, let us 'Maters know when that article you wrote is getting published. Will you be able to send us a link to the story? I understand it might not be possible for you to just cut & paste it into a post here on NitroMater.

And hey, what's up with friends who you invite to a drag race? I had a similar experience a few years ago, and it almost came close to blows. My commute to Gainesville, FL for the Gators is quite a distance, and when someone you invite shows up late and causes you to miss a good bit of 1st Rd qualifying, those are friendship breakers!

Later...

~Kurt
 
Thanks for asking, Cindy. The story with Cruz and Tony Pedregon ran in the July 5 issue of the Covington/Maple Valley Reporter. Unfortunately, my paper doesn't publish content online. I gave Cruz a copy of the story on Friday. I unfortunately did not have a chance to introduce myself to Tony. They both have a lot of fans and I didn't want to take time away from that interaction.

I have been meaning to scan it in and convert it to PDFs, but I have been busy the past week or so. I will try and do it tonight. I also need to upload my photos from yesterday. Kelly Holmes will enjoy some of the very close up shots I got of Capps. Plust I have like a five minute video Capps packing up the left parashute after the first round yesterday.

Kurt, I am fortunate to live close to Pacific Raceways and we made it just in time to see the morning qualifying session on Saturday. What really irked me is that I sent her a text message explicitly laying out the fact that I wanted to be there at noon. On Friday. The friend I took Saturday is perpetually late. Usually I don't care. But, she did not grasp that I am serious about my drag racing now. This is the third race I've been to and because I live so far from pretty much every other track, I've resigned myself to the fact that I may not see another race in person this year.

I don't think I will be taking her to the races again unless she signs a contract swearing she understands the seriousness of the drag races and she will promise in a binding legal document that she will not be late. Heh.

Thankfully, I had a much better experience yesterday. I took my best buddy Mike. We have been friends for close to 16 years. He's like my brother, like my twin brother. He called me yesterday morning at 8:30 asking when he had to be at my house. He arrived 20 minutes before I told him he had to be there. He said, "Well, you told me to get cracking. I was ready to go when you called, so I put on my shoes and left." And that is why we have been friends for more than a decade.

As a result of the weather, the crazy friend situation and some other circumstances, I told my husband last night we're going to the Vegas race. We were going to take a trip the week of my birthday in September, but I told him we're going to save our money and stay home so we can go to Vegas. I need to go to another race this year. It's funny, two years ago when Don Prudhomme's PR firm called me up to ask if I wanted to cover a drag race, I actually told the woman that I would have to ask my editor. I actually hung up without saying yes and then called her back. Now, here I am, three Northwest National events under my belt, freaking hooked on this sport.

Back to the original question. Whoever suggested I interview Cruz and Tony Pedregon back in my thread posted up in May, thank you. That proved to be one of the best things I've ever done in my career. I don't know what I could do next year that would top that.
 
Back to the original question. Whoever suggested I interview Cruz and Tony Pedregon back in my thread posted up in May, thank you. That proved to be one of the best things I've ever done in my career. I don't know what I could do next year that would top that.
Your welcome...two of the nicest guys out there imo. I ran into both of them Sunday after the races down on the water at Saltys, and as usual, they`re always real cool to shoot the breeze with. I`d like to read that interview also, Kris.
 
I look forward to reading.
I am a fan of the Pedregron's, as is my entire family. Both are very fan friendly. Tony made it a point to converse and make jokes with our youngest NHRA tourer last year at ATL or Bristol, and snapped a pic with him, very cool.
 
Thanks Kris - I, too, think the Pedregon brothers are great guys. Looking forward to your article!:)
 
Your welcome...two of the nicest guys out there imo. I ran into both of them Sunday after the races down on the water at Saltys, and as usual, they`re always real cool to shoot the breeze with. I`d like to read that interview also, Kris.

That's where Cruz was yesterday afternoon. Gonna bust his chops about that. I would much rather have eaten at Salty's than freaking Applebees. Anyway...I digress. No point in bothering about that now. *formulates e-mail in her head...*

I wonder if maybe I should re-write my piece so that I could get more of the interviews with them in and then let you see what was published in the paper? Heh. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Tony and I'd say about an hour with Cruz...was supposed to be 20 minutes, but Cruz started turning the questions around on me and I'm the chatty type once you get me going.

One thing I have noticed and like about the drivers in the NHRA is that they love promoting their sport. They are really, in my limited experience, the most flexible, easiest professional athletes to deal with period. But, I would have to say my experiences this year with these particular drivers is different than what I've had in the past. It was a great. I'd do it all over again.
 
I would much rather have eaten at Salty's than freaking Applebees.
That`s a given! We actually went there all three days...as soon as you made it to the bottom of the hill, and got to the water, it cooled off about 20 degrees! Food ain`t too shabby either!
 
Looking forward to reading the article and seeing you & your husband in Vegas later this year Kris.
Cruz & Tony are some of the best out there, ya always have to root for them unless... well you all know what the unless is.;) :p
 
That`s a given! We actually went there all three days...as soon as you made it to the bottom of the hill, and got to the water, it cooled off about 20 degrees! Food ain`t too shabby either!


You would think after living here most of my life I would know that. I think my brain was a melted pile of mush by the time eating dinner occured to me. Sigh. I just wanted a/c.

Is this the Salty's in Des Moines (on Redondo Beach) or over on Alki?

I'll try and get the PDF converted and up tonight, folks. I'm uploading some photos I took over the weekend at the track.

I can't root for Force...I can't do it. I have always respected and admired Cruz and Tony for running their own operation. And of course, since Ron Capps provided my first exposure to drag racing, he'll always have a special place in my nitro-luvin heart. But, I think Cruz and Tony have moved to the top of my favorite drivers list.

I will post the article in this thread once I get it converted.
 
Ah, well, it appears I don't have a copy of the story here at home as I thought I had. I will dig it up tomorrow at the office and bring it home. I apologize for the delay.
 
No problem on the delay. Hope you get a chance to post it sometime later today. Any chance we will get to read the "full" interview, since you stated you had more info than what was published? I know that there are always the "column cannot be any longer than X number of words" restraints. We'll take whatever you got time to post though!

PS: Has it cooled off yet? We have friends visiting Orlando right now from the Seattle area, and they got primed for the heat here, just not the humidity. They held up well at the theme parks yesterday.

Cheers,

~Kurt
 
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It cooled completely off yesterday. Dropped about 20 degrees, I think, down into the upper 70s. What a relief. I moved back here from Vegas for a reason.

I don't want to post my notes because, well, two reasons, those are the only things that actually belong to me and because it may be frustrating for someone to read. I would be willing to post up a re-written version with just Tony and Cruz -- I also have a couple quotes from someone from the track about attendance and a local city official about traffic and other impacts. I could ditch those in a re-write. But, I'd have to do that over the weekend. I'm going to be too busy the rest of this week to do that.

I will scan in the pages right now. I have been unable to post PDFs to this site, though, so if anyone could help me with that, I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Kris,

Thanks for the quick response. I saw in the thread about Pacific Raceways that you were able to have Kelly H. host your PDF file(s) and wonder if she could do it for this article too. Hope so.

Later....
 
I just changed my mind.

OK. I have decided to post the unedited version of the story. I like it better. It's mine, anyway. Kelly, thanks for the offer...hopefully this is aesthetically pleasing. :)

By KRIS HILL

Ground-rattling, ear-shattering nitromethane fueled drag racing cars are coming to Pacific Raceways, and anyone living within 10 miles of the track will hear it and feel it.
Residents of Covington and Maple Valley may also notice some additional traffic in the area during the weekend of July 21-23.
The negative impacts should be minimal, though, and ultimately the thousands of drag racing fans attending the Shuck
 
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Kris,

Thanks for the quick response. I saw in the thread about Pacific Raceways that you were able to have Kelly H. host your PDF file(s) and wonder if she could do it for this article too. Hope so.

Later....

Sometimes, I want to throw this computer on SR 167.

One more time.

By KRIS HILL

Ground-rattling, ear-shattering nitromethane fueled drag racing cars are coming to Pacific Raceways, and anyone living within 10 miles of the track will hear it and feel it.
Residents of Covington and Maple Valley may also notice some additional traffic in the area during the weekend of July 21-23.
The negative impacts should be minimal, though, and ultimately the thousands of drag racing fans attending the Shuck’s Auto Supply National Hot Rod Association’s Nationals event could be good for nearby cities.
Covington City Manager Andy Dempsey said the drag races have an effect on the city during the weekend the NHRA comes to town.
“Yes, the event does bring a fair amount of traffic to the Covington area, but the congestion is generally limited to the immediate vicinity of the track and the interchange serving the track southwest of downtown Covington,” Dempsey said. “Traffic in downtown Covington does increase some, but not really noticeable to most people. We certainly appreciate the additional shoppers it brings to our downtown for the duration of the event.”
Drag racing is an increasingly popular sport. Pacific Raceways track spokesman Charlie Kester said the event locally continues to grow, which is in line with national trends.
“The NHRA runs 23 races each year and they average 100,000 spectators per three day race,” Kester said in an e-mail. “Pacific Raceways had a 10 percent increase over the previous year in 2004 and we had a 20 percent increase in 2005 over 2004. This is reflective of motor sports being the fastest growing sport in the world.”
And that growth here is good for the sport, according to brothers Cruz and Tony Pedregon. The pair both drive Chevy Monte Carlo nitro funny cars and the brothers co-own Pedregon Racing.
Both are looking forward to coming to Pacific Raceways, which is just one exit west of downtown Covington on State Route 18, later this month.
“It’s a great market for us, for starters,” Tony Pedregon said.
NHRA drag racing is the no. 2 motor sport, trailing behind the wildly popular NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.
“The one thing they (NASCAR) don’t do is they don’t race up in that market,” Tony Pedregon said. “That has a lot of appeal to our sponsors. At the facility, it just seems like we get a big draw ... from close to the border up in Canada. We draw from Oregon, Idaho, Montana.”
Cruz Pedregon spent quite a bit of time at Pacific Raceways, back when it was known at Seattle International Raceways, racing in the Sportsman series events in a top alcohol dragster.
“What’s cool about that race and kind of special, you could say, that was my first real racing up in the Northwest,” Cruz Pedregon said. “I’ve always liked the trees and it’s always cool (temperatures). And it’s really the only race in the entire area.”
Cruz is looking forward to this trip because it’s one of the few tracks he hasn’t won at in the top fuel or funny car classes.
The Pedregon brothers are also pleased with the improvements made to the facility by the Fiorito family, which owns and operates Pacific Raceways.
“Seattle is an important market and a market we all like racing at,” Cruz said. “We like to see the sport grow and we like to see facilities improve for the fans.”
The track, in particular, is a much kinder surface than it had been in the past.
“The main thing was getting the surface (improved). That’s the bottom line, the racing surface,” Cruz said.
The race here is the second of three events known as the Western Swing, and for Tony, it’s a chance to spend some quality time with his family.
“A vacation is when they (his wife and children) go on the Western Swing with me,” Tony said. “We don’t have much time off and our time off in December is spent working on the car. So, when we go up to Seattle, I’ll take them to the Space Needle.”
And though he’s not a coffee drinker, when Tony is in Seattle, he’ll definitely get a cup of Starbucks or Dutch Brothers, the other brand he said he likes.
Tony has a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-month-old son. Driving and managing a drag race team takes much of his time. The season starts in February and runs through mid-November.
Cruz said it’s also hard to get away from driving, but like his brother, he does what he can to squeeze in family time during the year.
Family is important. That’s why he races with his brother.
And it’s also an important part of drag racing, both among racers as well as among fans.
Head out to a drag race and it is not what one would assume a motor sport event would be like. Sure, there are guys there drinking beer and enjoying the sheer power of the cars — they can generate 7,000 horsepower and go from 0 to 300 miles per hour in about 4 seconds.
But, there are also moms and dads, children of all ages, some carried in a parent’s arms, others pushed in a stroller.
And in the pits, there are many a second-generation driver, like both the Pedregons are, with parents working as crew chiefs, team owners, or driving their own cars. The list of families involved in drag racing is too long to even start.
And the family aspect of the sport is one reason it appeals both to racers and to fans.
“My mom and sisters come to the west coast Pomona race,” Cruz said. “In other sports, you can’t have family in the pit, in the locker room. Drag racing lends itself to that.
“The race fan wants to bring his wife and kids, they can come out there, walk through the pit, get an autograph. It’s more of an up close, personal thing than any other sport.”
And families of fans can see something familiar at the track.
“People can relate to myself and Cruz because we’re brothers,” Tony said. “The family tie is that we enjoy doing things together. We’re a lot alike in some ways, but the most important thing is we can meet half-way, conduct our business. But, we push each other just like we did when we were kids.”
While the ground-rattling, ear-shattering thunder of those cars is a major draw, the entertainment value of it, the fact families can enjoy it together and relate to the racers is what keeps them coming back.
“I had a kid who walked up to me ... I took a picture with him when he was 10 years old,” Tony said. “I’ve got that guy as a fan for life.”
 
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