. . . your article on Tony & Cruz Pedregon? Was hoping you would share it with us.
Thanks!

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.

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.

__________________
Proverbs 17:27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. 28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

Thanks Kris - I, too, think the Pedregon brothers are great guys. Looking forward to your article!

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.

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.

__________________
Nazgul
JFR Infinity

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.

Kris, it was the Saltys at Redondo.

Of course. I should have known. Seriously. Hmm. Well, we'll see if I get an e-mail tomorrow.

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

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.