DRO: How much interest have you piqued among NHRA pro-class racers?

STOTT: There were some very, very prominent Pro Stock owners/drivers in our pit area yesterday, asking about what's the best way to go -- blown or nitrous? The comment was, "We can see what's happening here, and we want to be ahead of the game." So I know it's coming. I can see it coming.

DRO: So what does that mean for you?

STOTT: The NHRA is going to escalate the cost very much. I can see that happening right now. I can ride through the pit area at this event and I can see in less than a year's time our budgets will need to double.

DRO: Why is that?

STOTT: You're going to have the Troy Coughlins, the Jeg Coughlins, the Warren Johnsons, the John Forces -- the people with that caliber of cash and talent -- who are going to, in my opinion, want to play in this arena. When that happens, the knowledge and cost are going to escalate tremendously. Although we are running these cars, currently, on the ragged edge, we're not going out there for a safe tune-up. I go out there with one thing in mind: to leave the starting line and make it to the finish line under full power and win that race and be the fastest I can be. The cash value of what it may cost me if I burn a piston or burn up a motor is not part of the calculation. But then that type of guy takes an interest in this, it's going to increase the amount of knowledge we have.

Right now, if you take the blown Pro Modifieds, they are running off of knowledge that filters down from Top Fuel because of the supercharger. Nitrous Pro Modifieds, we're at the pinnacle of that. Everything that we test and we conjure and we work out filters down to the next level. We're the Top Fuel of Pro Modified, where blown Modifieds have trickle-down knowledge. We are developing the knowledge as we go. Let's just say Warren Johnson took an interest in nitrous oxide. He has the cash reserves and he has the working knowledge of an engine. He has the (resources) to put 10 motors in his trailer, where we are happy to have two. He may put 10 motors in his trailer and he may run two. He may put 100 test passes on these cars for every one pass by the competition. Right now, our test procedure is about 20 test passes per every single run of competition.

And when I say that it's going to get expensive, I start to see, if I may be so bold to say, bidding wars for individual sponsorships. I think the popularity of the class is not going to have a maturing period.

DRO: How hard will it be to choose between the IHRA, where Pro Mods have been treated like kings and have a 16-car field and better payoffs, and NHRA, with the increased exposure and attractiveness to sponsors?

STOTT: I love the IHRA. I've been a racing member of that sanctioning body for 23 years. I like the fact the NHRA is doing it because of the additional exposure. The NHRA is the icing on the cake. The sponsors that I have had for five years are extremely elated about what's taking place.

DRO: How might it affect you if the Pro Stock Truck drivers file the lawsuit they're threatening to do?

STOTT: I sympathize with the Pro Stock Truck situation. At the same time, I strongly disagree with the Pro Stock Truck guys who are contemplating a lawsuit against NHRA. Because if that were the case and if that were to become the standard, neither sanctioning body would ever have a desire to create a new category. They'd feel they'd come under a lawsuit if they tried to cancel it or change it. Had that been the case in 1990, Pro Modified would never have existed. Funny Cars never would have existed in the '60s. All these wonderful categories that we have that make up modern-day drag racing wouldn't exist. Had the sanctioning bodies felt that if they tried something that didn't work, sooner or later, drag racing would have ceased to exist. I would tell them to go a different route. It's not the end of the world.

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