DRO: Where were you doing all this?

JS: Darlington Dragway in South Carolina.

DRO: Who signed off on your license?

JS: Richard and one of the IHRA officials; I'm sorry, but I'm not really sure who it was right now.

DRO: How have the other Top Fuel drivers been treating you?

JS: They've been really good to me, just like I've been here for 10 years, but especially Clay Millican and Bruce Litton, and Doc Sipple, he's an awesome guy. Paul Romine's been pretty nice to me, and Louie (Allison) and Jack (Ostrander); they've all treated me like I'm just one of them.

DRO: Are you enjoying the atmosphere of IHRA drag racing?

JS: Oh, man, I love the atmosphere. I love the whole thing about drag racing -- even if I was just racing my street car -- everything is just awesome. Honestly, tomorrow, if I was to lose my ride, I'd go out racing my street car every week.

DRO: What do you drive day to day? And is it hopped up at all?

JS: I have a 2002 Subaru Impreza. I think when it comes to drag racing you need a V-8, but I just like to have a car that looks good on the street; I'm not really into making it fast. The engine is stock except for the intake and the exhaust, that's just standard stuff, and my dad has a decal machine, so I've decaled it up a bit to make it stand out. Besides, nothing in the world is fast compared to one of these Top Fuel cars, so what's the point?

DRO: How is your teenage life away from the racing? Has it changed the way you act or think around your friends?

JS: Definitely not. I mean, I can go to school and just be Josh Starcher. I don't like to go home and with my friends, talk about drag racing. Number one because they don't understand it and I have to explain everything. I have a couple of close friends that I talk to, but the main things we like to talk about are girls and our cars. I like to go home, relax, and just be a normal 17-year-old kid when I'm there. When I come here (to a race),though, it's all business, nothing but drag racing is on my mind.

DRO: Do you consciously shut out everything else when you're in the car?

JS: I look at it this way: it doesn't matter if you're 17 or 70; I was hired to do a professional's job and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do my best at doing that.

I learned it from "Rocky;" it's the eye of the tiger. Even in the Jr. Dragsters, after I got in the car I didn't want to talk to anybody, sometimes not even to my dad. I just wanted it to be me and the car and the track. Obviously, I have to talk to more people now because I have a crew-which is okay, though, because instead of it just being me, the car, and the track; it's me, the crew, the car, and the track.

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