DRO: What about Pro Mod? You're beating everyone up in Pro Street pretty regularly, so why don't you move up to IHRA or NHRA Pro Mod?

PM: Well, that takes a little more budget and currently, the sponsors I have, NEC and Regis, are happy with what we're doing and the ink we're getting for them. But I would like to be involved as an engine builder and we've actually become involved with Cody Mac (McManama) and his NHRA Pro Mod. Our first race is this weekend at Indy and I think we'll have enough power, but we'll just have to see how we do. (Ed. Note -- McManama ended up DNQing, missing the 6.32 bump by .13 secs.)

I don't really have to be a driver. If I can be involved as an engine builder, that's okay, and also Marc Dantoni is going to make the switch soon and we'll build the engines for him, of course. The street car deal has been a lot of fun for us, but I'm also getting older. I'm getting a lot of demand for match races right now. If the street car deal went away or if we didn't run that, I could probably match race for two years straight and race every weekend. That's what kind of demand we have right now. I'd like Tony Christian to come on out with us, but we haven't been able to lure him out.

DRO: That brings up your competition. Can I just throw a few names at you and have you tell us what you think about them? Let's start with Tony.

PM: Tony's a real good racer and a great competitor. We've had our differences, but I love racing the guy and he likes racing me. Probably we're a little better than each other at different things in the deal, but I would have to say he was my number-one competitor and I'd love to have him back. We had a good rivalry, it was always exciting, and it was just a really, really good deal, so hopefully he'll come back at some point.

DRO: What about another driver who's also left recently, Annette Summer?

PM: Well, I don't consider her a racer. I'm sorry, but she needs to learn how to race. If she spent as much time on her race operation as she does on the Internet and the other nonsense, she'd be a lot better off.

I mean, you've got to understand something; I grew up in Pro Stock with guys like Warren Johnson, Bob Glidden, Lee Shepherd; we had the top four cars for a while there, and those guys did it all. They built the engines, they prepped the cars, they drove the cars, so it's hard for me to relate to just a driver who can't do anything else at all. I'm sorry, I just don't have the same respect for them, that's just how it is. If you can at least do some of it, I give you credit. Like Tony, he can do everything but really build an engine. I think if he had to assemble one, he could do that, but I'm saying he's not an engine builder. But he probably has talents that I don't have in the clutch and getting the car down the track, so I can respect guys like that. I'm sorry if anyone takes it the wrong way, but I just don't respect anybody that just buys their stuff and wants to be a driver -- especially if they can't drive, to boot.

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