DRO: Do you think it's currently possible for someone to cheat with nitrous in Pro Stock?

Anderson: It probably is. I guess if I look around at what was going on back then, what they look for when they check cars I don't see it a lot different now, so I guess if it was going on back then, it could be going on now. But do I think it is now? No. But I also didn't think it was going on back then.

I'm not a skeptical one; I just don't think like that. I think everyone is doing a good job. If they go out and win they are working hard and doing a good job. I've certainly never done it, and I don't think its out there, but I don't know for sure.

DRO: Aren't the teams smarter now and perhaps better able to skirt rules without getting caught?

Anderson: I would imagine they probably are. We're hands on and if you wanted to spend all your time trying to figure out ways around the rules you probably could. There's people smart enough in this class to do it, that's for sure. Most of us hardcore racers, though, don't think that way. You don't want to do it that way, you want to do it fair and square.

DRO: Are you satisfied with NHRA's inspectors and the inspection process?

Anderson: I guess I'm satisfied. Do I wish it was better, stronger, bigger, more like NASCAR where they have 50 inspectors and certain ones watch a particular car all day long? Do I wish it was like that? Yeah, I guess so, because that would eliminate anybody

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from having the gumption to go out and do something wrong.

So, the better you can make that tech department, the less chance there is of that happening and I'm all in favor of that. All those years with Warren (Johnson), I knew he raced straight up and square and didn't want to win any other way. That's the way I am too. That's the way I'll always be. But I can't guarantee that's the way 100 percent of the people out there race.

Some of the newcomers coming in think that Warren must have cheated all those years or that I must be cheating, so it's okay if they do it. For those type of guys you are darn right I wish we had better security, a better tech dept, better whatever. NHRA has the same problem as the racers, in that there is only so much budget to go around. It all comes down to that. That's why we have to keep growing the sport better together, better so that more dollars come into so we can make the tech dept stronger just like everything else.

DRO: Has your relationship with your competitors changed significantly over the last couple of years?

Anderson: Yeah, I probably found out who my two friends were. I used to be the most friendly guy out there. I was always friendly with everybody and every other racer seemed to like me, and now since we've had success, and everybody is throwing comments and jabs at you, yeah that wears on you and you don't like it. You find out who your true friends are and it comes down to the fact that there aren't too many true friends out there. They either want something from you or to learn something from you. I guess they are not my friends. I haven't changed, but they have.

DRO: Does that hurt your feelings?

Anderson: I'd be a liar if I said it doesn't. I'm trying to not let it affect the way I operate and the way I race. I'm an honest guy, I'm a hard-working guy, I've never taken anything the easy way or the cheap way, so I guess that's why it hurts because I'm not one of them; I don't do that. If I were one of them -- if a cheater accuses a cheater of something it doesn't bother either one of them -- but when you're not that way I guess it bothers you.