ADRL Quote Sheet for Hardee's Gateway Drags III, Aug. 6-7, Gateway International Raceway (GIR)
Joshua Hernandez, Pro Extreme Driver (New Major Sponsor is Fight Me MMA)
Current Points Leader
On the Gateway Drags Being a Double-Race Weekend:
"Every lap in the summer you get some new data and that's a good thing," Hernandez said. "There's that little added pressure with coming out of the box and racing, but you have to come with your game face on. You have to step up to the plate."
On His Semifinal Race at the Texas Drags Where He Went 3.74 to KH Al-Thani's 3.76, and Their Budding Rivalry
"The crowd picked up on the numbers we were both running and they knew it was going to be good," Hernandez said. "It was just two drivers itching for the win light and it culminated in two cars that were neck-and-neck at the finish line."
"We're going to see more of that this year, I have a feeling," Hernandez said. "There's always those classic matchups and I have a feeling there's a new one brewing."
Jason Scruggs, Pro Extreme Driver
His Thoughts on Debuting a New Car after a Crash in Houston
"We started building it last winter and we were going to debut it a few races ago, but we decided to take our time," Scruggs said. "When we wrecked in Houston, we had to get it fixed in a hurry. We had to burn some midnight oil to get it done."
On What He Expects in St. Louis
"It's going to be hard, but we're going to make the best of it," Scruggs said. "We should have went a few more laps in the car, but I think it's going to be a good car.
We screwed up the weekend in Houston and that put us behind the 8-ball a little bit, but hopefully it works out and we go some rounds and win a race."
Alex Hossler, Pro Extreme Driver, Gateway Drags Considered Home Race
On Racing at His Home Track
"Anytime you can race in front of your friends and family at your home track, it's exciting," Hossler said. "There's extra pressure because you always want to do good, but it's nice to have a 3-hour trip instead of a 20-hour trip.
"It's the race we look forward to most and probably put the most pressure on ourselves because of that."
On the Double-Race Weekend
"It's definitely added pressure," Hossler said. "At a normal event, by the end of Saturday, you're exhausted. In this case, you're exhausted on Friday, going through all the emotion of the racing. You've got two days of that, so it's double the pressure, but hopefully it will be double the fun."
On His Thoughts For the Season (Hossler is currently third in points)
"Are we a contender? Yes. Do I think we're going to be in the points lead going into the Battle for the Belts? I don't know," Hossler said. "If we can be in the top four, that's a realistic goal for us."
John Montecalvo, Extreme Pro Stock Driver, Winner of Last Three Events, Points Leader
His Thoughts on Racing at Gateway International Raceway
"Although I don't always enjoy racing in hot weather, it sure worked out well for us (in Houston)," Montecalvo said. "If the next double header turns out anything like (the one in Houston), we won't complain a bit."
Billy Glidden, Extreme 10.5 Driver (Won Gateway Drags II last year)
On His Thoughts Regarding the 10.5 Class
"If we continue progressing, we can be a contender again," Glidden said. "This is the toughest racing we've had to deal with. There's some serious program we're going against."
Chuck Ulsch, 10.5 driver (became the first 10.5 driver to reach the 3-second mark, doing it in St. Louis last year)
His Thoughts on Returning to GIR
"It was real exciting, but that's what we planned on doing, setting records and winning races," Ulsch said.
His Thoughts on the Weekend
"I'm pretty confident and I feel pretty good with what we have set up," Ulsch said. "We've seen some numbers we liked, but we want to step our program up. As you can see, everyone else has."
On the Growing Competition in 10.5
"You can't sit idle because everybody is doing something," Ulsch said. "They're all working and there's a lot of good people with good equipment."
