ADRL Winners Quote Sheet for Hardee's Independence Drags and Gateway Drags, Aug. 6-7, Gateway International Raceway
Alex Hossler, Pro Extreme Driver (Won Gateway Drags III)
On Winning on His Hometown Track, Running a 3.69 in the Finals
"(The 3.69) put quite the exclamation point on the coolest win I've ever had," Hossler said. "I don't know how I could have made it any better.
"There is no race I would rather win. This is definitely the highlight of my ADRL career. This has been great, to share this experience with all the people I care about."
On His Semifinal Win against KH Al-Thani
"Anybody that tells you don't get jacked up for something like that, you're lying. You do get jacked up," Hossler said of his semifinal matchup against Al-Thani.
"You just have to try to block that out and do what you always do."
KH Al-Thani, Pro Extreme Driver Who Won Independence Drags on Friday
The Significance of His Win
"The real excitement was that we were able to invite our entire team down here," Al-Thani said. "I had to do my best to show them what we do.
"The more pressure there is, the better I get. I know how to cope with pressure."
Chuck Ulsch, winner of Extreme 10.5 on Saturday
Set World Speed Record (206.35) in Class
"I saw the win light and that's all I needed to see," Ulsch said. "This was real cool because I lost this race (in the finals) last year. Anytime you can win, it's great."
On What the Win Means
"Hopefully this puts us back in the mix. Every little bit helps," Ulsch said. "We made major changes before every run and we threw some stuff out there. We got where we want to be."
Gary White, winner of Extreme 10.5 on Friday
On Getting His Third Win This Season
"We needed this," White said. "In Houston, we went out in the first round and blew our motor, and that hurt.
"It was tough to recover from and it took a little doing to get back. We needed (the win)."
Shannon Jenkins, who won on Saturday
On the Improvements He Made
"We're just racing for Mike," Jenkins said. "We came out with that .93 in qualifying and it felt like a different car. After that, we knew we could win."
On What the Win Means
"This class has gotten really competitive and there's a lot of guys driving really well," Jenkins said. "There's a lot of good guys, but we can run with the best of them."
Rickie Smith, who won the Independence Drags
Smith Dedicated Both Wins to His Father, who passed away on Thursday
"It's been tough because my dad has always supported me," Smith said. "I'm just so thankful to win these. To win those at Houston and this one, it's been all about family."
On How Well His Car is Running
"It's pretty incredible, in this day and age, to make all these runs," Smith said. "That's pretty tough. We've won a lot of races, but to do it when these cars are going this fast, it's fooling me. The car is working really good."
Ashley Owens, Pro Extreme Motorcycle, winner of both events, and has six wins in seven events this year
On His Success
"We turned around quick and everything worked out great," Owens said. "It's always nerve-wracking, but everything went good. To come back from (the electrical problems) was satisfying.
"It's hard to keep this going," Owens said. "All the little stuff and there's so many things that goes into this, it's just unreal. It's been a wonderful thing."
John Montecalvo, Extreme Pro Stock winner on Friday
On the Significance of Getting A Fourth Straight Win
"We really set the bar high and after we got back from Houston and it took a while to set in," Montecalvo said. "But we said nothing is holding us back from winning again. We've got a great car, a great team and I'm driving well. Right now, we're hard to beat and while it's happening, we're going to ride it out."
Brian Gahm, XPS winner on Saturday
Key to His Win
"We ran consistent all day," Gahm said. "We weren't the fastest but we were right there. The guys did a great job of reading the track all day."
