Q: Looking back at the preseason debate, you and your team were not part of the real equation. Now after two No. 1 qualifiers and sitting in second place in points, was that a blessing over the offseason?
Mike Edwards: During the off-season things were a little different compared to previous years. For one, we were having a new chassis (car) being built, so that takes up much of your focus. And second, we knew we where going to be a competing as a single team again with no engine renter, since Ron Krisher decided to retire.
While all of that was going on with one side of the team, it basically gave us more time on the engine development and it allowed us to concentrate heavily in that area and it has shown in the first two races. Our engines are running great and are showing fantastic power. Paul Hoskins, our head engineer, was able to take some extra time and focus on the efficiency of our engine program and it has proved to be very beneficial.
Q: Based on what you accomplished at the first two races, does that add any pressure moving forward for the next 22 stops?
Mike Edwards: Not really but, it does give us great confidence in our program moving forward. It is a very long season and we have a huge chunk of races left to go. As a team, we cannot get comfortable with where we are at, but need to keep moving in the right direction with the entire program and be even better than we are right now come the fall.
Q: What do you do to keep the momentum going with your I Am Second/Interstate Batteries/K&N Camaro after taking the last two weeks off?
Mike Edwards: Well we really never had any weeks off so to speak, but I guess you can call it that with no NHRA national events on the calendar. We did some much needed testing at out local track – Tulsa Raceway Park. It gave use the opportunity to try some things on our Chevy Camaro that we just didn’t have a chance to during the two events. Even though we have had success with this car this early in the season, it still only has less than 50 runs. So we are trying to figure out what it likes
and dislikes, so we can make sure we don’t have costly letdown when the runs really count.
Q: Gainesville Raceway has always been one of the fastest tracks on the tour, how do you approach this event different?
Mike Edwards: Gainesville promises to not disappoint in that the track will be good and the atmospheric weather conditions will be fantastic. We did test in Bradenton, Fla., over the winter so we have a few notes from that test session. But, Gainesville will present to us our biggest challenge thus for in the season in that it will be a completely different setup than the first two races. We just hope the chance to test since Phoenix will allow us to keep at the same level of performance.
Q: What is your fondest memory at the East Coast season kickoff?
Mike Edwards: It would have to the first to break the 6.4 barrier in national event competition. I’ve been doing this a long time and I remember the day when going in the 6’s was a big deal but, to go 6.49 in a quarter-of-a-mile is fast in a Pro Stock car. We love to race in Gainesville because it is always super fast and allows you to sometimes swing for the grand slam. If the weather conditions are good we could see a national record. That would be cool to have, but so would the Wally come Sunday, so we have to keep our focus on why we are there.
