Jim Head and Warren Johnson have little in common with the race cars they drive. But, when it comes to speaking their minds, they’re very much alike.

Two weekends ago, on the NHRA’s ESPN2 broadcast of the NHRA Toyo Tires Nationals from Reading, Pa., Johnson was interviewed following a run where it was apparent water was on the track.

Johnson blasted the NHRA for what he felt were misguided priorities. His comments were chronicled in an article on CompetitionPlus.com recently. Johnson basically stated that if the NHRA didn't waste so much time and money on the Top Fuel classes other issues could receive the attention and funding they need.

Head is a firm believer that one should take the sanctioning body to task. That tendency to tell it as he sees it has often put him at odds with the NHRA.

“When you have that adrenaline pumping through your veins and you jump out of the car you can say some stupid things. I know I have,” Head said. “I get mad and I’m aggravated. There’s always an issue at the end of the track when you interview a driver. I have a lot of empathy for guys who get out of the car at the finish line and say some really stupid things.”

Head just happened to be listening to the ESPN2 broadcast, an episode he’d saved on his digital video recorder, when Johnson decided to criticize the NHRA and nitro racing.

“In my whole life I have never heard something that was as ignorant … as the comments to blame us…my class Funny Car and Top Fuel for all the ills of the sport just because he ran over a puddle of water. I would hope the old man would have come to his senses, if he hasn’t, he’s now officially senile.”

Head believes the NHRA and the national event facilities should be commended for what he describes as tireless labor since the death of Scott Kalitta in a run-off area accident at Englishtown just over a year ago. His assessment is that those efforts are solely responsible for saving the life of Alexis De Joria, a Top Alcohol Funny Car driver who hit the Englishtown sand trap when she suffered a parachute malfunction.

“We just saved a girl’s life,” exclaimed Head. “because we fixed the finish line at Englishtown after we took Scotty’s life. What the hell would this sport look like if we had killed that girl. It wasn’t a fuel car, Warren. It was an alcohol Funny Car. We have a lot of things going on at the top end of these tracks that are entirely too short and were designed for cars to go 200 miles per hour. She was only going 260.

“Anyone who would fault NHRA and the track operators for the wonderful jobs they have done at the end of these tracks is worse than senile. That borders on evil. We’re talking about people’s lives.

“There’s been water weeping up through these race tracks for a long time,’ Head said. “It’s my pet peeve too. I’m a paving contractor. I know how to fix it. They won’t listen to me. But don’t say if we didn’t have to fix the end of these race tracks that we’d be able to fix the race tracks from weeping water. Are you crazy?” 

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