Alex Laughlin is a very focused driver; focused on the task at hand. However, while signing autographs with fans at the NHRA Gatornationals, he found it awful hard not to think about his potential payday coming up as the Drag Radial world descends upon South Georgia Motorsports Park for the $101,000-to-win Radial vs. The World spectacle known as The Sweet 16.

That's right, as many as 50 Drag Radial heavy-hitters will look for a berth in the 16-car shootout and for Laughlin, the NHRA Pro Stock frontrunner, he's hoping to be the talk of the town next week, or realistically, just be one of the players.. 

"I’ll be happy to go out and just at least make the field and have a shot at it," Laughlin said. "Realistically, we do have a competitive enough car to win it as long as I do my part and Frankie Taylor does his part making it fast, then we should have a car that can win the whole thing. 

"The most I’ve ever raced for is $25,000 out here, and I guess the Lights Out was $50,000 and I red lit first round, so there’s that. But, no, I’m excited. I’m just really ready to get out there and make some runs."

Laughlin will get plenty of chances at the track considering the event features six qualifying sessions in two days. 

"That’s good for us too because we don’t have a whole lot of passes on that car," Laughlin said of his supercharged Corvette.  "I’ve only been all the way down the track in that thing like maybe five times total. So any extra runs we can get, we’ll take. Especially if we don’t get to test or anything, going into it, then any little bit helps, for sure."

Laughlin's drag radial experience is limited to one race, last month's Lights Out 9 event. In one weekend and the preceding test session, Laughlin learned early one valuable lesson some drivers have a hard time accepting. 

"If it doesn’t go, it’s just not going to go," Laughlin said. "You know, there’s no saving or salvaging a run, like it’s either going down or it’s not, and that’s it."

Driving the narrow tires, in many ways, has made Laughlin a better driver.

"It was a really strange transition because the big tires, you can feel the back of the car moving around and the sidewalls flexing going down the track, where the radial tire has such a hard sidewall that it doesn’t do that and it feels like it’s just glued to the track," Laughlin said. "It’s like driving a limousine." 

Winning this much money at a drag race would have a profound effect on Laughlin. 

"It would make all of my racing stuff a whole lot better this year, for sure," Laughlin said. "It would definitely take us the extra mile. 

"Emotionally, it would just be, the money doesn’t even mean anything emotionally. Just to go out and win something like that, that’s going to be the biggest race in the history of radial,  It’d be my second event, so just the fact that if I did win it, the emotional side is just the fact of winning period."