NHRA drag racers Cruz Pedregon and younger brother Tony Pedregon worked out of the same shop at Brownsburg, Ind., since the latter left John Force Racing and struck out on his own. But they maintained separate operations and earned second Funny Car championships without relying on that loose alliance.

But Tony Pedregon’s new FOX-TV analyst as broadcasting team mate to show host Dave Rieff changes the dynamic between the brothers once again, Cruz Pedregon said.

“On one hand, I miss him. I was a fan of his, and I still am, of his abilities. Especially in his heyday, when he had his own car, [and before that] when he was driving for John Force, Tony was a formidable opponent,” Cruz Pedregon said. “We’ve lost a great competitor, but we’ve gained in another area.”  

In a conversation during preseason testing at Chandler, Ariz., Cruz Pedregon said, “I’ll miss Tony on the track as a competitor and as a brother. It’ll be different. But I’m happy that he’s going to be a part of making [happen] what’s been desperately needed for many, many years: a quality TV production.”

He said he’s proud his brother will be an instrument of positive change.

“We’ve all suffered. There’s a lot of good drivers on the sidelines that have paid the price through lack of sponsorships – good drivers, young drivers who should be out there and are not out here. If you look at the trickle effects, definitely the economics drive the sport. If you don’t have the proper audience and the audience to justify the corporate expenditures, we all suffer,” Pedregon said. “So I’m looking forward to Tony getting up there and doing his thing. I look forward to him showing his stuff.

“He has the credentials. He has the background. He’s very qualified. And he’s with a group that, from what I’m gathering, are professionals. They understand the value of television, and they know what they’re doing. So I’m going to be, like a lot of people, looking forward to the end product,” he said.

Cruz Pedregon vouched for his brother’s homework effort.

“He’s been watching a lot of greats – Chris Economaki, Steve Evans, Dave McClelland. Competition Plus shows a lot of those older races, like the 1979 Gatornationals, and those are great shows, because it demonstrates that the way they used to present drag racing is different than how it has been presented recently. Not taking shots at anybody, but those guys were great,” he said.

Then Pedregon, a longtime and avid Oakland Raiders fan, said, “They’re like Howard Cossell [classic Monday Night Football TV-show anchor]. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. There aren’t a lot of them walking around all over the place. There were just a few, select guys who really knew how to present our sport. And I look forward to hearing that. I’m still a fan.

“Technology and things move forward, but sometimes you need to take a step back and say, ‘Hey, what made us great? What made us a great sport?’ Obviously the cars – they still go fast and they still make noise. But in order to grow the audience – again, it’s the economics that drive professional sports – that’s wat it’s going to take. If we could clone those guys – Chris Economaki, Steve Evans, Dave McClelland – we might not be in this predicament. But we’ve lost some great guys,” Pedregon said.

“I think Tony will bring that back to a certain degree. I’m not saying he’s in their league or anything like that. But if you pay attention those guys and listen to how they presented it, it’s going to be great,” he said.

Tony Pedregon, who arrived Friday from Chicago to participate in the FOX cast’s and crew’s dress rehearsal for their own season debut at the Circle K Winternationals at Pomona, Calif., said Cruz Pedregon helped him make the move to TV. He said in speaking with his brother, he understood he needed a “media coach” to smooth any rough edges he might have.

“I’m still in the process of them providing some coaching, and that was one of my requests,” Tony Pedregon said. “I accepted the position, but I was smart enough to understand that being on one side of the camera and simply talking about what you just went through in a car” are two different matters. He said, “Mostly because of my conversations with Cruz and his experience in the booth for the year, so that was one of the things that I wanted, I knew I would need. I knew that it would only help me transition.”

Sometimes, Tony Pedregon said, “I still feel like one of the guys . . . but I kind of keep having to remind myself I'm not. But that's OK.”

His office remains in the shop at Brownsburg, which could have its pluses and minuses.

“I'm still in the same shop that Cruz is in. I have offices here in this facility,” he said. “I can see what they're going through. Some of it I miss, and some of it I don't. It's really a high-pressure business, and what most people don't realize is I think the perception is that in the off-season team owners go to Florida and they go fishing. But if you spent a little time around these race shops, it's really the busiest time of the year for all of them. So there are some things that I miss and then some things that I don't, only because I'm just going a different direction. I've conceded to the fact that if I never get in a race car again, I'm actually OK with that.

“I've been doing this for so long, I've had some good times, I’ve had some not so good times that I really thought that I wouldn't pull out of it, and I've had some friends that unfortunately didn't walk away. I was very close with Eric Medlen. I respected Scott Kalitta, and myself, we were close to the same age, we had kids, so there were so many things that we had in common, and Darrell Russell, and so many others that, hey, they really gave their lives to the sport. I respect that and what they've done and everyone who has lost their lives in this sport. I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to tell me about friends of his that had some accidents. So as exciting and entertaining as it is, it's not the safest occupation, but I have a feeling that when I'm up in the tower, I'm probably going to miss it more than any other time. So it really hasn't hit me, but I'm having my moments,” Tony Pedregon said.

He’ll be immersed watching the day-to-day operations whirl around him with Cruz’s team when he returns home from a race. That will be the backdrop for his homework.

In circle-track racing, Cruz Pedregon has developed young talent. His brother’s departure for the broadcast booth hasn’t yet inspired him to plan to step from his race car and either move into the corporate end of the sport or become solely a team owner to a young charger.

“That will come in time. I’m open for that down the road, “he said. “I’m still good at what I do. In fact, I think I’m better than I’ve ever been because of my experience level. I still have a desire to go out and do it. I feel like I have some unfinished business. At the same time, I’m getting better. I’ve become a better owner. I’m a better tuner. It’s like that Carpenters song, ‘We’ve Only Just Begun.’ In due time, that’s definitely something I’ll entertain.”

But this year Cruz Pedregon is planning to expand his 35-victory portfolio. (He already is ahead of Tony Pedregon’s 33.) He said he’s ready to “dust ourselves off a little bit, shake it off, and come out swinging. It’ll be tough.”

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