PEDREGON FINDING HIS NEW GROOVE FOR 2021

by Bobby Bennett, Photo by Roger Richards    Wed, 2021-03-10 14:53

 

When it came to winning the offseason, some might say everyone else finished second to Cruz Pedregon.

Pedregon, the two-time NHRA Funny Campion, grabbed many headlines when he signed John Collins, most recently with the Tommy Johnson-driven Make A Wish Funny Car. He made even more when he also added the crew which worked under Collins.

The PRO Winter Warm-up was their first time on the field.

"We made seven runs here," Pedregon said. "Every one of them was encouraging. The car did what we asked it to do, and so yeah, so far so good. We'll go up to Gainesville, make a couple of runs there, just to be prepared as possible. I'm excited. Good to be back in the car again after a long off-season."

In seasons past, Pedregon came into the annual preseason tests looking to refine and improve on the previous year's efforts from a tuner's standpoint. This time, Pedregon was playing a whole new ballgame.

"I learned that, from when the last time I packed parachutes, a few things have changed," Pedregon said. "I'm back to being the parachute guy again, which I'm enjoying. It's good to get out and mingle with the fans and to be a little more active. When you're in there studying data or doing what I did, it's just not the most fun thing. But I'm grateful that I have JC and Rip and Ryan and the whole team to take care of all the things that I was trying to take care of."

In other words, Pedregon is perfectly content staying out of the kitchen and letting the Chefs prepare the meal.

"The plan all along was to do a little less of that and really focus on owning and driving," Pedregon said. "When this opportunity came up with JC and this whole team, there were no second thoughts about it. These guys are proven champions. To win a race, to win races, and with the 11-race schedule, like we had last year, two qualifying runs, it was hard to qualify, let alone win races. So there was no question I wanted to do everything I could to make sure that they had everything that they needed from a parts inventory perspective. And then really, it's a lot different combination than I was running anyway."

Pedregon will be running the five-disc clutch combination this season.

"I was able to make a deal with Don Schumacher and purchase a lot of the stuff that was on that car," Pedregon said. "This only thing that's different, or the only thing that's the same, are the hard parts, the cylinder heads, and the blocks. The Snap-on car had a facelift, a heart transplant. You name it, we changed it, but it's all for good."

While Pedregon is eager to make a point he's going to challenge for a championship in 2021, he's content to remain patient in his ramp-up during testing. As he sees it, being the No. 1 runner in testing doesn't guarantee a championship.

"For me coming out here, testing, and within a few runs being right there, shutting the car off early, not hurting any parts is really great," Pedregon said. "I think, with experience, I've learned that I'd rather have a steady, consistent car than a really fast one. Because I've had really fast ones through the years, even going back when I was a driver driving for the teams I've driven for.

"The cars that are the most steady and the most consistent are going to be the cars that the driver wants to drive and an owner wants to own, and then this car, from what I've seen, that thing's not hurting parts a lot. So everything really is a right fit. If I were to hand-pick all those guys over there, I think I definitely got what fits our situation the best."

 

 

 
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