One look is all it took for the memories to flow for Scott Palmer.

Friday at the NHRA Virginia Nationals outside of Richmond, Va., Palmer looked over at the ropes at the edge of the pits, and there was a gentleman he credits for helping him make it in the rough and tumble world of Top Fuel. 

Larry Frazier, whose tuning resume includes 16-time NHRA champion John Force and Doug Herbert, to name a few, also helped a wet behind the ears Palmer get his feet on the ground with the kings of the sport. 

Palmer smiles when he recalls the first bit of sage advice from Frazier, which had nothing to do with nitro percentages or tuneups. 

"I'll tell you the first words he ever told me," Palmer recalled. "He walked in my pits at Chicago, my second Top Fuel race ever. And his advice to me was, because I came from Top Alcohol racing, 'Be careful out here. You don't have any friends out here, only acquaintances." 

Essentially, there was no "high, hello, or what's up."

"That was his first sentence out of his mouth, 'because out here, it's pretty cutthroat," Palmer continued, recalling Frazier's introduction. "If you have a sponsor deal on your car, you got to watch out because the sharks will be circling. That's just the way it goes out here. It's a big-money game." 

"If you're a little team with a sponsor on your car, and the big teams, they have more to offer your sponsors," Frazier continued. "He was just telling me. We had O'Reilly Auto Parts on the car, and he was right. It was a tough deal. Luckily, I'm friends with the O'Reilly family, or probably O'Reilly wouldn't have been on there long."

Frazier had done his homework on Palmer, and when he walked into the pits that time, it wasn't the first time he'd introduced himself. Actually, Frazier had called Palmer ahead of the event, but Palmer being Palmer, figured it was just a prank call. 

"I thought it was one of my buddies giving me a hard time," Palmer admitted. "It was me and Spencer Massey on the road, and we just laughed about it. We thought one of our friends was playing a joke on us. When we showed up in Chicago, Larry came to the back of our trailer, and that's when I realized, 'Oh man."

From this point, Palmer said he became a sponge to Frazier's advice. 

"There was never a dull moment," Palmer said. "If you look at him today, he's still got his gold chains and gold rings on, and he was a first-class guy, and everybody knew when he walked in the door."

Frazier knew Palmer's resources were limited and still wanted to help the aspiring drag racer. 

"The problem he had with us is we didn't have a lot to work with," Palmer said. "We didn't know anything about Top Fuel racing. When he came along, he taught us a lot. He was aggressive. We were pretty conservative. I just walked up over there, and he said, 'You need to get that car running better." 

"And I asked, "What would you do?" Then I said, "Don't. Let me guess. Four more degrees timing, 20 grams of weight, and speed the clutch up?" 

"He said, 'Yeah, more compression." 

"He was just used to running at the top with Kalitta, and he's been with so many big teams and had lots of success."

Palmer said he quickly realized there was a fine between being conservative and aggressive. 

"His deal was always, we'd go up Friday night, whether you have any parts in the trailer or not. And we would ask, 'Hey Frazier, what are we going to do this run?" 

"He said, 'We're going to fire one at them." 

If it blew up?

"He'd say, 'Fix it. Let's get back at it. Get to work," Palmer said.

Years after Frazier retired, Palmer said their weekly conversations haven't changed much. 

"They're the same," Palmer said. [Drag racing's] all he thinks about. He loves racing. When I call him, he answers me and asks, 'What do you want, Palmer?" 

"He's just a good man. He's a hard ass, but he's a good man. Anytime I see him these days is just awesome."