Brian Corradi can be a tough interview if asked the wrong questions. 

"It’s not about hard questions," Corradi admitted. "It’s about getting the best out of the guy you’re interviewing by asking him the right questions."

Corradi can be an even  tougher adversary if the race car he tunes is in the other lane.

If one looks at Corradi's track record with Antron Brown and previously the Funny Car driven by Mike Ashley, the domination of the Corradi-tuned machine shouldn't come as a surprise. 

Right now, Corradi is one of the hottest crew chiefs in the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. Corradi's driver, Courtney Force scored her third win and fifth No. 1 qualifier of 2018 two weeks ago in Topeka, Kansas..

"I expect that kind of performance, but when it happens, I pinch myself walking to the pit area," Corradi explained. " Just the other day I was thinking, ‘Wow three wins, five No. 1 qualifiers; what did I do to deserve this?

"But, I’ll take it. Everybody that’s out here racing, that’s what they would love to have. Hopefully it continues on; hopefully, we can perform the rest of the year at that same (level). It doesn’t necessarily have to be like that, but it would be nice."

It's been a while since Corradi got his first shot in drag racing, working as the clutch guy for Dean Skuza, and under the tutelage of Lance Larsen. The knowledge of the workings from inside the clutch can made the transition from just crew guy to crew chief easier. 

Corradi credits a large measure of his success, 54 wins with four different drivers to his understanding of how the discs roll. 

"I think that has a lot to do with it," Corradi said.  "A lot of people tell you it’s all about the clutch, and I believe that. There was a time throughout my career where all I thought about was the clutch, and the engine just kept it running. Then in 2014 or 2013 with the Matco car, and it was ’14 when we decided to work on getting the engine running right. We started working with Jimmy Prock a little bit when he was over there at DSR and making our engine run a little bit better. We focused on that and shifted our focus to that, and it was a really good package, winning the championship in ’15 and ’16."

Bottom line, Corradi says, if you want to be successful in tuning, then learn what the clutch is telling you. He'll let you know if you listen it will be clear what it needs. 

"If there’s a part on the car that you need to understand if you’re going to have to tune one of these, it’s the bellhousing, the clutch area," Corradi reiterated. "That’s the heart and soul of it. You can make all the horsepower in the world but if you can’t have traction and run it down the track, can’t put it to the tires through the bell housing, (you don't run fast and) that’s the goal."

Corradi is back with his first love, which is the fuel Funny Car. In 2009, Corradi left the Funny Car ranks to tune a Top Fuel dragster and did so for eight years. He laughs at the notion the Funny Car tuners are more prone to throw the kitchen sink into the tune-up for a dragster and be less aggressive for a Funny Car. 

"The Top Fuel car has more leverage on the rear tire, so the application’s different that way, but the thought process is the same," Corradi explained. "There’s no throwing the kitchen sink at any of these.  You can smoke the tires in a Top Fuel car just as easy. 

“It’s your approach. Your approach is … if you have some good runs to look at, which I did over here,. Jimmy was over here with his car and Danny [Hood] and Ronnie [Thompson] did a pretty good job with this thing also last year, finishing 3rd in the points. 

"All I did was I came over and started to do the things that I would do to make the car perform a little better. A lot of that starts back at the pit area and the services between the races. But as far as throwing the coals to it, that’s not, that ain’t true."

Corradi smiles when categorizes terms such as "throwing the kitchen sink" or "laying the coals to it" as media catchphrases intended to add in special voodoo where there isn't.

"It’s a media thing," Corradi said. "I went from a Funny Car to a Top Fuel car, and I had plenty of tire-smoking runs and a lot of head scratching when I started in those, too. But I did have some success also right away, that car was good too when I went to it. I’m very fortunate."

Corradi visited Topeka's winner's circle with Clay Millican's crew chief David Grubnic, Grubnic had tuned Miilican's Top Fuel dragster to run a certain number and ended up with a much-quicker run than he anticipated. In other words, Grubnic made the good kind of mistake. 

"I’ve had those; I’ve had those runs in the past with the Dragster for sure," Corradi admitted. "And of course if you could figure out why. Sometimes you see it a lot; a guy’s not qualified going into the fourth session, goes up there, backs his car down, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to pull two to three percent of power out,' and goes up there and runs low elapsed time. 

'Well, you were over center. You’ve just got to figure out why you got over center. You focus your attention on maybe making sure your tuneup program or however you’re tuning your car is correct. And then obviously you need to learn something from that mistake and back up and punt. I learned a lot, when you go from Las Vegas to Gainesville and Pomona and back and forth, you learn a lot about your tuneup program."

The ironic part of it all, Corradi confides, is he initially wanted to drive a Funny Car instead of becoming a crew chief. 

"I always envisioned myself driving," Corradi revealed. "I was obsessed with the fact that, ‘Boy, I would like to drive that car."

"I didn’t know if that would ever happen, so I just went on and worked alongside Lance for all of those years. As the years went by and I watched the class evolve and everything that was going on in drag racing, I decided I was just going to stick with the crew chief role, work on being that. 

"I always had a race car when I was a kid. I was trying to make something faster than what it was. But the first draw was driving. The mechanical side of it just was part of the job to get to work on one. Throughout the years, I’ve lost that lust to drive it, I’ll stick with the tuning. Because I’ll tell you what, you’ve got to be pretty brave to drive them."

They still take his breath away after all these years. And the only thing which scares him about driving one is the chance he would love it.

"I stand behind a lot of fast cars, and I shake my head, and I still bite my tongue until I see the chutes come out because I know how violent they are and what can happen on a run," Corradi said. "I give credit to anybody that steps on the loud pedal in one of these cars, especially Courtney. She’s doing an awesome job. My goal for her was just to give her a consistent car so she can get better. You know, not to say that she didn’t have a consistent car, but I’m trying to do it in all areas when it comes to how everything works in the pit area. 

"The whole dynamic of one of these teams starts with obviously at the top which would be Force, and then it works down through each of the teams, multi-car teams or one team. It starts with the crew chief. Everything that happens, I feel responsible for, so I make sure I give 150 percent. I want her to feel that there’s not a stone unturned so that she can have confidence hitting the tree, driving the car, staying focused. 

"That’s the goal for me at the end of the day is everybody staying focused, me included, and giving the driver a car that they can focus on and not be distracted and worried about dropping a hole or having to pedal the thing. I think that’s part of the success right now."