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Season Moments
© 2003 Dwight Drum

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series

FUNNY CAR

Gary Densham
AAA Automobile Club of Southern California

"I'm having too much fun not to be a race car driver."

Questions and story by Dwight Drum
Photos by Gary Larsen
Web work by Gary Larsen

Dwight chats with Gary Densham:

When you're not at the track what do you miss the most?

"I miss the fans. I miss the excitement of the races there. There's no better day for Gary Densham than being out at the race track."

When did you realize that you could be race car driver?

"I don't know if I ever realized I could be a race car driver. I'm going to keep on trying though. I'm having too much fun not to be a race car driver."

Your hands, your feet, your eyes, and your mind have to work faster than those of most people. What do you have inside that seems to work so well outside?

"Just the desire for the sport. It's something I've loved since I was a small child. I started when I was 15 years old and there's nothing I'd ever wanted to do more than race."

Drive is more than a "D" on a steering column. Drive is more than shifting gears. Can you describe the drive within you?

"It's like everything else. The sport takes so much dedication, so much work. If you don't enjoy it as much as I do, you're not going to be successful. You've got to really love it because you're going to live it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

A competitive spirit could be instinctive or taught or both. Do you know where your desire to be a winner came from?

"It's always been there. I mean from sports in high school, through all of the things I've done all of my life. I've always felt whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to try and be the best at it as I possibly can be."

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that you want fans to know that they don't know now?

"It's just that everyday that I'm out at the race track is my best day of my life. When we have the access to the fans the way we do, it makes our whole job enjoyable and it makes all the hours we put in behind us well worth it."

On a foggy morning sometimes a shaft of sunlight brightens a path. Has this kind of brightness ever happened to you along the way to your NHRA POWERade ride?

"Well obviously a couple of years ago when I thought I was going to have to quit racing because of funding and John Force came a long and plucked me out. Getting to work with Jimmy Prock, one of the most talented young men I've ever seen in this sport, you know that's got to be a ray of light. No doubt about it. John Force is good about surrounding himself with the right people and then he's very good at using their abilities."

Do you know the mental and physical difference between a good driver and a great driver?

"I think most of it comes from desire. We've got some great drivers out here, there's no doubt about it, the Funny Car class, right now is packed with them. That's what makes the sport exciting is that anybody out here can win and I want to be the one."

Additional Comments:

"If you're not out here at the races, you're missing out on something awful great. If you read this make sure you're out at the next one."

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