MORE TEAM COMMENTS:
Complete JEGS interviews with Jeg Jr, Woody and Nicky follow. Their thoughts and personalities are often best displayed in their answers.
Interviewer: Dwight Drum with Gary Larsen

If you were to take a fan for a ride down the fast track during competition, what would you say to them about the expectation of the experience?
"I would tell them, first of all clench down real tight, because these Pro Stock cars are definitely on the edge without question. You want to be in there as tight as can be and pre-load your body just a little bit because the acceleration of the three and a half G's is going to set you back. You have two options you can already put your head in the back or as a driver we're pre-loaded forward a little bit and then it kind of just sets you back. That's a really good feeling. Your expectations ought to be high and if you didn't enjoy it I don't know what to tell you. It's more fun than any roller coaster I've ever ridden and I've been on a bunch of them."

In a typical racing week, what words do you hate to hear the most?
"Probably we hate to hear, 'You made a perfect run.' We hate to hear that because we know it's not that common at all. You hate to hear words that you've got a problem, no question about it., whether it's an engine problem or a chassis setup problem. Obviously your goal is to overcome whatever you're faced with."

In a typical racing week, what words do you love to hear the most?
"We made more horsepower. We made six more horsepower, eight more horsepower, two more horsepower it doesn't matter, just tell us we made more horsepower. And actually then we're feeling it on the racetrack."

Do you believe successful drivers handle stress and pressure better than the average person?
"Probably. We are faced with it quite a bit whether it's qualifying or whatever we face. I think drivers definitely go through more stuff."

We ask drivers about focus at the racetrack, can you explain focus at the business level for JEGS High Performance Parts?
"In our opinion everybody is a JEGS customer. Whether somebody wants a t-shirt or they want their car to look better or go faster. Our job is to put smiles on people's faces."

Some people may think that a press agent's job is glamorous. Can you compare the glamour and thrill to the work in your job?
"I'm not really sure how to define the word glamour in this. In general, ultimately I think everybody gets to pick and enjoy what they do in life. And you might as well enjoy what you're doing and you'll be passionate about it and be successful at it. Jeg Jr. and I have been best friends since sixth grade. I've been working for Jeg and the family for nine years. Before that I designed benefit plans and large sums of money for wealthy individuals. It was a lot of fun, but I was flying to the races. Jeg's brother Mike he used to buy beer when we in high school. So these are the guys I work for and work with. I don't say work for because it's really work with. It's a great situation.

"When Jeg and I first talked about me coming to work - ah, working for your best friend, how is that going to work? It's a light switch. When it's friends, it's one when it's business, it's another. It's worked out great. They are very passionate about their story that they have to tell. It's a fairy tale deal. They're second generation owners and they're a family that has been involved in racing, growing up playing with toy cars at the racetrack when their dad was racing. To be championship competitors on and off the track, that's really a cool deal."

What do you like best about your job?
"Change. It's never the same. I like that a lot. I enjoy being involved with anything that has to do with the JEGS brand whether it's print, radio or TV. Coming up with an idea, I really enjoy working with the media and pitching ideas on behalf of JEGS. To me my job, an analogy would members of the media are baking a cake. They've got every ingredient to choose from. My job is to make sure that the ingredients that we have are on the shelf. They don't have to use them, but if there are they then they can be used. That's really what I try and do. I try to always be positive. The glass is always half full. One thing you can always control is your attitude. You want to have fun with what you're doing. You want to be surrounded by people who enjoy what they're doing."

What do you like least about you job?
"Probably the travel to some degree. This is probably off the subject. But the other day I showed up at my seven-year-old daughter, Sadie's school. Which I don't do unannounced and picked her up. She said, 'What are you doing here?' Let's go, we're going to go play putt-putt. We're going to go do something fun. It was a nice day and I knew I was going to be doing a lot of traveling and I wanted to spend some time with her. When we're on our way back home and she said, "You know daddy I really appreciate it. That was a lot of fun. I really like doing stuff like this. But I like it when you're gone too.' Oh. That's just like getting kicked.

"My wife is so understanding. We met at the racetrack and she knows. Her dad sponsored part of Mark Osborne's car that Jeg raced in 97. That's how we met. Our first date was a banquet.

"Anything I do, I want to do it 100 percent. I have a great team of people to help me. That's really what it takes. I can't be every where all the time. The hardest thing for me is to really balance between work and family and personal time. I like having some me-time which I don't get to have very often. I wished I wasn't as quick at answering my cell phone sometimes. But that's the way it goes."

You mention team work. Can you talk a little bit about team spirit?
"We want to be where the fun is. We want to be where people want to be and where they choose to be. Having the JEGS brand involved with the Nextel Cup Series in NASCAR is really cool. When I was at Vegas John Coughlin asked 'How does everything, the decals look?' Seeing the JEGS decal on all those Cup cars it's really neat. It's neat to be involved with that sport. It's neat to be involved with Kenny Wallace. He's a great guy. Drag racing is our love. It's a part of the culture of the company, but there's plenty of eyeballs looking at racing, We want all those eyeballs looking at JEGS really or at least have the opportunity to look at JEGS. Hopefully through the things that we do and what makes us different as a company and a family. That helps to be a part of somebody's purchasing decision."

Can you comment on the identifiable name like JEGS? It's short and has impact.
"It's an amazing thing. It's powerful to have a brand like that is so recognized worldwide, more nationally. When I move around at a drag race everybody knows me, everybody knows us. When you go into another motorsports venue and I've got a JEGS logo on. If somebody doesn't know you and they see a nice collared shirt and they know it isn't just somebody that bought something. You get a lot of nods and smiles and little comments. I like the stories. You got a valet guy that's parking your car and he sees JEGS on a shirt. 'Oh, man I got this Camaro at home. When I was little I remember going to the drag races.' Those conversations, that's really what the payoff is - to have interaction with a true fan or somebody excited to talk about their experiences on building a car or shopping at JEGS."

Can you talk a little bit about JEGS service?
"Service is what you are selling. In the after market automotive high-performance industry, everybody is selling the same product. Ultimately you're selling your service. You're selling customer service. You're swelling a smile. Hopefully everybody thinks of us. You want to but from winners, you buy from us. You want to but from happy guys, you buy from us. That's how I look at it."

Gary Larsen asked, what about the advertising for the JEGS organization?
"lt's all this beautiful JEGS building. I call it like 'Field of Dreams.' We've got roughly 130 acres and we've developed 38 of it. We farm all the land around it with corn. In July it's like a 'Field of Dreams.' Rather than baseball, this is horsepower. That's cool, but the payoff is definitely there. Anything about branding and advertising and all that, you can never do the same thing. You've got to always look for something new. That's the fun part. Anybody can run an add in a magazine over and over and over or buy TV spots over and over again.

"The real trick is having it be in places that people notice it. When we did stuff at Mid-Ohio. These are drag racing guys, what's a bill board doing up at Mid-Ohio on a road course? Well, we got helmets. We got ratchet sets. We got fuel jugs and gauges. We got all that stuff. That's cool, when you branch out into a new area, that's neat because you see the power of how your brand is portrayed and what people think."

As we entered, a crew member was leaving saying, "You're the best."

"A crew member, Randy Bishop, drives the motor home and pulls the trailer around. When we get there he's got things set up and he knows this thing inside and out. He knows how the electric, the plumbing works, everything. Sometimes I bring food with me, sometimes I ship it in. It depends on where we are going. Here it's hard to find a lot of different ingredients I use here in Gainesville so a lot of them I bring with me."

The logistics of getting everything to the tracks must be difficult, right?
"Oh yeah, but let me tell you something. These guys in Florida hoard all the good tomatoes in the winter time. They send us all the bad tomatoes and you Florida guys are keeping all the good ones. You guys have great tomatoes here. I can't wait to come down here I the winter time. I saw some beautiful Romas in the store."

Former hospitality maintenance engineer Gary Larsen: Do you guys have to worry about that 32 percent food cost?
"You know what it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Oh my gosh. They guys just want to be happy. I try to balance things out. I don't go crazy spending money but I try to get good ingredients and find fresh things. Just like with beef, what they're doing with beef today. You go to the grocery store and they're packing it in carbon monoxide now. The air in there keeps it red. It can be bad and you don't even know it. Yeah, but it's definitely nice not to have to worry about that 32 percent."

Gary Larsen asked, Do you have nutritional things you have to do with some of the guys who may have a health problem?
"Sometimes nutritionally I've got a few people I' have to watch. Some people watch their carbohydrates and trying weight loss. Some people are allergic to crustaceans. I have to take everything into consideration. This month for Catholics, it's Lent, so people don't eat meat on Fridays. When I'm cooking meat, I've got to cook a seafood dish too or something different to accommodate everyone. There are all different eating habits here. I try to pick foods that everybody can enjoy. I try to pick one food that everybody likes. Normally if you make pizza, everybody loves pizza. Once a week, Jeg wants pizza once a week. No question. We're going to have pizzas once a week. We make all different kinds and use all different cheeses, blue cheese, mozzarella. I bring pounds of different cheeses and pizza toppings.

"If you think about it, when I first started with the team I developed recipes around what everybody liked. I know that people like their pizza flavored and they like macaroni and cheese. Some people like spicy things so if I make pasta that's got a little cheese flavor I put spices and vegetables in there. I can put different things in. This is my sixth year with them so I get a pretty good idea what people are eating here. It's about 90 percent men so they eat a lot more. So, that 32 percent would be like 52 percent."

Could you talk a little bit about your background?
"On my mom's side my grandparents were from Italy. My dad's family had been in this country for years. We grew up eating Italian food. When I wanted to study to be a chef I didn't know what to do because there were so many critics in my family. Anybody who cooked Italian food is always a critic. I decided I'm going to learn how to cook French food, because nobody knew about French food in my family. I worked in a four star restaurant for maybe four and half years and it was pretty intense training. I learned French cuisine. When I came here these guys like Italian food a lot of times so it's like I'm cooking at home sometimes. All different kinds of food, Mexican food, Chinese food, they like everything here."

Gary Larsen asked, how did you find your job with JEGS?
"My brother was selling a guy on the team a piece of real estate and I went with my brother. This guy had read an article on me and said, 'We're going to be looking for a chef.' He's telling me all about it and I didn't even know what drag racing was. I didn't even know where my car was for along time. He told me all about the job. We left that day and my brother said, 'You going to call him?' No way. I didn't know anything about this. I didn't know what it was.

"I ran into the guy the next year and he said, 'You never called.' I said I can't live like that. He said, 'Live like what?' I don't live drunk. I don't just party my life away. I'm into my work. He said, 'What are you talking about?' I don't know. Like I don't know what it is. He said, 'Why don't you check it out? Okay.

"I went to a race seven or eight years ago in Indianapolis just to see what it was like. I had no idea. I thought I was a perfectionist. These guys are perfectionists that work on this stuff. It's two worlds out here. You have people who are coming just for entertainment, car enthusiasts, everybody who is really into it. Then you come into this pit where these guys, that's their life. They're home, they're working on it. Making that car get down the track is what's important to them.

"So I decided, I'm going to take this job. Well I'm going to give all on the team a questionnaire, because if they don't like what I cook there's no sense in me coming. Everybody filled out the questionnaire and things just happened to work out, they all put down Italian food. I went home one day and my mom said, 'You going to go work for them?' I said no. She said, 'Why?' Ahh, they all said they liked Italian food. All she said was, 'I understand.' Because we grew up eating great Italian food and I don't know what they're eating. People eating Italian food today half of it who knows where it comes from. But they all put this restaurant down that I hadn't been to so I just said maybe I better go check it out. I went to this Italian restaurant and it was great.

"These guys really like to eat good food. I bring some great ingredients to the track, all different French cheeses. They are into good food. So, it's a lot of fun."

More Stuff…

"I meet a ton of people. I get to do a lot of fun stuff. There's a cancer benefit every two years in Cleveland, Ohio. Wolfgang Puck is the honorary chair person and 25 chefs from around the world cook at this thing. I've been invited a couple times and it looks like I'll be going back this year. I get to give back a little bit to the cancer foundation and that's a good thing for me. I've had some neat jobs and experiences. I worked with a lot of country music stars when I worked for CMT and that was a lot of fun."