Photo, questions and story by Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Teleconference Moments

Ryan Newman, Driver, No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger

"In NASCAR we all race in one direction," Newman said. "Mostly all we can hit is a wall. We don't have to worry about a vehicle going 60 mph in one direction and another vehicle coming 80 mph in the opposite direction colliding head-on. That's scary."

"I think being an educated person helps with anything you do."

Late season 2005

Do you have a special routine or method to produce consistent performance for you and your team to bring you so close to the top in the Chase?

“No, it’s just hard work, fast racecars, good strategy and pit work and everything else. There’s nothing outside of that other than who you’re driving for and the equipment you have to work with.”

Time: midseason 2005
Place: teleconference contact

A Zoomster question to Ryan Newman from Debbie Speicher:

"I think engineering background helps you to understand a race car, but I don't think analyzing good luck or bad luck takes an engineering degree."

"That helps. Yes, I think being an educated person helps with anything you do and driving a race car at 200 mph probably is going to help. How much I wouldn't be able to tell you."

Consolidated Conversation
© 2005 Dwight Drum

We get to know people by contact and proximity. Zoomster brings you question and answers from favorite drivers over past seasons. Some of the responses are relevant to the time but other informative comments step over time barriers to reveal much about the person.

Q&A contact from 2004 and 2003 seasons

A Zoomster question from Dwight Drum:

"I think first of all you've got to have the same morals and same thought processes when it comes to having that chemistry. We've got the same background when it comes to engineering, understanding the cars. Obviously he (Matt Borland) understands the car better than me, but I still understand the car in certain degrees. That, on top of our character and personality, compliments each other. Therefore, the chemistry. Friends are friends no matter who they are. Sometimes you have to work at it and sometimes you don't. It always depends on the situation."

Zoomster questions from Debbie Speicher:

"A (win) doesn't make up for it (races you don't win). Those other times were lost opportunities to win the race, but they were points paying races, so it doesn't make up for it. You can't win 'em all, so when you do win one it makes you feel good. It takes a little bit of everything to do what we do in NASCAR Winston Cup racing when it comes to winning.

"I guess it's just part of being who I am and the sport I participate in really. I couldn't say really."

A Zoomster question from Debbie Speicher:

"I guess the competitive drive to win no matter what the situation is. I can be running 15th with three laps to go and still figure I've got a shot to win the thing. Part of it is a racer's mentality and every racer is different. That's the basis of it. There's always next week, and you can dwell on the past, but you've got to focus on the future."

"Our season is kind of a continuation of last year in my opinion. As rookies last year we got to go back and experience some of the race tracks for a second time and some of the race tracks the second time is this year. For instance, California and Watkins Glen, so we're still going back and learning from things last year. Last year we had some great runs and some great cars and we'll continue to expand on that knowledge and be able to adapt new things and new ideas. Matt and everybody on the team have done a great job continuing to make us better. I think that's what's kept us in the hunt, striving for excellence and trying to do better."

A Zoomster question from Dwight:

"Yes, to me it is because I treat it as a team win. If I was out there doing it myself, it would be a little different, but the team has done an awesome job this year to overcome the things that we had at the beginning of the year. To come back and be the winningest team is really awesome. It never gets old to win. You just have to treat it a little differently."

"We've had our share of practice. In open wheel cars we didn't have a chance to do burnouts because we didn't have the transmissions. "

"From a numbers standpoint, I can't really tell you. No Winston Cup driver works 9-5, five days a week. A Winston Cup driver's work ethics are pretty sporadic when it comes to what they do because there are so many different perspectives involved. You've got the driving part of it. You've got the sponsor-media relations part of it. You've got the fan appreciation part of it. There's different aspects, whereas the typical worker might do the same thing constantly day in and day out. That's all he or she does that day. From a time perspective, it probably all balances out or it'd be pretty close to what the common worker works during the week just based off of human physical stamina."

"I think it's definitely part of my career right now. I'll always look back on it and think what an awesome summer of '03 we had, but I hope to be able to make it better. I hope at some point to be able to do the same thing and have the same points lead that Matt Kenseth has."