When we are fortunate to interview a racer before a win, we'd like to think our positive interview lifted their focus and helped their winning. We'd like to think that, but we'll simply admit our busy agenda was in the right place before the right time.

Like a racer that achieves the swift, infrequent and difficult journey to a winner's circle in top sanctions we get a subtle thrill in interviewing a competitor before they win a race. It's a plus to our quest is to bring the best moments and images to fans, our visitors.

This busy year Zoomster.com has already conducted nearly 100 interviews in NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, Grand Am, ARCA, and Hooters Pro Cup. We have been fortunate to talk to 14 racers hours and days before they secured a win.

The sharing of their chosen words before they applied their skills to their ultimate goal and subsequent achievement is the purpose of our focus here.

On the racetrack, competition supersedes friendship and personalities vary. Off the racetrack personalities continue to be different, but winners seem to have common threads that precede the zipping of fire suits.

No two winners are identical, but their words often reveal a winning fiber. They all seem to share something besides trophies.

Jimmie Johnson (Richmond) NASCAR Nextel Cup
Often orchestrates wins and good finishes through the maneuvering of an extensive skill set while displaying steady emotions. His clean appearance, reserved personality and propensity for brief comments is sometimes counter to his star status but his sincerity is frequent and real.

Denny Hamlin (Darlington) NASCAR Busch Series
Has gone from rookie to sophomore with amazing results and continues to be competitive. He accepts early success with humility and poise.

Martin Truex Jr. (Dover) NASCAR Nextel Cup
Quite, calm persona gives way to fierce competitor once the helmet goes on. As a close friend to mentor Dale Earnhardt Jr., winning seems like his destiny.

Chad McCumbee (Nashville) ARCA
From playing a young Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the ESPN movie "3" to being a hot driver on the rise from ARCA to Nextel Cup (Pocono) McCumbee arrives solid, humble and ready to learn. His future looks bright.

Robert Hight (Las Vegas) NHRA
Quietly goes about his job with humility while keeping his sights on focus.

Angelle Sampey (Houston) NHRA
Has never been able to fully explain or hide her fierce competitive spirit.

Karen Stoffer (Gainesville) NHRA
Often defines in advance her goals, methodology and knows she needs consistency.

Dan Wheldon (Homestead-Miami,) IndyCar
Won't accept anything but a win and is just as fussy off track.

Bobby Gerhart (Daytona 200) ARCA
Steady and seasoned. Knows what it takes to win and often ratchets that.

You've had ups and downs. Is it as difficult to retrieve momentum as it is to achieve it?
"It's a lot harder. You know sometimes gaining momentum is juts a natural process of the team getting better. And that takes some time. When you get that momentum to me it's not easy to maintain. It's a whole lot easier to maintain than it is to lose it and try to get it back." MORE

Do you think fans misunderstand the role of sponsorship and your duties and all the things that go with a sponsorship?
"A lot of it is to be expected. The fans are very smart and patient with what goes on. I think a lot of it the fans are aware of, but each sponsor has it's own reason why it's in the sport. DuPont is in the sport to entertain the vendors and such. Lowe's is in the sport to market to consumers. It really just depends on the sponsor that you have and what their focus is. That may change from team to team, driver to driver." MORE

What are your emotions like when you have a good day or a bad day?
"You're emotions stay the same for the most part. A good day is when you're able to get out of the car and stand up straight. Bad days your neck hurts and you're fingers are cramped. Really it all depends basically on your performance." MORE

Can you describe yourself to a fan?
"Just quiet and low-keyed. I don't like to make a big fuss about anything. I don't like too much tension drawing on me at any one moment. At the racetrack it's one thing, but normally I like to just be alone. I'm kind of a loner sometimes, I guess. I don't know. I'm just a regular guy who likes to hang out and do the regular things that everybody else likes to do." MORE

What do you like best about your job?
"Right now. It's just the thrill. This is what I want to do. How can you beat this job? If you have a job that you have fun and enjoy doing, it's just awesome. This what I want to do and if I can make a career out of it and make money doing it and live off of having fun then that's awesome." MORE

Can you identify the common hurdles you must overcome routinely as a driver at the NHRA POWERade level?
"Well, just you know you got to keep it all in perspective. I haven't made as many runs as a guy like John Force so I'm still learning. Every run out there is a learning experience. If I keep that attitude that I still have a lot to learn. I think it will be better rather than thinking you know it all. You go out there and it will bite you in the butt real quick." MORE

Focus is important; did you acquire that or bring it with you?
"I think I brought it with me, but I think it was more defined as I've been racing over the last 10 years. I've gotten more and more focused. I think I've always been able to focus and have tunnel vision. I think as I've progressed in my 10 years of racing I've learned how to tune out things that used to bother me in the past. Like social issues and people standing around with cameras in your face, stuff like that. I just got better at it. I was always able to do it, but I've gotten so good at it now that my family and friends actually hate it. Because if I'm paying attention to something and I get focused everybody disappears. They are trying to talk to me and I lose them. They actually disappear. I go deaf and dumb to everybody around except for what I'm focused on. They get really aggravated at that. I'm actually too good at it." MORE

Not everybody can do what you do. Do you believe you have traits that are common to racers but not to the average person that enable you to do this at high speeds?
"From a driver standpoint I think it comes with them with passion and loving what you do. It's just like any career that anybody has out there, whether it be a technical trade or football whatever it is I think if you have the opportunity to do it. If you have the passion for it, you love it you'll develop the skill if you don't already have it. I think that's what drives your skills is the passion for doing something and being able to do it well. I think it really comes from within." MORE

You've had a lot of success. Is there any special way to handle success?
"I think you just don't even contemplate it. I think the whole success thing is perception. It's a perception of maybe if you polled 100 people, you'd get a lot of different answers on that. I try not to look back on what we've done. I'm just constantly reaching forward. We continue to bring new cars into this deal and always looking forward. I think that a positive way to look at it." More