2NR: What can you tell us about your Skunk2 (Beta) Integra's pilot Tony Shagday and his driving skills?
DH: At the time we were looking for a driver to campaign the Beta car and I knew Tony was an excellent street racer so we decided to give him a tryout. Tony did very well and is very talented in terms of quick reaction skills and has an equivocal sense of feel for the car that most drivers would take years to obtain. Tony also rides motorcycles and can perform tricks such as high chair wheelies and high chair stoppies, which take a lot of skill and finesse to perform. He can transfer his skills to driving the Beta car. Its funny but a lot of people think we are using a sequential transmission on the car because the engagement of the gears are so smooth. Tony's never had a driver error which costed an engine or race. If he missed a gear it was because of transmission failure and not driver error, which says a lot about his driving skills. It's been cool to see him grow into the driver he is today since we first acquired him in '98 to take the reigns of the Skunk Beta car.
2NR: When building a motor setup for track usage or drag racing, are there specific components in each engine that need to be addressed between the two?
DH: It's all pretty basic. In terms of engine assembly it's all pretty much the same but in a road race car you would want to run clearances a little tighter than on a drag race car. A road race car will see extended time durations on a track which cause the engine to run a lot hotter and see more abuse compared to a drag car. On a Honda you can get away with running a road race setup and a drag setup engine pretty similar. It's more of an issue of rules that determine how an engine is built for a specific sanctioned event.
2NR: Controversy on the track always seems to follow those who set record times and are ahead of the game. Has Skunk2 witnessed their fair share of criticism from fellow drivers and teams over the years?
DH: When we finally hit 10s at Pomona in '99 it was approximately a year and a half to two years before anyone in the all motor class hit those times again. So yeah we were accused by some of plumbing nitrous into our roll cage tubing (laughing). But anytime you go fast or do something people think is impossible, you're always going to be accused of cheating.
2NR: Project Delta (Drag RSX) was unveiled at the most recent SEMA and is Skunk2's newest project vehicle. What can the race community look forward to with project Delta?
DH: Well most importantly, we want to go fast and reclaim the all-motor title once again. That's the bottom line. The tube and chassis work was done by PMR Race Cars in Upland, California. PMR is basically the number one NHRA Super Stock chassis builders in the country.
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