The helmets have been hung, the cars have been parked, and in some cases – the engines are already out. The 2004 sport compact drag racing season has come to a close as one of the biggest ever. Yeah, as many agree, there were many ups and downs – but overall, the sport saw its brand of drag racing achieve new performance levels and new levels of exposure. Sure, the sport is no longer the pimply faced teenager that just walked out of a Fast and Furious screening – but maybe for the better, the more mature sport is growing into its own, a real motorsports series with enough support to support those who choose to make their living out of drag racing sport compacts.

We walked around the pits of the 2004 NHRA Sport Compact World Finals and asked, “How was 2004?” to anybody who would listen. We gave them a blank sheet to talk about anything they wanted related to the 2004 season. These are their answers.

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It’s been an interesting year. For Bergenholtz Racing, it’s been a year of R&D on the engine and Golden Eagle did an excellent job. MAZDASPEED, Konig, and Clutch Masters helped us out with our development year. One bonus that we didn’t expect was that out of all the million dollar team, Bergenholtz Racing was able to get a third place finish – even ahead of Dodge and they were way more financed than us. And to top it off – the icing on the cake was that we were the first fwd import in the sevens. It gives a little hope for the class – that you don’t need to have a million dollar budget to run in the sevens. You can do it if you have the passion for it, we have the passion and here we are we’re going to keep doing this. Next year, even though GM is kicking ass with those mid-seven second passes now, we’ll get there too – its just takes time.

- Ron Bergenholtz, Bergenholtz Racing Mazda6

I think we’re getting closer to our mark; the car is very consistent now. We have the engine package very reliable. We’re getting anywhere from 55 passes on up per motor. Right now, we haven’t even transitioned to a slipper clutch yet. Since its so late in the season, we’re still running our Tilton twin disc and I think that will be the key next year. It depends on what they do with the rules though – if not, we’re just going to keep fighting. The car still pulls to an 8.38 – I think we can get it down to the teens with a Tilton clutch. Until we make the transition to a slipper clutch though, we’re not going to be able to run a seven. It has the capability to do it though. That’s been our whole year – fighting that. We’re going to continue our relationship with Quaker State next year and campaign the same car. We’ll be very competitive and shoot for the championship next year.

-Kenny Tran, Quaker State Jotech Honda Civic

At the beginning of the year, I predicted that these cars would be running 6.60’s and over 214 mph – we’ve been a 6.59 and Steph run a 6.55 and a bunch of us has been over 210. So I guess my prediction has been pretty accurate – even though the mile an hour is a little down. Overall though, this has been the closest points battle I’ve ever seen since this series began. For cars that run 6.50’s in the quarter mile, I don’t care what kind of car or what class you’re running – that’s hauling ass.

- Matt Hartford, Summit Racing Cavalier

2004 season was great for us. We came out hitting hard, unfortunately we fell into little problems with the car at a few races. The last few races have been great though. The sponsors - Saturn Motorsports, APC, Valvoline, Cooper Tires have been great and the team – Gary, Charlie, Arthur, Mike, Jim, Julie - all of us have worked really hard. Next year should be top notch for us. It just depends on what we’re going to do. We’re just going to have to sit down and there might be something new for us.

- Lisa Kubo, Saturn Motorsports APC Valvoline Saturn Ion Coupe

Its been a good year overall for the whole sport. In places, I think they have to do something to generate more attendance but the classes, like All Motor, are showing better participation. As far as what we’re doing – we still have a commitment from Mopar next year. This year has been a good year. They had a survey from all the magazine coverage – despite what happened to Mike [Crawford’s accident], in all the events we attended this year and we actually got more press than Marty Ladwig did. So I think we create a better buzz because of the person that Mike is, the team we are, and who we’re affiliated with. Its good its not just Mopar or Mike – it’s a whole group effort, including me. Same with Scott. We don’t get the big budget that everybody thought we did. We just take a little budget and do the best we can. We’re not the fastest car in either class since we can’t do a lot of the things that a bigger budget team can do. But we’re making a lot of improvements that doesn’t take a lot of money. I think we’re going to pick up with both cars next year. We’re finishing up Mike’s car and getting it back together to compete with these Pontiacs. I don’t think it has to do with something they’re doing that’s different – it’s just that they had more resources to work with. I think our engine program and the car will have everything we need to run with them. Same with Scott’s car. Skunk has a good engine combination right now and we just have to find the right combination for Scott’s car. Scott and Mikes cars are getting kind of outdated with some of the competition so we’re going to make some changes there. Cars have personality with respect to how the builder interprets the rulebook and we’re just going to have to make sure we have the right one for next year.

- Darrell Cox, Crew Chief and Owner Darrell Cox Racing

As far as racing wise, the year’s wrapped up really good. I think the last two races - Englishtown and Pomona - have been really good shows for the fans. I think the fans came out and supported us for the past two races and hopefully continue to do in 2005. The fans who have come out from in the past realize that it is a lot better show now and the racing is really close – especially All Motor class this weekend. All Motor, ProRWD, and ProFWD have been putting on great shows and hopefully that will continue next year. We’re doing a good job and hopefully old fans and new fans will continue to come out and support us.

- Scott Mohler, Mopar Darrell Cox Racing Dodge Neon

This year had been phenomenal for us. The Cavalier team struggled early in the year for a bit. We lost four races to Lisa and they were heartbreaking losses, but we were able to finish runner-up and it’s kept us in the points hunt. Come around the middle of the season, in Denver – thing turned around for us. The crew put together a huge package for us and we started running hard and setting records. It was a phenomenal turnaround and the crew just kept this never say die attitude. They kept it real and kept it going faster with every single run and that’s what got us here today in Pomona – to be able to go to the final round and get the Championship has been phenomenal. We knew it was critical that we run good to secure the title and it was phenomenal. These guys have put an excellent effort in all year round. And they gave me a winning race car at every race I went to and the six number one qualifying awards tell you that we were always in the hunt. They wanted this championship so badly – they worked their asses off and they put me in a position to win every single round. As a driver, they made it very easy for me to get in there and do my job. I wasn’t struggling with the car and wasn’t struggling with the tune-up – there were no excuses. Just run hard and make it happen. I’m very fortunate to be a part of this team and these guys are the best team out here in my book- by far. They have so much depth of knowledge – even before they got into fwd drag racing. To go back to the beginning of the yea when we were testing – these guys had never even been to a drag race – let alone run an fwd car. So as a driver, that made me a little nervous but their professionalism just shined on. They just did what needed to be done – no complaining. The results show that the team’s efforts were great. Bar none – there the best and my hat’s off to them. I love to be in the position to shine for them - and to win this championship and race for them. Watch out for next year, because we’re going to have something really wicked ready to go for us.

- Nelson Hoyos, AK Racing GM Racing Chevy Cavalier

This has been an awesome year. To be able to win the championship earlier in the season and not have to worry about it has been great. This year has been going really well. We won five races and it been a big difference than the year before – and having a lot more fun than before. This team has been awesome – a great group of guys. The AK Racing team is a really smart, really sharp group of guys. They’re real go-getters and try really hard all the time. They do whatever it takes to get the job done and you can’t ask for anything more than that. It’s been a lot of fun and a real pleasure to work with these guys and made the season real exciting. For next year, I will be a team owner too – and will be running the Sunfire again in both the NDRA and NHRA series. We’re currently looking for sponsors but we’ve won the championship two year in a row and the car is real consistent in getting down the track – so I think we’ll have a good chance of finding a good sponsor. We look forward to a great year of racing next year especially since it seems like there are a lot more Hot Rod cars coming out – a lot of fast cars. Everybody is stepping it up – even a lot of the Hondas. Guys like Andrew Bermea, Bryan Jiminez, and J.J. Olson are in the 8.50’s. Its great to see those guys do that with their stock transmissions and I’m really looking forward to the season.

- Marty Ladwig, AK Racing Gm Racing Pontiac Sunfire

This year was all about my family helping me out – friends Jon Perry, Jason, JR – all these guys. You can’t do it without a crew – you cant do it without family, friends, and fans. When you’re on your lows, you always have your family to pick you up. When you’re on your highs, you’ve always got your friends and fans there to celebrate. I couldn’t have done it this year without County Line Autobody, Dupont, family, Red Bull, PIT, all my big sponsors. I can’t wait until next year – its just going to be so much better.

- Gary Gardella, Gardella Racing Civic

This year was pretty good, we were real happy with the season. This was our first full season and we made it to all ten races. It turned out really. There was some ups and downs and a lot of money spent, but I’m pretty happy with fifth place in the nation. We look forward to next year – I don’t know what it will bring but I know it will be better than this year. Each year it gets better and better.

- Adam Franzetti, Kyowa Designs Sindicate Racing Honda Civic

Expect big things from Titan Motorsports in 2005. This was an awesome development year for Titan. We are going to be back with not one, but two cars next year. So if you think seeing 6.60’s one time is great, wait until you see it twice.

- Nero Daliwala, Owner Titan Motorsports Celica

We had an awesome year this year. We started at the top and kept the lead for a while. We did real good until the middle of the season. Started to fall behind – our budget doesn’t allows us too much so you know how that goes. But we kept on working hard and fighting it and fighting it until the final race here – until the final round. That’s what its all about. I’d like to thank all my crew guys, the family, the kid, and my product sponsors – Turbonetics, Mcloud, NGK, Idemitsu, Weld Racing, Atkins Rotary, and MAZDASPEED. We just got a new RX-8 from MAZDASPEED and the rumor is that we’re going to be running it with a 3-rotor in the class next year. We’re coming strong and we’re not going to take short cuts or play any games.

- Carlos Gonzalez, Sr.

The ’04 season started out real good with the win in Fontana and then doubling up in Moroso and my dad getting 2nd place at E-Town. We were running pretty consistent. Vegas was the turning point for us – dad qualified number 2 and qualified number 3 – and was able to take out the Lucas Oil Solara and give my dad to move up in the points a bit. After that, we started moving a little downhill, but picked up at the end of the season. I went out the first round here at Pomona but we have high hopes for next year. We have a new car coming out with a little manufacturer help – just need to find a big sponsor. We thank all the sponsors we had this year.

- Carlos Gonzalez, Jr.