12 Out Of 12: An Interview With David Ragan

Our weekly series of interviews continues: 12 questions with NASCAR drivers who aren’t currently in the top 12 of the Sprint Cup Series. Since the Chase drivers already get plenty of publicity, we thought this would be a good way to get to know some of the non-Chase drivers a little better. This week: UPS-sponsored driver David Ragan of Roush Fenway Racing.

What’s the best race you’ve ever driven?

DR: Probably the night I finished third in Richmond in (September) ‘07. We had a great car that night, started about mid-pack. I hit the wall on a restart, so we lost track position. But our car was just so good, man, we just passed a bunch of cars in the last 100 laps. It’s easy to drive an excellent race if your car does what you want it to do. It was a damn good race.

Who’s the most talented driver in NASCAR?

DR: I think across the board, the most talented overall has got to be Tony Stewart. To be an open-wheel IndyCar champion, to be successful on the dirt, a good road racer, good on the short tracks, on the superspeedways, he’s just good everywhere. There’s a lot of great drivers in NASCAR but they always have one or two places they struggle, but Tony’s really good at every place. Tony’s got to be the overall, in my opinion, best driver.

What is the worst track NASCAR visits?

DR: It’s kind of funny, I really don’t like going to California (Auto Club Speedway) just because it’s a long flight out there, the weather is usually bad, it’s usually raining and cold in the spring and hot as hell in the fall – but statistically, that’s one of my best tracks on the circuit. I think that race is a boring race. I would much rather be at a short track or a mile-and-a-half. It’s a good track for us, I just hate the trip out there and hate the trip back.

Who is one driver you’d tell someone to learn from and one you wouldn’t?

DR: A guy like Mark Martin would be a guy who you can go and learn from because he really hasn’t burnt any bridges over the years, he’s worked with a lot of people and is a real class-act kind of guy. And it’s tough to say who wouldn’t you go and learn from because you can even learn from people who don’t do the right things. You can learn something from even the worst example in the garage.

What’s something people may not know or understand about you?

DR: I’m still the same guy that was racing a Legends car 10 years ago, just trying to race as hard as I could and enjoy life, trying to make myself a better race car driver every day. I’m not someone that thinks once I got to NASCAR that I should put myself up on a pedestal. I’m just a regular guy with a great job that I try to do better and better. I’m just regular old David from Unadilla, Georgia that’s here having a pretty cool job.

If you ran NASCAR, what’s one thing you’d change?

DR: I would shorten the Pocono race to 350 or 400 miles. That’s just too long of a race. Or I would bulldoze Turn 3 and make it a one-mile track.

Outside of NASCAR, who is the driver you most admire?

DR: Someone like Michael Schumacher that just by far stole the spotlight in F1 for so many years. I kind of liked Paul Tracy back in his more competitive days, someone like that who can be a real person and say what he thinks but also run well. But if I had to pick one, I’d say Schumacher.

How long do you see yourself racing?

DR: As long as I’m physically able to race in a good car and be competitive, I would like to race until I’m 35 or 40. I’m 24 now, so that’s another 15 years. I don’t see myself racing when I’m 50. I want to have kids one day and I want them to have a normal life, not with me being gone every week and being on the road. But I’ll always be involved in the sport, whether it’s as a spotter or an owner or maybe even a local racetrack promoter. I love racing; I don’t know if I’ll always be involved in NASCAR, but I’ll always be involved in some type of auto racing.

What’s the first thing you do when you get home from a race?

DR: Usually go turn the thermostat on because I cut the heat and air unit off in my house when I’m gone. Usually if it’s during the summer I’ll go straight to the air conditioning unit and turn it on. I’m pretty cheap, so I always turn it off when I’m gone and try to get at least four days of no heat or air running.

Who wins the Sprint Cup in 2015?

DR: David Ragan. Can I say myself? Is that ok? Hell yeah! David Ragan, 2015. I’ll go put that on my calendar. I’ve still got a lot to learn. I should have won some races already; I’ve made a few mistakes in races I could have won the last year or two. I kick myself about that every now and then. In the next couple years, I need to be on a roll and not make any mistakes like that.

Do you have any superstitions?

DR: I guess a superstition that I picked up from my dad is that if I see a penny on heads, I’ll grab it and put it in my left shoe. I don’t know where he got that from, but every now and then, I’ll have at least three or four cents in my shoe. If I see a penny on tails, I still pick it up and put it in my pocket, because it’s money.

Would you rather be known as a great person or a great driver?

DR: Well, that’s a tough question. You want to be both, and I feel like my parents raised me good and I’ve been pretty grounded my whole life. My grandparents keep me grounded pretty well, even in my 20s, and I’m content with myself. I’m a good person. But there’s just something about being a good driver that you can live with all the rest. So if it comes down to it, I want to be known as a good driver. Then after I retire, I can work on being a real good person.