NMRA Digital
01-29-2006, 01:37 PM
Interview with Team Swill, Procharger Renegade 2006 NMRA Champions
This partial interview with Scott Lovell has been posted from a complete interview with Team Swill (also including Pat & Dale) which will be printed in the May 2006 issue of Race Pages:
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/swill.jpg
RP: Well, your time to shine in the spotlight has finally come. How did it feel to win the championship in Renegade in 2005?
Scott Lovell: “Part of me still doesn’t believe it. It’s something we’ve been working for five years, and even though the season’s over, and we got our awards at the ceremony, it still kind of hasn’t sunk in yet that we won the championship. I still take a peek at the ring, in the ring case, and I know Dale and Pat also have their stuff to look at. I kept the ring, and those guys split the crew chief trophy and championship trophy. It’s really just not sunk in that we’ve done it.”
RP: What would you say the hardest thing has been to handle?
SL: “There were times in our past five years where there were some pretty good arguments about what direction the team should take. There were also a few about who was putting in the most time working on the car, things like that. That kind of goes with the territory. Anytime you get three guys together that are working towards a common goal, and they are all on equal footing, and there’s no particular guy running the show, there are bound to be differences of opinion. There were a couple of times where we were within a millimeter of breaking up the team, but we just basically settled our differences and moved on. We had sponsors backing us and we didn’t want to let them down. There’s a real long list of reasons why we wanted to keep racing instead of being selfish and dropping the program because of some stupid personal differences.”
RP: I can see how that would be a problem, especially with the three of you having such different occupations.
SL: “The first four years of us racing, we were all working day jobs. But this past season, Dale switched up to work for the city of Joliet, which will be a real good job for him, but at first, he had to take a second shift position. That made it real hard, because he’s the crew chief. He’s obviously the most important guy when it comes to working on the car, he does all of the technical stuff, he assembles all of the engines, does the cam timing, things like that. This past season, when he was working second shift, he did a lot of stuff without us. He’d be getting off of work at midnight, which was when Pat and I were ready to hit the rack for the night, and he’d come home and work on the car until 4 a.m. We tried to work things in shifts, like if the engine had to come out Pat and I would go do it, and then Dale would be responsible for putting it back together. If there was anybody who stepped up the program this season it was Dale. He’s a good part of the reason we did so well.”
RP: What finally turned things around for you guys from being the party group to landing in the winner’s circle?
SL: “If they gave out awards for partying in the pits, we would have been the champions our very first season. After about three years of partying just as much as we raced, the partying end of it started to take a backseat for me, and I think if I could pinpoint one change that put us on the road to the championship it would have to be our association with Ron Sharp. That guy’s got more knowledge in his pinky finger than 75% of the people out there racing. It really turned things around for us. All of the advice he’s given us has been fantastic. Having a guy like that in your corner has absolutely no downside. He’s helped us with every part of our car.”
RP: With six number one qualifiers this year, it seemed like the team had a reserve that could be tapped at any point. Where did the extra power come from?
SL: “I think the biggest change has been in Dale. We always used an EPEC engine control system, and it was good for us, but when the BigStuff 3 came out this year, Dale really took over and learned the system from front to back. He made himself an expert on it. We started with a real good baseline that Don Walsh and Harry Hruska provided us, and Dale took it from there. We got better at the tuning aspect of things. We’d push ourselves a little bit further every race we went to, and Ron Sharp helped Dale out if he had any problems.”
RP: I recall a struggle to get the team together in time for the Route 66 race in ’05. What happened there?
SL: “That was one of the two things that almost broke the team up. It was between Dale and I, and that’s where I’m going to leave it. It was a difference of opinion, and shouldn’t have gone as far as it did, but it’s over and done with now. Just cause you go home and argue with your wife, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get a divorce. If we could take it back, I’d bet that we both would in a heartbeat. What it did do was serve to motivate us a little bit, and made us work better together. I wish it hadn’t happened.”
RP: It’s been rumored that the team has had some issues that have forced the sale of the Swill championship car. What’s going on there?
SL: “Before 2005 began, Pat let us know that he wouldn’t be able to do a full effort in 2006, and Dale and I agreed with him. Pat and Dale also have small kids, and don’t want to miss too much of them growing up. Originally we were going to sell the car. After the awards ceremony, where we got to see everyone again…the racing bug bites you, man. It’s hard to walk away. I think back to when Michael Jordan retired the first time, you thought, oh, he’s quitting, and then he came back twice. When it happened, I thought why doesn’t this guy just go out on top? Now, I understand it.“
RP: How does your wife feel about you racing in 2006?
SL: “She begrudgingly agreed to it once we came up with this notion strictly because she knows it makes me happy. She imagined something in her life that she didn’t want to give up, and from that perspective she told me to go ahead and do it. She’s not wild about it, but she’s also not the type of person to hold it against me. She knows how important it is to me. It’s also based on the fact that we’re trying to find financial backing.”
RP: When you look back, would you do it all again?
SL: “Absolutely.”
Check out the complete story in May 2006 Race Pages.
Subscribe to Race Pages Magazine/Become a Member here (http://www.streetlegalextreme.com)
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/swill2.jpg
This partial interview with Scott Lovell has been posted from a complete interview with Team Swill (also including Pat & Dale) which will be printed in the May 2006 issue of Race Pages:
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/swill.jpg
RP: Well, your time to shine in the spotlight has finally come. How did it feel to win the championship in Renegade in 2005?
Scott Lovell: “Part of me still doesn’t believe it. It’s something we’ve been working for five years, and even though the season’s over, and we got our awards at the ceremony, it still kind of hasn’t sunk in yet that we won the championship. I still take a peek at the ring, in the ring case, and I know Dale and Pat also have their stuff to look at. I kept the ring, and those guys split the crew chief trophy and championship trophy. It’s really just not sunk in that we’ve done it.”
RP: What would you say the hardest thing has been to handle?
SL: “There were times in our past five years where there were some pretty good arguments about what direction the team should take. There were also a few about who was putting in the most time working on the car, things like that. That kind of goes with the territory. Anytime you get three guys together that are working towards a common goal, and they are all on equal footing, and there’s no particular guy running the show, there are bound to be differences of opinion. There were a couple of times where we were within a millimeter of breaking up the team, but we just basically settled our differences and moved on. We had sponsors backing us and we didn’t want to let them down. There’s a real long list of reasons why we wanted to keep racing instead of being selfish and dropping the program because of some stupid personal differences.”
RP: I can see how that would be a problem, especially with the three of you having such different occupations.
SL: “The first four years of us racing, we were all working day jobs. But this past season, Dale switched up to work for the city of Joliet, which will be a real good job for him, but at first, he had to take a second shift position. That made it real hard, because he’s the crew chief. He’s obviously the most important guy when it comes to working on the car, he does all of the technical stuff, he assembles all of the engines, does the cam timing, things like that. This past season, when he was working second shift, he did a lot of stuff without us. He’d be getting off of work at midnight, which was when Pat and I were ready to hit the rack for the night, and he’d come home and work on the car until 4 a.m. We tried to work things in shifts, like if the engine had to come out Pat and I would go do it, and then Dale would be responsible for putting it back together. If there was anybody who stepped up the program this season it was Dale. He’s a good part of the reason we did so well.”
RP: What finally turned things around for you guys from being the party group to landing in the winner’s circle?
SL: “If they gave out awards for partying in the pits, we would have been the champions our very first season. After about three years of partying just as much as we raced, the partying end of it started to take a backseat for me, and I think if I could pinpoint one change that put us on the road to the championship it would have to be our association with Ron Sharp. That guy’s got more knowledge in his pinky finger than 75% of the people out there racing. It really turned things around for us. All of the advice he’s given us has been fantastic. Having a guy like that in your corner has absolutely no downside. He’s helped us with every part of our car.”
RP: With six number one qualifiers this year, it seemed like the team had a reserve that could be tapped at any point. Where did the extra power come from?
SL: “I think the biggest change has been in Dale. We always used an EPEC engine control system, and it was good for us, but when the BigStuff 3 came out this year, Dale really took over and learned the system from front to back. He made himself an expert on it. We started with a real good baseline that Don Walsh and Harry Hruska provided us, and Dale took it from there. We got better at the tuning aspect of things. We’d push ourselves a little bit further every race we went to, and Ron Sharp helped Dale out if he had any problems.”
RP: I recall a struggle to get the team together in time for the Route 66 race in ’05. What happened there?
SL: “That was one of the two things that almost broke the team up. It was between Dale and I, and that’s where I’m going to leave it. It was a difference of opinion, and shouldn’t have gone as far as it did, but it’s over and done with now. Just cause you go home and argue with your wife, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get a divorce. If we could take it back, I’d bet that we both would in a heartbeat. What it did do was serve to motivate us a little bit, and made us work better together. I wish it hadn’t happened.”
RP: It’s been rumored that the team has had some issues that have forced the sale of the Swill championship car. What’s going on there?
SL: “Before 2005 began, Pat let us know that he wouldn’t be able to do a full effort in 2006, and Dale and I agreed with him. Pat and Dale also have small kids, and don’t want to miss too much of them growing up. Originally we were going to sell the car. After the awards ceremony, where we got to see everyone again…the racing bug bites you, man. It’s hard to walk away. I think back to when Michael Jordan retired the first time, you thought, oh, he’s quitting, and then he came back twice. When it happened, I thought why doesn’t this guy just go out on top? Now, I understand it.“
RP: How does your wife feel about you racing in 2006?
SL: “She begrudgingly agreed to it once we came up with this notion strictly because she knows it makes me happy. She imagined something in her life that she didn’t want to give up, and from that perspective she told me to go ahead and do it. She’s not wild about it, but she’s also not the type of person to hold it against me. She knows how important it is to me. It’s also based on the fact that we’re trying to find financial backing.”
RP: When you look back, would you do it all again?
SL: “Absolutely.”
Check out the complete story in May 2006 Race Pages.
Subscribe to Race Pages Magazine/Become a Member here (http://www.streetlegalextreme.com)
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/swill2.jpg