NHRA News: Caution: Tobler making the transition to new job (3/3/2004)

Tobler making the transition to new job

3/3/2004

"For now, I'm just going to sit back and learn."
– Rahn Tobler

Until this season, crew chief Rahn Tobler had spent all of his time in drag racing with his wife, drag racing pioneer Shirley Muldowney. So it's understandable that when Muldowney decided to hang up her storied pink firesuit at the end of 2003, Tobler was both excited and a little bit nervous about his quarter-mile options.

Tobler's drag racing career started in 1977 when Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta hired him to help on Muldowney's crew, which he headed at the time. Although Kalitta would soon leave the team, Tobler stayed and helped lead Muldowney to four world titles. Now, 26 years later, Tobler has been hired by Kalitta once again, this time as co-crew chief of the Mac Tools dragster driven by Connie's nephew Doug Kalitta.

Although the newfound relationship is very new, everything seems to be going quite well for Tobler. In his first event with his new team, he helped tune Doug to the No. 1 qualifying position and a final-round appearance; a nice start by anyone's standards.

In this question and answer session, Tobler talks about his expectations for the second act of his great career, what it was like to race with Muldowney through her storied career, his relationship with team patriarch Connie, and the complexities of working on a three-car team with Scott Kalitta's Jesse James dragster and Dave Grubnic's Kalitta Air machine.

Q: How are you adjusting to your new position?

Tobler's first weekend of racing with the Mac Tools team resulted in a runner-up finish.
Racers Edge Photography

Tobler: I think it's been very smooth. Everybody's welcomed me with open arms and made me feel right at home. It was nice to have a couple of months to spend at the shop before the season started. I intermingled with everybody and got to know them and learn their procedures on some things. Once we got to the racetrack, I think that time in the shop made the transition a lot easier. Shirley and I bought a house close to the shop, so everything is starting to settle in now.

Q: What's it like working with Connie now versus 1977?
Tobler: Well, I was hired at the beginning of '77, and we worked together that whole year. Then Shirley and Connie broke up at Gainesville in 1978. So, we only worked together for a little over one year. I don't really know if that is a good enough basis for comparison. It was kind of on my shoulders after he was gone.

I really haven't gotten to work with him all that much yet. At the shop, he comes and goes because he is also busy running Kalitta Air (Kalitta's air cargo company based in Ypsilanti, Mich.) Sometimes he just breezes through. His interests have been spread out even more with the third team being formed and he spent a lot of time with them before the season got going.

The first time I really got to interact with him was at the racetrack was in Phoenix for testing. We spent those three days intentionally communicating with one another and going over things, which was great. Comparing it to the old days, things were different back then. We're both different people now and certainly the sport is different.

Q: Is it hard to defer to Connie's final say on the tune-up?

In 33 years together, Muldowney and Tobler raced to four world titles, including three in NHRA competition.
Photo courtesy of Muldowney collection

Tobler: I have no problem with it, in fact, that was one of the things that made me comfortable about coming here, because I really didn't feel I was ready to be the guy in a high-profile, high-pressure, world-championship situation. I just don't think I'm ready for that yet. Shirley and I ran our little program with a lot of tunnel vision on how we did things. To us, it was more about the bottom line and trying to survive as a business. We had to make sure we didn't let our ego kill our business or over-inflate our pocketbooks.

We went racing with our stuff and did the best we could but in the end this is a much different situation. I really don't have a problem with it. I spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about the way Shirley's car would run. One good thing about this is I don't have to do all the worrying. They made it very clear to me that this is Connie's deal, Connie's tune-up, and so on. I have no problem with that whatsoever. It doesn't bother me in the least. I don't have the kind of ego that makes me have to be the guy in charge.

Q: How much control do you have on the tune-up?
Tobler: It's still early yet but from what I've seen so far I think Connie's going to have to delegate a little bit more because physically he's not going to be able to keep up with it all. From a mental standpoint, I'm sure he will do just fine but when we've got all three cars going on Sunday and things have to be done and decisions have to be made quickly between rounds, I think he might get spread a little thin.

For now, I'm just going to sit back and learn. When I'm asked something, then I'll volunteer some information. Up until then, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and do what I'm told, try to oversee the guys on the Mac Tools team, and make sure that our stuff is prepared properly. Overseeing procedures and mixing the new crew guys into the deal is the main focus of my job right now.

I think my most important job for the time being is to make sure everything is done right on the racecar. A better description for my job right now is manager. As far as the tune-up goes, they've got one helluva tune-up already. They don't need anything from me. I think maybe down the road everyone will kind of break off into their own separate cars because I think in the end these three cars are going to develop different personalities.

Q: What's it been like racing without Shirley?

Tobler shares tuning duties of Doug Mac Tools dragster with team owner Connie "the Bounty Hunter" Kalitta.
Racers Edge Photography

Tobler: The hardest thing is being apart because we're used to being together every day. When we had a shop at the house, I would go out to work in the morning and she maybe would be gone all day doing her errands and running around, but we would meet in the evening at home together. So, probably the hardest thing is not necessarily racing without her, but us being apart on a daily basis.

I am not sure how often she will come out to the races now. She'll play it by ear. She wasn't sure how she was going to fit in here and how she would feel being at the races and not driving. It's not because of being with Kalitta or being with anybody; it's just a different deal for her now. I don't think any of us make very good spectators when we're not racing. I know I don't. I can only sit around a drag strip so long. For us, when she gets time to come to an event, we'll look at it more as an opportunity to spend time together. I think she feels a thousand percent better about it than she did before going to the Winternationals.

Q: How do you like the three-car team?
Tobler: The biggest advantage is the amount of data. We learned that during the test week in Phoenix. We'd run a car and bring it back, download the data and look it over. Then, we got the next car up and running using that data. Now, granted we won't have that kind of time to adjust with it at an actual event, but it was really valuable to do that there. We'll be able to exercise some of those advantages during qualifying and even during the race when one car runs in front of the other. I think that's a big advantage.

Another advantage is a much bigger group of people with knowledge and experience to discuss problems and solutions with. Jim 'O'(Oberhofer, Scott's co-crew chief) does a tremendous job. Connie's experience is obviously immense. Jim's brother, Jon 'O' (Grubnic's co-crew chief) has been around awhile too, so I think it's just a matter of being able to pool everyone together and draw from all of our resources.

The only disadvantage I could foresee would be not having enough parts or spreading people out too thin. The only person who might really get spread too thin would be [machine shop manager Jim] Becker. He's the one who has to fix all the stuff. If we can have a fairly trouble-free year and not go through a lot of stuff, I'm sure it will be much easier on him. It doesn't take much to destroy one of these things but this team is famous for not wrecking parts so we feel pretty good about all that.

Q: What are your goals for 2004?
Tobler: We have all the right pieces in place at Kalitta Motorsports. With that being said our goals are simple. We want to qualify No.1 at every race. We want to win every race, and in the long-term, win the 2004 NHRA Top Fuel championship. Winning every race is not realistic but we must maintain the attitude that we can and should go out and win every time. For me, I want to learn as much as I can to become a better tuner. I see no reason why that will not happen here.

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