NHRA News: Medlen ready for the real test (2/14/2004)

Medlen ready for the real test

2/14/2004

"I want to be able to show the sponsors that even though they took a huge risk they made the right choice."
– Eric Medlen

For the second season in a row, a rookie will occupy another high-profile ride in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series. Last year Brandon Bernstein took over for his father, six-time NHRA champion Kenny Bernstein, in the Budweiser Top Fuel dragster. Now, Funny Car takes its turn at a youth movement.

Eric Medlen, 30, has been selected by John Force, Ford Racing, and Castrol Syntec to be the new driver of the Castrol Syntec Ford Mustang. Medlen replaces Tony Pedregon, the 2003 NHRA Funny Car champion who left Force Racing to join his brother Cruz in a two-car operation owned by the Pedregon brothers.

Medlen not only gets to fill the gap left by Pedregon's departure, but he also gets to work with his father, John, who will continue to make all the tuning calls on the car in 2004. The elder Medlen tuned Pedregon to the title and now he gets to take his son, a former roper in the rodeo ranks, and make a rookie into a winner.

Eric makes his professional debut when the 2004 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series kicks off at Pomona Raceway with the 44th annual K&N Filters Winternationals, Feb. 19-22. In this question and answer session, Eric talks about what it is like to spend eight years on the crew, what he wants to accomplish at his first race, and what it took for him to rope a job as a driver.

Q: Why do you want to be a Funny Car driver?

Medlen gets his name on the hot rod.
Racers Edge Photography

Medlen: There is just something about the feeling of accomplishment you get from the car, being one with the guys, being one with the car. I don't want to say that you can tame the car, but there is a lot of satisfaction in knowing you can work with something and if you treat it well it will treat you well. It's a machine, but it's more than a machine. My dad always says I need to become one with the car. There really is a lot of truth to that. You have to get to know it and know every little scratch. It's like your other girlfriend. In Las Vegas (during the first test sessions) we ran 4.79 seconds at 324 mph and the feeling you get after that is unbelievable. The rewards are pretty phenomenal.

Q: What can you contribute to John Force Racing?
Medlen: I'm younger and although I don't bring new blood to the team, I do bring it to this position. I can bring a different personality around and a little different view of how the guys look at things. I can go out with all the guys. When we talk about our guys, I don't just mean the Castrol Syntec team. I mean the Syntec guys, the Castrol GTX guys, and the Auto Club guys. It's everybody. They know I am still one of the guys and they know me on a different level. Hopefully I can bring a new level of energy to the teams.

Q: When did your name enter the mix as a replacement driver?
Medlen: Really it goes back to the fact I only had two dreams – I wanted to go to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) and I wanted to be a professional racecar driver. I wanted to hang out with my dad. Even when you are a kid you realize how extremely difficult it is to get to this position.

When my mom and dad split up, I started doing rodeo. Then I got heavy into rodeo. A friend named Gerald Camarillo and I planned to go to all of the amateur rodeos. Gerald had turned into a bit of a father figure when my dad was on the road. He is a world champion team roper and he taught me a lot about being successful and being a good person. We were going to do the amateur rodeos and fill up my PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) card and then the next year, hit the pro rodeo.

Medlen was one of the top runners at a recent test session in Las Vegas, dipping into the 4.7-second range.
Racers Edge Photography

Just about the time we planned everything my dad called. He told me he was going to work for John Force and he said, 'I need to get a crew together and you're my first pick.' I told him to call me the next week to let me know and I really thought he wouldn't call me back. I didn't want to get excited. He called me the next day and the day after that and I realized it was the real deal. Then he needed to know an answer by the end of the day and suddenly I realized that while I was chasing my new dream, I had a chance to go back to my original dream.

I was young (22) and I asked Gerald what he thought. He never had his own son but he always wanted one. He was raised in a team roping champion family. Now he had me, kind of his kid. I have the best horses and the best teacher and all I have to do is not screw up, do what he tells me, and we are headed to the NFR. It would have been real easy for him to tell me I should stick with rodeo. He had a lot of time and money invested in me. But he told me I should get into racing. He also told me if it didn't work out, I could always come back and we could pick up right where we left off. I called my dad and left that night.

Q: Did you ever expect to be considered as a driver?
Medlen: I started as a mechanic and honestly, I was living a dream. I was working on John and Tony's cars and we won the first eight races (1999) and I was standing in the winner's circle and I told my dad I thought I should quit and go home then. I thought if we lost now, it would stink. That's the year we won 14 races and it was unreal.

As time went on, I noticed that unless you had a ton of money to buy into a ride or unless you were the son of a team owner, there was a pretty slim chance you can get into one of these cars. I've seen guys try and they get shot down and I didn't want to get myself into that. So I let it go but in the back of my mind, I was always thinking about it. We would be ready to warm up the car and I would think that if the driver was late, I knew what to do and I could warm it up.

I wanted to prove to myself I could do it so I went to Frank Hawley's NHRA School for Drag Racing. I was living with John at the time and I was taking him to the airport and he asked what I was doing. I didn't want to be a distraction but I was raised never to lie so I told him I was going to Frank Hawley's and he wanted to know why. I told John I always wanted to drive and since I knew I wasn't going to get the chance to drive (professionally) I at least wanted to see what it was like in the driving school. He didn't say anything. He was real quiet. Then he called me the next day and asked if Ashley (Force, John's daughter) could go with me. He wanted me to watch over her. We ended up going over there and making 16 runs. That's where it all started.

Realizing a long-held dream, Eric and John Medlen will work together as driver and crew chief in 2004.
Racers Edge Photography

Ben Marshall, the driver of Mike Dakin's Warrior car, and I were talking. I told him I wanted to get my license and he said I should talk to Mike and see if I could drive the car. We were testing for the biggest race of the year in Indianapolis and John and I got to talking about it and I told him I had the chance to get my Top Alcohol license but that it was during testing so I couldn't do it. He talked to (crew chief Austin) Coil and they slipped me out enough to get it done.

The next year we were testing and John asked why I hadn't been driving. I told him I ran out of money. I sold all my stuff and I'm out of money. He asked if I wanted to make a couple of laps in the Funny Car. I just about fell over. He was being loyal and showing me he was just trying to repay me for spending a lot of time and money with everything.

The guys put the spare car together so I could drive it. They spent all night working on it. We went to warm it up and my dad asked if I wanted to move anything. My foot didn't fit very well with the throttle pedal, but the guys had already put so much work into it, I didn't want them to have to change anything. My first run, my foot slipped back and the car went out of the groove. So I figured I would push down harder next time. But that made me pull on the wheel and it broke off so I shut the car off. I started to think I should get on the radio and tell the team what's going on because they are going to wonder why I was in the center lane. So I tell them, 'Um, the steering wheel came off.' (Co-crew chief) Bernie Fedderly, who is Mr. Calm, gets on the radio and says, 'Do you think you could get it stopped?'

On and off I got a couple of more chances. Then serious word got out that Tony was going to leave and I think John got frustrated and thought he may as well give me a chance. He asked if I had my firesuit with me. Are you kidding? Of course I had it.

The third run it ran 4.97 at 260 mph. It started to get a little out of the groove, so I shut it off. But it was going pretty good. They called (race director) Ray Alley and he said the time was good, but I had to run a faster speed. The guys were just beat. Here are a bunch of guys who won the championship. You would think they would just celebrate all night, don't even put the car in the trailer, just leave it out all night and celebrate. But no, we were working until midnight so we could test the car the next day. That is what championships are made of.

John talked everyone into making one more run that day just so I could go for the license. We got up to the line and it was dark. John came up to me and said, 'OK, you are going to experience something new. It's called header fire and it is going to scare the daylights out of you. But it's oaky. It's going to look like the car's on fire, but it's fine. Just keep driving. No matter what you do, keep on driving it until the lights.'

It put out a cylinder and it got to the point where I could hear the crew chiefs yelling for me to turn it off. But in the back of my mind I kept hearing John telling me to get it to the lights. I kept going and shut it off at the lights. When I got out there were flames two or three feet high. I felt bad for the guys because I knew how much work they did on that car. I apologized because I knew I was just being selfish and going for the license. But the car went 280 mph and that was just at the requirement for the license. I stayed with the team and helped with the entire cleanup. They never complained once. They thought it was the coolest thing. You can't buy that from crew guys and you can't teach it, it's just there.

Q: When did you find out you got the job?

Medlen (top) and the Castrol Syntec crew will be severely tested by the sport's best, like teammate Gary Densham (bottom), as soon as the season starts.
Racers Edge Photography

Medlen: Even a week after the final race we honestly thought Tony was going to change his mind and stay with Force. I think he actually thought about staying for a long time. Then Tony announced what he was doing. John was contacted by a lot of drivers for the opening. I told him that if there was ever a chance, I would love to drive with you, but I would be perfectly happy to keep working on the clutch or cleaning oil pans or anything you need. I really didn't know for sure until a few days before we made the announcement.

Q: How is your relationship with the crew?
Medlen: It feels awkward. Growing up my dad and his brother started working full time when they were just 14 years old. They instilled a hard working ethic in me. When someone else is working around you that means you need to work too. These guys are working so hard and I don't feel I am working as hard as they are. But when I get out of the car, I'm already exhausted. You can't do both. The guys have been so supportive and they remind me I'm not supposed to do both. They still tease me a bit, which is good. This is so special to be able to do this with the guys and especially my dad. Every time I get out of the car I tell the guys what a good job they have done because I know what it takes just to get it up to the line.

Q: What are you looking forward to the most about Pomona?
Medlen: I want to be able to show the sponsors that even though they took a huge risk on a little Western kid from California they made the right choice.

Q: Do you feel the pressure of replacing the champ?
Medlen: I think having my dad there takes some pressure off. Our communication lines are very open. Having John there is great. He's not John Force, 12-time Funny Car champion. He's just John. He's there and he is great to talk to and that takes pressure off. There is some pressure because we know we have the best car. I don't have just some car we pieced together for $100. This is the championship car. The same reasons that can cause pressure are the same reasons why we should have confidence. John tells me just to get out there and have fun because that's when I will be at my best.

Q: What expectations do you have for yourself?
Medlen: At the end of the year I would like to know that we did better than everyone thought we would do. I would like for us to surpass the sponsor's expectations. If you prove yourself, they will go to bat for you. I don't expect respect from the beginning, but I want to be able to earn some.

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