News of note:
Fresh paint scheme for the Snap-on® “Makers and Fixers” Dodge® SRT® Hellcat® and haulers. The Snap-on car and Cruz are paying tribute to the Makers and Fixers among us as recognition of the value of their work. As Cruz’s primary sponsor, Snap-on is asking NHRA fans to follow Makers and Fixers on Instagram and hoping Makers and Fixers will submit their own stories
Team additions:
Jason Bunker – Crew Chief
Johnny West – Assistant Crew Chief
Andrew Moore – Car Chief
Chris Balance – Clutch Specialist
Aiden Campos – Cylinder Head Specialist
Caleb Krueger – Super Chargers
Jonathan Whitley – Bottom End
John Rios – Tire & Body
Quotes – Cruz Pedregon, two-time Funny Car World Champion
“I’m very enthusiastic about the team. We’re not changing a lot, just some smaller things on the engine. Making it breathe better, it has more power than we had last year, and it goes down the track nice and smooth. So, I’m looking forward to a good winning season.”
“I feel like the Snap-on car will be one of the surprises of the season, I really do. I feel like we’re flying under the radar right now, based on our preseason testing and my conversations with Jason (Bunker), he has a really good handle on this setup.”
“We have a great group of guys we’ve assembled, headed by Jason Bunker, a younger up-and-coming crew chief who has a lot of enthusiasm. Then I’ve paired him with veteran Johnny West who has nearly 60 years of experience. So, I think it’s going to be a good 1-2 combination heading up the team. A lot of young guys, too, that are very excited to be on the team and part of the Snap-on Dodge crew.”
“We did quite a bit of testing down in Bradenton a few weeks ago. It went very well, and the car responded nicely to the changes we’ve made so we’re excited to get to Gainesville. I love the Gainesville track. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the circuit. Lot of fans and such a big event on the NHRA schedule.”
Favorite memories of Gainesville:
“I was born and raised in Southern California, so I’ve never really been around alligators or knew much about them other than that there was once one on the racetrack. They spotted the gator and showed it to everyone. There were pictures of it, and that scared the heck out of me. We get out of the car at the finish line and I’m thinking man, I’ve got to start looking around here because I don’t want one of these gators sneaking up on me.”
“I remember one time the throttle hung open on the car, this was back in ’08 one of our championship years, and I remember thinking I’m going to go for a ride and I’m going to wind up in water because there was a body of water at the finish line, way beyond the catch net area. I’m thinking to myself, if I survive this and I make it to the end then I’m going to be in this water, trying to swim out of there and dodging gators. So that scared the heck out of me because like I said, I’ve never really been around gators being from California, that was something that was not even in the equation.”
Name on the side of Cruz’s car – Snap-on Nitro Franchisee: Kenny Cholewinski
· Kenny’s in his 29th year of operating a Snap-on Franchise, and he’s been coming to the Gatornationals the past 25 of those.
· He likes the freedom of “calling his own shots” running his franchise business.
· His best drag racing story goes back to the 70’s when he was helping a friend who ran Super Stock. He was watching other classes from the sidelines when a race team member ran over and asked him to step in to help push a driver’s car back to the water box after the burnout. When he grabbed onto the roll cage and looked into the window at the driver, it was none other than “Big Daddy” Don Garlits’s dragster.
Follow Cruz and Snap-on on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
To see the latest Cruz news, like his Facebook page, on Twitter, and Instagram.
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