“ I LOVE HOW THEY ’ RE ALWAYS COMING UP WITH NEW WAYS TO MAKE POWER AND USE THE POWER WE ’ RE MAKING .” was number one at qualifying until I qualified number one . So we were one and two . I knew I was going to have to Tony in the finals but the way it came down on the same side of the tree , he had Kevin in the Underground Racing R8 , which is a very fast car .
Texas Invitational are not simply this massive collection of crazy highhorsepower cars , but the reliability they demonstrate on the course and in competition . It ’ s one thing to have a 2,200-horsepower Lamborghini - very impressive , very cool - but to seemingly make 100 passes down the airstrip in the car at over 200mph - that borders on unbelievable .
BH : What has really gotten me in this is the ability to be so in touch with Kevin [ Howeth ] and K . C . [ Howeth ] at Underground Racing - to work so closely together each time you get involved in something new and adding something to the car . They have allowed me to participate with them , bring some old school stuff to the table . Their handle on the technology and how to apply it is mind-blowing . We ’ ve done a lot of really cool things together , and I love how they ’ re always coming up with new ways to make power and use the power we ’ re making . But every time you advance , every time you add more horsepower , then whatever the weakest link is in that chain , you ’ re going to find it . It ’ s going to pop up , and each time you deal with it , you take care of all your weak links based upon that horsepower level . These guys at Underground Racing , they are mindblowing at this . They are very , very focused . I like the way they work it when you ’ re actually involved in the racing . The racing aspect is very important . If you ’ re out there racing and you ’ re having to race against the shop owner , to some degree there ’ s an issue of how fair is that . Well , it isn ’ t because you have other shop owners out there doing the exact same thing . So part of what we do has to do with the shop and the camaraderie amongst working with the shop , working with the team and sort of having a team Underground approach , which is exactly what we do . But what does happen and what you saw [ at the Texas Invitational ] is a perfect example of the owner doing exactly what they should do , and that was we knew as we were coming down in the eliminations , the guy we had to watch was Tony [ Palo ]. So when we came down toward the end , it was obvious it was Underground Racing versus Tony ’ s shop T1 , and Tony had run some great speeds . He
“ I LOVE HOW THEY ’ RE ALWAYS COMING UP WITH NEW WAYS TO MAKE POWER AND USE THE POWER WE ’ RE MAKING .” was number one at qualifying until I qualified number one . So we were one and two . I knew I was going to have to Tony in the finals but the way it came down on the same side of the tree , he had Kevin in the Underground Racing R8 , which is a very fast car .
The good news for me is Kevin had a chance to run Tony before I was going to have to run him in the final , and Kevin took him out . I mean he had that car running pretty good , so he took Tony out . And Kevin retired the R8 . He parked it . He had done what he needed to do . You had one shop owner versus the other shop owner going heads up and Kevin had won . What was left to prove ? He had two of his top customers - myself and Gidi Chamdi - standing there . He let the two customers go head to head . That ’ s how you do it . That ’ s good sportsmanship within the team and that ’ s how you do it .
SRM : It was great to see the owners of the car actually drive them and have the opportunity to race and decide a winner . What do you remember about that matchup with Gidi ?
BH : Gidi and I are friends . We get along great . It ’ s just when it gets right down to it , I walked over to Gidi right before we ran the finals and I said straight up , I said , “ My friend , I want to tell you upfront I ’ m not going to give you one inch . I ’ m going to get after it out there .’ I said , ‘ I ’ m going to run my race . I ’ m not going to play any head games with you in any way at all . I ’ m going to get out quick . I ’ m going to be ready to go . But there ’ s no quarter , no mercy .’ And we laughed about it . That ’ s how it has to be . That ’ s how you race .
SRM : It ’ s old news now , but you did it - you made a great run in the final - 216-plus - and took the win , earning your first King of the Street crown . At this point , with as far as all this roll racing and airfield racing has come , we ’ re curious - what kind of power does it take to make a run like that , to earn that exclusive title ?
BH : There ’ s lot of different things floating around as far as the numbers go . What are we really making ? We ’ re around the 2,400 to
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