FB: They're committed.
DH: It's been a learning process. Tire testing is extremely tedious. It's really hard on a racecar when you're doing 30 passes in a row. It's a good opportunity for us to prove our car as much as it is for them to prove their tires. We're not at the finish point, but it's already out-performing everything we've tested against. But we're not satisfied. Both BFG and us want it to be an unfair advantage. That's our target. This project has been a long-term project. They've teamed up with other people before that either crashed their cars or folded their businesses. Every time they started to get going, they'd hit a dead end. This partnership with BFG is finally right.
SS: How fast will the RSX go? Do you think 9.50s or even 8s are possible this season?
DH: Ultimately, it doesn't make enough horsepower to go 8s. But who knows? I'd have to crunch the numbers to see what sort of horsepower we need to be at. I don't think another .50 at this horsepower and weight is possible. Maybe if the car was 1,300 lbs and made 100 more horsepower. We can't really get the car much lighter unless you had it made completely out of carbon fiber and titanium. I really don't think 8s are possible because of the way the rules are set. With our cars, we should be at 9.60s.
SS: How much money was put into the RSX?
DH: Not really a lot this time around. Thankfully we get a lot of support from Honda, Golden Eagle, and our other partners. We buy, try, and trash a lot of parts. A lot of the parts we make or do the work in house. I don't remember paying out any major race expenses. Having both cars makes it more expensive.
FB: A lot of people think we have unlimited resources for our race program, but that's not true.
DH: We may have a bigger budget than some of the private sportsman type of guys. The bottom line is that there is no professional money in sport compact drag racing. But we know there's marketing benefit in it so we're willing to commit a little more resources towards it.
SS: Can you explain to the readers the significance of making an all-motor car go fast?
DH: The key concepts when building a car are getting the weight down and making power. It's simple physics. We cut everything down to the essentials. We don't worry about dashboards, A/C, or power steering. It's not like we're planning on doing anything but going straight down the track. We look at the rules and figure out how we can go fast within those guidelines. Any luxury you want for a street-driven car compromises the performance. To appreciate the all-motor class you have to be a true enthusiast. I think it's the most hardcore of them all. Anyone can buy a turbo kit, gain 150 hp and think you're fast. For us, it's efficiency and massaging every piece to get the last bit of horsepower. When the force-inducted guys reach a point where they've maxed out their knowledge on engines, they quit and go raving or start drifting. The ones that are still in the hot rod class I think are dedicated enough to push the engine to 1,500 hp. It's not hard to make power with a turbo. Even a monkey with a wrench can bolt-on 600 hp.
SS: Where do you think the direction of this industry is heading?
DH: Not to sound bad or rude, but one of the biggest problems is that the customer base isn't educated enough. They get to a certain point and if something goes wrong they'll just throw their hands up in the air and start playing with RC cars or go wake boarding. They have to gain that knowledge to get to the next level. I have camshafts I designed that I'm afraid to release because I know people are going to blow up their motor. We've had shops that blew up customer cars and blamed it on our cams when they didn't bother to check the timing or piston clearance.