Ep. 55 - Interview with NHRA Top Fuel Driver Shawn Reed

About the Podcast: The Throttle to the Floor Podcast is a motorsports podcast where me (William Earnest) and Evan Sager co-host and sit down with guests each week to talk about what is happening in the world of NASCAR, IndyCar, and NHRA plus we take frequent looks at other racing under the motorsports umbrella.

About the Episode: On this episode of the Throttle to the Floor Podcast, I sit down with NHRA Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed to talk about his recovery from his big crash in Seattle last year, how team and business operations are different this year, and more; - listen, watch, and download episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Hey y'all, I'm William Ernest, the host of the Thor of the Floor Podcast, and I'm joined today by the uh the driver of the Reed Trucking and Excavating Top Field Dragster in the uh NHRA, Sean Reed. Sean, first of all, uh, how are you doing and how's the business doing up in Seattle, even though you're down in uh Arizona right now?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Well, uh, hey, uh, thanks for having me on. Um, business is uh always a struggle, you know, especially in the great left state of Washington. But um, you know, we'll uh we continue up there and uh it's going good enough for me to you know buy some more parts after my blow up in uh Gainesville. So, you know, we're uh we're uh we're in the sunshine right now in Lake Havasu City and um playing a little golf uh for the first time since my accident. So that was kind of interesting and um yeah, just kind of hanging out and getting ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

That that's great to hear. Um I heard it's gonna be pretty hot in Arizona. They moved up the start times uh for Phoenix next week. So hope you stay cool out there. Um I want to start with yeah, I want to start with uh how are things different this year being that uh you and Edis Eddistrom are gonna share the car this year. Um last year when you were in full time.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, I mean so far, I mean, like I said, I mean I'm planning to run them all in in in until she uh uh you know can get some partners that will um you know uh help her along the way. But you know, hopefully that still is uh a thing to uh you know think I think that's gonna come to fruition. And um, you know, hopefully we can get her at least five and maybe as as many as ten if if if we can, it'd be great. So um, yeah, just looking forward to it. I mean, you know, we got two cars, so I mean we could we could run two cars if we if we wanted to, but it's you know, trying to get the crew and the help is a little bit more challenging, you know, these days with uh so many cars out here now.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah. Does it help that uh your like your main core of crew guys, uh your crew chief and assistant crew chief, like they're all still around? Does that help?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have to have, you know, I mean we we we've we've rotated out like a guy or two a year, and um, you know, we have a pretty good group of guys. We have the same seven, uh, you know, same seven we started with, and you know, two went away, two came, and then two went away, and and two came back, and and you know, one of the guys that left the first year after year one came back in year three. So um, you know, we it it it helps having the same faces around. They all know what's going on, they all know what what their positions are, what their duties are, and it is pretty cool having the same guys, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Is the goal like if you get if you do get enough sponsorship, is the goal to run two cars this year or even like next year? Is that the goal?

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Um Yeah, the goal, yeah, that'd be a great goal. I I I I mean if uh you know if if if I could get fully sponsored, um, you know, she can she can have my uh she can have my position in my crew and then I would just you know run part-time as as I as I as I wanted to, you know. I mean I could run full-time if I want, or I can run part-time, you know. So um yeah, I mean that it would be you know, it'd be great to transition Shawnee's racing into more of a uh you know, to more of a uh let's see, what do you want to say, more of a business uh side rather than a hobby side, you know. I mean, uh, you know, retrucking pays most of the bills and we are getting some sponsors with the partners here and there, but um, you know, if she could uh partner up and sponsor up, um, you know, she's gonna she's definitely got a place to uh you know to hang her hat.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

What are your goals this year in NHRA being that it's for one NHA 75th anniversary season and for two just how much does it mean to not only compete in NHRA but just this year being NHA seventy fifth anniversary season and just still being able to compete, especially after your big Seattle crash last year.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, you know, it's uh it's uh NHRA is just it you know, it's it's cool. I've been watching this stuff since, you know, since forever, you know, and you know, watched um a lot of the guys I raced against, you know, I watch them guys uh you know uh all the time. And it's just it's it's weird to race against a lot of them. It's weird to be friends with a a lot of them now. But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to this year. Um, you know, after missing a few races last year and getting banged up pretty good. And, you know, we we uh you know we got the car replaced this winter, so we're back to two, two, two, uh two cars that are identical. And um, you know, the one the one that you know ran pretty good in the countdown last year, that's sitting upstairs ready to go with a with a motor in it. And you know, we started with a brand new car down in Gainesville and you know got a few bugs to work out of that one, but I think we'll be okay. Um, yeah, as you know, as far as this year, just uh, you know, just uh definitely definitely one of my goals is to win one of them 75th uh you know uh anniversary wallies. Um that'd be kind of cool. Um, you know, got my first one last year and got my first Wally in year two of full-time racing, so pretty, pretty happy about that. You know, pretty happy about you know how it came, you know, right after you know my first race back after my accident as well. But um, you know, all in all, the you know, the you know, the the ra the races are so long and you can't you can't get you can't get bound up on one race or two races or three races and and the wins come, you know, the wins and the round the round wins and the and the and the race wins, they come and they uh they come so quick and like you know you go to another race and you just you know you're just hoping to you're just hoping to get out of round one and next thing you know you're standing there holding a wall, you just it's like a blink of the eye. So uh, you know, when it when it happens, it happens, and when I when I get one, I'll get one.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah, and speaking on that uh Seattle crash, we know that your right rear tire went out and you went like 290 into the wall, but can you explain some specifics of it? Like how did you lose your left index finger, one of your one of your digits, and I guess what safety advancements have come along in NHRA that prevented crashes like yours or like John Forrest's from a couple of years ago from being much worse?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yeah, well, you know, first and foremost, the uh, you know, the the the the John Force crashes, the Eric Medlin, um um, you know, the death of Eric Medlin, and that kind of started the the whole cycle. Uh John Medlin worked so so hard to get uh more and better safety devices put in these things. Uh I I pretty much guarantee you if my crash happened 15 years ago, I'd be dead as well. I I mean I I'm still using my helmet that I crashed with. I mean, it's uh I mean it was unscathed and even though it rang my bell pretty good, it um you know it allowed me to, you know, to sit, you know, to to walk away kind of. But um the you know, again, the Eric Medlins, John Forces, I mean, them guys are the ones that really uh made the sport as safe as it is today. And um when you can when you can go dead left at you know 300 miles an hour and make impact with a negative 13G hit and and and and somewhat walk out of that thing with a couple of broken bones and a finger or something uh missing, you you've done pretty good. Um these things are fast, they're volatile, and and um you can't even you know, you can't even, I mean it's it's less than one second from tire blowout to wall impact. So you there's no time to think, even though you could slow it down and you could you can you can you can you can think you know what to do, but you don't know what to do until it happens, you know. So uh but anyway, the first impact, you know, took the nose of the car off and it spun the tire. Uh I kind of drove into it. I, you know, I didn't really know what was happening, so I kind of drove into it. It spun the wheel, um, which I suspected broke my finger 90 degrees, and then and then when I came back around backwards and hit the hit the wall right here, my hand got outside the protected area and hit the wall, uh, is what is what we think. And um now I have uh extra bars. The bars are kind of like a like a canopy canopy car. They they they come up and over. There's a uh carbon fiber thing. So my hand can't get outside now. Um, you know, we talked about going to uh you know a capsule car, which wouldn't bother me because I drove a capsule boat forever, but I just really wanted I really wanted both my cars to be identical. And for me to go to a capsule car, I would have had to buy two capsule cars. And for me to replace the one that crashed to make it identical to the other one I have was um you know a lot more financially affordable for me.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

So it's like a so it's like a canopy car, just not a total canopy car.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Yeah, well, it does it's some extra bars in there to so my so my hands can't get outside. You know. Um, you know, the um I guess the cockpit comes in flat like this and then and then it goes up for the roll cage. Well now I have a couple of extra bars. I got about four inches of extra height uh right right to the right left of my hands.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Okay, and um like what did you have to go like afterwards? Like, I mean, I d I know you had stitches or like other treatment like physical therapy, so like can you just explain like like a summary of like how you worked so hard to just get back in the car after uh Jordan Vancrypt he filled in for you at Brainerd and Indy, and of course now he's in funny car after he replaced proc and that whole deal.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yeah, I mean, you know, the after I after my accident, um pretty much I mean, yeah, I had fifty-six stitches and I broke my thumb, I had a pin in my thumb, and and had just a lot of stuff that wrong with there, but um, you know, I basically been all there saying, you know, as soon as I could touch these two fingers together, I was getting back in the car, and you know, we we actually we actually got to indie and and I was teasing Jordan. I'm like, I'm like, look, Jordan, I could touch my fingers, and he goes, No, no, no, not yet. I want to run speed. So but we we you know, I wasn't ready then. I then the next weekend, I the next weekend I think after Indy, I I drove that in that IHRA deal uh just to just to try to test my hand and see how I could do and stuff. But you know, it was it was um you know it it still hurt pretty good at that point. It was only eight weeks after my accident. And you know, right now it's it's uh you know it's uh it's not normal, you know, but it but it doesn't uh the pain that you know there's no pain anymore. It's just you know the kind of more phantom pain of like, you know, the finger being there and not being there, I guess. But um, yeah, I mean yeah, and Jordan was great, you know, he filled in and and and uh you know I kinda you know he's he's like a he's like a kid to me, you know, and he was my teammate. In fact, I'm still I'm wearing a B VR shirt right now. Yeah, and we we we were teammates back in 2019 and he he definitely is sitting right where he deserves to be and where he needs to be. So pretty happy about that. Uh pretty happy about Force, you know, getting him a getting him a ride and getting him moving up the chain there.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

Yeah, and just when you got back in the car at the IHRA event in Ohio and you ended up winning that, um, how much was that of a confidence booster that you used to win at Maple Grove when you returned in NHRA the following week for your first national event win?

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Well, the IHRA win didn't you know I didn't really think that that was just gonna propel me in the NHRA. I mean, um, although there's some, you know, there's some dang good cars over there. I mean, heck, I mean, you know, they're did they, you know, they're different tracks, they prepare them differently. And, you know, I mean, heck, I mean, I went over there and I think uh I mean, I think uh let's see what I do. I beat I beat uh Todd Payton in the car that I started in, uh, the Payton car. I beat Todd Payton by you know a a foot, you know, uh, you know, and then and then um I beat Jasmine Salinas by in a smoke show. And uh, you know, we both went up in smoke. I just happened to get there to the end first, and then I ran Larry Dixon in the finals where I think I beat him by a foot or two, you know. I mean, it was I mean, it wasn't uh it wasn't easy and you know, but it was uh it could have gone one way or another, you know. But you know, it was pretty cool for the guys, you know, to get a a nice little nice little bonus for uh you know for for going over there. And it it did it built my confidence knowing that I can drive the car. It wasn't comfortable at that point yet, hard to get the gloves on and off, but it was a stepping stone for me to to get back into the NHRA uh to know what to expect when when I say I'm racing for what I race for, which is wallies and and championship points. And uh it it definitely helped me going into going into Reading, knowing what to expect and and that type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

What's your opinion um like on all these acquisitions that IHRA has made? I mean they bought out uh writing in Maple Grove and it's no longer even on the NHRA schedule, just um what's kind of your opinion on that?

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Well, you know, I mean uh I'm you know, I have a top fuel boat, you know, and I uh I plan my boat plans on running the IHRA drag boat series, you know, they they kind of bought that from the SDBA, and I hope it all works out. I mean, you know, Daryl's Daryl, um, you know, the owner of IHRA, he he has these bought up a lot of tracks, a lot of sanctioning bodies, you know, uh offshore racing, boat racing, uh car racing, bought a lot of tracks, and you know, I'm sure a guy like that will will never run out of money. It's just sometimes guys like that get tired of spending money. So, you know, I mean, if I had that kind of money, I probably wouldn't be in drag racing. I'd probably just be sitting on a beach flying my jet around, tell you the truth. But, you know, a lot of power to him, man. He's got uh a lot of a lot of heart, a lot of lot of a lot of drive to do what he's doing. Probably got a lot of love for the sport of of all types of racing. So uh, you know, my hat goes off to him, and I hope that he can surround himself with the with the people that he can trust and he needs to run all these different uh bodies of racing, of motorsports uh that he's doing because he uh he can't do it by himself, I promise you.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

What's your opinion on uh Reading's replacement, you know, the US 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan and just the other three new tracks on the NHRA schedule this year, including uh Rockingham Dragway also uh joining US 131. It's a back-to-back one-two to open up the the countdown this year.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

So Yeah, that'll be uh interesting. I mean, I I actually went to a match race up there at US 131 in Michigan and uh love the track. Um shut down's a little bit short, but I wouldn't say it's any shorter than Pomona. Um seems to me that there's room to extend that track if they if they if that's what they choose to. I was told when I went up there that NHRA would never go there because there's not enough asphalt for pits, and uh so they may be doing some revamping right now. I have no idea, but I think it's a great track. I think it'll be a great uh venue, man. I mean, it's uh one way in and one way out, though. It's gonna be uh gonna be a lot of traffic jams up there. I'm sure I'll be sure to have my motorhome and maybe a helicopter on standby if I want to leave or something. I'm not sure. But uh, you know, the other tracks are great too. I mean, we need we need more tracks. I mean, you know, I mean, you know, some of these tracks we've been at for a long time, they you know, they get um you know, they get bought up and build houses and you know the you know, people that own them that land and them tracks don't want to move on from racing and you know get something out of their investments. So, you know, it uh it is what it is. So the more tracks we have, the better.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I know that's a big problem in racing in general, just tracks are either like they just exist and they're in the middle of nowhere, and then twenty years go by and there's four hundred housing developments and all the neighbors are complaining, and it's like, why'd you move next to a racetrack? But um I know like here in Iowa, uh our governor our governor Kim Reynolds, he passed a house file that basically states that like you can't complain about a racetrack next to it if it was there before you, and that goes for anything, like the garages or the pits or the track or like either dust, noise or anything. So Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Wish everybody would wish everybody would do that. That'd be that'd be great, but you know, there's it just takes a it takes a group, you know. It's it's usually not the one or two or three people that move next to a racetrack. It's over 20 years where, like you said, 400 people, and then they then they you know befriend their neighbors and then they're all, you know, then they're then they don't like the noise no more because they get a little older and and then you know then they start complaining and then they're buddies with uh you know city councilmen and you know that's where it all starts.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yeah. Um what's your opinion just on all of uh NHRA's 75th anniversary celebrations and just that that shiny diamond wally? I know you want one. Yeah, probably want one too if I drove.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Yeah, I I I mean I think I think NHRA does a pretty good job of um you know promoting, they're getting better. I mean, there there's still, you know, uh, you know, there's still things that I would do I would do different, you know. I mean, I you know, they they still seem to um you know push the NHRA.tv and I think that's great, but I still think that they're we should try to pack the stands, and I think we should pack the stands by lowering the ticket price. That's uh that's the biggest thing that I hear is the ticket price, ticket price, ticket price. And um, you know, if I wish we could I wish we could cut that ticket price in half, fill the stands, uh, you know, bring in more midway vendors, make it a little bit more affordable for them guys to make a little bit of money rather than just you know try to break even. And um, you know, when I was a kid going to the drag races, I mean it was like it was like cool. They had vendors uh was almost more fun than the races itself, just massive vendors and you can buy anything there, you know. Um it's just seemed uh get too expensive for for that deal. I I think uh I think we need to cut ticket prices in half and and um and they'd probably make just as much money off selling beer and hamburgers because that that that that's way overpriced.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

Is that I I would say is that the is that the like biggest change that you would do if you were in charge of the NHRA, just lower prices.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Yeah, but I don't know the logistics of of of you know what the what the split is with, I mean if NHRA owns the track, then they get you know a lot of the you know the the stuff. But if somebody else owns the track, they got a split concessions or split split gate or whatever they gotta do with the owner of the track, right? So I don't know how all that stuff's worked. I'm not in the know on that, but somehow I would work too, you know, everybody's gonna benefit by by packing the stands. And if you can pack the stands, everybody's gonna buy beer, uh, soda, hot dogs, you know, everything. And um, you know, that's you know that and then you know, people are in their stands, you know, they're they're they're the they're the future of the drag racing anyway. You know, we gotta get to get the kids involved, gotta get, you know, business owners involved that wanna do it. There's a lot of people out there that can drive uh cars. You know, there's a there's a lot of Tony Stewart's out there, there's a lot of uh Doug Kalittas and Sean Langdon's and Leah's and uh there's a lot of them out there. They're just not it you gotta be the right place at the right time and you gotta be given that pathway, you know, to go to go do it. And and um you know, you're not gonna get any pathway if if if if nobody comes to the racetracks.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

And uh yeah, um for sure. And last question before I'll uh I'll let you go, Sean. I've always wondered why is there such like a high longevity in NHRA, similar to like like golf like you mentioned, uh like you're still competing at a high level at uh 60 years old, whereas in other motorsports like NASCAR, like most drivers they'll they'll stop in like the early 40s. Is it just like is it just extra tenacity here in NHRAs, or just because you run like a thousand feet in you know three to four seconds instead of driving a 400 mile race over the course of like three hours, or just both of those wrong?

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Yeah, no, I think both of them are right. I I mean I think you know, I mean, again, you take somebody I mean, I think Tony Stewart can go back and run NASCAR all he wanted to if he wanted to, you know, but I think what happens is when you get to a certain age over there, you know, you kind of get pushed out by you know team owners and and and you know, they they want the younger kids, they want the you know, they want the Austin Procs and the Jordan Vandegriffs. I mean, you know, I mean, I mean, I I'm not saying I can drive better than Jordan Vandegriff or Austin Proc, but let me just tell you this if John Forrest had to pick between Austin Proc, Sean Reed, and Jordan Vandegriff, Sean Reed wasn't gonna be one of his picks. I promise you that. You know, and and and it has nothing to do with my driving ability, it has to do with marketability and and and where people want to go and what people want to see. I mean, you know, take this Maddie Gordon craze going on right now. I mean, you know, I mean, you know, I ain't taking nothing away from her. Her at all whatsoever. But look, Langdon smoked the tires. Schumacher smoked the tires, and she's a hero. And blew it up. And now she's a hero. You know, uh, same thing happened with Ida last year when she came out in Brainerd. You know, Steve, you know, Steve had a had a bad light, she won. Uh, you know, um, you know, last year Ida had a trip trip zip against uh in in St. Louis against um Tony Stewart, yeah. Tony Stewart. And I was the Yeah, and it's just I'm telling you, it's just like you can you it's just it's some days are your days, you know, and um you know you just gotta ride them way. Yeah, yeah, some days aren't, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Like Parak failing to qualify at Gainesville.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

So yeah, you know, I called, I didn't really call that they wouldn't qualify, but I I think Jimmy uh and and Austin and his brother, I mean, I mean it's a it it's a it's a dream team, and um, you know, Tasca did what he had to do to to get that guy over there, and and um, you know, they're you know, they're they're working with all different kinds of parts now than they would they had over at Forces. It's gonna it's gonna take them a little bit to figure it out, but I guarantee you Jimmy Proc, Austin Proc, I mean Austin didn't forget how to drive, and Jimmy Proc didn't forget how to tune. He's got to put the right combination together, and you know, I guarantee you towards the end, you know, mid-end of the year, they're gonna be uh, and I hate to say it, the a force to be reckoned with, you know, but they're gonna they're gonna be pretty badass. There they're there's just there's there's no doubt in my mind they're gonna be pretty badass.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Yeah, for sure. Um well thank you, Sean, for doing this. I'll let you get back to uh I guess I would say managing the business in Seattle, even though you're in Arizona, or you want to go play golf or something.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

But Yeah, I'm I'm actually gonna play golf tomorrow. Uh I played golf uh yesterday for the first time since my accident July 19th, and I'm gonna play golf again tomorrow and you know keep working on how I can grip that club a little bit better.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

It's a good thing you're able to do that. Um good luck in Phoenix, assuming uh you're driving, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Yep, yep, I'll be in Phoenix and Pomona. Alright, yeah, so uh good luck there.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Thank you to Sean Reed for uh taking the time off to uh do this uh interview style uh episode. Um but that's all we got for uh today's uh special uh episode of the Thorfloor Podcast. Make sure you uh tune in and listen and download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, uh, YouTube, uh check out the chill photography and Thor Four Podcasts, Instagrams, and the TikToks, but that's all we got for today's episode of the Thor Four Podcast, and we'll see you all on Friday.