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Ford Craftsman Truck Series Driver Spotlight: Tammy Joe Kirk Quotes

24 July 1997

TAMMY JO KIRK (#7 LOVABLE FORD F-150) - Joined Geoff Bodine Racing at
the beginning of the 1997 season. Kirk has had mixed results since the
beginning of the season. She qualified ninth for the first race of the
year at Disney World, and then failed to make the following event at
Tucson. Since then she has made every event, and only fallen out once
due to an accident. Her best finish so far was a 12th at Phoenix. She
is currently 17th in points.

When Kirk went to Watkins Glen in June for the Ford truck test, she
recognized her lack of experience in road course racing was putting
her at a definite disadvantage so she decided to go to the Bob
Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, Arizona.

Kirk also talks about her season and what she learned at Bondurant.

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR SEASON HAS GONE SO FAR? - "I'm a little
disappointed in one way, but in one way you really can't be because it
is our first year driving like this. I know we should have had better
finishes than what we've had. But it has been a learning year, and
we're going through growing pains.  We had a good truck this weekend
(in Colorado), but we haven't had what we call really good
trucks. We've had some that have been slightly off here or there, and
it shows. All these other guys have really top notch stuff. We've been
down on horsepower at a couple tracks. That told on us. This weekend
we had a brand new front and rear clip truck that we wrecked at
Odessa, and it reacted so well to any little bitty thing you did. The
truck responded to it.  The other ones we've been driving you could do
drastic stuff, and they didn't respond to it. We found out this
weekend we need some trucks. We need to fix some trucks. I think here
on out we are going to do better because we know where we're at with
some of the trucks. We know which ones are the good ones.  We've got a
bad one that we've run a couple of times that we know is bad.  It's
the one we bent at Portland that was never fixed right. Since we
crashed it at Louisville it has to go to the frame shop. So I feel
like now we are going to have two really good trucks, and I feel
better because like I said that one this weekend responded so well.

"We ran good at times (at Colorado), but we just never got good track
position. We got behind the 29 truck and couldn't get by him. He was
trying to run the outside like I did, and that held me up and we lost
all the spots we gained. So we went backwards. We started working our
way back up, but by then our tires were gone. We just couldn't get a
caution. You run 90, 90 laps under green, it's just asking for tire
trouble."

HOW MANY OF THE TRACKS WHERE THE TRUCK SERIES RUNS HAVE YOU BEEN ON
BEFORE? - "Probably four or five. Let's see. I'd run Homestead
before. I had run Odessa, Bristol, Milwaukee, and Louisville and
Topeka. I've never been to IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park),
Flemington, Watkins Glen. I have been to Martinsville, and I've been
to Nashville. Well, several of them I have (raced on), but the
majority of them I haven't."

YOU WENT TO WATKINS GLEN FOR THE FORD TEST, AND YOU WEREN'T REAL
SATISFIED. - "That's right. I don't have much experience at all on
road courses, and I felt like I was way behind the guys. I told my
team I wanted to go to a driving school. I wanted to do something to
help me. I was real impressed with Bill Cooper (at Bondurant). He
really helped me. He taught me a lot at the school. From the time I
got there until the time I left I got considerably faster. We got to
run one on one there for a while, and we were just having a ball. We
ran two tanks of gas out of the cars just running each other. I really
felt a whole lot more comfortable. I learned how to charge the
corners, where to be fast. Hopefully I can dissect the road courses
now, and learn where to go faster."

HAVE YOU RACED ON A ROAD COURSE? - "I have. I went to Topeka last year
in an All Pro car, but I didn't know what I was doing. Really I didn't
have any experience at all on the road course. I went to Road Atlanta
before to a school, but I didn't really feel like I was taught
right. Bill taught me a different way, and I felt more comfortable. I
feel like that course is really going to help me."

WHEN YOU WERE AT BONDURANT COULD YOU TRANSLATE WHAT YOU WERE BEING
TAUGHT TO WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED AT TOPEKA LAST YEAR? - "Oh yeah, and
Watkins Glen. For instance, I would charge the corner, and wouldn't
get out of my shifts and be completely ready before I got in the
corner. I would still be shifting and turning at the same time. And I
wasn't doing the weight transfer right on the truck. And I know now
you have to get all your braking, all your shifting done before you
get to the corner. When you get to the corner you have to be ready to
go the other way. It isn't like a circle track where you work your way
in, and then you come out. On a road course you have to be ready
before you get to the corner so you can power on through it. I could
really see a lot of things I was doing wrong."

WHAT DO YOU SEE FOR YOURSELF THE REST OF THE SEASON? - "Well, I hope
we are going to do better. That's what I projects. I talked to Ernie
(Cope -- crew chief on Tammy's truck) this weekend and even though we
finished 17th we feel better because we were competitive. When I was
at the school I learned that I've been charging a lot of these corners
way too hard, and creating the push I've gotten in the truck. So I
think the road course is going to help me at the circle tracks
too. There's been a lot of times I've been trying to push the truck
too hard, and I've created a push and gone slower."

IT IS INTERESTING YOU COULD FIND THINGS AT BONDURANT THAT WOULD
TRANSFER FROM THE ROAD COURSE TO THE OVALS. - "They have some things
there at the Bondurant School that are like a circle track, and you
learn how to get the weight transfer. You can feel it in those little
Mustangs. When you brake too hard you throw so much weight forward
then the back end gets loose because you have all your weight
forward. When you go into the corner you really have to have the
weight transferred evenly from the front to back. You might want a
little bit more in the front so the front wheels will turn, but if you
get too much to the front then the back wheels are too light. Then
that makes you get loose. There were all kinds of things I could
really feel in those Mustangs and comprehend.

"All in all I learned a lot from the school. He (Bill Cooper) really
makes you go back and think about what you're doing instead of just
going through the motions, and not knowing why it's doing this or
that. So it's really made me think why I'm doing something, or why the
truck is doing this. So I think from here on out you will see better
results from our team. I think I'm going to be a better driver.

By Ford Motor Company Public Affairs: