Q. For all three drivers. We've seen a lot of safety innovations this year. Do you see more on the horizon? Is there more safety items that you'd like to see implemented?
DEL WORSHAM: I feel pretty comfortable right now with the rules and the safety we have. You're always making improvements and helping yourself out a little bit, better padding and better head gear going to FIA 8860 helmets, and things like that. But personally I feel pretty good right now.
MATT HAGAN: I'm kind of in the same boat as Del. I think there is room for improvement on everything. But right now I think these cars are pretty safe. I think I'd much rather run to the thousand feet as fast as we're running now versus slowing these cars down and running to a quarter mile or feeling like they're not as safe at a thousand feet for some reason.
Like he said, the helmets, maybe some head and neck stuff can be done there. But most of these guys are up to date with technology. And the NHRA is on top of their game with that stuff. I think everybody's doing a pretty good job with it.
EDDIE KRAWIEC: Obviously, on a motorcycle I've got a lot less protection around me than the other two guys. But I do feel that obviously safety is the first thing. If we weren't feeling safe, we wouldn't get on the motorcycle. I think NHRA does a great job to do the best they can.
Obviously for us, we have leathers on, and a helmet and some gloves. That's about our safety barrier. But I do feel comfortable. I do feel it's a safe zone. There is always room for improvement, as everybody says. But it's tough to improve upon things when there aren't any problems.
Q. Del, have you ever been involved in a more intense round than your match-up against Spencer Massey?
DEL WORSHAM: Oh, the second most tense round I've ever had was the final round against Spencer Massey in Las Vegas last weekend or two weekends ago to get in position. To be put in position to race them again here in Pomona at the finals.
So, no, no, I don't believe so. I've had some pretty tense situations over the years. The final round at Indianapolis in 2005 to win the showdown and the U.S. Nationals was definitely high up there. It was ranked pretty high.
But yesterday the semifinals went from being the most tense run of my career, to the final round probably being the most carefree round of my career, those two runs. Once a championship was won, we got to go into the final round and just where their points were on the line. Going on the line for the win. I felt decompressed, and I felt like it was a lot of fun. It was a great race.
Q. You're a California kid, and it started out as a family racer with your dad and everything. What does this mean to your family to be a world champion? I guess your dad and your mom were standing there. It's just been a long road for you to get to this point.
DEL WORSHAM: It has been. I haven't spoken too much to my father about the win and the championship, but I'm sure I know for myself it's a great feeling of accomplishment. It's something that I set out to do years and decades ago. It's finally been accomplished. I'm sure my dad even though he wasn't working on the team, he's taught me everything I know. We've raced together and we've made a lot of these decisions together in what direction I was going to head. So I'm sure he's feeling very gratified also.
Q. To follow up on John's question. Matt and Eddie, you had some pretty intense racing yesterday as well. Matt, talk a little about that round against Cruz Pedregon, and Eddie, if you could talk about that second round against LE Tonglet when you clinched?
MATT HAGAN: I guess when we raced Beckman in the second round was big. We were one and two in points. If we didn't get around that, we probably weren't going to win the championship. I knew that Jack has a very consistent crew chief. He has a smart crew chief that's going to go down the racetrack. It really came down to just us going down the racetrack and we happened to do that. It played into our favor to set us up for another huge match up against Cruz to win the championship.
I don't know. I tried to stay calm, cool and collected and go up there and focus and make sure that we give our opportunity, our team the opportunity to win this thing and not do anything stupid or mess up or try to make something happen. Sometimes when you chase after it, you try to make something happen and you step on your toes.
So for me, it was just kind of to breathe, focus, and when the light turns on, go. But it just was one of those things where you have to simplify it as a driver, and you have to just take that pressure and turn it into something small and just do your job and simplify your job. That was big for me. For me being able to do that took all the pressure away.
EDDIE KRAWIEC: To be the champion, I had to beat the champion that round. Racing LE Tonglet, the 2010 Pro Stock motorcycle champion, he's a tough competitor. He's a great racer. Obviously, he's a past champion. To beat him to get the official lock in for the championship, felt really good. He's, as I said, he's a great competitor. But you also can't take anybody lightly in the category.
I knew I could have shot myself in the foot there if I took something for granted or just went out there and slacked off. The one thing I was trying to do is be consistent all day. For me, it's just you need to stay calm and relaxed and not hype yourself up, because if you do that, that's when you're going to get yourself into those bad situations and maybe prematurely jump the tree or get a red light or do something weird.