Two-Time Champ Scruggs ‘Motivated More Than Ever’ For 2011

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Jason Scruggs wasn’t about to sugarcoat his feelings, but he also can see the light at the end of the tunnel.While discussing his 2010 American Drag Racing League (ADRL) season a month after its completion, the two-time Pro Extreme world champion remained unimpressed with his performance.“This was obviously the worst season we’ve ever had in the ADRL,” Scruggs said. “Some of it is the guys have gotten tough. Everyone has stepped up and there are a lot of fast cars.“Really for us, though, our problem has been ourselves.”The bad news for the rest of the Pro Extreme field is Scruggs appears more motivated than ever.After winning back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008, Scruggs wasn’t satisfied with the way the past two years have ended.He won the points race in 2009, but a wreck at the Speedtech “Battle For The Belts” ended his shot at a three-peat.As for 2010, Scruggs would have never guessed it would have ended the way it did after starting the year so well.He won the Georgia Drags in April in Valdosta, but that ended up being the highlight of a trouble-filled year.“Things just seemed to go downhill from there,” Scruggs said.At the time, Scruggs was running in the mid-3.6s during race, but he struggled to replicate that consistency the rest of the season.Scruggs and his team fought through a number of minor issues with his Camaro, but a wreck in Houston in late July quickly took that car out of the equation for the rest of the year.His team had to hurry to finish a ‘63 Corvette he had planned on debuting at some point, but the wreck moved up that completion date.With very little in the way of data, Scruggs could never find the rhythm he wanted the rest of 2010.He dropped to eighth in the points standings and then fell in the race-in matchup at the “Battle For The Belts” at Texas Motorplex.“The new car struggled like any new car,” Scruggs said. “We got behind the 8-ball and never dug ourselves out.“Towards the end of the year, we saw the torque converter was the way to go and we decided (the “Battle For The Belts”) was a good time to swap it over. “It was kind of like we were starting over. We’re going to do a lot of testing to get back where we were.” Scruggs won’t be competing in the Arabian Drag Racing League this winter in Qatar, but an extensive testing schedule should allow Scruggs to regain his magic touch.He plans on testing at both Valdosta and West Palm Beach in January and February, setting up shop for several days to come in ready for 2011.“For me, I’m motivated more than ever going into testing,” Scruggs said. “But I also need a lot of testing and I’m a long way from where I want to be. We don’t have a combination right now and we have to do a lot of testing to get back in the .60s.“Really, I have the same attitude I’ve always had: I’m going to work hard, test the car and see if we can win some races. That’s what we intend to do, but it’s just going to get tougher and tougher in this class.”With Scruggs’ motivation to rebound in 2011, the class already appears deeper for what should be a memorable season.But Scruggs knows things won’t be easy.He has to fully break in the torque converter this winter while working on a few other tweaks and updates on the car.Through that, he hopes to find a combination that puts him back at the top of the ADRL’s biggest class.A little extra luck wouldn’t hurt, either, after a 2010 when the only luck Scruggs received was bad.But Scruggs’ passion for winning has made all of the misfortune his fuel for improvement.“This year, we started okay and it just seemed like we didn’t do anything right,” Scruggs said. “A lot of it was our own fault and we just couldn’t get it together.“But all of it just drives me harder.”(Photos by ADRL/Richards)

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