Q: How has the COVID-19 situation impacted sprint car racing?
GRAVEL: Our schedule is completely changed. Our purses have been reduced. We haven’t had fans. If we don’t get over a certain amount of races, there will be a points fund reduced deal. There are a lot of things that can be changing right now. We’re racing, but right now we’re hoping it gets back to normal sooner rather than later.
It gets frustrating, but you have to understand both sides of the business. When you have reduced fans, it’s understandable that you have a reduced purse. We’re happy to race rather than not being able to race.
Q: What was it like to win the Knoxville Nationals?
GRAVEL: For me, at every Knoxville Nationals there’s a lot of pressure to perform. A good week at Knoxville could turn your season around confidence-wise or financially. If you have a good Knoxville and click off a prelim win and maybe a top-five run on Saturday, that’s more than you make in a month at just one event.
I’ve won prelim nights before. I’ve got the perfect night. I’ve led laps at Knoxville. Jason Johnson Racing has had a good history at Knoxville with winning with Jason. From what Phil’s (Dietz, crew chief) experience was and my experience, my confidence was pretty high.
I was really bummed after the pill draw (on the preliminary night). But we were qualifying good all year and were able to click off ninth quick after going out super, super late. I think we started seventh in our heat race and were able to get to a transfer spot pretty quick. Once that happens the pressure is off. The biggest thing is qualifying and getting through the heat race.
Q: Did you feel like you had some divine help throughout that week?
GRAVEL: It was a dream week and we couldn’t do anything wrong. The second half of the race went green to checkered. I had no idea if we were getting through it well or not. I had two scares with lapped cars. I never got to meet my mom’s parents because they passed away before I was born, so I always feel like I have them riding with me. Jason is an added deal to that. I felt we couldn’t do anything wrong that week and that doesn’t happen very often. I’m guessing we had someone riding with us.
Q: It seems like you’re a perfect fit with Jason Johnson Racing. How important is it to find the right atmosphere and to not allow politics to hurt your passion for racing?
GRAVEL: That’s a struggle. That’s why I made the move to leave CJB (Motorsports). It just became not fun anymore. When you travel this much and race this much, miss people’s birthdays and weddings, it takes a toll on you. You have to have fun doing this.
My last couple of deals, I’d say it was extremely well funded. JJR is well funded also, but they are tighter on the money side and stretch their dollar further than CJB did. It doesn’t hurt our performance at all. It’s cool what they built.
Q: What passions do you have besides driving race cars?
GRAVEL: I love cars. I love drag racing. I love the performance and tuning market of street cars.
Q: You got married during the offseason, how has married life treated you?
GRAVEL: It’s been good. We lived together for over a year before we got married. Life hasn’t changed much. We want to have kids one day and we wanted to be married before we had kids. I don’t want to be an old dad, but I don’t see me having a baby tomorrow. I’d like to have a kid by the time I’m 30.
Q: How do you want your story to play out during the next few years?
GRAVEL: That’s hard to say. My goal is to be a race car driver and do that for a living for quite a while. I always said I wanted to retire from racing at 40 years old. I have a good 12 years left. If I’m racing sprint cars or NASCAR, I’ll be happy either way. n