Chris Carr and the Ford Quality Checked Team wrapped up the 2002 AMA Grand National Championship with a fifth place finish at the super-short Tunica Mid-South Short Track this past Saturday night. Title challenger Johnny Murphree finished second at the event, but all Chris needed was a seventh-place ride at that point to claim his fourth title, and at the end of 25 laps, the war was over - the prize belonged to Carr.Only two other riders in the 49-year history of Grand National Championship racing have won more than three titles: Scott Parker with nine, and Carroll Resweber with four. Chris joins this elite list of legendary racers and looks forward to defending his title in 2003.
"But we were able to get out of the box pretty good. We were fairly competitive in practice, although not quite as fast as we would have liked. We kept working on the bike, and working on the bike, and things got a little bit better.
"In the heat race, I was fortunate enough to get an okay start and kind of bullied my way into second anyhow and get a direct transfer to the main event. That certainly made things a lot easier.
"Get going in the main event, and I felt like I had a really good run going. I didn't have a great first couple of laps, because I got stood up in one and two off the start - I guess somebody told me I knocked down three hay bales in the first corner - that's how wide we got.
"We moved forward, I was chipping away at everybody and was running a solid sixth when (Nicky) Hayden went down. Actually, I was kind of bummed because I was moving forward, and I felt like I was gaining on the leaders. They had a great battle going on up front, and I actually think they were kind of slowing each other down a little bit. One of those things that happens- riders go down and we lined back up for the single-file restart in sixth and I kept an eye on where Murphree was at, as well as the guys I was running with and I worked my way backwards again, and worked my way forward again.
"Sitting on sixth place while Murphree was in second, and I knew that was good enough to win the championship, then John Raun Wood tipped over there with a couple laps to go and I breathed a little sigh of relief - I knew that just holding my line and we were going to be the champion - and that's the way it worked out. "
On the podium, you mentioned fellow four-time champion Carroll Resweber as helpful to you early in your career...
"Carroll Resweber helped me when I was a rookie. I was riding for the R&D team out of Racine, Wisconsin my rookie year, and he's from that area, and he came to quite a few of the races and was kind if an inspiration to me. To be able to sit here seventeen years later and put my name alongside his in the record books is quite an accomplishment, and I'm honored that I've joined his company."
There are two races left in 2002.
"Two more, we can go try and win races. I think we're going to be good at the Columbus event. DuQuoin, we've struggled at the last couple years, but we've got two more races to go out and have some fun now, and not have to worry about counting points and put on a good show for the fans. We'll see what we can do, and hopefully we can put together a win or two."