TAN Q&A with Dave Hirata

Written by Nate Van Wagnen
Photos by Steve Fuhrman/Cyclops Photography 

We ask Dave Hirata a series of questions, including TAN fan questions, ranging from his recent Norwalk win to his favorite music acts. 

Top Alcohol News: What was it like winning after thirteen years of trying since your last national event win?

Dave Hirata: It felt just like the first win. I was probably more excited overall for my crew guys and partners because none of them were with me for a win. Obviously it’s been a long time for me, but I was probably more excited for them. I didn’t realize that I had won the last two rounds so that made it that much more exciting. 

TAN: You struggled with DNQs and first round losses the past two seasons. What kept you going through those struggles?

DH: Probably the success that we had previously and knowing that we had all of the best parts and pieces. I was scared to quit. There were times where it was like, ‘what am I doing?’ I wasn’t about to give up, not getting this car to run. Basically having a great crew – people that stuck with me. No one gave up. Once you start turning it around and seeing results, everyone walks a little faster and your chest is out a little puffier. It makes all the hard work not work anymore. We definitely have a taste of it. Not that we’re going to be dissatisfied with anything less, but we have some high expectations now, performance-wise. All of that combined is what keeps us going. 

TAN: Will the Norwalk win add any races to the planned schedule this season?

DH: Yeah. We haven’t been to Columbus in years, so we might go there next weekend. Past that, it will depend on how we do at the next few races. We probably won’t race until Bowling Green after Columbus. We have the Bowling Green-Indy-Earlville threesome there. We were thinking about going to Brainerd but that makes it four in a row and that’s tough on us. We talked about going to Maple Grove because we would have until October off after Earlville. Columbus is probably the next race we’re serious about. The car shook in the final round and that broke some parts so we’ll have to fix that before Columbus. We’ll always race as long as the car is running good. We’ll go out to California if the car is running good – we’ve done that before. 

TAN: What will you do to build on your performance at Norwalk?

DH: I think the biggest turnaround was being smart about our decisions. The car went off the trailer and ran a thirty-three at Gainesville then we went to the next three regionals and just lost it all. We made some bad decisions. It’s crazy how you sit down and look at things and go, ‘Jeez, we’re so far away. We need to get back to our baseline,” and we started off like we never ran the car. We went to Cordova and went, “Okay, this is the track. This is the weather. Let’s tune it for that,” and it went down the track. We just need to make better decisions, being really logical, not knee-jerk reactions. The other thing is we tune by crew. Before every run, we have a little meeting and find out what everyone thinks. The guys threw out some great ideas and we went with them. I think that’s been an important thing, too. 

 Crew member Brian Inouye and Kenny Hirata

TAN: What did you change to go from smoking the tires to getting the car down the track?

DH: We went back to a combination that was about two years old to start with. We basically just started over. Last year I hired who I still think is one of the best tuners in drag racing (Steve Boggs). It just didn’t work out, so we had to go back to what we knew. We had to change some things around to how they were a few years ago. Now we feel like we have something to work with. 

TAN: Which band or singer do you want to see in concert?

DH: Seriously? (laughs) Actually the old-school punk bands from the eighties – Black Flag, Circle Jerks. We’re going to try to see this concert in the fall called Riotfest – it’s like a three-day deal. One of the biggest surprises for some people would be Allison Krauss, the bluegrass singer. Right now, those are my goals.

TAN: The Hirata name is legendary in drag racing, whether it’s your dad’s car winning Indy '63 or you racing A/Fuel. Do you think that adds pressure?

DH: Yeah, but he doesn’t add any pressure. I pressure myself. You just don’t want to disappoint and I never felt like that was an issue from my family. It doesn’t come from them – it comes from within. You just want to do as well and be as successful. That’s with our business, too. My dad started a business (Hirata’s Body Shop) and I’m at a point to make sure it doesn’t fail. A lot of second or third generation things fail. So to answer the question, I do feel the pressure but you just gotta work hard and make good decisions. Probably ‘work hard’ is the biggest thing. Treat people right. Hopefully it’s all been successful. I feel like we’ve been successful in business, in racing, and with people in general. 

 Kenny Hirata watches as Dave makes a run at the 2012 Norwalk regional.

TAN: Which round did you feel was the critical round of the weekend? 

DH: Round one, trying to get past Reichert just because he’s Reichert. Round two, we got some performance back and we felt like we were running with everyone. We didn’t have good performance against Reichert. Even though the semifinals and the finals weren’t great, you get some confidence that you’ve made the right decisions and hopefully the other teams see that. I think we could’ve been taken for granted the last couple of years. Hopefully that’s not the case anymore. I think round two was the most important because of the performance. We really won one round; that’s how I look at it. The other people lost the other three because we really shouldn’t have won. 

TAN: Did you see qualifying in the bottom of the field as a disadvantage?

DH: The biggest thing about that is if the people win who should, the quicker cars, you just never get a break. Unless there are upsets, and there were. Joliet is a great example. We qualified eighth and who do we end up running? The guy who just ran 5.22. We need to qualify better, and that’s one of our goals, to qualify in the top six. It’s murder if you qualify in the back half and win because you’re facing the quicker cars every round. I probably shouldn’t say that because we showed that every car can win. Psychologically you’re just not getting a break. I just proved that because we shouldn’t have been there. Maybe it was the psychological thing that worked for me because we qualified 15^th then ran a forty that wasn’t a fluke. 

Grayson Biehn sends Dave down the Norwalk quarter-mile

 

TAN: You faced blown cars in the final two rounds. What are your thoughts on the parity between blown cars and A/Fuel cars this season?

DH: The parity is as close as it’s ever been. I feel like the blown cars have a definite advantage in the weather. But you’ve still got one or two A/Fuel cars that will go out and run a number. It is what it is and that’s how we run it. It’s not going to change and I’m not trying to change it. We’ve gotta run our own deal. If we get it right, we’ll run with the blown cars, but man, the performance gain has been so huge with them over the past few years. It makes it equal and now you’ve really gotta be on your game. Look at the way those guys are running –the Demkes, the Whiteleys, and Brandon Booher . It seems like it’s a consistency thing. I look at that as, ‘well, I need to be more consistent.’ I need to run with them. I want to run with the best car out there and that’s always been one of my goals. It’s motivation to me. 

TAN: Do you have anyone you want to thank?

DH: My crew and my partners. What was cool about this win was it was the first time my crew had to go rounds since they were with me. It was flawless. Every round we had time to stop and take a break before they called us up. The crew is Grayson Biehn, Chris Wells, Brian and Byron Inouye, my girlfriend Molly, and my mom and dad obviously. My partners are NGK, Lucas Oil, Schepel Motor Group, Napa Service Auto Parts, Impact, and R&R Connecting Rods.