SC&M: Well, doubling back, it was very early in your career, in 2000, that you had your own team with Kenny Woodruff as your crew chief and ran with the Outlaws. In 2001 you won the World of Outlaws Gumout Series championship with that team.
As you said, you‘ve done more than just drive the car, but to operate your own team at that level that early in your career is a pretty big undertaking.
DP: It was. It was scary as hell too. Honestly, that was definitely some of the more challenging years, for sure. And that was right when TV was coming around. You know, there was a lot of live TV at that time; there was really good sponsorship available. And we ran in ‘99 for Gilly (Gil Sonner) and they basically retired Gilly at the end of ‘99 or I think I would have stayed there even longer, but they moved the team over to Lonnie Parsons, and so we obviously hadn‘t ran well enough that another Outlaw ride was available.
Basically, my dad had a mule, a trailer, and he had two engines, and obviously some tools and, you know, miscellaneous stuff. But we‘d sold a good majority of our old 11P stuff and this was some stuff that he had left over that he hadn‘t sold yet. And, basically, he gave it all to me and said, ‘This is what you got.‘ He did help us, through his business, pay a couple of the employees, and other than that I went to the bank and borrowed a ton of money to buy more engines and find a way to put equipment out on the race track.
And the goal was, obviously, to try to get a sponsor to help recoup some of this. I don‘t recommend borrowing money to go racing to anyone but, fortunately, it sort of worked out for us. So, we did it for a year, and that was a difficult situation. My parents were doing more than they were probably comfortable doing at that point. I had taken out huge loans that were very difficult, at my age, to try to justify how am I ever gonna pay it back. And it was definitely a pretty stressful time, but we enjoyed it.
We did it for a year on the Outlaw tour, then I did the Gumout Series in 2001 and, you know, we had basically just managed to keep the team afloat, but weren‘t making headway that I wanted to see and felt comfortable with and, honestly, at the end of ‘01 we just put everything for sale.
And I was at a point where, if I couldn‘t find a ride I was just looking at staying home and working for my dad and possibly just taking over his salvage business, which was a very real possibility then. And, fortunately, at the end of the two years we were able to sell everything that we had and I could basically get out of debt, and that was it.
So, I was able to close all that up and put everything for sale and then, luckily, I went to Australia to go and run a few races for a guy over there. And, in the meantime while I was over there, Donnie Woodburn and I talked and he hired me to drive his 21 car. So, if that wouldn‘t have happened, there‘s no telling where my career could have gone.
In that same trip in Australia is the first time I met Reeve Kruck, who obviously I ended up driving for for several years as well. So, it definitely was an interesting path that didn‘t seem very clear a lot of times, and was quite scary how we were gonna make it all work, but fortunately it did.
SC&M: You won the last Historical Big One in 2003. You won the 2008 Kings Royal. You won the Outlaws championship in 2013. Ironically, the race that‘s been your toughest challenge has been the Knoxville Nationals, and last year you finished third — your best finish ever — and said you felt like you were starting to figure it out, yet now you might not be going back. I guess that would be the one that got away from you.
If I were to ask you what you hadn‘t yet accomplished in your driving career that you wanted to, can I assume that would be winning the Knoxville Nationals?
DP: No. Honestly … obviously that‘s the race that every driver wants to win, but I don‘t feel like it‘s one that got away because, truthfully, I don‘t feel like I‘ve been close enough or, you know, I never felt like I was the car to beat that I let one get away. It was kind of only just a struggle for me there to be competitive and figure it out. No doubt, last year was a good run for us. Really, my whole time in the 83 car we were better at Knoxville than I probably ever had been.
So, I do feel like I‘m starting to understand it more. It took me 20 years to get to that point; longer than most, obviously. And, you know, I would love to try to continue but, honestly, if I was gonna pick a race that got away it‘s been the National Open at Williams Grove. I think I‘ve been second four or five times now, and…yeah, it‘s one of my favorite tracks; I feel like it‘s one of my best tracks. And it‘s one of the crown jewels of our sport that I feel like I‘ve been so close to winning.
You know, when Donny (Schatz) finished second four times at the Nationals, I‘m sure, obviously, he felt like this was a race that‘s getting away from him, then he goes on to win it 10 times and I‘ve just never been that close. So I don‘t feel like … not that anyplace ever owes you anything; it doesn‘t. But I‘ve just been so much closer to winning the National Open than probably anybody that hasn‘t won it. And that race means a lot to me, and to be that close that many times is kind of hard, and one that I would definitely love to check off.
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