Question: Ron, the first time you guys met did you guys talk anything about speeds and compare what you guys do?

Capps: Ironically, the first year, the first commercials we were shooting were all about me being new to the team. It’s funny, I go back on YouTube now and I watch them and I was a little in awe. I had met him before but we really didn’t know each other and we show up on the set. When NAPA sets up a commercial shoot it’s like a full-blown motion picture and there’s 93 people working on the set. So I was still in awe, thinking I was in over my head. So Michael strolls in two minutes to go and he’s got his lines down, he sits down and we start shooting, and I’ve been up all night looking at my stuff so I’m a little bit nervous. The funny part was we shot those commercials where I’m joining the team and I rattle off some part number and he’s trying to tell me ‘Welcome to the team and don’t get cocky’ kind of thing and we did the reaction thing with the hand slap and those commercials were really how I was feeling at the time. I was new to the team and yet I was trying to impress, saying my reaction times were a little bit quicker than a NASCAR driver. It was just ironic how the scripts were that first year; it’s fun to go back and watch them. Those first couple of days that’s how I felt. By that afternoon, obviously you warm up to him pretty quick. We got to talking about the speed differences and he would rattle off some impressive number that he knew about NASCAR and I would say ‘Oh yeah, well, we make 9,000 horsepower and one of our cylinders makes more than your motor. We would just joke and go back and forth and it was a lot of fun. Obviously everyone knows how hard it is to drive one of those cars over there. He would do good if he was in one of these, there’s no doubt about it. It took me a while to get used to everything. They were fun to shoot but that first day, looking back, I remember how nervous I was. He helped, though; he broke me in.”

Question: David Reutimann says you’re funny as a boss, but you’ve got a job to do as an owner…

Capps: He’s John Force over there. I know them both very well and he is. He’s laughing all the time, making people laugh all of the time. I didn’t mean to interrupt, but he’s just like John Force. Force and I have been friends forever and they remind me of each other. Their heads are going way off and ahead of everything.

Waltrip (on ownership): It’s really fun for me to have that side of the world. To be able to have sponsors, have employees and be a part of the NASCAR community and do it really with my signature on it. I try to tell people that we’re not gifted; it’s a gift that we have this job. We didn’t deserve it, we didn’t earn it; we race cars and it’s a blessing that we get to do that and we should have that as our attitude. Whether you’re a driver or a crew guy, everyone should be thankful because racing cars is fun. It’s not a job, it is a lot of work at times, but it’s something we should be thankful that we get to do. That’s the way I go about my business and people generally appreciate that, I think, and the folks at MWR they want to work hard. I remember when I drove for Dale (Earnhardt). I drove for him for a grand total of one race and he died in that race, but the couple of months leading up to that race it was amazing how, when you walk through that shop, people just wanted the cars to be faster. They were Dale’s cars and they were going to be the best. I never forgot that; it’s been a part of me ever since then. I want the same thing to happen at my shop. I want our people to want our cars better than everyone else’s, that’s my job. I was telling them earlier, now that I’m retired, I’ll get a text from someone asking me to go somewhere, and I go. I just do everything. Y’all’s job is to make sure you don’t put two things on top of each other, but if you ask me to do something, I’m going to do it. So just be careful what you ask me for.

Question: Michael, have you thought of doing TV or movies? Capps played a cowboy a few years ago in a movie. Would you do that?

Waltrip: “Yeah I’ve been checking some stuff out, I might do some of that.”

Capps: “I could be his midget sidekick.”

Waltrip: “That would be fun.”

Question: A lot of the fans don’t get the opportunity to go in the shops. Can you explain what it’s like at your shop?”

Waltrip: “I don’t have any money, but I know where it’s all at. Every dime I’ve got is in Cornelius, North Carolina, and it consists of a nice building that we build NASCAR championship-contending cars out of. There’s a bunch of those in there. There are parts and 240 people walking around. When I get to missing my money, I just go there and walk around and say ‘here’s where it all is.’ Some people have asked me, ‘Do you wish you had not done this? and that’s not even an option. I didn’t have the ability to say no. When Toyota said we want you to race cars for us I said ‘Heck, yeah, that’s exactly what I want to do. It’s been fun, I’m happy.”

Capps: “It’s kind of the same thing. Don (Schumacher) obviously has learned a lot. If anyone’s not been there we’ve got an open house before the Indy race (U.S. Nationals on Labor Day weekend). He’s got a big shop, all of the rigs pull in the shop. It’s 110,000 square feet or something, it’s pretty impressive. I live in California, so I don’t get out there very much unless it’s before the race. It’s Labor Day weekend, Friday of that weekend.”

(Transcription courtesy of Leah Vaughn).