QWe constantly use the term rookie season with you in this car, and to those that are not quite too familiar with NHRA racing, if you could just a really quick synopsis, but we know that you started a long, long time ago.  Perhaps at what age did you start and get to where you are now?

CFI started at the age of 16.  That was when I got my driver's license, and my parents let me go to Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School.  I raced in a Super Comp dragster that goes 170 miles an hour.  I did that for three years.  It wasn't very consistent.  It wasn't every weekend.  I was still in high school at the time. And then from there I moved into the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks, got licensed, and I ran that category for three years.  Also part time.  Couldn't do it full time, I was in college at that point, so I did that for three years. And then this last year I was able to test in a Fuel Funny Car, and that's where I kind of learned the ropes of driving a Funny Car from my dad and my teammates…. We got a sponsor with Traxxas back in January, and that's where it all started. This is officially my first season as a professional Funny Car driver.

QWhere did you put the trophy?

CFIt's on my kitchen counter. Actually when I was watching the race on TV, I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure it was there.  The ESPN show wasn't going to have a different ending. It's definitely a cool feeling.  I was actually going to bring it into the shop today, and then I thought, I'm probably being a little ridiculous.  I slept next to it on the first night, carried it through the airport the next day, and haven't let it out of my sight until just this moment.

QYou're the one in the family that we've always heard that was the racer if there's going to be a racer in this family.  Can you talk about the differences between you and your sister Ashley in that respect?

CFYeah.  I mean, I grew up in racing, as did my sisters, but I was the one out there,  I loved getting dirty.  I loved watching the mechanics of the car and watching the crew guys go to work on it. I was hanging out with all of them, listening to everything they had to say.  But I was really intrigued by all of my dad's interviews growing up as a kid and loved listening to him, loved watching him race a 300 miles per hour car. I just thought it was such a cool job, for one, and I saw him crash, flip upside down, catch on fire, and that was probably the moment where I was like, this is something I want to do, even though it is a dangerous sport. I was probably seven years old and I knew for a fact I was going to be a race car driver.  I didn't see my dad a lot as a kid, he was traveling so much, but I think that was the moment I knew    if I went into drag racing that I'd be able to see my dad all the time, and it's definitely been more than enough, now that I'm racing with him.  I see him way more than I could ask. I mean, compared to my sisters, I've always kind of been the tomboy and loved watching these cars, and I just knew.  I knew that's what I wanted to do.  I was so passionate about it. My sisters, on the other hand, I think they were still trying to figure out where they wanted to go in life, and Ashley sort of fell into Super Comp and started there and gradually moved up and that's why I followed in her footsteps ended up in Funny Car.  That's where I knew I wanted to be. Bernie is testing in the Top Fuel dragster right now and she got her teaching credentials.  So they've all had different    so many different passions, but it was always drag racing for me.