In 2006, Chris Forsberg had a new car, a new title sponsor ( Sears Auto Center), and appeared on the cover of Super Street magazine. However, he also only made top 8 once, and failed to make top 16 twice, and found himself without a sponsor for the 2007 season. From there, Forsberg decided to run as a privateer, picking up Maxxis tires as his lone major sponsor. Forsberg’s 2007 season was iconic for privateers, picking up 2 event wins, a top qualifier award, and 2 nd place overall in the Formula D points. Going into 2008, Chris has signed a title sponsorship with NOS Energy drinks as well as renewing with Maxxis Tires, and looks to be one of the top guns entering 2008 as he returns in the same Titan V8-powered Roadster. We sat down with Chris to recap 2007 and talk about 2008.
EverythingDrift: 2007 was a monumental season for you, with a fresh tire sponsor and running as a privateer, you have to be happy hitting top 3 in season points again.
Chris Forsberg: It was the best situation that could have happened for us last year. Entering the season, we were by no way expecting to be top 3 with the way things had shaped up in the off season, we were wondering if we would even have the money to make it to all the events let alone taking podiums and having a shot at the championship. It was an awesome ending to a rough year, we kind of found our way as the season progressed and now we have proper funding to be a top team again, and I know we have the supporting personnel which can perform as needed.
ED: At SEMA, you announced NOS as a title sponsor. They’ve been a part of Chris Forsberg Racing for a few years now, how did you work out the big deal with them?
CF: We’ve been working with them since 2006, they’ve been very helpful as far as doing promotions and keeping our team fueld for compeittion. Now, going into 2008, with the help of MMI, we secured NOS Energy Drinks as our Title Sponsor, they will be funding our whole program for 2008 alongside Maxxis Tire. We’ve re-done the graphics on the car to reflect this, and will have a new attitude entering the 2008 season.
ED: Speaking of 2008, aside from the sponsorships, any other changes we can expect for this coming season?
CF: The car has stayed pretty much the same, we have a couple small fixes and upgrades here and there, but it will still be the same chassis and same Titan V8 powerplant. We’re just looking to refine the team to get the funding and equipment we need to run a proper team as well as make things more comfortable and reliable for traveling across the country. We also have a new rig, which will be fully branded with NOS Energy Drink graphics. The team is still myself as the driver and owner, Keven Wells will be our crew chief again and is looking to defend the ‘top mechanic’ title he earned in 2007, and we will be providing full pit support for all Maxxis drivers at the events.
ED: When you’re out there competing, is there anyone you love or hate to go up against?
CF: I like to have a good competitor for tandem. I like to have some of the top drivers against me because it makes for much more exciting battles. With a good tandem partner, you have a chance to push yourself to have a more exciting run, and not make mistakes. It’s tougher to go up against a tandem competitor you’re not familiar with because you spend a lot of the run trying to figure out how they drive.
ED: We’re still more than a month away from the first event, is there anything you’re looking forward to in 2008?
CF: We’re really looking forward for the year to start up. We had a great time last year, the year turned out awesome. I know that this year will be much less stress mentally and financially, and we have a lot more time to get the car ready since last year we were still working on the car to get it developed especially for the different tires we were running. This year, we know how the car will react, we know it will be consistent, and we’re basically coming in with a comfort level we didn’t have last year, and that’s really exciting for us.
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