The Mic's Always On

While always looking forward, Red Bull Racing Team will look back a few times this holiday week on the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Straight from the mouths of the men and women who lived it.

“I thought we were just gonna cruise around, and he put his foot to the gas. I thought I was going to lose my hat and my mind all at the same time.” — National Guardswoman Jessica Reid after a two-seat ride with Brian Vickers at Camp Atterbury, Ind.

“It’s not an on-off switch. You don’t just flip it. Once you have it, you try to keep that going. You try to do the same thing that got you to that point.” — Competition director Elton Sawyer on momentum

“This is the foundation of the company, and the devil is in all the details.” — Manufacturing director Joe Hofmann on the in-house chassis program

“Sometimes when you unload, you just got it.” — Brian Vickers after winning the team’s first pole at Michigan

“It’s a very interesting culture, for sure. For example, when we arrived at our hotel Sunday night around 1:30 in the morning, we were downstairs at the casino. And along with the 15 or so hookers that were downstairs there was a guy rolling right past us with a gun in his hand … as he puts it in the back of his pants. I thought that was an extreme introduction to this culture.” — Scott Speed on the Dominican Republic

“In baseball, it’s very rare that your glove falls apart and you’re trying to catch a ball. It’s a pretty durable piece of equipment. In racing it happens a lot, and it’s very frustrating. It’s just something you have to factor in.” — Brian Vickers