It was a relatively quiet year for Scooter Choate within the realm of the IHRA – except of course for that $5,000 payday back in the spring. Choate, by way of a solid 2008 season, qualified for and won the 2009 Summit All-Star race at Rockingham Dragway back in April and by doing so punched his ticked to the Tournament of Champions. Choate defeated Jacob Elrod in the Summit All-Star final to pick up his second career victory on the national stage.

With one major win early in the year Choate was guaranteed a spot in the Tournament of Champions and from that point on any success he had on the track was simply gravy. After making a number of stops in both Quick Rod and Super Rod on the Summit Pro-Am Tour in the Renegades Division, Choate is now ready to contend for a world title when the Tournament of Champions gets underway.

NAME: Scooter Choate

DOB: July 21, 1972

HOMETOWN: Hubbard, TX

CLASS: Quick Rod, Super Rod, Top Dragster

DIVISION: Renegades

CAREER: Has one national event victory at 2008 Sooner Nationals; Won 2009 Summit All-Star Race in QR

2009 HIGHLIGHTS: Won 2009 Summit All-Star Race in QR

GET TO KNOW SCOOTER CHOATE

In high school, you were the person most likely to ____?
Aww, man. Let’s see. Probably get in a wreck, more than likely. I wasn’t as good of a driver as I thought I was.

Then you were the least likely to___?
Show up at school on time.

Where did you go to high school?
A little town about 30 miles from Waco (Texas) called Hubbard. It’s a small town. I graduated in 1990, and there were probably about 30 people in my graduating class.

Then you’ve got a 20-year reunion coming up next year! What’s everyone going to look like after two decades?
(Big laugh). That’s hard to say. Probably better than me. (Laughs again)

You’ve been elected President. What’s the first law you want to change?
Probably no bailouts.

You have a time machine that can take you anywhere. Where will you go?
That’s a hard one. Probably back in the late 50s or early 60s. I think it would’ve been cool to live back then with all those cool cars, you know, cruising through the drive-ins.

What’s your favorite hometown restaurant?
I live in a really small town and there’s only three to choose from, but my favorite is a place called Heitmiller’s Steakhouse. I don’t know what all is on the menu because I always just get a steak, because it’s really good there. I like a sirloin cooked medium-well, with a baked potato, green beans, salad, and sweet tea.

How long have you been eating there?
Well, the Heitmiller’s in Hubbard has only been there maybe a year-and-a-half, but the original Heitmiller’s is south of Waco. We’ve been going there for years. It’s been there forever. The restaurant in Hubbard has the same menu. The son of the folks who own the Waco restaurant just built one for himself.

Do you have any children?
I have a daughter named Cameron who is seven years old. She wants to be in the Junior Dragster program. She can’t drive until she’s eight, but she’s been hinting around that she wants to do it. She loves to come to the races and has been doing it ever since she was first born. She would rather go to the races than to a friend’s house. She already likes to come out to the shop and help me out.

Are there any TV shows you will stop everything to watch?
Yeah, I’m kind of a sitcom man. I like Seinfeld and George Lopez, and Cameron and I like to watch Sponge Bob quite a bit.

Scooter Choate and his crew after their Summit All-Star win at Rockingham Dragway in the spring.

Let’s pretend you won the lottery, but you can’t spend it on yourself or racing. What will you do with the money?
Well, let’s see. A lot of it would go to cancer research. My little girl was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago, but she’s about to get that whipped. That’s pretty high on my list of priorities. She got real sick and didn’t have a lot of energy. She had an infection and they’re not really sure what is was, but they think she had a spider bite on her stomach. We took her to the hospital and come to find out, the infection from the spider had turned septic and gotten into her bloodstream. Normally, a child wouldn’t have any trouble whipping it, but she just couldn’t get rid of it, and as it turned out, the reason for that was that she had leukemia and her immune system was about depleted. It was a pretty tough bout there and we really didn’t think she was going to make it, but a lot of prayer and a lot of good doctors up at Cook Children’s Hospital in Ft. Worth helped her to be here today. I’m actually watching her ride her bicycle right now. She’ll be finished with her chemo treatments at the end of this year, probably right before Christmas. She’s done real well.

So, because of the spider bite you were able to find out there was an even bigger problem.
Right. That was really a blessing because they found the leukemia in the early stages, and if it had not been for the spider bite, she probably would’ve gone for several more years without knowing she actually had it, and because they got to it so quickly, she’s been able to beat it. She was in the hospital for a total of about 90 days and a little more than half of that was in ICU. She had to have a lot of surgeries because it turned into a flesh-eating infection and it was eating her skin up. They did have to do surgery about once a day for a while because they had to remove the old flesh. When they finally got the infection stopped, they had to go back and do skin grafts. They took skin off her back and off one of her legs and put it on her abdomen. All that worked out well, just like they had planned, and everything’s fine today.

Sounds like taking on the Junior Dragster program will be easy for her.
It won’t be anything for her. She takes it all with a grain of salt, and is one of the happiest kids you will ever meet. I tell you, it took a lot of support and prayers from the people we race with that helped us get through it.

Talk about a non-living person you would have loved to meet.
I always wanted to meet Ronald Reagan. I thought a lot of him. We probably shared a lot of the same views on politics, and I liked his demeanor and the way he addressed people. I just thought he was  my kind of guy.

Talk about a pet peeve you have regarding highway drivers.
Probably those people who have a lack of concern for anyone else on the road. They just seem to be out there for themselves, and as long as they get where they’re going, well, the heck with the rest of you.

What’s a habit you have that you would like to break?
Stressing over details. Sometimes I get a little bit stressed out over things that don’t matter. I’d like to not sweat the small stuff.

Pretend you have a one-on-one driving lesson for the day with another driver you admire. Who would it be?
I like Warren Johnson. I like his work ethic. He’s been doing it a long time, and to this day he’s still dedicated to the sport. He’s in a slump right now, but he never gives up. He’s just very focused.

If we looked at your check register, what store would we learn gets most of your money?
Probably a toss-up between Lowe’s, Home Depot, or John Deere. We do a lot of working in the yard, and you could say I’m a motorized lawn equipment freak. I like mowers, trimmers, stuff like that.

Sounds like a good day is a trip to Home Depot.
Yeah, then over to Heitmiller’s for a steak, then home to sit in front of the TV to watch Seinfeld or Sponge Bob. (Laughs)