Scott Riggs: "My biggest pet peeve is when someone races by you but then is scared to pass a tractor-trailer, and they slow down." Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: Scott Riggs

Scott Riggs has done a lot to purge any thoughts of a Nextel Cup Series "sophomore jinx," as he and his MBV Motorsports team have stepped up the performance of their No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet.

During a break in testing at Daytona International Speedway, Riggs sat down to answer 10 questions not specifically directed at his racing career.

1. What's your dream vehicle that you don't already own?

Scott Riggs: I don't know. I don't have a lot of interest in nice, fancy vehicles as far as on the road.

My dream vehicle is the car that just got through winning the Daytona 500. That would be my dream vehicle.

2. If time on the road weren't an issue, what would be your ideal pet?

Scott Riggs: A dog, for sure. A German Shepherd, because I'm pretty partial to Shepherds.

Q: Is this something you've had throughout your life?

Scott Riggs: I grew up with a couple of Shepherds in my life when I was younger. They were very loyal and very smart.

And I remember the long time pet you lost, a year or two ago. Was that a Shepherd?

Scott Riggs: It was -- it sure was. Rowdy Riggs was his name, yeah.

3. What's your pet peeve driving on the road?

Scott Riggs: Wow -- I've got a lot of those because I have pretty bad road rage. Probably my biggest pet peeve is when someone races by you but then is scared to pass a tractor-trailer, and they slow down.

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That's probably a pet peeve of mine. I can't stand someone who does that.

I love my cruise control, because that's the pace that you're going to run and that's where you're going to be. So when someone plays with the accelerator -- on and off the gas -- that just drives me bonkers.

Q: Inconsistency?

Scott Riggs: Inconsistency, exactly.

4. Racing means travel, so what is your worst hotel experience?

Scott Riggs: I was racing an All-Pro car in 1998 -- not that long ago. The race got rained out and we didn't have any hotel rooms so we had to drive about 30 minutes to find a hotel, motel -- whatever it was.

We got there and there were cigarette burns on the comforter of the bed. When you pulled the comforter back, the cigarette burns continued down through the sheets.

That was probably the worst.

Q: There was no break on the room rate, either, right?

Scott Riggs: No, not at all (laughing).

5. What's your favorite food?

Scott Riggs: That's easy. Chicken. My father makes a kicking barbecued chicken.

Q: Is there a line in the RV lot looking for some of Pop Riggs' chicken?

Russell Riggs Credit: Autostock

Scott Riggs: There's probably a line, but it only consists of family and close friends. We don't give it to anyone else. We're pretty stingy with the chicken.

6. If you had to choose, would it be being honest or being nice?

Scott Riggs: Honest. Because I believe in being brutally honest at times, which isn't nice.

7. What's your fondest childhood memory?

Scott Riggs: Wow. I couldn't tell you.

When I think about things that made me the happiest and got me the highest of joy, that was probably thinking back to winning races when I was younger -- motocross races -- any kind of race.

That always seems to be a time when you can't wipe the smile off your face. So it was probably winning a motocross race.

Q: Even today, your family has been an integral part of your racing, particularly your father, so is that part of those neat racing memories?

Scott Riggs: Absolutely. Any time I think about racing, or any moment in racing my father's always in the equation somewhere. He's been with me since day one and he's still right by my side at every race.

8. What would be your dream date: Where and with whom?

Layne Riggs Credit: Autostock

Scott Riggs: It would be with my family, for sure. It would probably consist of more than just my wife.

It would probably have to be my little boy, Layne, also -- because we would have to have him along to make it complete.

The location is sort of difficult. Anywhere that we could all have fun. We have a pretty good time at home, so I don't have any far, exotic place that I want to be.

9. Racing and pranks seem to go hand-in-hand, so what's the worst prank that you either perpetrated or had played on you?

Scott Riggs: Mmm. I don't know the answer to that. When it comes to racing, we play around a lot but we've always been pretty serious.

Have you ever seen a prank that stands out, as notable to you -- and you're glad you weren't the victim?

Scott Riggs: There's an old prank at a racetrack that everyone always pulls on someone -- some new crewmember at a racetrack somewhere, every year.

And that's you send someone for a "long weight." You tell them to go to the so-and-so truck or go ask this team for a long weight.

Credit: Autostock

What that really means is, they go and they stand -- and most teams know the joke. So they send the guy to the next truck -- and he goes and he goes.

He winds up coming back and saying "I can't find the long weight." Well, he's been gone a long time and that was a "long wait."

The one that stands out though, was last year when we sent a guy after a long weight.

He came back from a truck, with a box -- and I don't know if it was lead or what was in the box -- but it had "long weight" written on top of it.

So he's the only one that I know of that we played a prank on and it backfired, because he brought it back to us. So that's probably one that stands out -- one that failed.

10. What would you consider your "Welcome to NASCAR moment?"

Scott Riggs: Probably when I won Nashville -- and Mike Helton came up to me in Victory Lane and stuck his hand out.

He was the first person I saw when I got out of the car -- and he said 'Welcome to the Busch Series.'

At that time you felt like you had made a success and you had accomplished something. You had put your foot in the door that you'd been trying to get in, at that point.

So to me that will always be the time that I was welcomed into the sport.