Former Rangers pitcher C.J. Wilson recently spoke with SportsDay about his new career as a race car driver. In the talk, he also spoke about his career highs with Texas and some of his former teammates. Here are some highlights.

On his favorite memories from his time with the Rangers:

"Just seeing the team turn from a team that kept get our butts kicked by the American League West to a team that was dominant, it was cool. I had a lot of pride being a part of that transition, going from being a reliever to a starter. There are always flash memories of things that happened, being a part of some pretty weird moments and pretty funny moments, too. Like being there when Sammy Sosa hit his 600th home run. Just seeing guys like [Ian] Kinsler emerge and Michael Young just being super, super steady, basically like the Derek Jeter of our team for a decade. I think a lot of people including myself had big expectations and really were distraught that we weren't able to close the deal in 2011 because we felt like that was our best shot.

"It was the best team I ever played on. I played on some really good teams but that 2011 team was really incredible. A lot was made of [Ron Washington] as the manager and stuff like that but a lot of it was just the players being such a good team and so together. We didn't even need a manager; guys were doing all the things that we needed to do because they felt responsible. I talked to a couple guys, Matt Harrison and Derek Holland and some of the guys that have moved on or aren't with the team anymore and we all say the same thing. There will never be another team that we'll be able to play on like that. That was our shot. That was our window of greatness. I'll never forget pitching in the World Series and the ups and downs of that type of stuff. A lot of people think baseball is a really easy sports because you only have a very simple job but it's actually so complicated, especially because your body is so trashed from playing all season."

On Adrian Beltre and his chase of 3,000 hits this season:

"He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's one of the best players I've ever played with. I feel lucky to have known, to have played against him for so many years and gotten to know him as a competitor and also seeing him as a dad, him as a teammate, as a leader. He's one of those guys that works his butt off but still finds a way to have fun. He has so much talent. I never had the same amount of talent as he did that I felt I could visibly have fun on the field playing. Maybe if I was an outfielder or something it would be different but as a pitcher you can never have that smile, that smirk, that thing where he and Elvis [Andrus] both go for a flyball and they yell at each other. He's one of the most unique guys in baseball. Nobody doesn't like Adrian Beltre. If you don't like Adrian Beltre, you're an idiot."

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On Josh Hamilton, who parted ways with the Rangers last week:

"Josh remains the best player I've ever seen. When Josh was on, I've never seen anybody do the things that he was physically able to do. I played with Mark Teixeira, I played with Sammy Sosa, I played with some incredible players. Josh is not normal. If you can run 18 miles per hour and the guy next to you can run 19 and the other guy can run 17, you're all kind of the same speed, right? And then this other blows by you and runs 24 miles per hour and you're like, 'What the hell was that? How does that even work?' That's kind of the way Josh was. Michael Young would hit a home run 420 feet and I'd think to myself, I played outfield in college, I can hit a ball that far. Mike's just a better hitter than me. Even Beltre, he'd hit homers and he'd mash them but they'd go 20 feet over the fence. Josh would hit them 100 feet over the fence. I don't even know how that's possible for anybody to be able to do it. Everything about Josh was this physical thing and it's really sad to see the roller coaster that he's had to ride throughout his life because I don't think any of it came because he was a bad person, it came because sometimes people are so caught up in certain aspects of their life that it's impossible for them to do others. But everything with him was counter-intuitive. He could drink three Mountain Dews and go right to sleep."