Monthly Archives: October 2013

Taylor Fern

Taylor Ferns Racing–Taylor Ferns Gears up for the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway

Taylor Ferns Gears up for the Gold Crown Midget Nationals at Tri-City Speedway
By Ferns Racing PR 
 
SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich.—Oct. 2, 2013 — After competing in three races on the same day on Sept. 21, Taylor Ferns is anxious to get back to the track. She has another three-race stretch lined up this week, but this set of races will be spread over three nights, as she heads to Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill., for the running of the fifth edition of the DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals.

The DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals will be co-sanctioned by the Honda USAC National Midget Series and the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. A pair of preliminary nights are set for Thursday, Oct. 3 and Friday, Oct. 4, with a full racing program contested each of those evenings. The finale of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals will take place on for Saturday, Oct. 5.

“What I always remember about Tri-City (Speedway) is that it goes dry/slick really quick,” said Ferns, who pilots the Motor City Transport Inc. Spike. “You have to either run way up at the top or be right on the bottom. It will definitely be a transition from the last race at Eldora (Speedway) where you are up on the cushion the whole race. I’ve raced the heavier cars quite a bit this year, so going back to the midget for the last few races this year will be a transition as well, with how light the midget is.”

The native of Shelby Township, Mich., made her first-career Honda USAC National Midget Series start at Tri-City Speedway in 2011, during the third running of the Gold Crown Midget Nationals, winning a heat race to earn a spot in the preliminary feature, and finishing16th in that contest. She also raced in the event last year, which was shortened to a two-night contest due to rain.

Ferns made her most recent start with the Honda USAC National Midget Series at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio, during the 4-Crown Nationals. She finished 11th in that race and followed that up with a career-best fourth-place performance with the Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series. Ferns has made nine starts with the Honda USAC National Midget Series Dirt Championship this season at eight different tracks. She also has made five starts on the pavement in a midget, finishing fifth at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado in June and seventh at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis in July.

“To race the same track and the same car three straight nights will be helpful,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed getting to race so many different cars this year, especially the day we ran three cars in one day, but to run the same one like this week, will help me improve in the midget for sure. I haven’t had the best of luck at Granite City (Tri-City Speedway) the last couple years, so having three straight nights in the midget should be a benefit and a good learning experience as well.”

Along with competing in Midget and Silver Crown races, Ferns also has made eight starts with the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards in 2013, finishing among the top-15 in seven of those races, including earning three top-10 finishes. In the two ARCA races on the dirt this year, she finished ninth at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield and was 10th at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Ferns ran ninth in her ARCA debut in March at Mobile International Speedway in Alabama.

“It was a lot of fun racing the ARCA car and the Silver Crown car this year,” Ferns said. “We had some good results and I learned new things at every track and that was the main goal we had going into the season. Finishing up the year in the midget, we just want to go out and improve each time we are on the track.”

Ferns was scheduled to race at Tri-City Speedway in the Hut Hundred earlier this season, but that event was postponed by race twice.

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Line Looking for Move Up at Maple Grove

Line Looking for Move Up at Maple Grove
 
Mooresville, N.C., October 2, 2013 – Summit Racing campaigner Jason Line has emerged as one of the top challengers for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock title in 2013, and the Mooresville, N.C.-based driver looks to this weekend’s Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway for the opportunity to climb a bit higher in the standings. Line, a two-time world champion in the extremely competitive factory hot rod class, is currently No. 3 in the Pro Stock points with just three races left before the title is decided.
 
“It’s as simple as this: I have to win rounds,” said Line, whose most recent victory in the current season was just two weeks ago in Dallas, and last weekend in St. Louis he had the dominant car during eliminations but was edged out of contention for the win by just a fraction of a second.
 
“We didn’t have a great day in St. Louis last week, but you’re going to have those,” continued Line. “As tight as the competition is, it isn’t reasonable to expect you’ll win every week – but you’d sure like to. We just lost a heck of a good drag race with our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro. But this is a new day, a new weekend, a new race. If we keep going like we have been, there is a very good possibility that we can redeem ourselves.”
 
Line has had a superb track record at Maple Grove Raceway and currently holds the track record for elapsed time (6.477 clocked in 2011) and speed (214.35 mph, the standing national record recorded at the event last October).
 
In his career, the Minnesota native has won twice in Reading. In 2004, Line beat Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson in the final round, and in 2011 he ousted then-teammate Ronnie Humphrey in the trophy round. He has also been the low qualifier at the event three times, including at the two most recent races held there.
 
“Maple Grove is a good place, and I certainly have enjoyed some success there in the past,” said Line. “It’s fun to go back there, and it’s a very pretty part of the country. I don’t know that there will be the opportunity to set more records this time around, but if it’s up for grabs, you can be sure that Summit Racing will be going after them. The record is worth 20 points, and at this time of the year every one of those points counts.”
 

Kasey Kahne Racing

Kasey Kahne Racing Update 10.3.13

Kasey Kahne Racing – Results Recap
September 23 through September 30
 
Freemont Speedway; A Character Building Night
 
With five races remaining in the 2013 World of Outlaws series, KKR headed to Freemont Speedway in Ohio last Saturday night. Daryn Pittman had another potential race-winning performance going when running in the second position late in the race and contact from another car sent him spinning. Daryn and the Great Clips/ASE/Sage Fruit team came from 28th to ninth in the final 10 laps of the race.
 
Cody Darrah and the SurePoint/ASE/Sage Fruit team also had a fast run in the A-main going when a broken power steering pump relegated them to a 28th place finish when the checkered flag fell.
 
Daryn Pittman still holds a 52-point lead over Donny Schatz.
 
The series heads to Williams Grove (PA) this Friday and Saturday night.
 
Brad Sweet again was in the No. 5 JR Motorsports Great Clips Chevrolet in Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway. The team finished 13th after qualifying seventh, with the final 167 of 200 laps going caution free.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Tuesday Teleconference–Kasey Kahne

 
KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS, WAS THE GUEST ON THIS WEEK’S NASCAR WEEKLY TELECONFERENCE.
 
BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPT:
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference with Kasey Kahne.  Kasey has two wins and eight top‑five finishes this season and has scored four consecutive top‑10 finishes at Kansas. With two of your best tracks coming up at Kansas and Charlotte, is this a time when you think you can make a comeback in the championship hunt?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I think it’s a stretch where we can run well.  They’re a couple tracks that we’ve been able to run up front at every time we go to them. Looking forward to that.  Just trying to get back on track, finishing up the season strong.
 
 
I feel like the leaders in the points, they’re kind of in their own race.  We’ll just do what we can to finish off our year, and hopefully we can get a win or two at some of our best racetracks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  We’ll now go to the media for questions for Kasey Kahne.
 
 
Q.  With this new tire at Kansas, what is your prediction on how it’s going to perform on a newer racing surface?
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  I guess that’s why we’re going Thursday for some laps, try to see how it performs, how it holds up.  It will be interesting.  I thought it worked fine at Atlanta.  Hopefully here it will work good, too.
 
 
That tire we were on at the start of the year was just really hard and didn’t wear out a lot.  There were a lot of two‑tire stops you would do.  I would imagine this would be similar just with the fresh surface, a lot of load in the tires.  You know the right side is going to be really hard.
 
 
I would think it would be pretty close to what we raced.  Hopefully it wears out more.  We’ll have to slow down on runs, like what they’re trying to shoot for.  I don’t know if it will or not.  I would think it will be real similar to what we had.
 

Q.  Do you think we will start to see lap times begin to fall off this weekend or has it just not reached that stage yet when you were last on it in April?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Kansas City is a pretty tough area, part of the country.  The weather is cold and hot, things like that.  A lot of heat and real cold.  If not this one, it will definitely be the next one, I would think.
 
 
The temperatures are going to be really cool on Sunday, so there probably won’t be quite as much falloff.  You’ll still have a lot of heat in the tires, you’ll start slowing down some.  If you have a good handle on the car, you’ll be able to drive by the other guys.  The track is really wide.  I think Kansas is a great racetrack.  Hopefully this weekend we’ll put on a great show.
 
 
Hopefully it will clear out with the sun and we’ll be able to move around quite a bit.
 

Q.  What did you feel like your demeanor was or what was the feeling of the team going into Dover last week knowing you were so far behind in the Chase compared to the week earlier at New Hampshire?

KASEY KAHNE:  It’s a bit different.  I think once you realize your chances at a Sprint Cup are over with, it changes the feeling a little bit. But, you know, the guys stepped up and they did a good job.  We had a good car.  Just a little problem throughout the race, so it didn’t go our way for a better result.
 
 
Still, to finish where we did with what we battled, it was a pretty respectable day.  It will keep getting better.  We have a strong team.  We’ve been one of the best cars at times throughout the whole season.  Hopefully we can hit on it again these last seven races and at least finish strong and get back in the top 10.  I think at this point in time that would be a successful year for where we’re at right now.
 

Q.  I assume there’s no good way to fall out of Chase contention.  Do you view what happened at New Hampshire, at least you kind of did it to yourself rather than being circumstance, is there any sort of different feeling when it’s kind of self‑inflicted?

KASEY KAHNE:  I mean, there’s probably a different feeling.  But I think the way I look at it is, you know, I’m the one that made the mistake.  I feel bad for the guys on that front.
 
 
We work together all season long.  Things happen, whether it’s to the car, driver error, a pit stop error.  I mean, all those things happen.  As long as you’re always together as a team during any of those things, you just recover and you move on.
 
 
When it’s not your season, it’s not your season.  But I definitely take full responsibility and felt bad after screwing up and spinning there,taking us out of the Chase, yeah.
 

Q.  Kasey, you certainly had your share of ups and downs this season.  As far as those circumstances, it’s obviously a part of a racecar driver’s life, because you can’t win every time.  Once you go through a big disappointment, does it make it easier on you after you recover from that to go forward?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  I don’t think so.  I think one of my biggest disappointments this year was the Darlington incident.  I felt like going into the season I had a few goals, and one of them was to win Bristol, one was to win Darlington, one was to make the Chase.  We got Bristol, and I had Darlington, but Kyle got me. That was disappointing, set you back.  We recovered from that and moved on.  Then something else happens, you recover and move on.  I spun at New Hampshire.  Recover and move on.
 
 
I think they’re all about the same.  I don’t know, you just want to run better.  It’s been a tough season all year really.  As soon as you start feeling good, something happens.
 

Q.  Although it’s not very likely, come Talladega, there is a potential that the top three guys could be in one crash.  Does that change your strategy at all or you just go race after race?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, race after race.  There’s a possibility I’ll hit something there, too.
 

Q.  Obviously you’ve raced in different series, different points systems.  When you look at the Chase, Dale Jr. is eliminated, Logano is eliminated, you’re eliminated, is it time to look at something different with the points?  Is there anything that can be done?  If you’re trying to help people who have mistakes early in the Chase, is that monkeying around too much with the points system, and essentially the Chase should be about the strongest survive?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Yeah, I like the fact that 12 and sometimes 13 drivers get to start the Chase and have a chance to win a championship with 10 races to go after a lot of things can go on.  We had a lot of ups and downs, but we had a lot of really strong races, so we made the Chase.  Then we have a chance to win the Sprint Cup.  I like that side of it.  I like how NASCAR has done that.  I hope they keep that around.  It just opens up for the final 10 races.
 
 
Once you get in those final 10, if you keep having an up‑and‑down year, you’re not going to win a championship.  If you can pull it together, you can have a shot.
 

Q.  There shouldn’t be a way to rescue teams that have problems early in the Chase?

 
KASEY KAHNE:  No.  At that point you’re just controlling it way too much.  At some point consistency and winning races and running up front week after week, at some point that has to come into play.  You get y
our Sprint Cup champion from that.  You can’t (indiscernible) things four times in 10 races and still have a chance to win a Sprint Cup.
 

Q.  Kasey, can you talk about your upcoming 5 Kahne 5K race.

 
KASEY KAHNE:  Sunday morning, October 13th, at 10 a.m., right after the Charlotte race, two weeks from now, we’re looking forward to having our fourth 5K, starting at the Hall of Fame, ending at the Hall of Fame, running 3.1 miles.  It’s been growing each year.  It’s been cool to watch it grow, watch the people come out and really enjoy themselves, get a good run in in the morning, hang out.  We have Great Clips there cutting hair.  There’s different prizes.  There’s a kids’ race after the 5K is over.  It’s a cool day.  I enjoy it.  I hope a lot of people come out and enjoy it again.  You can go to www.KaseyKahneFoundation.org and sign up. Sunday morning after Charlotte weekend, October 13th, it’s going to be a good time.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thanks, Kasey.  That’s all the questions we have today.  Best of luck this weekend at Kansas.
 
 
KASEY KAHNE:  Thanks.
 
 
THE MODERATOR:  Thank you to the media for joining us, as well.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: GT Championships in Sight

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: GT Championships in Sight
ALMS manufacturer, team titles within reach in next-to-last round
 
DETROIT (Oct. 1, 2013) – Twelve months ago, Corvette Racing and Chevrolet celebrated a championship weekend at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). Now let’s fast-forward to the present day – Chevrolet and Corvette Racing are on the verge of securing a repeat championship titles in the American Le Mans Series… once again at VIR.
 
The Oak Tree Grand Prix on Saturday, Oct. 5 could see the ALMS GT team and manufacturer championships wrapped up. The two yellow Compuware Chevrolet Corvette C6.Rs have five victories between them: three for the No. 3 of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen – Laguna Seca, Baltimore and Circuit of The Americas – and two for Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette – Sebring and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
 
All Corvette Racing needs to win its 10th ALMS team championship is for either of the two cars to finish sixth or better in class at VIR. A victory for either Corvette would secure Chevrolet’s 10th manufacturer title with one race left in the season. That’s what happened in 2012 – Gavin and Milner’s triumph landed them the drivers’ championship, Chevrolet clinched the manufacturers’ crown and Corvette Racing wrapped up the team title.
 
In the drivers’ standings, Garcia and Magnussen are in the midst of a remarkable run of three wins and two podium finishes in the last six races. That streak places them in the lead of the championship despite coming away from the season’s first race at Sebring with no points.
 
Saturday’s race is set for 2:15 p.m. ET with live coverage on ESPN3 beginning at 2 p.m. ESPN2’s coverage airs at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday.
 
VIR, which opened in 1957, has been a happy hunting ground for Corvette’s stable of four drivers. In addition to his GT victory last year with Gavin, Milner also won in GRAND-AM competition in 2005. The Virginia native made his professional debut in GT racing a year earlier and claimed pole position.
 
Magnussen also is a past winner at VIR in Rolex Series competition having taken a Daytona Prototype victory in 2007. This will mark Garcia’s fourth straight year competing at the venue, and he posted the fastest GT lap of the race in 2012. He and Magnussen placed eighth in class last season.
 

Honda Racing

Honda Racing–Honda, AcuraRacers Claim Five Titles At SCCA National Championship Runoffs

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (Sept. 30, 2013) – Honda and Acura racers won five Sports Car Club of America national titles, including a second consecutive Formula title and the closest finish in SCCA transponder-era history, in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America.

A total of 61 Honda and Acura racers, the largest participation in recent history, traveled to the classic Road America road course in Wisconsin September 16-22 for this year’s celebratory 50thAnniversary Runoffs, taking part in 11 of the 28 classes.

Twelve Formula F drivers, exactly half of the 24-car starting field, used the HPD L15A7 engine at this year’s Runoffs, a record for the manufacturer in this open-wheel, training-ground category.  Tim Kautz, who made history in 2012 as the first Honda-powered Formula F National Champion, successfully defended his title after a race-long battle with Reid Hazelton. 

“It was a great race, the whole race,” Kautz said. “We [Kautz and Hazelton] were battling a little harder than we should have at the start. Then, I could see Reid decide ‘Hey, there’s too many people coming out to play, let’s pull away a little.’ So, we worked together, and the last couple of laps the gloves came off. I think the last lap I went from first to second to first to second to first. So that’s a fun race, a real fun race.”

Behind the lead pair, Jeffrey Bartz finished third in his Honda-powered Van Diemen, with former national champion Scott Rubenzer fourth in his Spectrum-Honda and Cliff Johnson fifth in another Piper-Honda. 

In Touring 3, Chad Gilsinger took his Acura TL SH-AWD to victory, despite final lap drama that saw his relatively comfortable lead of more than eight seconds nearly wiped out when he encountered a slower car – and yellow flags for a separate incident at Turn 12 – less than a mile from the finish. 

“I was basically in cruise mode at that point, but came up on a lapped car.  He was going overly slow and was pointing me by,” Gilsinger recounted.  “But as I got alongside him, I noticed a yellow flag [for the incident at Turn 12].  I didn’t want [a penalty for passing under yellow] to screw up the win, so I almost stopped to let him back by, until we could get past the incident and I could [legally] pass him.  It was almost a bad situation, but luckily it turned out okay.” 

Gilsinger’s victory was his second Touring 3 national championship.  He also won the category in 2010, driving a Honda S2000.

In the production categories, Acura Integra drivers finished first and third in F Production after an exciting race-long battle that also included the Mazda Miata of Eric Prill.  Mark Carpenter took his 2nd Runoffs championship in the class, with Kevin Ruck finishing third in his Integra.

Officially, Carpenter led all 13 laps around the four-mile Road America circuit in his first Runoffs appearance since winning in 2009, but Prill pulled along side several times, and Ruck was never far behind. 

“Our decision to go racing didn’t happen until June of this year,” Carpenter said. “It’s a little different feeling this time around. In such a short period of time, my guys did a great job getting the car together, even on the trailer, to get it out of the garage. I was tripping over it in my garage for two years. Even though I’ve been out of the driver’s seat, I’ve still been at the track,working in pro racing [as an engineer] for the last couple of years. I’ve learned a lot of things that have helped my driving. There’s a lot I’ve picked up on. It’s different this time around, but it feels just as sweet as 2009, for sure.”

The fourth Honda championship of the weekend came in H Production, where Lawrence Loshak won his fourth title – and second with Honda after winning E Production in 2006.  Loshak startedfrom the pole and was ahead of a multi-car, first-lap crash that briefly stopped the race. 

On the restart, a missed shift dropped Losak’s Honda CRX down to fourth.  But by mid-race, Loshak reclaimed a lead he would maintain to the finish.  Jay Griffin finished third in his CRX to add to Honda’s podium total for the weekend, with 2011 champion Greg Gauper taking fourth in his Honda Civic.

“You know, sometimes when you get a run, you gotta go,” Loshak said of his recovery to retake the lead. “You follow them around, kind of get a judge of character of who you’re racing with, and these guys have been awesome. You gotta do it, especially at the National Championships. It worked out.”

The weekend closed out with one of the most exciting races of the weekend and, with a seven-thousandths-of-a-second margin of victory, the closest Runoffs finish since the SCCA began using transponders, as Chris Bovis took his Honda CRX Si to victory lane for the second time in his career in GT Lite. 

Bovis, who previously won GT Lite in 2007, started this year’s race from fifth on the grid, and spent the first nine laps battling multi-time champion Kent Prather for second place.  With three laps remaining in the 13-lap contest, Bovis finally had Prather in is rear-view mirror, and set fastest race lap as he chased down the Nissan of race leader Bobby Lentz.

On Lap 12, the pair was running nose-to-tail, and sometimes side-by-side, as they fought for the lead.  Coming out of Turn 12, they again ran side-by-side, rubbing fenders, through the fast right-hand Turn 13.  Lentz nosed ahead after the contact, but Bovis “squared-up” the final Turn 14 and pulled alongside Lentz as they exited the left-hander, setting up a drag race to the finish where Bovis prevailed, literally, by inches. 

“The difference between Bobby’s laps and mine was just a matter of a few feet here and there. I was trying to figure out where I was quicker. I was just marginally quicker,” Bovis said. “The best turn I had was [Turn] 13, which is a terrible place to do anything. I’d love to tell you I had a plan, but I consciously thought going into [Turn] 3, this is just going to happen somewhere. Road America is a very important place for me. I grew up here. I’ve seen a lot of drivers run here. I just know sometimes here, if somebody is diving really hard into the corner, you can square the corner up, cut back, and just lengthen the straightaway up, and sometimes it works. That’s honestly the only option I had. It was the [last turn of the] last lap.”

Honda Performance Development [HPD], through the Honda Racing Line, offered contingency awards of up to $2,500, along with additional support to help offset travel costs for the racers.  HPD also hosted catered, trackside hospitality exclusively for Honda/Acura competitors and their team members, providing buffet lunches September 17-21 and a Friday night ice cream social in celebration of the Runoff’s 50th Anniversary.

Founded in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD) is the technical operations center for high-performance Honda racing cars and engines, and operates at race circuits around the world from its headquarters in Santa Clarita, California.HPD offers a line of race engines for track applications from prototype sports cars to karting; and showcases “fun” products for professional, amateur and entry-level efforts.

Launched in 2009, the Honda Racing Line is a program targeted at licensed participants in sanctioned amateur and entry-level professional racing.  The Honda Racing Line was formed to provide its members with a direct connection to Honda Performance Development and its unparalleled record of success at the highest levels of motorsport.