Three weeks after and 60 miles south of the originally scheduled date, the final round of the Lucas Oil Series event that began in Englishtown, N.J., was completed in Atco, N.J. The race between reigning world champion Frank Manzo and Permatex/Follow A Dream driver Todd Veney ended abruptly when the output shaft on the Permatex Chevy broke about 100 feet off the starting line, sending Manzo to a 5.63 win.
“It was a lousy way to lose, but Frank’s hard to beat under any circumstances,” Veney said. “The car got into some tire shake in low gear and the output shaft took the brunt of it. Overall, it was still a good race for us. The final-round finish got us back up to sixth place in the national standings, and we just about have second place in the Division [behind Manzo] wrapped up.”
Eliminations for the Atco event were postponed by cold, wet weather that track officials felt was unsafe for racing. Veney landed in the top half of the field with a backpedaling 5.84 at 238 mph on his lone qualifying attempt. The team is number 4 on the grid and has a first-round matchup with Dan Pomponio of nearby Berlin, N.J.
The only race left on the Permatex/Follow A Dream team’s 2010 slate is the Toyo Tires Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa., Blake’s favorite event of the year. “It’s the race where the whole dream began in 1998, the biggest race of the year to me,” Blake said. “I had two speaking engagements this week that went really well and spoke before 1,400 people. The whole team and I are really looking forward to this weekend.”
All posts by ARP Trish
Race Winners Week Ending 10/3/10
Nacar
Kansas Speedway
Nationwide Series- Kansas Lottery 300- Joey Logano
Sprint Cup Series- Price Chopper 400 by Kraft Foods- Greg BIffle
Race Winners Week Ending 9/26/10
NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series- Las Vegas V- Smith’s Food and Drug Stores 350- Austin Dillon
Nationwide Series- Dover, DE- Dover 200- Kyle Busch
Sprint Cup Series- Dover, DE- Dover AAA 400- Jimmie Johnson
NHRA
Heinricy’s IsoTorque Phoenix Performance Corvette Ready for SCCA Runoffs
Corvette vs. Ferrari vs. Dodge Viper battle highlights annual event –
In six of the seven times John Heinricy raced a Chevrolet Corvette in the Sports Car Club of America’s prestigious National Championship Runoffs, he has won his class in the Club’s most-prestigious event.
National Champion Scott Tucker defends his 2009 title this year with a Ferrari, but Heinricy has returned to the T1 class with the IsoTorque Phoenix Performance Corvette C6 to challenge both Tucker, and John Buttermore, who finished third in 2009 in a Corvette, but who has now armed himself with a 10-cylinder Dodge Viper.
Joe Aquilante’s Phoenix Performance LLC., group from Phoenixville, Pa., built the IsoTorque Corvette C6 for Heinricy, updating it to 2010 LS3 Grand Sports specifications.
The Runoffs, held on the legendary 4.048-mile Road America circuit near Elkhart Lake, Wis., have qualifying al this week. The Touring 1 class race will take the green flag at 9:30am ET on Sunday, Sept. 26.
The weekend’s events will be broadcast live on the internet at www.Speedcasttv.com, including the T-1 race Sunday at 9:30am ET
Heinricy, of Holly, MI, is a retired General Motors executive, whose name has long been associated with ultra-high performance cars, notably Corvettes. In 241 professional sports car races since 1984, he has raced a GM-powered car 239 of those races.
His 11 Runoffs wins, the most of all active SCCA drivers, came in race-prepared Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds and Cobalts, and in four Runoffs classes. He also has two Road America wins in pro series races.
Heinricy did a Runoffs tuneup weekend at Road America’s famous June Sprints weekend, winning the T-1 class.
“This championship-winning program is the result of a good blend of top-shelf car preparation by the Phoenix Performance crew, hopefully my driving experience and skill, and technical and financial support from Torvec – the manufacturer of the IsoTorque differential we use,” Heinricy said.
Heinricy is a consultant to Torvec, in Rochester, N.Y., helping the company develop the IsoTorque differential, which will be available in the first quarter of 2011 for fifth and sixth generation Corvettes, and an application for fifth generation Camaros.
The Phoenix Performance/IsoTorque Corvette project also receives technical and product assistance, from Hoosier Tire, Rockland Standard Gear, Ron Davis Racing Radiators, ARP fasteners, CCW wheels, SKF Wheel Bearings, Brembo brakes, Hawk brake pads, and GMPartshouse.com.
“The car itself isn’t the only component vital to giving yourself the best odds for the Runoffs,” Heinricy said. “Road America has many 90-degree turns with heavy braking going into them from high speeds. Without the best wheel bearings, brake components and tires, you’re short-changing yourself and your team.”
Race Winners Week Ending 9/19/2010
Nascar
Camping World Truck Series- Loudon New Hampshire, The RaceDayRaffleSeries.com 175- Kyle Busch
Sprint Cup Series- Sylvania 300- Clint Bowyer
NHRA
OReilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals
Tom Stalba Represents In Charlotte
We’re at the ZMax Dragway for the OReily Nationals. While visiting the sportsman pits, we found Tom Stalba looking good with ARP on his crew shirts. Thanks for your support, Tom!
Hairston Motorsports Sets Another Record!
The Hairston Motorsports & Racing team attended the West Coast Hot Rod Association (WCHRA) California Nationals, at the famous Famoso Raceway, this past weekend. Clint “The Milkman” Hairston of Bakersfield qualified 3rd with a 6.79 @ 230.94 mph struggling with traction problems on all three qualifiers. Randy Walker set the bar pretty high with a stout 6.281 pass for the #1 spot.
Dealing with extreme heat all weekend was a struggle but Jake Hairston, Crew Chief, and Doug Stewart, Co-Crew Chief/Clutch Specialist were able to make the right changes allowing Clint to take his Jerry Bickel built 2007 GTO to the final round against Randy Walker’s 1974 Chevrolet El Camino, the reigning 2009 WCHRA Pro Street Champion. Clint took out Jay Diedrich’s beautiful Pro Mod 57 Chevy in the Semi-Finals with a blistering 6.201 @ 240.32 mph setting up the final with Walker. Unfortunately, Walker was unable to restart his car after stalling in the water box giving Clint a single for the win. Jim Hairston, Team Owner, commented that “Clint asked Jake if he should just take the bulb and idle down the track, but Jake rifled back NO WAY, we want the record GO FOR IT.” Clint did not disappoint the crowd running a 6.183 @ 240.77 mph setting the new WCHRA National Speed record.
Hairston also holds the Pacific Street Car Association Pro Street National E.T. and MPH record that was set at Fontana on May 23, 2010 (6.084 @ 238.30 mph).
Hopp Racing Will be Visiting ARP
Hopp Racing is proud to annouce they are teaming with ARP (Automotive Racing Products) in Ventura California. The GP-15 is the current region 10 Grand Prix Hydroplane points leader, and defending Region 10 GP Champion. The boat will be on display September 16th between 2pm and 4 pm at ARP 1863 Eastman Avenue in Ventura. Free photos will be given out. This boat will be competeing on beautiful Mission Bay San Diego, the 17th 18th and 19th as part of the San Diego Bayfair Hydroplane races. H1 will be racing too! Come and see The ARP Grand Prix Hydroplane..
Race Report Week Ending 9/11/10
Nascar
Nationwide Series- Richmond Virginia- VA529 College Savings 250- Kevin Harvick
Sprint Cup- Air Guard 400- Denny Hamlin
Race Winners Week Ending 9/5/10
Nascar
Kentucky Speedway- Camping World Truck Series- Built Ford Tough 250 by Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers- Todd Bodine
Atlanta Motor Speedway- Nationwide Series- Great Clips 300- Jamie McMurray
Sprint Cup- Emory Healthcare 500- Tony Stewart
NHRA
ARP is Proud to be Title Sponsor of GP-15
GP-15 ARP
Hopp Racing is PROUD to announce a new sponsor. ARP (Automotive Racing
Products) will be the title sponsor for the GP-15 in San Diego. Bayfair has
announced the Air Guard Championship presented by Degree Men. This marks
the return to beautiful Mission Bay of the Unlimited Hydroplanes. Grand
Prix West will make their San Diego debut as well. ARP will be title
sponsor on the winningest Unlimited Light in history. Greg Hopp will do
double duty in San Diego. He will drive Fred Leland’s U-100, and share
driving duties with his father Jerry in the current leader, and defending
Grand Prix Region 10 Champion ARP-PumpTech-Happy go Lucky. Grand Prix
hydroplanes are second only to the turbine powered Unlimited’s. They are
big block Chevy’s. The motors are supercharged with blowers. They are
“Crazy Loud”!!!!! These boats will remind fans of the “Old Days”. They
will reach speeds in excess of 160 mph in the straightaway. Former
Unlimited driver Scott Pierce, and current Unlimited driver Mark Evans will
be giving the Hopp’s all they can handle. The race will be broadcast live
by Tampa Digital (Streaming), and by Versus TV on Saturday October 16th.
Look for the ARP GP-15 on Mission Bay September 17-19. ARP (Automotive
Racing Products) is the World Leader in Fastener Technology!!!
Kathy Fisher Checks In
We have been off from racing since the IHRA event @ US 131. I was in Wichita, KS last weekend for a Lokar Car Show shoot… (Great event) and Kevin did some testing with a friend’s dragster at a local track.
The plan was for us to attend the IHRA NJ event in Epping next weekend, but we have changed to another venue the following week. Our next event will be the NHRA National at zMax 9/15-9/19. Since they do not contest TD during the event, Kevin is borrowing a dragster to compete in Super Comp.
This will be the first time that we will both be in the same class since the end of the 2007 season. It’s going to be a lot of fun…. J In all our years when we ran the same class, wonder if this may be the event where we finally get to race each other (with all hopes for a later round, of course).
Think that is a good idea just days before our 10 year anniversary? Well….I guess that would depend on the outcome, huh? JJ
I just received my new wing side plates that were made (still need to be painted), replacement numbers/class letters (both I & N, I use a different set for each) and the new rear wing struts back from being chromed. Unfortunately, my K&N scoop will have to be completely repainted and cannot be just “fixed”. It’s all done in DuPont Hot Hues Raspberry Pop…with ghost flames and large rainbow metal flake….too much to patch and have it look right. L So I’ll have that taken care of over the winter along with the few remaining items.
John Robinson Updates on the Diesel Dragster Season
We had an awesome weekend & the car is back on track, the new converter was the ticket……It was an 1/8 mile track & it ran a 5.51 first pass. 5.48 the second pass & a 6.60 in the final against the Scheid rail, neither one of us had our turbos spooled when the light went green & we both left the line soft. Our chargers lit at the 100` mark & my competitor went sideways when his chargers lit. That puts this team at 6 & 2 vs the quickest diesel in the world & also makes it the winningest diesel in the Pro dragster class. It was not a pretty win but sometimes the guy that screws up the least comes out on top….LOL. This event had 15,000 tickets sold & many more just hanging in the parking lot, the exposure was very good & It is has been the largest diesel event we have attended to date.
As we were driving to the event we did a re cap of the events , miles traveled & people we have talked to. So far we gave been to 11 races & 18,000 miles added to our odometer on the freightliner. There is no good way to tell how many people we have been in contact with but it’s got to be a lot. There are 2 more events on the schedule, The ORiley Fall Nationals in Ennis which is on Sept 24,25,26 & the Big Rig show in Charlotte NC. on Oct 8 & 9.
Ross Hoek Motorsports
Hoek Takes another Podium in Round 10 in Chicagoland
Fights for 4th place in Round 9
Holland, MI (August 30, 2010) – The Ross Hoek Motorsports #21 Allstar Performance, Venom Energy, Royal Purple, BFGoodrich, Ford Ranger had its best performance of the 2010 season in the Traxxas TORC Series from Chicagoland. The orange Ford nearly pulled off back to back PRO-Light podium finishes in the inaugural TORC event at Route 66 Raceway and provided the best racing action of the PRO-Light division.
The first of its kind mid-week, two evening TORC event at Chicagoland Speedway brought out the largest PRO-Light field of the year to race on TORC’s best purpose-built stadium style track of the year. The.8 mile layout included fast sections with six high flying jumps, but it also included a tricky camelback jump, a high and long flying tabletop, a mogul section and a rhythm section. The layout appeared to be a Supercross track for four wheeled vehicles. The course received high praise from most every driver.
Wednesday Evening – Round 9
A solid qualifying run had Ross and his #21 Allstar Performance Ford Ranger starting third thanks to a solid qualifying lap. It took two attempts before the class could get a clean first lap, due to two separate rollovers. Fortunately Ross avoided all the mayhem, but fell back a couple spots in the process. Undaunted, Ross quickly moved back into third place by the fifth lap. The top three racers solidly held their positions to the halfway point of the sixteen lap event.
When the field went back to green flag racing after the midway mandatory yellow, Ross began to feel pressure from #29 Rayford. The two battled back and forth, fender to fender. With three laps to go, Rayford made an inside pass to take the position. Then on the final lap Ross used all the Ford power he had through his ATD transmission into his BFGoodrich tires and made a bold move through the rhythm section. At one point, the #21 Ford regained the spot, but there was too much speed for the Ford Ranger to hold through the final corner. At the checkered flag, Ross Hoek finished a hard fought fourth place.
“Man that was tough,” remarked Ross Hoek. “We had Rayford coming through the whoops, but he got just in front of me coming out the corner and won the drag race to the finish. The last lap showed me I can carry more speed through the infield and I’ll use that to my advantage tomorrow night.”
Thursday Evening – Round 10
The next night saw Ross quickly put the Allstar Performance Ford Ranger into second place. Ross ran consistent lap times and held off #43 Cadell through most of the event, but a late charge by the #43 put Ross in the third spot. The top three trucks gradually distanced themselves from the rest of the field when the sixteen lap feature ended. Round 10 was Ross’ third podium finish of the season.
“We really have this Allstar Performance, Venom Energy, Royal Purple, BFGoodrich, Ford Ranger running great,” noted Ross Hoek. “Now we can fine tune the setup for each track we go to. Next week is our second visit to Crandon for the year and the season finale. The championship chase is down to a two truck competition, all we can do at Crandon is win and that is our goal. My first Pro-2WD win was a Crandon World Championship, I can’t think of a better way to get my first PRO-Light win.”
Showtime Funny Car at Hockenheim
The 2010 Nitrolympics were celebrating 25 years of the event on the now re-named Rico Anthes Quartermile at the Hockenheimring Germany, one of the 2 venues that hosts the Formula 1 German Grand Prix.
Racing at Hockenheim involves a lot more planning and organisation than when we are “at home” at Santa Pod. To begin with virtually the whole contents of the workshop have to be loaded into the trailer to ensure we have every eventuality covered. Then it’s a 600Km each way trip to the track for the truck and trailer. The journey started at 4 a.m. on Wednesday morning for John and Lee, who were sharing the driving, with Jo accompanying them. They arrived at the track at Wednesday evening then spent Thursday setting up the pit. We had pit box 4, which at the F1 race had been home to Mercedes F1 with Michael Schumacher.
The rest of the team, with the exception of Crew Chief Bob, flew in to Frankfurt on Thursday afternoon and headed for the track. Bob was due in Friday morning.
As we were not scheduled to run on Friday, there was a planned schedule to cover prior to warming the car up as for a final check. You can see the checklist on the “ Live Report” we did at the time. Our plan to post frequent updates on the website actually worked out quite well thanks to our good friend and webmaster, Nigel Holland.
Saturday is the focus of the event because of the legendary “ Niteshow”. We would be “match racing” against the Shockwave FC. It is a very long day for everyone involved. The running order had us down to run at 10.45 a.m, and in a change to previous years, 8.00pm to open the “Niteshow”, rather than close it. We may get a relatively early night this year!
The car was warmed up around 9 a.m, then tow down to the pairing lanes around 10.15 . Unfortunately the running order was re-scheduled so we did not get to run until just after 1pm
Tog on www.eurodragster.com described the runs as follows:
“ That was the best Fuel FC race I’ve seen in a long while, nice one guys! 0.963 to sixty for Gordon,0.970 for Spuff. Gordon had the better eighth 3.547 to 3.540,some smoke from the Showtime FC at about 1100ft and Spuff was off the throttle,but got there first”
(The above reproduced by kind permission of eurodragster.com)
5.194 secs at 445.57kph for John to Gordon’s 5.273 secs at 406.47kph
John’s run was the quickest ever by a Nitro FC at Hockenheim
Servicing was routine, although there was damage to an exhaust seat. We replaced both heads during re-build.
As we were due to open the Niteshow, being late was not an option, so everything was ready to go well ahead of time and we took our place behind the start. Janet Linke the Niteshow organiser briefed us on the timings. We should be ready to fire up before the National Anthem, whilst it was playing skydivers would descend, when the anthem finished and the skydivers landed we were to fire up the car. It all went to plan, as did the run! Even quicker than the first – 5.127 secs at 473.02kph, like an arrow, straight down the groove.
Servicing was a repeat of earlier, and the hoped for early night came our way. The crew enjoying a late evening meal at the track before heading back to the hotel.
Sunday schedule was to run at 11 am and 3 pm. We had the car warmed up and ready to go but unfortunately periods of light drizzle and oil downs meant the schedule was running approx 90 mins behind. We eventually towed down around 2pm, the FIA classes were running in between the drizzle.
The wet stuff did eventually stop by which time the shutdown area was too wet to dry before the mandatory 5pm curfew. The organisers asked John and Gordon to round off the weekend with a paired burnout.
That was Hockenheim 2010, not as much racing as we would have hoped for, but a very enjoyable weekend. Thanks to Jerry Lackey and his team at the Rico Anthes Quartermile, the German fans who turn out in their tens of thousands, Eurodragster.com for their excellent coverage and Nigel Holland for the website updates.Sunday schedule was to run at 11 am and 3 pm. We had the car warmed up and ready to go but unfortunately periods of light drizzle and oil downs meant the schedule was running approx 90 mins behind. We eventually towed down around 2pm, the FIA classes were running in between the drizzle.
Tim Allison Update
This past weekend was the last race for the points championship at Lima
Land Motorsports Park on Friday night and the traveling NRA 360 Sprint
Series also. It was a great night of racing and a great field of cars.
We drew dead last in the first heat race and that had us starting in the
10th position so we had our work cut for us. The goal was to get to
the feature and gain as many points as we can and to try and win the
feature and the championship. On the start of the heat race we got a
great start and we came from 10th to 4th in the heat race and that got
us qualified for the fetaure. No points were gained at that point. The
inversion for the feature was a 10 and that had us starting on the pole
for the feature! We took the lead and never looked back and won the
feature! We had a straightaway lead at times, but when the dust settled
we did everything we could do by winning the feature and gaining the
most points, but yet not enough. We came up just 55 points short of
winning the championship at Limaland Motorsports Park and 72 points
short of winning the NRA 360 Series. In the end we ended up 3rd in both
series. It was great to get the win plus back to back feature wins.
Now only 2 to go to hit the 100th! As we look back, if it was not for
the 2 mechanical failures over the course of the summer we had, we could
have won both the championships. In the end we all are very proud of
what we accomplished this year.
Race Report Week Ending 8/29/10
The Nationwide Series visited Canada this week. Boris Said won at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Harold Martin Racing Update
We at Harold Martin Racing are very excited and pleased to share with you a mid-year update for the 2010 race season highlighting race results with our 2010 Martin M4 Pro Mod race car.
The M4 has been running extremely well on the track and most recently winning the Pro Mod event at the Maryland International Motorsports Park, in Budds Creek, Maryland. “The dreams and history making could not be possible without our sponsors”, stated Harold Martin. “It’s always a great feeling to receive a win and I could not think of a better way to show progress. “ This year’s consistency and continuous improvement has allowed us a mid-year positioning of #2 in the point standings for the Pro Nitrous NEOPA series.
Harold Martin Racing is committed to winning both on and off the race track and would like to thank all of our sponsors for supporting our race program. Attached are a few photos from the various events during the race weekend.
On another great note the M4 race car and Harold Martin has been selected to be in a movie production called “Homerun Derby Showdown” and the filming will be taking place between August and September 2010. This is another great opportunity for the Martin M4 race car and our sponsor’s likeness to be seen and leverage.
DREAM TEAM REACHES FINAL ROUND OF COMPETITION AT CECIL COUNTY DRAGWAY
Jay Blake’s Permatex/Follow A Dream team reached its second consecutive final in Division 1 competition and dropped a close race with perennial Top Alcohol Funny Car champ Frank Manzo, 5.65 to 5.67. Manzo had low e.t. of all three rounds, with times of 5.67, 5.67, and 5.65, but Follow A Dream driver Todd Veney was right there with a 5.70, 5.69, and 5.67.
“We didn’t win, but it was a great weekend anyway,” Blake said. “Anytime you can be that close to Mr. Manzo, you know you’re doing something right. The team is really starting to jell, working well together, and the results are starting to show. We have a great shot at finishing second in the Division this year, and we’re gearing up for a great finish to the season.”
Veney qualified No. 3 with a 5.69 and defeated Wayne Morris in the first round, 5.70 to 5.86. In the semifinals, Tom Carter, the No. 2 qualifier and recent runner-up at the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., fell to the Follow A Dream crew, 5.69 to 6.00. No driver all weekend – even Manzo – ran better than a 5.84 in the tricky left lane until Follow A Dream tuner Tom Howell delivered a 5.67 in the final, but Manzo had just enough to win by a couple of hundredths.
“I can’t stand losing, even in the final round and even to someone like Frank, who wins all the time, but you can’t be that upset about a weekend like this,” Todd said. “At least we got to race him this time. The only other time I raced here [in 2003], we got to the final against Frank but had to let him take a single because the engine blew up in the semi’s.”
After two weekends off, the team finishes the 2010 season with four races in five weeks – two divisionals, and two nationals: Division 1 events in Englishtown (Sept. 11-12) and Atco, N.J. (Oct. 1-2), and nationals in Charlotte (Sept. 17-19) and Reading (Oct. 8-10).
Race Report Week Ending 8/22/10
Kyle Busch sweeps ’em all at Bristol!
Sprint Cup- Irwin Tools Night Race
Nationwide Series- Food City 250
Camping World Truck Series- OReilly 200