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NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
Drag Racing is quite a game of numbers when you get right down to it, no matter what class or level one competes in.
Mike Edwards is certainly adding all the numbers up in the correct columns by continuing to lower his E.T. numbers which equals higher quantities of win lights come race day, in his Penhall/Interstate Batteries/K&N Pontiac GXP.
Victory for Mike Edwards at NHRA SuperNationals in New Jersey
Immediately after Edwards NHRA Pro Stock victory in Joliet, Illinois, and the first of four back-to-back scheduled events, the team headed to Englishtown, New Jersey for the NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.
When Edwards arrived, the team never skipped a beat and quickly grabbed the number one qualifying spot during session number two by posting a 6.513, which also happens to be the third quickest run in NHRA Pro Stock history.
Mike Edwards also took the Low Qualifier Award
That number would hold through the remainder of the qualifying sessions and place Edwards securely on the pole position for Sunday's Eliminations, where the Coweta, Oklahoma resident would face number sixteen Justin Humphries.
The air conditions on Sunday were quite treacherous for all teams compared to days prior, especially for those classes such as Pro Stock who rely so much on what they are given to work with, and it showed in the much slower E.T.'s the teams posted on race day.
Edwards made his way through Humphries in round one, then moving on to defeat former Pro Stock Champions Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin, all who had the starting line advantage, but not the numbers they needed to hold back Edwards tremendous horsepower.
While Edwards was ready for his final round match up with class newcomer Shane Grey, Mother Nature had other plans in mind.
A persistent rain spread over the area last Sunday afternoon and caused NHRA officials to postpone all of the professional final rounds for the SuperNationals until the next morning at 10AM.
Even another rain delay couldn't quiet Edwards's momentum and during the final he had Grey covered easily on both ends of track to garner his third NHRA Pro Stock in a row and his seventh of the 2010 season.
"I was nervous this morning because you just don't know how good the track is until you get on it," Edwards said shortly after his win. "We changed the transmission and rear end yesterday and made some more changes today because we knew that Shane was hungry. As far as I'm concerned, he already has my vote for rookie of the year. I knew I had to have a good light and couldn't lay back, but I wasn't trying to. I may have gotten away with one."
Next stop for Mike Edwards and his Penhall/Interstate Batteries/K&N Pontiac GXP is the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tennessee, June 11-13. The event will also be the final chance for Pro Stock teams to earn points toward making the field for the K&N Horsepower Challenge, where Edwards secured the number one spot many events ago.
Wind was a problem for both round five and six of LOORS event - trucks were consistently over shooting their landing strips.
The Lucas Oil Off-Road Series is in its second year, and this is the second time this year that the event has visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), with a third scheduled for November 6 and 7. The race was run on the 1.1 mile stadium course that Lucas built back in February and the who's who of racing showed up to race.
K&N sponsored Marty Hart battled through sketchy track conditions for his round five LOORS victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
This time around the bi-polar track conditions were a major focus, one hour it was warm and windy and another it's biting cold wind mixed with a tad rain. Wind gusts up to 35 mph made it hard to keep the track damp, and dust became an issue. When trucks fly farther off jumps than anticipated - wind is a problem.
Surviving and thriving under the conditions though was K&N sponsored Marty Hart, driving for Stronghold Motorsports. Hart, the Riverside, California driver routed the field on Saturday in round five of the series. Hart followed that up with a strong second place showing in round six on Sunday.
"We had a great weekend. Bruce found us more power, so it made it a little easier to run upfront," offered Hart.
"Stronghold Motorsports did a complete overhaul on my truck so we are ready to make a run for the championship."
"My relationship with K&N is great," continued Hart. Their air, oil and hose filters work perfect in the dirty race environment that is short coarse racing."
K&N has been a great sponsor over the years, it is really nice using products that are an asset and actually save my race engines. As far as other plans, we are racing both Lucas Oil and the Traxxas Torc Series this season, which will be interesting but I feel our team is up to the challenge.
The 2010 Traxxas TORC Series kicks off at the "Big House" at Crandon International Raceway, in Crandon, Wisconsin June 18-20.
The next event for the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series is June 26-27 in Utah at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, near Salt Lake City. After that, the series heads to the just-announced event at Glen Helen Raceway in Devore, California, on Aug. 7-8.
At 360 Open Show in Chico, California Forsberg piloted the Brian Cannon Motorsports number 47 car to his third victory of the year.
Andy Forsberg had a very busy weekend, competing in three races in three consecutive days. It unfolded into a very rewarding weekend for him though, in that he got a seventh, his third 360 victory of the year, and a hard fought, yet satisfying second place finish. We wondered what sort of strategic logistics went into pulling that sort of weekend off for the Auburn, California driver.
Forsberg drove A&A number 92 car to a tough seventh place in the in the Golden State Challenge Series race in Petaluma.
"Luckily for me we raced the three nights with two different teams. We raced the 410 in the Golden State Challenge Series race in Petaluma; with the A&A number 92 car. And then the two nights in Chico, California, we raced the Brian Cannon Motorsports number 47 car. Also, Brian Cannon is from Chico, so there was no travel involved for the Saturday and Sunday races," explained Forsberg.
On Saturday, after winning his heat and grinding out a tough seventh place in the Petaluma main the night before, Andy head up to the 360 Open Show in Chico. By the start of that main Andy was convinced that he had a car capable of winning. By lap seven he was putting pressure on the leader, on the next lap he grabbed the lead and never looked back, tallying his third 360 win of the year.
Andy Forsberg Wins 360 Open Show in Chico.
It would be Sunday's race however that would tax Forsberg driving skills the most. "Racing on a rubber down surface is always a guessing game, you never know how hard to push your tires, all you do know is that if you drive as hard as you would typically drive, your tires will not make it," remarked Forsberg.
"We tried a couple of different strategies last year on rubber down tracks, Go like hell and hope you make it, change tires half way through the race, and go like hell again, and hope you can make it back through the field, conserving your tires for the first three-quarters of the race, and then go like hell at the end. It never mattered what we tried, it never worked out, and we always ended the night by thinking we should have just played it safe and kept our track position and just had a decent finish."
"So on Sunday we decided to play the entire race safe and see how things would work out, it definitely was tough, basically letting a couple drivers pass by without a fight. I kept telling myself don't get excited, finish the race, let the other drivers wear out there tires or make a mistake, and we will hopefully capitalize. Luckily for us the drivers that did race hard and passed me, did just that, and we got a good second place finish. And we took over the Civil War points lead."
Forsberg has been with K&N since 2003, during that period he has won 45 races, two California 360 Civil War Championships and two Silver Dollar Speedway 410 Championships.
Says Forsberg, "It takes a lot to race as often as we do and K&N is a big help with that, we run our motors pretty hard, and since we race on dirt keeping them clean is very important, that's why we use K&N carbon fiber sprint car air boxes, filter oil, oil filters, and we use the K&N air filter cleaning solution."
As of last weekend Forsberg still has roughly 38 races left on his calendar. "We are currently trying to buy a ASCS 360 motor so we could potentially race at some of the National ASCS 360 races towards the end of the year in Las Vegas and in Arizona. As of right now we only have open headed 360 motors, and are not legal to race at the ASCS sanctioned races."
Winning the Night Before the 500 USAC National Midget event at O'Reilly Raceway Park is Tanner Swanson biggest win to date and he won the prestigious event on his first attempt.
Given the proper conditions, appropriate parental tutelage, more sunshine than darkness; few bonds on earth are any more powerful than brothers. Check the math - it's one to the second power.
The Swanson brothers say they have tempered their early competitiveness, and they've learned how to communicate with how to help each other win.
Some of the biggest names in racing have attempted to win the Night Before the 500 USAC National Midget event at O'Reilly Raceway Park without success. Nineteen year old Tanner Swanson pulled it off on his first attempt. His brother Kody, three years older, had his back, sandwiching the podium with third place.
"Beyond the race itself, it was really special for Tanner to get that first 'big' win in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Memorial Day, the day before the Indy 500 - I couldn't be prouder of him," said Kody.
Although the brothers drove for different teams, with different cars and set-ups, they still managed to win first and third place.
Both brothers began racing ten years ago and for the first year they competed against each other regularly. Then, for the next six years they raced in different divisions and didn't meet on the track again until 2007, when both started competing in the USAC's professional series.
"In that first year back in 2000, we were probably a little too competitive, but by the time we started racing together in USAC, we had become pretty strong teammates," admits Kody.
"In the years that we spent racing in different classes, we really learned how to communicate with each other, and how to help each other win. We really continue that today, whether we are actual teammates on our TK Motorsports team, or racing against each other, we still try to help each other be our best."
For this particular event the brothers drove for different teams. "Neither of us have full-time pavement midget rides on the USAC National circuit, so we both ended up picking up a ride on a single event basis just for this big event," explained Kody.
"The Wilke-Pak team called me to run a few weeks before the event to set something up, and it actually wasn't until the week of the race that Tanner was able to secure his ride with the DMS Racing team."
Typically, for a big event such as this, most teams will go out and test or practice at the track weeks before the race, but the Swanson brothers actually secured their rides so late that neither Tanner, nor Kody tested, and their first laps in their cars were on the day of the event.
"I would still say that it worked out pretty well, considering we finished first and third, driving for two different teams, that use completely different chassis and engine combinations," remarked Tanner.
Tanner drove in a Beast Chassis with a Ford-Esslinger engine, while Kody raced in a Spiked Chassis with Stanton-Toyota engine. One common denominator is that both cars ran K&N air and oil filters.
"I really like that I can always trust K&N filters for their reliability," continued Tanner. "I can always depend that their filters will do their job without having issues. Minimizing the chance for mechanical failures is very important to me."
Tanner and Kody are from Kingsburg, California, and last year both attended California State University, Fresno, as full-time college students while competing in USAC's National & Western series.
Kody graduated this May and Tanner will enter his Sophomore year in the Fall of 2010 at the same University. Both graduated from Kingsburg High School as Valedictorians, with a GPA that exceeded 4.0.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. and Daijiro Yoshihara take podium at Formula D Round 3. Photo by Larry Chen of Driftfotos.com
Formula Drift Rd. 3 "The Gauntlet" at Wall Stadium in New Jersey was déjà vu for Falken Tire teammates Daijiro Yoshihara and Vaughn Gittin Jr. when they took 1st and 2nd place, respectively, for the second time in a row this season. After three rounds of Formula D, Vaughn and the Monster Energy/Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang sit in 1st place overall in the Championship standings with 291 points, and Dai and the Falken Tire/Discount Tire 2008 Lexus IS350 is trailing close behind in 2nd place with 270 overall points.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. and the Monster Energy/Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang. Photo by Larry Chen of Driftfotos.com
During Friday's qualifying session, where drivers fought for a spot in the top 32, Dai qualified in 4th place and Vaughn landed one spot behind him in fifth. During Saturday's main event, these two top-notch drivers would find themselves each battling through four of drifting's finest before meeting each other in the finals.
Vaughn fought his way through Robbie Nishida in the top 32, then Falken Tire teammate Tyler McQuarrie in the top sixteen. He found himself matched with Drift Alliance brother Justin Pawlak, driver of the 2010 Falken Tire Ford Mustang, in the top eight. After two close runs from both drivers, and a small correction from Justin causing contact between the cars, Vaughn was awarded the win and would move on to face two-time Formula Drift Champion Tanner Foust in the semi-finals.
Vaughn led first against Tanner, with a fast and high line while atop the bank of Wall Stadium. Tanner tried to stay close to Vaughn, but hit the wall causing him to correct and then struggle to keep up the rest of the run. When Vaughn gave chase, he kept close to Tanner, while maintaining good line, speed, and angle. The judges awarded Vaughn the win, and he would move on to the finals with an automatic podium position.
"It is really unbelievable to check out our K&N Air Filter after running all the way from the top 32 to the podium and seeing the amount of rubber and dirt that is blocked from going into our engine," says Vaughn. "I am simply amazed how it can still breathe. Even though it looks like there is no way it is sucking air from all the dirt caked up, that Ford Racing 5.0L still responds when I slam my right foot down each and every round!"
Dai was faced with Brian Wilkerson in the top 32, who spun out, allowing Dai to advance. In the top 16, he was paired with Forrest Wang, who fought a good battle, but was no match for Dai's intense angle and speed throughout the course. Dai moved on to battle Michihiro Takatori in the top 8, and after two nearly-flawless runs, Dai was awarded the win and would move on to the semi-finals.
Dai was lined up once again to face Falken Tire teammate Darren McNamara, who he also had faced in Atlanta's Round Two. After two amazing, evenly-matched runs from both drivers, a very appropriate One-More-Time was called by the judges. During the repeat battle, Darren had a slight error upon initiation on the bank which caused him to tap the wall several times. His vehicle was too damaged to continue which led Dai into the battle for first place against Vaughn.
It was déjà vu for Dai and Vaughn when they were matched in the finals - as the two had battled for 1st place at Round 2 in Atlanta a month earlier. For the final battle of the night, the Falken RT615-K tire smoke filled Wall Stadium during two amazing runs from both competitors. After the smoke cleared, Dai had once again been deemed the winner of the battle and the event, locking down two consecutive 1st place finishes. Vaughn would finish the night in 2nd place, rounding out his third consecutive podium of the 2010 Formula Drift season.
"Winning back-to-back Formula D events is just crazy," says Dai. "Before Round Two, I hadn't won in a long time, and now it came in a pair! Definitely without the help of my team, I could not have pulled this off. And everyone knows having a great drift car means you have to have a solid motor. With K&N Filters helping my motor breath better and cleaner, I never have to worry about my car dying during my competition runs. Hopefully I can continue my winning streak in Seattle and it would be awesome to see if my teammate JR and I can continue to battle again!"
Vaughn and Dai slide into Seattle July 9-10 for Formula Drift Round 4 at Evergreen Speedway as they will both fight to gain some crucial points landing them one step closer to the 2010 Championship.
