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It took Jared Umbenhauer a few races to get up to speed in the Sportsman division at Big Diamond Raceway in Schuylkill Haven, Penn.
Jared Umbenhauer started his auto racing career in quarter midgets when he was 6 years old
Broken motors and mechanical failures relegated him to a couple disappointing finishes in the first two races of the season.
He was 20th in the opening night race and followed that up with a 28th place finish a week later.
But his team put a new motor in his car - actually the old motor from the car he raced last year at Big Diamond Raceway - and he has posted three podium finishes, including winning a race on April 23.
"The first couple races were frustrating because there was nothing we were doing wrong," said the 18-year-old Umbenhauer. "It's just weird stuff happening. After we put in the old motor, it gave me some confidence. We know this one is a good piece. We know it's going to stay together. It's going to stay under me for a while."
Umbenhauer started on the pole in the April 23 race. He didn't get a great start, though and fell to second place on the first lap.
"On the initial start, the guy on the outside got passed me," said Umbenhauer, a senior at Eastern Lebanon County High School in Pennsylvania. "For eight laps I was following him. I was taking my time, waiting for him to mess up. I got him back on the top and from there on, I led the whole way."
He followed up his win with a pair of third-place finishes and was 13th place in the Sportsman standings at Big Diamond Raceway after the races on May 21. Doug Hendricks of Orwigsburg, Penn., was leading the Sportsman standings with 682 points. Umbenhauer was 231 points out of first.
"It's early," Umbenhauer said. "I got plenty of time."
Umbenhauer, who lives in Richland, Penn., started his auto racing career in quarter midgets when he was 6 years old. He made an interesting switch to BMX and raced bikes for a couple years before returning to cars. His older brother got into modifieds and the two worked on his car until Jared Umbenhauer was old enough to race his own car.
"When my brother turned 16, he was old enough to race," Jared Umbenhauer said. "My brother got a sportsman modified and I was helping him out on weekends. When I got old enough, then I started."
Jared Umbenhauer said he would eventually like to race on one of the NASCAR Modified tours, but he wants to win a Sportsman championship first. He was 14th and won one race in the Sportsman division at Big Diamond Raceway last year.
"We just want to maybe get three wins, and top five in points would be nice," Umbenhauer said. "It's been up and down, but we've been racing pretty good."
K&N provides mostly product support for Umbenhauer's race team.
"I've always used K&N filters," said Tom Umbenhauer, Jared's dad. "Anything helps with a family-run race team."
Rally car racing puts the "X" in extreme automobile racing. It's a motorsport that requires a very unique set of skills, which makes it a huge fan favourite at the X-Games. And, North American Rally Champion Andrew Comrie-Picard proved once again why he sits at the very pinnacle of the sport by winning the very demanding Oregon Trail Rally. Comrie-Picard theToronto, Ontario racer, and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey, driving in their NOS Energy Mitsubishi Evolution led almost the entire event on the way to their win. It was in fact the first time in Rally America history that the podium was an all Mitsubishi affair.
Comrie-Picard and co-driver Jeremy Wimpey, driving in their NOS Energy Mitsubishi Evolution
Rally racing is all-season motorsport that sees drivers and co-drivers take modified road cars to the very limits as they traverse over courses covering hundreds of miles of gravel, dirt or snow-covered roads, or slick mud and extreme heat. The Oregon Trail Rally took place over 100 miles of competition on a course that that threw pretty much all of that at the racers this year, except perhaps the extreme heat. The conditions that make this race so difficult to overcome though are the very reasons why it's so supremely satisfying when you win. This year, by the end of the day two, 24 out 64 teams that entered were gone.
"The Oregon rally has a wide variety of roads over three days, from tarmac and broken tarmac at Portland International Raceway on Friday, to tight, twisty high-altitude work on Saturday, to wide-open 120 plus miles per hour runs through silt beds on Sunday. You have to do well on all the different sections to win it, and I'm happy we were strong throughout," remarked Comrie-Picard.
With this victory Comrie-Picard is now tied for fourth place with Dave Mirra in defending his Rally America Championship.
"This year there are no 'drops' in the Rally America Championship - every event counts. Last year we were leading at this point, but this year we crashed out on one event and had a driveline failure in another, so we're in fourth. There are only two events left so it will be an effort to win the championship, but you never know what's going to happen to the other guys, and we never give up."
We wondered what challenged Comrie-Picard most and what gave him the most gratification - rally car racing, drifting, or competing at the X-Games?
"That's an interesting question. Each of those competitions is different, but there's interesting crossover too. Rally and X-Games use a similar car and driving style. Drifting and X Games are both super-intense short-format races. Rally is about speed, drift about style and speed, and X-Games about speed with some style," explained Comrie-Picard.
"I like all of them to be honest, and developing my skills in each helps with the others. I'm really excited right now about the addition of SuperRally to the X-Games, and the three national-level, wheel-to-wheel Rallycrosses we'll be doing in New Jersey in the fall. Think of the X-Games rally, but with six cars wheel-to-wheel. It's going to be sensational."
"K&N has been a longtime partner with our team and we value the relationship," commented Comrie-Picard.
"I use their air filters exclusively, and frankly, have done so for the last fifteen years, even before we had a direct relationship. For what we do, through silt and dirt and sand and water, there's nothing better."
K&N Air Intake Installed on 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS 2.0L Turbo
Dyno Chart for 2008, 2009 and 2010 Chevy Cobalt SS 2.0L Turbo
The very impressive Chevrolet Cobalt SS is a front-wheel-drive compact car that is comfortable, economical and fun to drive. Chevy released their first 2.0 L Ecotec LNF turbocharged Cobalt SS in 2008 to replace the supercharged engine offered from 2005 to 2007. Tight handling, powerful brakes, excellent acceleration and a great sound system set the Chevy Cobalt SS 2.0L Turbo in a class of its own.
K&N Air Intake System for 2008, 2009 and 2010 Chevy Cobalt SS 2.0L Turbo
Although the 260 horsepower turbo engine puts out an adequate amount of power, K&N wanted to increase that power with the introduction of their 69-4518TTK performance air intake kit. The 69-4518TTK is designed for 2008, 2009 and 2010 Chevy Cobalt SS 2.0L Turbo models and completely replaces the factory airbox and intake housing. K&N air intake system 69-4518TTK uses a mandrel-bent aluminum intake tube to lower airflow restriction attached to a high-flow K&N cotton air filter (RC-4470).
K&N air intake 69-4518TTK offers the Chevy Cobalt SS more horsepower and excellent filtration. K&N Dyno testing revealed a 12.2 horsepower boost at 4600 rpm with the use of this simple performance modification.
Temperatures under the hood of a Chevy Cobalt can be very high because of the engine. K&N's 69-4518TTK is equipped with a powder coated heat shield to help reduce the amount of hot engine air that enters the air filter.
Installation of the 69-4518TTK performance air intake system is very simple with K&N's installation instruction sheets. A typical install only takes 90 minutes and can be done with hand tools found in most households. Check out the Chevy Cobalt SS install video for more information about installation of K&N's performance intake system or K&N's Chevy Cobalt SS feature video for highlights and benefits of the 69-4518TTK air intake kit.
There was drama aplenty going into round four eliminations in Competition Eliminator at 40th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Ignitor at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho. Defending champion Jeff Lane, the Shoreline, Washington racer was paired up with Rob Harrison, who had never been to a final round at Firebird. Harrison had a 0.17 CIC penalty and Lane was looking at a 0.05 penalty. Harrison had the horsepower edge, but Lane, as has long been his reputation, had been deadly on the tree all day. Yet it ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, as Harrison red-lighted, adding to Lane's total victory booty and handing him back-to-back wins at the event.
K&N's help with hood scoop and airpan development had Hancock and Lane Racing ready to compete out of the gate this year, according to Jeff Lane.
"We have been thrashing nonstop since mid season last year," said Lane. "We were sorting bugs out of our new Cobalt last year and finally got a handle on things at the World Finals in Pomona. With help from K&N on our hood-scoop development and airpans, along with finding ways to make good power over the winter months, we were ready out of the gate this year. The track and personnel at Firebird raceway are first rate and the starting line had great traction, and we kept throwing everything at it we could."
"Rob is a great racer and he is really fast. He already had hit the J/Altered index permanently, and he told me after the final round that he knew if we both had green lights that he would have to eat more index if he wanted to win the race against us. I guess our racing reputation of having great reaction times sometimes helps."
"I really do want to thank K&N for their support and help, all the people are easy to work with and very knowledgeable," continued Lane.
"Jonathan (Fiello) in product design made us a really fast hood scoop design. It is not only ultra lightweight, but very functional with low drag. Bob Harris always responds immediately to our every needs, and I can't say enough about Steve Williams. Not only is he a first class guy, but he is also one of the best Super Class racers in the business."
"Our K&N oil filters are second to none on our 10,500 rpm, SB-2 Chevrolet racing engines. And the air intake systems on our tow vehicles keep our engines running great."
Swanson was the hometown favorite in victory circle at Stockton 99 Speedway in Stockton, California.
Stockton, California native Kody Swanson drives for his family team TK Motorsports - most of the time anyway. Swanson earned his first USAC Western Sprint victory of the year driving for Harvest Supply Racing. Swanson was the hometown favorite at Stockton 99 Speedway.
Kody Swanson got his first USAC Western Sprint victory of the year driving for Harvest Supply Racing.
"Our focus for TK Motorsports is going to be the USAC National Pavement Sprint Car races in 2010, so I was competing for Harvest Supply Racing on a 'drive-for-hire' type basis, so it was their team, crew and car, and thus their win," explains Swanson.
"My relationship with Carl Mott (owner of Harvest Supply), goes back to our first year in the USAC ranks, we competed with a motor that he was lending to us, so to win driving for him is a way for me to return the favor."
Swanson says he really appreciates the support for K&N regardless of whose car, or what division he’s driving or in.
"Getting the first win early in the season is always a big plus in my book," says Swanson. "It feels good, because you almost validate yourself as a legitimate competitor, and then you can just focus on winning races from there on out."
Swanson began racing in 2000, in the Junior Sprint Class. In 2002, he moved up to the Stock 600 class and began competing against adults and won his first Championship that year. Swanson won the Championship the next two years after that, and moved up to the USAC Western Sprint series, where he was crowned Rookie of the Year and Series Champion in 2005.
In 2008 he competed full-time on the USAC National Midget tour, bringing home a victory from Kenly, North Carolina for car owner, Steve Lewis. After Lewis' Nine Racing operation closed down for 2009, Swanson's focus shifted to the USAC Silver Crown series, where driving for Team 6R Racing, he finished 5th in series points and earned the Rookie of the Year title last season.
"One of my favorite accomplishments came at the end of 2006, when I won the Performance Racing Industry Sprint Classic in Orlando, Florida, driving my family's number 75 Sprint car," recalls Swanson.
"It was really special to have my family team at the top of a national level event. As far as career goals, I'm open for anything. Many young drivers only look at NASCAR for their future, but I definitely wouldn't mind an opportunity in the IRL either. I just want to race, and I'm really not that picky about the circumstances."
Swanson started his relationship with K&N while he was driving for Western Speed Racing at the end of 2006, in the USAC Midget division.
"We won our first race together at Altamont Motorsports Park in September, and went on to sit on the pole of the prestigious Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale, in our first attempt. That night, I led 80 laps and ran second in the 100-lap event."
"At TK Motorsports we utilize the Carbon Fiber Sprint Air Box, as well as the high quality Wrench-Off oil filters that K&N has come out with. Harvest Supply Racing also used the Carbon Fiber Sprint Air Box during our feature winning run, so I'm happy to know that they too are getting the most out of their engine without sacrificing in terms of protection."
"I really appreciate the relationship that I have with K&N Filters, because they provide a quality product and have supported me no matter whose car I'm driving, or what division it's in," surmises Swanson
