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F&F Racing's Frankie Guerrini Sweeps Weekend at Delta Speedway

Sep 8, 2011

Frankie plans on moving into full-size midgets on dirt next year.

"Frankie is very serious about his racing, his long term goals are to become a professional race car driver in either the Indy Car Racing Series or NASCAR." That's how 16-year-old Francesco Ottavio Guerrini III, or Frankie, ends his current race resume. The young San Rafael, California native is taking all the rights steps, and making the big moves, so that dream can become his reality. Judging from the post race donuts he was spinning in Stockton, California, Frankie was very pleased with his recent performance at Delta Speedway. Frankie won both his heats and then won the Main Event.

Frankie received the "Paul Tyler, Rising Star Award" by the Motorsports Press Association.

"This was huge for Frankie and the team," Frank Sr., told K&N Race News, "His first sweep on dirt in the 600's."

2011 is the San Rafael High School senior's first season racing in the 600 stock non-wing class, and he has already taken the checkered twice, and had a number of second place finishes to go along with his top-five finishes. According to Frank, his dad, this season has been a kind of test year to see how Frankie likes non-wing competition, and to see whether he is ready to move up to full-size midgets.

Frankie's first season on dirt, after ten years racing on pavement, was last year in the winged restrictor class. He finished that 2010 championship in second place, earning Rookie of the Year Honors in the process. If Frankie's race curve history is any indication, he will be ready for full-size midgets whenever dad agrees to let him move up. Since he first started racing at age six Frankie has been asking for more power and speed, and when he gets it, he delivers.

His continuing need for speed has taken 16-year-old Frankie into a four-way battle for the 600 stock non-wing class championship.

In 2000 Frankie started racing go-karts and three years later he moved up to quarter midgets, which he raced until 2007, setting fast times, track records and countless top-five finishes and main event wins along the way. In 2008 Frankie decided to move to the big tracks, racing mini-cups on 1/4 mile paved ovals. Frankie raced in this series for one year, before he decided that the mini-cups just didn't have enough power or speed, and wanted to try racing on dirt. So, for 2009 Frankie went back to go-karts and kept in racing shape at Infineon Raceway, until his 2010 debut on the 600 stage.

F&F Racing's first non-wing victory came back in May of 2011.

Other notable 2011 accomplishments include the "Paul Tyler, Rising Star Award," presented to Frankie back in January by the Motorsports Press Association. Frankie also tested one of the Western Speed Racing Focus Midgets early this year with, Kevin Gerhardt, and by all indications he did very well. Frankie says that he would like to run some races with their team next year, if he can get enough sponsorship to do so.

There are four races left for K&N sponsored F&F Racing and Frankie Guerrini, and currently the top four drivers are bunched together for the overall 600 stock non-wing class championship. You can bet dollars-to-donuts that Frankie is looking for his line to the top of that crowd. Frankie plans on moving into the full-size midgets on dirt in 2012. He will race with BCRA next year, and hopefully some USAC races as well.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Racer Eric Holmes Wins at Spokane County Raceway

Sep 7, 2011

Eric Holmes wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series West at Spokane County Raceway in Washington

In a season filled with disqualifications, penalties and setbacks, Eric Holmes, a three-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion, won his first race of the season at Spokane County Raceway in Washington on Saturday night.

It was the 15th K&N Pro Series West win of his career and his first since Oct. 16, 2010, at All American Speedway in Roseville, California.

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Champion Eric Holmes

"We had a great car all night," said Holmes, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Bill McAnally Racing. "The car was good, moving up. I felt like I was gaining on them at the end of the first 100. The NAPA Toyota team made a great change there at the halfway break. I think that's all we needed. And I got great restarts."

Greg Pursley, the leader in the K&N Pro Series West standings, all but wrapped up the championship with a third-place finish.

"We had a good night. It's a real good night for the Gene Price Motorsports Fords," Pursley said. "Just was a little bit off, a little bit tight. Made a few adjustments on the halftime break and made it a little better. Got up there and raced with them guys. Just a little bit off tonight. Congratulations to Eric and those guys. They finally got one."

Holmes, the reigning K&N Pro Series West champion, had to fend off rookie Dylan Kwasniewski for two restarts in the final 20 laps of the race.

Kwasniewski won the pole and led the first 103 laps of the Spokane 200. Holmes, who started sixth, worked his way to the front and took the lead on lap 104. He held it for 43 laps before Kwasniewski regained the lead for a couple laps. Holmes took back the lead on lap 150 and was out front for the last 50 laps of the race.

Justin Funkhouser spun out on lap 185 and the race was red-flagged to clean up the mess. When the race restarted on lap 192, it set up an eight-lap dash to the finish between Holmes and Kwasniewski.

"Racing side-by-side was great," said Kwasniewski, who led a race-high 105 laps. "We had the car to win. He definitely had a first-place car, too. It was just who made the less mistakes and who drove the hardest."

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West made its first visit to Spokane County Raceway since 1979.

All Pursley, Kwasniewski's teammate at Gene Price Motorsports, needs to do is start the next K&N Pro Series West race at Roseville to win the championship, the first of his career. Pursley has a 294-point lead over Moses Smith in the K&N Pro Series West standings. "A little bit closer to that championship there, so we got two races to go," Pursley said. "Hopefully all we got to do is start them. Good night."

Luis Martinez Jr. finished fourth and Smith was fifth in the race at Spokane County Raceway.

The Spokane 200 will be broadcast on Speed on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

The next K&N Pro Series West race is the Toyota/NAPA Auto Parts 150 at All American Speedway in Roseville, California, on October 15.

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Nick Folk Adds NHRA Stock Final Round at Brainerd to His Growing List of 2011 Accomplishments

Sep 7, 2011

1999 B/SA Chevy Camaro at Brainerd International Raceway

Durand, Illinois resident Nick Folk has been on quite a streak as of late. From his runner-up finish, in the pea soup foggy conditions, during the World Super Pro Challenge at Mid-Michigan Motorplex, to his Quick Rod win at the IHRA Nitro Jam in Martin, Michigan, Folk most recently added another feather to his season when he drove the Folk family's 1999 B/SA Camaro to the final round during the 30th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

NHRA Stock Car Racer Nick Folk at 30th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals

Folk was very aware of the other B/SA entries during qualifying for the NHRA event. "Our 1999 Camaro is one of the quicker ones in the country, but it just so happened to be that at that race there were two of them there that were quicker," he confessed. "We didn't make an all-out run during all of qualifying. It's really kinda hard to get more than the first three rounds correct, as far as staying away from a heads up run. It's really the only reason, that and to try to position yourself on the bye side of the ladder. Stock is definitely a class where you have to pay attention to qualifying and where you place yourself."

After all the dust settled from qualifying, Folk's first round match up would be with Charles Blossom and his 2004 SRT-4, who was a much slower entry and had the first chance to go red. Folk was more than ready with his .008 light, but as mentioned blossom lit up the wrong color bulb by .003 and sent Folk to round two for his paring with Dan Jeska and his 1972 Duster. This time it would be a clean start on both side s of the tree and Folk was able to grab just enough of the stripe to shut out Jeska.

"Round three, I feel that was my lucky round," he admitted. "I had heads-up run that round where the guy was faster than me, but he turned it red, so I guess he thought that my car was faster than it was. The guy had me outrun my six hundredths and then he turned it five thou red. So that for sure was a lucky round. I really should have been headed home after that round Saturday afternoon."

Come Sunday morning, Folk must have had a very special breakfast as he posted a near perfect light in round four. "I woke up Sunday morning and said I need to drive, wake up," he joked. "My .001 to his .060 really gave me a lot of room down there at the stripe. It was actually fairly easy at that point."

Following his quarter final victory over T. J. Diekema, Folk went on to the semifinal round to pair up with Alex Wiese and his 1979 F/SA Corvette. "The kid [Wiese] laid down a decent run at four cars then, at least for Stock Eliminator terms," he pointed out. "He was thirty and probably going dead-on and I was .013 on the tree which just gave me plenty of room to do what I needed at the finish line."

After the fantastic string of reaction times Folk had racked up during all of the previous rounds of eliminations, he had an uncharacteristic .044 light in the final against Ron Mattson, and his worst light of the weekend. Doing the best he could to make up for it at the finish line, Folk took a ton of the stripe and came out on the wrong side of the pair's double breakout.

"You know you get yourself so hyped up for late rounds before you get to the final and I don't know," he explained of his state of mind before the Stock final. "I can sit here and picture the whole thing. I didn't go through my normal thought process after the burnout, I don't know. I guess I was just thinking, you're in the final, don't worry about it. I was so upset with myself on the ride home."

With the extensive trail of recent finals for Folk in all kinds of classes, cars and tracks, including this NHRA National Event final round appearance, he truly has a lot to be proud of, although being the caliber of racer that he is, will concentrate on where he can make improvements before his next race at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. "When you race for a partial living like I do, you have to go back and look at what you did or didn't do," he continued. "I really don't know what I was thinking about in that final."

The Folk family, which also includes patriarch Ron and brother Brian, have been not only users but true believers in the full line of K&N Engineering products, from oil filters to high performance air filters on their entire stable of race cars. "Dad and Brian have been using K&N products since before I even got really involved as heavy as I am," he pointed out. "You know Dad is big into the motor side of things, keeping them all alive and so on. We hear of other racers having problems of one sort or another with their oil filters. I tell them they shouldn't being screwing around with all that and all they need to do is put a K&N Oil Filter on and you're over it. You don't have to worry about the oil filter at all. They more than do the job. Why people want to make things so difficult when they can just use K&N products is beyond me. We all have enough to worry about out there, this just totally takes care of one of them."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Last Minute Event for K&N's Dave Connolly Turns Into Victory During zMax NHRA Divisional

Sep 7, 2011

Most may wonder when Dave Connolly could possibly find the time to race himself with all that he has on his plate these days, including the crew chief position he currents holds on Erica Enders NHRA Pro Stock team, let alone not be rusty when he does. After a very last minute decision, Connolly chose to run the NHRA Div 2 event at zMax Dragway, just a short drive away from his home in North Carolina and not only did he compete on his "off weekend" but drove his 1981 Chevy Malibu all the way to the Super Street [10.90 Index] Wally.

NHRA Divisional Driver Dave Connolly

Connolly took a few minutes to replay the weekend's events following his full day of testing with Erica Enders on the Monday following his win. "I wasn't even planning on going since we have been so busy at the shop. Erica is a slave driver, she's been making us work too hard," Connolly joked, making sure she heard him in the background. "I didn't even have a motor in my Malibu. I was going to put it in, then going to put it in, but we kept working twelve hour days. By the time we got to Friday I thought, I'm not even going to go to that race. I'm going to take the weekend off and just go enjoy myself."

Once a racer, always a racer and come early Saturday morning, the idea of not competing when he had the chance, didn't sound like much fun. "Got up at five-thirty on Saturday morning and decided I wanted to race," he confessed. "So I went to the shop, put a motor in, thanks to a buddy of mine who came and helped me and off to the track I went."

He not only competed at the divisional event in Super Street, but also Top Dragster. "I made real good runs in the dragster, but ended up getting my butt kicked in first round," he admitted. "I make two horrible runs in the Malibu and I end up winning the race. That's just how it goes some days."

As he made his way through the early rounds in Super Street, Connolly continued to tweak the delay in his box to get better and better reaction times, and by third round they were almost too good. "I just started pulling a little more out of the box each time," he explained of his perfect light in round three. "Might have got a little carried away in my round against Mullis, but I had heard that the round before he had a .001 light and he can definitely lay down a run at any time, so it was a 'two-for-one' special [laughed]. I certainly wasn't trying for a perfect bulb, but it popped up there. I'm not near good enough to set up that tight, that was on accident."

With the round win, it gave Connolly a bye in the quarterfinals and he let the remaining contestants in the field know, that he was ready for what they may have for him with his dead-on index 10.906 pass. "After the ninety on the bye run and the good light, I knew where we were and kinda got the groove down for the last few rounds," he said.

Connolly tightened up just enough for the semifinal, that his .005 at the hit gave him .013 advantage over John Rollins which he near effortlessly turned into a round win. Rollins taking a huge chunk of stripe and went under the index by .015, Connolly quite safe, posting a 10.941.

Off to the final, Connolly was looking for his second Super Street win of the season and to do so he would need to get by Don Garbinski in his 1971 Challenger. Again being a terror on the tree, Connolly had a .016 reaction time advantage and he used all but five thousandths of it at the finish line. Both drivers went under the index and Connolly grabbed the NHRA Div 2 Super Street Wally on his 10.877 to Garbinski's 10.856.

"It was really a lot of fun and funny all at the same time," Connolly said of his first time behind the wheel in a while. "Sometimes you can take racing a little too seriously and it will actually hurt you. You know this race was really fun. It was a divisional, it was thirty minutes from the house and one of the other employees in the shop was out there running his Super Gas car and we were just out there hanging out. There wasn't a lot of preparation or thought that went into this race, but once you get out there and start going a few rounds you start getting more focused and realize 'hey, you've got a shot at winning this thing', so you start taking it a little more serious."

With everything that Connolly did in his last second thrash to attend the race, including putting a motor in the car the same morning he left for the event, the one thing that he didn't have to worry about was the condition of lubrication system, thanks to his K&N oil filter. "It was actually an old Sunset motor that I have had for two years," he said. "That thing kind of needs freshened up. All I did was spun the K&N oil filter off of it, cut it open to make sure there wasn't anything in it. Spun a new one on, put oil in it and went. When you use K&N products, like their oil and air filters, you can do things like that. You know you are protecting your engines the best way you possibly can."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Ray Connolly Rules Over Super Gas Class at NHRA Div 2 Event for His First Victory at Beech Bend

Sep 7, 2011

When you gotta make the next event, and points are on the line, longtime NHRA competitors, like K&N's Ray Connolly, won't let a little thing like hurting a motor stop them from getting to where they need to be. Connolly took care of business, both with the engine swap he needed to make, and the field of Super Gas entries to pick his latest NHRA Wally during the Lucas Oil Series Division 3 event at Beech Bend Raceway Park, in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

NHRA Super Gas Racer Ray Connolly

"Well, I hurt the motor in my Corvette Roaster at the IHRA event in Martin," said Connolly. "So I took the motor out of my dragster along with putting a new fuel system on it and everything seemed to work out alright."

Even though there was a test session available for racers on Thursday prior to the event, Connolly was still trying to get everything buttoned back up and was unable to take advantage of any additional track time, but missing an extra chance to get the combo tuned in, didn't hurt him one bit.

Connolly drove well right from the start, first sending home Scott Lemen in round one and a memorable round for him in round two, when he managed to send Trisha Allen packing. "I thought I was fast, she's so slow I didn't catch her until late," he said of the round. "I tried to make it really tight and well it ended up being one thousandth. You know that could have went either way. I was like ninety-five to her ninety-one and I just killed way too much."

He then went on to get by Xenia, Ohio's Tim Gillespie in his 1933 Ford, when Gillespie was a little too anxious on the tree and allowed Connolly a shot to really dial his car in for his round four pairing with Mark Sanders. It was there where some great top end driving skills came into play, as Connolly turned his being .012 behind on the starting line into a dead-on the index run at the stripe and sent Sanders away on a 9.883 breakout.

Now that the Super Gas field was down to five cars, Connolly was wondering who was getting the bye into the semis. "I asked in the staging lanes, 'Who gets the bye" and Kevin Kleineweber just smiled," he pointed out. "I said to him, 'So it must be you' and he goes yeah but you are running for it and I laughed 'Oh, OK'.

It was at this point Connolly could see that his chances of sewing up the Super Gas title were getting stronger and his shot at the most important bye of the race, into the final, was just a win light away. First, he needed to seal the deal against Ray Sawyer. Like so many of his earlier rounds of the weekend, Connolly was deadly at the finish line, this time it was a .003 margin and Connolly taking the holeshot win with his 9.934 to Sawyer's 9.925.

Now with his smooth free pass into the final where he showed that he was dialed in by putting a 9.898 on the board, he would be ready for the final round match up with 2011 Jeg's All-Star Super Gas Champ, Rusty Cook.

"Oh yeah, we have raced each other a lot over the years," noted Connolly when asked about Cook. "He's been really hot this year and well, running him or Kevin [Klineweber] would have made for a tough final."

In another absolute squeaker at the stripe, where it could have been anyone's game, Connolly came out on top for his first ever win at the Bowling Green event, with a .001 margin at the stripe or a mere five inches. When both cars are almost evenly paired in mile-per-hour, Cook's 165.54 to Connolly's 164.39, it makes for a heck of a drag race, as both drivers stare at each other going across the line in their respective Corvette Roadsters.

"I've been to the semis there, but that is really about it," admitted Connolly. "I've never been able to finish it there, so it felt really good. The win also came at a really good time."

Meanwhile, just two hours earlier Connolly's son Dave had wrapped up his respective race for the Super Street Wally during the NHRA Div 2 event at zMax Dragway in North Carolina. "No actually I didn't, but my wife was with me," when asked if he was able to personally keep tabs on Dave's plight for his final. "She was letting him know what was going up here and letting me know how he was doing, so he and I didn't actually talk until my race was over."

"I am really happy to get this win for everyone that supports what we do, including K&N," he said. "They have nothing but the best products, we really appreciate the help that they provide for us and our cars. I am looking forward to making some changes over the winter to my Super Gas car and going with a special molded K&N air filter like fellow K&N racer Craig Anderson has on his car. There isn't a whole lot of room with what I have to work with and it's the R&D that the guys do at K&N to make special pieces like they do for situation like this that just can't be beat. They understand sportsman racing, because so many of them are racers themselves and they listen to what our needs are and make things happen."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.