The store will not work correctly when cookies are disabled.
Wir verwenden Cookies, um Ihre Erfahrungen besser machen.Um der neuen e-Privacy-Richtlinie zu entsprechen, müssen wir um Ihre Zustimmung bitten, die Cookies zu setzen. Erfahren Sie mehr.
Travis Pastrana's first venture in NASCAR can be deemed a success. He finished the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown in sixth place on Saturday night. He started the race in 20th and ran into only one little scrape through the 225 laps of the Showdown, that puts the top drivers from the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Travis Pastrada finished 6th at the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown
The race was filled with crashes and red flagged three times. Pastrana was almost collected in one of those crashes, but he maneuvered his way through the carnage with minimal damage to his right-side door and front fender.
He had to make an unscheduled pit stop to fix the front fender and keep it from rubbing on the front right tire on his car. Aside from that, Pastrana had an incident-free race and made up several spots in the final 25 laps.
There were two more red flag caution periods in the final 25 laps of the race. Pastrana avoided trouble in both of those and brought his car to the checkered flag in one piece.
He made modest strides throughout the weekend, between his first practice laps and qualifying on Friday to the race on Saturday night. He even gave his reputation a boost by meeting with fans in the stands after the race, which ended near midnight.
Pastrana made a huge improvement between his first practice session and his second for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown.
He went from 17th fastest in the first practice session to seventh fastest in the final one.
When he made his qualifying run, Pastrana posted the fifth fastest time. He was in the mix of the first half of the 45 drivers who made qualifying runs for the Showdown.
When the last driver qualified for the race, Pastrana was the 20th quickest. He wasn't as fast as the top drivers who race regularly in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East, but his time was respectable for a driver making his NASCAR debut.
"I didn't expect to be on top," said Pastrana, who was driving the No. 99 Toyota for Pastrana-Waltrip Racing in the Showdown. "I just hope we're not a road block."
Pastrana embraced the underdog role all weekend at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, site of the All Star Showdown. He downplayed his talent as a race car driver and emphasized his inexperience in NASCAR and racing stock cars.
"I definitely just need seat time, as much seat time as possible," Pastrana said. "I feel really comfortable in the car, but there's a huge difference between driving and racing. In motocross I was always better at racing, but I had experience. I started racing when I was 4 years old. That's all I've ever known - racing every weekend."
He had plenty of help preparing for the Showdown. Michael Waltrip was able to provide Pastrana with tips and strategies during test sessions. Matt Crafton, who raced late models at Irwindale earlier in his career and is a veteran of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, was been at the track and working with Pastrana as spotter and driving coach.
"Honestly, our lap times have been fairly good here," Pastrana said. "For me to get all the laps, the position on this race isn't so crucial. You want to do as good as possible. I'm just pumped to be out here and get as many laps as possible."
The car he's driving is a good one too. It's one of the cars Ryan Truex drove to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East championship last year. Pastrana said it's been a little bit of an adjustment in the new car.
"When I do what I'm supposed to do, the car works amazing," Pastrana said.
After the Showdown, Pastrana will return to his freestyle motocross ventures, touring with his Nitro Circus show and preparing for X Games in Los Angeles in July. He will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Indianapolis in July.
Before the Showdown, Pastrana said his first goal was to qualify for the race. He accomplished that.
"It's good to be not completely sucking at this point," Pastrana said.
"I feel pretty comfortable in the Toyota. Racing with Waltrip, they've lined me up with some great guys. I feel like I couldn't ask for a better system. If I need a change, they'll help me out and make it better, no matter what."
After a fantastic 2010 season for the family drag racing team based in Eugene, Oregon, where father Ron, daughter Rochelle and son Jim all found successes on the track in their respective classes, Pappel Racing prepares for a few new ventures in 2011.
Rochelle Pappel of Papple Family Racing
Rochelle remained a force to be reckoned throughout her numerous seasons competing in the JDRL (Junior Drag Racing League), so it was no surprise when, during the latter part of 2010, she began making the move out of the scale cars to the "big cars". She even competed in not one but three classes during the NHRA Division 6 E.T. Finals, which included Junior Dragster, High School and Sport Compact.
"Historically this year may be a little different due to Rochelle's other activities," said Ron Pappel who also races his own 1927 Ford Roadster. "She is very involved in track and trying to land some scholarships for college. So we may or may not run the full points circuit this season, like in year's past."
"We have finished putting together a preliminary schedule for 2011," he continued. "Right now we are looking at racing some of the bracket races at Woodburn [Oregon], Medford [Oregon], the National Open in Portland and the Lucas Oil race in Medford. There is even a possibility of going to the big Night of Fire event held in Boise."
There has been a lot going on behind the scenes for Pappel Racing as they prepare not only for the upcoming season, but also the changes to the cars in their stable.
"There is a deposit on selling the Jr. Dragster and we are looking for a third car [full size door car]. We have also been negotiating on a new stacker trailer that will hold two to three cars," he pointed out.
Ron Pappel of Papple Family Racing
"It will be a different type of season for us," Ron confessed. "With Rochelle's activities and my son, Jim getting married, it's just going to be really different. Plus after running the Jr. Dragster for nine seasons and having numerous track championships, two divisionals and one national, we will be approaching things quite different."
With a very busy schedule planned for Pappel Racing in 2011 and not just one, but three cars to keep in shape for competition, Ron Pappel knows from past experiences how important the parts they choose to use in each car can be.
"Our engine builders are so picky," Pappel noted. "When we tell them we are using all K&N products for our air and oil filters, boy are they happy."
"We run air filtration on all our motors, no matter what car," he continued. "K&N products are absolutely the best there are. You never have to worry about the quality of the product or the consistency of the product. We make a lot of runs in a weekend, we change our oil a lot and there is just never a question putting a new K&N oil filter back on."
Pappel is really looking forward to the 2011 season along with their new plans and feels that compared to season's past it will be almost, "relaxing" since he won't be "working constantly on that Jr. Dragster."
"We have never gone to a race without worrying about our position in points and this year for us to just be able to go race and not worry about that part, will just be a blast," he added. "To be able to go to events and tracks that we have never gone to, it's going to be great. We are just going to go and play hard."
Watch for Rochelle to be ‘playing hard' in both the High School and Pro Classes in Division Six, while Ron will continue to do so in his 1927 Roadster competing in both Super Pro and Super Gas at select events in 2011.
Dirt bike, ATV and Off-road truck racer Marty Hart
Dirt is in Marty Hart's blood. For 20 years, the veteran dirt bike, ATV and off-road truck racer has been spinning the tires with some of the best off-road racers alive. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that Hart dominated the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series' Pro Lite division. Hart captured 11 podiums in the 15 round season, his first with the Lucas Oil series.
Marty Hart dominated the Pro Lite division at the 2010 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series
"Winning Championships never gets old," Hart stated. "Each one just keeps getting sweeter. Our team did a phenomenal job all season, and it paid off with another championship."
Hart has built quite a resume in his two-decade long career. In 1984, he broke records in the SCORE Baja 1000 by becoming the first three-wheel team to defeat all other vehicles. Hart would go on to ride a factory ATV for American Honda, capturing three championships in six seasons. Hart continued to succeed in the dirt racing ranks when he was crowned the 1990 SCORE Class 5 Champion.
"I started in motocross, and went to ATV racing because I loved the dirt. If it throws dirt, I'll drive or ride it!" Hart added.
2010 Pro Lite Champion Marty Hart
In 2005 Hart won an ESPN Outdoor Games Gold Medal. In 2007, he burst onto the short-course truck scene with a Rookie of the Year season in the WSORP. He then captured the CORR Pro-Lite Championship in 2008. This season, Hart battled with off-road superstars like fellow K&N racer Chris Brandt and freestyle motocross legend Brian Deegan.
"Racing with Chris was great, he is a solid racer. Deegan, well lets just say we had our differences," Hart said.
Hart is already hard at work gearing up for the 2011 season, and K&N Filters is right there helping to ensure that 2011 is just as successful as 2010. "We have a huge desire to win, and so does K&N. Their filters help maintain engine life in a class that is brutal on engines. I've used K&N my entire life, and there is no better competition filter. K&N helps me race at my best."
The C.A.R.B. exemption sticker must be visible under the hood so that emissions inspectors can see it during an inspection.
My wife and I waited for a year after Honda introduced the Element before opting to buy one. The quirkiness of its design, which immediately drew us to it, was also the thing we figured we might grow weary of after the novelty wore off. Although today the roads are jammed packed with square cars, in 2002 when the Element came out, its cubist philosophy was so far out box that it became the box.
The Typhoon Intake System is highly effective and straightforward to install, and really opens the engine compartment. It adds to the cool factor too.
We live at the beach, have dogs, ride bikes and move stuff, and our Element, with the "clamshell" rear doors that pivot backward a full 90 degrees, has been up to every task we've asked of it. A fun fact is that in 2007, the Honda Element won the Dogcars.com's "Dog Car of the Year." How many cars can make that claim?
Our Element only recently hit 70k on the odometer, which is pretty much the break-in period for Honda's, so there's no reason to replace it anytime soon. And in fact, 2011 is the last year that Honda will be producing the Element, and with that comes the possibility that it may endure with the same enthusiasm as the ‘60's VW, becoming the love wagon of the 21st century in essence. Who knows, maybe someday we'll even stick some of those flower decals all over it, and hang curtains on the windows?
The K&N intakes replaces this mass of OEM plastic and rubber.
Over the years there has basically only been one model generation of the Element, and the only significant change, other than switching for plastic to metal body panels, has been a slight increase in horsepower. Enter the K&N Intake System.
Having written hundreds of stories for K&N, about race teams and regular consumers around the globe that wouldn't even consider using anything but K&N products on their vehicles, you'd think I would have caught a clue earlier. Honesty, it's almost like I believed guaranteed horsepower gains only happened to other people. It wasn't until I was recently doing an oil change and screwing on my K&N oil filter that I had a huge "duh" moment. Yes, I too was worthy of more horsepower.
K&N can confidently declare guaranteed horsepower in every intake kit they sell because they actually test it first. Every intake kit
is tested on a dynamometer. K&N measures actual real-world horsepower, not what's on the window sticker when you purchase your car. In order to make horsepower measurements appear more impressive they are often recorded at the engine. However, there's generally a loss of horsepower through the drive train, so what you read on the sticker is not what your wheels are putting on the road.
On one of K&N's Dynojet dynamometers, running at 4800 rpm, my new intake showed a nifty added increase of just under
seven horsepower. I'll take that any day. That puts our slightly long-in-the-tooth Element right back with its younger siblings.
Replacing the Element's unnecessarily bulky air cleaner assembly, inlet tubes and resonator box, is a piece of cake for the moderately handy do-it-yourselfer. The step-by-step instructions provided with the intake come with pictures making then easy to follow. And you won't believe how much the new K&N Typhoon Intake System opens up your engine compartment.
The OEM (original equipment manufacturer) air cleaner assembly was designed with aesthetics as a priority, not functionality. That's not smack-talk about Honda, or any other manufacturer, when you open the hood of a new car you'd much rather see it beefy-full from stern to bow. Yet, it's that very design consideration that's cuts into its true special purpose - delivering oxygen into the combustion cycle. Short of an oxygen tank injection, nothing sucks more air into your engine than the Typhoon.
If you're a little iffy about your mechanical skills, or simply don't have
time, your auto care provider should require no more than 90 minutes for the
install, so don't let them tell you it was an all day job.
My wife and I have been running casual gas mileage tests on the Element since installing the intake, it appears we may actually be getting a mile or two more mpgs too, but it's tough to tell. The thing is we don't lollygag around town like we used to. It is after all tough to resist the sound of the Typhoon breathing heaping-helpings of air when we press down on the accelerator.
- Olaf Wolff
The 2010 Scion xB isn't just another pretty face, it's also loyal and reliable daily driver.
The 2010 SEMA show was custom car builder Mario Buendia first time at the Las Vegas car extravaganza and his reaction was "WOW. A lot of people and nice cars."
doors on Buendia's SEMA Scion are care of Vertical Doors, Inc.
As in so many other automotive endeavors, skills such building custom cars, are often handed down from one family member and generation to the next. "My family has been building cars for a long time - it runs in my blood," said Buendia. "I started building cars the moment I bought a car which was my Honda."
Before building the 2010 Scion xB that Buendia displayed at SEMA, he built a 1998 Honda Accord with 20 inch wheel, including a complete custom autosound system. And before that he had a 2007 Scion tC with a custom built fiberglass sub-woofer enclosure, suede interior, TRD suspension and exhaust, 18 inch HP Lighting wheels, a K&N intake, and a very custom Supermario hood. Buendia's inspiration for the cars he builds is the people around him. We have to suspect that's because the people around him are into custom cars.
What makes Buendia's Scion xB showcar unique is that it's not only eye-candy, it's a real world commuter.
"When not at shows it's my daily driver. I Drive 61 miles to work every day so, I drive my car 122 miles daily." Buendia works at Vertical Doors, Inc. in Corona, California, which is where he did the work on the Scion's vertical doors.
Buendia explains that the process for his getting the Scion to the SEMA show was extremely long and stress laden. "First we got the K&N intake installed, next was the Air-Ride, next the upholstery, and finally it was the fiberglass custom (sound) enclosure."
Buendia's explains that he uses K&N air and oil filters and went with the K&N high-flow intake system simply because "I wanted the best performance for my car." He's been using K&N products exclusively since 2007. His tip for up-and-coming car builders is just as straightforward, "Be open to negative feedback."
It was Buendia's deep appreciation for Scions that brought him to the car club, Revoluscion CC. "Revoluscion CC is a family with the same goal in mind," remarks Buendia. "We have been meeting in downtown Los Angeles since ‘07. Our main goal is to build nice looking cars while still having fun."
Buendia says his goal for next year is to return to SEMA and to place in all the major shows. "The sky is the limit," adds Buendia.
