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GR Motorsports is Committed to Racing and Having Fun

28.04.2010

GR Motorsports is a family committed to racing and having fun

GR Motorsports of Cushing Wisconsin was established in 1992 by Bill Gross. As a teenager, Bill became interested in racing. In addition to his involvement in several stock star teams, he also raced snowmobiles and even horses. No surprise then that two of Bill's seven sons, Jason and Jeremy, now race full time.

GR Motorsports was established in 1992 by Bill Gross

In 1992, eldest son Jason began his career racing four cylinder mini stocks. During this time, he won a combined total of 30 races. "After that, I moved up to WISSOTA Modified class where I raced weekly at Rice Lake Speedway," says Jason. "I qualified for 13 of 18 features that year and went on to be named Rookie of the Year." More accolades followed for Jason. In 1999, he won his first feature race at Kopellah Speedway in St. Croix Falls, WI and was runner up in points in 2003.

"I had a record year in 2004, winning Track Champion at Kopellah Speedway for the Modified class with six feature wins," says Jason. "I was ranked 4th in Wisconsin State Points and 18th in National Points out of 550 registered drivers and went on to be named Track Champ at Kopellah for the next two years." In 2008, he enjoyed two feature wins, and came in 4th in NASCAR National Points at Cedar Lake Speedway where he also had ten top 10 feature finishes. 2009 brought two feature wins, and a 5th place finish in the points at Cedar Lake Speedway.

Younger brother Jeremy started his racing career in 2000, running a few races in the pure stock class. Jeremy ran a full season in 2001 and earned himself his very own Rookie of the Year at Kopellah Speedway with ten feature wins, a mid season championship and Track Points Champion in the Pure Stock class. "In 2002, I moved up to run in the Super Stock class, finishing the season with 7th place in track points, and earning another Rookie of the Year title at Kopellah Speedway," says Jeremy. He continued to run the Super Stock class and walked away with one feature win, seven top five finishes, and 3rd in track points at Kopellah Speedway in 2003.

"I decided that I wanted to try running in the modified class, so with the help of my brother Jason, I ran a limited modified schedule at Kopellah and took second in track points that year in the Super Stock," says Jeremy. He went on to win eight heat races, three feature races, 14 top five finishes and a 4th place finish in the Wissota Super Stock Points.

In 2007, Jeremy concentrated on his Modified, garnering eight top five finishes and a 5th place in track points at Cedar Lake Speedway. "I raced in Barberville, FL in 2008 at the Alltel Winter Nationals, where I finished top twenty in points," says Jeremy. "I took 5th in NASCAR National Points at Cedar Lake Speedway where I had ten top 10 finishes." Jeremy took 4th in track points at Cedar Lake Speedway in 2009.

Both brothers have started the 2010 season off with a bang. Jason is currently building a new 2011 Matrix Chassis and Jeremy welcomed his first child in February. "I had a great start to the 2010 season, with a feature win my first night racing at Cedar Lake and a 4th place finish my second night," says Jason. Jeremy started off his season with a top 10 finish, and then wrecked his car the second race of the season. "Hopefully, it will be ready to go for the next race," says Jeremy.

So what about the rest of this talented racing family? Father Bill owns and operates Gross Trucking and he is also the team transporter. Bill's wife Vicki is the team Mom, cook, and biggest fan. Vicki and Bill have seven children, all boys with names that start with the letter J. "Jared is the team machinist and can build anything. Jordan is the fabricator, and if you can dream it, he can make it reality. John and Jamison are the team 'gophers' - they help us with anything and they are in the pits and the stands every night for support. Last, but not least, Justin is the family car salesmen and the team manager," says Jason.

The team at GR Motorsports is a family committed to racing and having fun. "We do our best to promote the sport, as well as the sponsors in the most professional way possible," says team manager Justin. "Our goal for the 2010 season is to race in at least 60 shows at Superior and Cedar Lake speedways, in order to advertise our sponsors at as many tracks as possible. We will do our best to see that we bring home a Track Championship to be in contention for national points," says Justin. "We would not be able to do this without the help of our wonderful partners at K&N and all their great products they provide. Dirt track racing demands the best and K&N delivers."

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.

Southern-Nevada's Justin Lamb Scores First Las Vegas NHRA National Victory in Super Stock

28.04.2010

Justin Lamb Scores First NHRA National Super Stock Victory in Las Vegas

No stranger to the winner's circle, whether it be in his K&N Super Stock Cobalt or one of his other three cars, 22 year old UNLV student Justin Lamb acquired the first NHRA National Event win by a local resident at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals.

Justin Lamb's K&N Super Stock Cobalt

Competing and winning at the venue is nothing new for Lamb as he has raced at the facility since his Jr. Dragster days.

While Lamb didn't consider any of his round match ups to be easy ones during this event, he points out that the third round where he was paired with defending NHRA Super Stock Champ Jimmy DeFrank sticks out most in his mind.

"It's not like I tell anyone this, but I really felt like whoever won that round was going to win the race," Lambs says of the round. "I mean he's a four time champion and defending one at that. I just felt like it was going to be a tough round."

"When I looked at the ladder and saw who was left, I mean it might be overly confident but I think that Jimmy and I had the best chance of winning after our round," he continued. "We had the better side of the ladder and we were both driving well."

In this case it was Lamb who was drove the better of the two, posting a .005 light, giving him a two-hundredths advantage at the start and carried it though for the win light over the defending champ.

The round win was a major confidence booster for Lamb and he continued to work his way though his side of the ladder, which he studies and knows quite a bit about each of his competitors, from how they've been driving right down to how their cars take the stripe. His final round competitor, sportsman stand-out, Brad Plourd was no exception.

"The big thing about Super Stock is like my car takes the stripe with the nose," he explained. "Brad's car takes it with the front wheel, as most do. But like with Jimmy, his car takes with the nose. So you have to really pay attention as to what part of the car takes the stripe. But then again, a car like Brad's can also take the stripe with the nose, should he get on the brakes right at the stripe."

"I was really feeling good about my chances in the final. Brad hadn't been running all that good during the weekend, he really wasn't hitting the tree like usual and was really getting lucky," Lamb continued.

Nine time Wally winner Plourd saved his best reaction time of the event for the Super Stock final, bettering Lamb on the tree by .007 and helped make it one of the closer races you'll see in the class.

With only a mere margin of .005 at the stripe, Lamb denied the win to Plourd and grabbed his seventh NHRA National Event win in his ninth final round appearance.

One never knows what class or car Lamb will show up to an event in.

"I've never been one to be much interested in chasing points. I have four cars and run four classes, Comp, Super Gas, Super Stock and Super Comp," he said. "And Top Dragster, if you want to count that. I just race whatever I feel like racing and I like it that way."

With a full stable of machines, Lamb keeps each one of them is protected with K&N products from oil filters to air filters.

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.

Team Babbitt's 2010 AMA Arenacross Series Championship Sweep Best in History

28.04.2010

"The over the top commitment delivered by team manager Denny Bartz and owner Eddie Babbitt's gave us everything we needed to win," commented Demuth

If Team Babbitt's 2010 arenacross season was scripted as an upcoming blockbuster movie it would be dismissed as being far too freakishly far-fetched. No one team could so totally dominate a championship series - could they? Believe it. The record books have been rewritten - Team Babbitt's trifecta sweep of the Arenacross Championship podium will go down as best team finish in AMA history.

The 2010 Arenacross Championship was Josh Demuth's third, but his first ever as a part of a team podium sweep

The last race of the 2010 AMA Arenacross season has been contested and with it Team Babbitt's "Dream Team" experienced a near flawless season of wins and triumphs. When the dust settled at Denver Coliseum, site of the last race, Team Babbitt's owned not only first place with Josh Demuth (his third AMA Arenacross Championship), but also second with Chad Johnson, and third place with Tyler Bowers.

"The over the top commitment delivered by team manager Denny Bartz and owner Eddie Babbitt's gave us everything we needed to win. I couldn't have asked for a better team to ride for and be represented by. I'm sure Bowers and Johnson would agree," commented Josh Demuth.

Some of the team's other 2010 highlights include 18 out of 19 main event wins, 42 podiums out of 57, and six podium sweeps. Babbitt's also locked up the Arenacross East and West Coast Lites Champions with Dano Aulseybrook and AJ Catanzaro, respectively.

"I have always dreamed of having a podium sweep, but never a Championship ending podium sweep, the feeling is almost impossible to describe," remarked team owner Eddie Babbitt's. "The whole team is pumped, each rider is proud to have been a part of such a successful season, great bikes and a great run program with awesome sponsors have made it all come together."

Babbitt's says that being prepared well in advance of the season opener and working with solid sponsors that he can count on all contributed to the kind of stellar season the team had.

"Congratulations to Demuth, Johnson and Bowers. They made my dreams come true, I couldn't have asked for a better team this year," explains Babbitt's. "Our sponsors truly stepped up as well, giving us the ability to provide nothing but excellence to our riders, we came in prepared, our bikes were built of perfection and we showed a Kawasaki factory presence every weekend. With this level of dedication we delivered a championship title to our sponsors. K&N has been behind us since 2006 (parts KA-2506XD and KN-207) the performance and durability we gain with K&N products is second to none."

How do you follow-up on a season like this and how do you motivate the team to strive for even greater goals? "Well I think the motivation comes natural and I don't know what we could do better next year this was almost a perfect season, so to sweep could be quite difficult, but to win the Championship - we look forward to repeating in 2010," expressed a very confident Babbitt's.

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.

Rugged 2010-2016 Toyota 4Runner And FJ Cruiser Get Increased Performance with K&N Air Filter

26.04.2010

Toyota continues to offer rugged, but refined, mid-size SUVs in a market where most manufacturers have gravitated toward uni-body cross over vehicles. This leaves true off-road enthusiasts with limited options when looking to purchase a highly capable SUV.

K&N's 33-2438 for 2010 to 2016 Toyota 4Runner and FJ Cruiser 4.0L V6 models.

Toyota 2010 FJ Cruiser

Many advanced electronic off-road assist features are available on the 2010 to 2016 4Runner and FJ Cruiser. Along with tough suspension and frames these electronic assist features propel these Toyotas into a class comparable to a Jeep Wrangler.

For 2010-2013 4Runner and FJ Cruiser models equipped with a 4.0L V6 engine, K&N can help to increase performance with its new High-Flow Air Filter™ number 33-2438.

K&N air filters provide less restriction than typical paper air filters, which can increase the efficiency of the combustion process. Allowing your engine to breathe easier can give your car extra horsepower and extra acceleration that can come in handy, even during every day driving. The simple drop in design makes a K&N replacement air filter an easy, and ecological, performance add-on.

Made from cotton instead of paper, this air filter never needs to be replaced. 33-2438 will require cleaning every 50,000 miles under normal highway driving conditions. It will provide outstanding engine protection for the life of your vehicle, and since it never needs to be replaced, part number 33-2438 will help to reduce waste.

K&N stock replacement air filters for street vehicles are covered by our famous K&N Million Mile Limited Warranty^® and will be the last air filter your vehicle will ever need.

The K&N air filter 33-2438 fits the following vehicles:
2016 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2016 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2015 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2015 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2015 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8
2014 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2014 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 4.0L V6
2014 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2014 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8
2013 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2013 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 4.0L V6
2013 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2013 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8
2012 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2012 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 4.0L V6
2012 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2012 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8
2011 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2011 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 4.0L V6
2011 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2011 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8
2010 TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4.0L V6
2010 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 4.0L V6
2010 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER 4.0L V6
2010 LEXUS GX460 4.6L V8

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.

All Odds Were in Favor of NHRA Pro Stock Driver Mike Edwards at Las Vegas

26.04.2010

Mike Edwards takes NHRA Pro Stock victory in Las Vegas

After a semi-final round exit at the NHRA Spring Nationals event just the weekend before in Houston, Mike Edwards, driver of the Penhall/Interstate Batteries/K&N Pontiac GXP, rolled into The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ready to play a Pro Stock hand that was going to be hard to beat.

K&N Horsepower Challenge points leader Mike Edwards

During the first qualifying pass for the Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals, K&N Horsepower Challenge points leader Edwards didn't make quite his usual straight-to-the-top lap down the track and found himself a few hundredths shy of the leader.

"We had some issues with engine and had to make some changes with that," he says of the first shot at the track. "We worked on it and got it to come around a little better for the next pass."

Edwards's car had already had several planned changes made to it and its setup after the NHRA event in Houston, due to the major differences in air conditions that would be present during the Las Vegas race.

"Going from I would say, one extreme to the other when you have conditions in Houston where it's sea level and a thirty inch barometer to the altitude you have in Vegas and a twenty-seven inch barometer, you know several of the changes you are going to make going in," commented Edwards. "We have run there a lot so we pretty much know, but you always have to make your first run and see how it all laid out for you."

Results from the Friday night session would show that the changes the team made were certainly in the right direction as Edwards would bounce back up to the familiar territory of the number one spot, which Edwards even managed to better come session number three.

"Saturday morning we made a pretty nice run," Edwards said of his run that would claim both top E.T. and speed for the event.

That "pretty nice run" was also enough for Edwards to have almost a full three-hundredths of a second on the number two qualifier and a full eight hundredths heading into race day over his first round competitor, number sixteen qualifier, Rickie Jones.

Based on Edwards's average reaction times, one may have thought his oh-sixty-one light in round number one may have been by him wanting to play it safe on the tree.

"I don't know if I would say I was taking it easy, we were just trying to be conservative about everything and make a good run and just try not to do anything really wrong the first round," explained Edwards. "You never really know what the track is going to hold first round but it helped us to know what adjustments we needed to make for second round."

Edwards continued on past Warren Johnson in round two and local resident Greg Anderson in the semi-finals before making his way to pair up with Greg Stanfield in his first Pro Stock final at the Las Vegas venue.

Stanfield, who was the number eleven qualifier, needed to go for all he could on the line during final, knowing Edwards had slightly more than six-hundreds in E.T. over him in the previous round and hadn't run numbers anywhere near that of Edwards throughout the entire event.

While Stanfield managed to pull out a little on the tree, Edwards had it more than made up by the time they reached the three-thirty foot mark and was no match for the Penhall/K&N GXP of Edwards who went on to take the stripe by almost fourteen feet, safely sailing into his fourth victory of the season, twenty-fourth overall and his very first in Las Vegas.

The K&N Horsepower Challenge Points leader, thanks to his phenomenal amount of number one qualifiers since the 2010 points began accumulating last June, also not only holds the current lead in NHRA Pro Stock Championship Points chase, but is doing so by a whopping two-hundred sixty-one points over number two, 2008 K&N Horsepower Challenge Champion, Allen Johnson.

Next the NHRA Full Throttle series heads to Madison, IL, just outside of St. Louis, MO for the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals, April 30 - May 2.

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.