Press Release Zone

Dec 29, 2003 Sitko's change with the times

Mark King photo

After 25 years of Alcohol Dragster racing, the Sitko's have begun to make the switch to an Alcohol Funnycar. As a lot of you know we have been looking to buy an alcohol Funnycar since our home track in Edmonton made the switch to IHRA, but with the lack of funding we weren't looking very hard. Well we finally made a deal to get a Funnycar from Lou Gasparelli, a car that his son Steve crashed near the beginning of 2003. Since we build and repair our own chassis, and chassis for other racers, we will be front-halving the Funnycar, and making repairs to the body. When we're finished with it, the 2002 Firebird will be just like new and ready to put down some awesome numbers. The car is still mostly complete, with just a couple small pieces missing and/or damaged, so we will have to find some funding to complete the car and make the necessary repairs.

Our team's ultimate goal is to be ready and up to speed with the Funnycar for the IHRA Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton (July 2 - 4, 2004), but we also hope that it is ready for the beginning of May, so we can make some test passes and make the runs needed for me (Nathan) to make the cross-over from a TAD license to a TAFC license. Troy would complete his NHRA TAD license and drive the dragster at selected events.

We are diligently searching for major and associate sponsorship for the Funnycar, and also the dragster for the 2004 season and beyond. We have nearly enough parts to make both cars race-ready, but need some more funds to be able to make that a possibility. This is a great opportunity for a company to get double-exposure with both cars racing in different classes.
If you or your company would be interested in sponsoring our Alcohol Dragster or
Funnycar program, or both, check out our 'Become A Sponsor' page, or contact us through one of the email addresses or phone numbers at the bottom of this page.

Sitko Family Racing is very excited about the new Funnycar program and plan on coming into the mix in a big way when the IHRA event comes to our home town!

Dec. 17, 2003

InsideTopAlcohol.com Warm-up to be ran at Lonestar Raceway Park

SEALY, Texas - The second annual InsideTopAlcohol.com Warm-up has found a new home at Lonestar Raceway Park in Sealy, Texas, just west of Houston. The event will be used as a preseason test for many of the top names in Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car on Feb. 14 & 15. In addition to the featured 280 mph alcohol cars, the event will be an open test for many other forms of racecars.

Track owners Glen and Dee Brabham are excited to have drag racing's third and fourth quickest classes use their facility to test for the 2004 season. Expected to be on hand are top racers like David Wells (No. 4 national finisher in TAD), Lee Callaway (2002 Division 4 Champ), Karl Brounkowski and James Thompson among others.

"Drag racing is about going fast, so any time you bring cars out that are among the fastest in the world like the alcohol cars, its pretty exciting," said Brabham. "We booked in several alcohol cars last year, and the crowd really liked the side by side three-second, 200 mph+ excitement. We're excited about getting these cars back out here to see what kind of numbers they can put up in the good air we'll have here in February."

"In addition to the alcohol cars, we are going to open it up as a test session to all race cars as long as they have slicks," continued Brabham. "We expect to see some cars that participate in our King of the Strip heads-up program out here as well. We also have an IHRA divisional the next week, so it should be a good test for those cars, too."

InsideTopAlcohol.com owner/editor Will Hanna is excited to bring the event to Lonestar Raceway Park.

"Lonestar Raceway Park is really one of the best kept secrets in the country," stated Hanna. "It really is a top grade facility and the racing surface can hold it's own with any track out there. After seeing Lee Callaway go 3.68, 3.66, and 3.66 at 204 mph in the middle of July last year with a match race tune-up, I knew the track was capable of hosting such an event. Being a crew-chief on one of these cars myself, I can attest that the track here will provide a good test bed for these 3000 hp machines. I think once we hold this event, the secret will be out. Not only will it be great for the racers to test, but it will give the fans an opportunity to see some of the quickest and fastest cars to ever go down the Lonestar Raceway Park 1/8 mile. We hope to host this event at Lonestar for many years to come."

The event will start on Saturday, Feb. 14, and continue on Sunday, Feb. 15. Gates will open at 9 a.m. and testing will begin at 10 a.m. Teams will be able to park on Friday. Alcohol racers are required to pre-enter at InsideTopAlcohol.com.

For more information on Lonestar Raceway Park, visit their website at LonestarRaceway.com.

For questions regarding the event, email Will Hanna at Will.Hanna@InsideTopAlcohol.com

Dec. 16, 2003 Top Sportsman gets its foot in the door in Division six.

Great News. I just finalized the details with our DD, and although Top Sportsman will not happen next season. A Door Car Shootout will.

Its a great way to get the proverbial "foot in the door." Mike wants to see if there is enough interest in a Top Sportsman class by offering this "Shootout" which will be open to any doorcar that entered Top Comp and ran at least 8.19, Regardless of whether they made the Top Comp cut.

The first round will probably be run Friday evening and finished Saturday evening. $20.00 to get in, and, If there are at least 8 entries........ "A WALLY" to the winner..... Oh yea.... Winner also gets $500.00. Its basically a winner take all deal so in this case, Second place really does suck he he.

Its a great opportunity to show our DD that the cars are out there, and help convince him that Top Sportsman will work. If we promote it, I don't see any reason why we can't see 8 to 16 cars at each event.

So here it is in a nutshell Boys and Girls. If any of you would like to see a Top Sportsman class in the future. You need to support this shootout. Bring your car out to play next year. We have an opportunity to make some history here folks. Wouldn't you love to tell your kids, grandkids, nephews, friends (and even strangers lol) that you helped get a great class started in the Northwest. We all need to pull together and MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Every car is important. Lets make this thing work!!!!

The $500.00 Payout will be paid by a different sponsor at each race. Todd Hoerner, Dave Jackson and myself will each be sponsoring one of the races through our stores. I have committed to sponsor all the remaining ones myself if need be but am looking for sponsors that wish to receive the exposure (Or just want to help) if anybody is interested. email me at mrkar@aol.com

Frank Tamez
63 Corvette
TC 6552