 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
June 4, 2003 Marine
City, MI, June 3, 2003. Erickson Manufacturing is pleased to announce
expanded participation to become the major sponsor of Rob Atchison's
IHRA Alcohol Funny Car. President Brent Erickson stated we have been
an associate sponsor with Atchison Racing for 2 years and have been
happy to be part of their racing family. I knew Rob and crew were winners
on and off the track from the beginning and their recent victory at
the IHRA Mopar Canadian Nationals is a stepping stone to success for
both Atchison Racing and Erickson Manufacturing. Erickson Manufacturing
a world leader for over 25 years in Tie Downs and Tow Straps with manufacturing
locations in Thamesville, Ontario, Canada and Marine City, Michigan
employing 90 people. Erickson plans to release a Hi-Performance Product
Line especially suited to racers who appreciate high quality products
at a fair price in 2003. You can visit Erickson on the Web at www.ericksonmanufacturing.com
and Atchison Racing at www.atchisonracing.com . Alan Johnson will take over the crew chief responsibilities for the United States Army Top Fuel dragster, it was announced Sunday in Topeka by team owner Don Schumacher. Johnson, who has been regarded as one of the most innovative and successful crew chiefs in the Top Fuel class, will replace Wes Cerny, following the O'Reilly Summer Nationals at Heartland Park. "We've been struggling, so we needed to make a change right now," said Schumacher. 'At the moment, we're barely in the top 10 in points. We have an obligation to the U.S. Army to challenge for a championship. We're looking for Alan to quickly turn this program around. As for Wes, we wish him nothing but the best. He's clearly a man of intelligence and integrity." Johnson comes to Schumacher Racing with three NHRA Top Fuel world titles, 29 career victories, and 49 career No. 1 qualifying efforts on his resume. As team owner and crew chief, he guided Gary Scelzi, former Top Fuel driver for Team Winston and now a Funny Car driver in the Schumacher Racing stable, to three NHRA crowns in 1997, 1998 and 2000. "How ironic that the guy who battled us tooth and nail for a few years is now working for Schumacher Racing," said Schumacher. "While the team has been working extremely hard all season long, we're hoping that Alan will provide the spark needed to get the Army team back into contention. Alan knows he's getting the best team available to work with. To that end, he's keeping the entire crew intact." Johnson, who owns and operates a company in Santa Maria, Calif. that specializes in building cylinder heads for car, motorcycle, and boat racing teams, once dominated Top Alcohol Dragster competition with his late brother, Blaine, in the early 1990's. They managed to secure four straight championships and five consecutive NHRA divisional titles. Additionally, the 2000 Car Craft Magazine Crew Chief of the Year, developed a Funny Car program for the 2001/2002 seasons. During that time, he posted a victory, six final-round appearances, and five No. 1 qualifying spots. May 23rd. West Coast Pro Mod hits Boise's Firebird Raceway! Glen Kerunsky has championship mindset in 2003 Glen and Cindy Kerunsky have high hopes for the
2003 West Coast Pro Mod season after incredible early season results,
with their new bright yellow '57 Chevy. Glen has been a truck guy through
and through, based on his first three racing entries being the box variety,
but he felt it was time for something different, especially if he wanted
to be truly competitive in the Pro Mod ranks. The debut for the car
was stellar to say the least, as they qualified #1 at the Darlington
Spring open with a great 6.265/224mph blast. Quain Stott, Mitch Stott,
Rickie Smith Mike Ashley were all behind Glen on the ladder. Unfortunately
the weather did then in and the event was canceled. From there, Glen
and team traveled to San Antonio for the inaugural IHRA event there,where
they were qualified well into the field when the rains hit, and that
event to was canceled until a week later. Unfortunately Glen could not
return for the completion. Glen's first race on the West Coast Pro Mod
tour was one of his best as he qualified #1 and went on to win the event
over another Tim McAmis built car, one cool Roadmaster driven by Kip
Dupuis. The win certainly gave Glen and Cindy along with crew chief
Terry Morrow and the rest of the crew, a jump start to what they are
hoping for, a 2003 championship season. Fellow Canadian Trevor Lowe
is the only Canuck to win the series, a feat he did twice, and this
year, it is time for the veteran team from Calgary to take the reign.
As Glen told me, "we want to make McAmis proud (car builder Tim
McAmis), but we also want to show him that the West Coast racers are
tough". Glen also put a little teasing dig to McAmis, as Tim lost
in Englishtown last week, after running an NHRA AMS series best 6.084,
but having a snooze like .100 light. He also said he wants to win the
series this year, being consistent without hurting to many parts. When
it is necessary to go fast, they will, as their 6.26 lap proves. Stay
tuned for the results from Boise this weekend, including today's test
session. Qualifying starts Saturday, with three sessions in the evening,
at 5:45 pm, 7:45 PM and 9:15 PM April 22, 2003 Evans Racing plans are revealed for 2003!! John and Darlene Evans
much secretive (not so to a few) plans for the 2003 racing season are
here! The two year project that has been the new Top Comp Dragster is
finally ready to hit the track, next weekend for the May 2-4 Lucas Oil
event. To go along with the Blown (low 7's anticipated) Top Comp Dragster,
John's Super Comp dragster
The second announcement
for the Evans race team, is a marketing partnership with SpeedZone Magazine
and Speedzonemagazine.com. This is a very exciting venture for both
the magazine and for Darlene and John Evans. Included with be very prominent
Arnie Karp Makes Four
Laps to Begin Licensing Procedure BAYTOWN, Texas -- Arnie Karp got his first taste of nitro on Monday, in his bid to gain a Nitro Funny Car license in order to drive the upcoming Artisan Home Entertainment Funny Car for Worsham Racing. As part of the licensing process, Karp must make a series of intermediate runs, followed by two competitive full passes. At Houston Raceway Park on Monday Karp made four intermediate runs. Karp's first pass was a solid 60-foot launch, followed by a 400-foot intermediate run, another to near mid-track, and finally a beautifully straight and clean 1000-ft run. Driving the car he will be using this season, his tune-up was barely detuned from race day set-ups. His intermediate clockings were on a par with many runs this past weekend at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals. During this licensing process, the team is using a former Team CSK blue team body, formerly used by Frank Pedregon. "I'm not sure I can put into words what today means to me," Karp said. "I've been counting the days until today, then counting the hours. To get in there and drive a Nitro Funny Car was awesome. There's a lot to remember, and when they say you're going to be impressed with the launch, they're right. It's unbelieveable how hard this car leaves the line. But I could see well, I felt like I was controlling the car, and all I want to do is get back in and run some more. "The goal on Tuesday will be to stretch it out to the finish line, and that's something I'm looking forward to. This Artisan Home Entertainment team is just getting to know each other, but Garry Kennedy has them working like a unit, and I had a great race car under me for my first taste of nitro." April 8, 2003, Big Changes For John Evans Racing. John Evans Racing announce this past weekend
that Bill Evans has retired from the race team as driver and (The new car shown here on the right, Bill in the S.Comp car above).
April 1, 2003 NHRA NORTHWEST DIVISION
ANNOUNCES CHANGE IN LUCAS OIL SERIES SCHEDULE (this is not an
April Fools Joke!) I applaud Calgary for making a stand against the Insurance company in this dispute. Hopefully everything can be worked out for them, and the other tracks, that this insurance issue affects. I will be doing an editorial on this very subject (insurance after 9-11) in the very near future. This is very exciting for the majority of racers in this division because so many have said, they wish more than one event was held at a facility such as Mission every year. I do feel for the Calgary bracket racers and the fans as well. The bracket racers, because this year, the et. finals are as close as they ever get to their home track (7-8 hours) and they will not be allowed to compete at them. Secondly for the fans because they don't get the chance to see the biggest Top Alcohol stars this division has to offer. Their Lucas Oil event last year, played out in front of close to or maybe even more than 12,000 fans for the entire weekend.
RACE CITY MOTORSPORT PARK for immediate release - March 31, 2003 RACE CITY DRAGSTRIP TO BE INDEPENDENT IN '03! Race City Motorsport Park announced today that the facility's "This is strictly a business decision," stated
Race City's Chief Kuntz went on to say that reports the track has plans
to switch to The two major drag race meets scheduled for 2003, the
Fathers Day Race City is Canada's most versatile motorsport facility, (updated Mar 29, 2003) Calgary's Race City is a track with no (name) sanctioning.......... Here is the inside scoop (from
the CDRA) regarding Calgary's Race City and the rumors so far... My personal feeling in this is that they will be sanctioned by the IHRA and they will get a IHRA National event in 2004. This is only my personal feeling and in no way do I have any inside info, although a number of racers have emailed me and told me that they have heard that the track will become IHRA. We'll see how this saga plays
out. Dean
SPEEDZONEMAGAZINE.COM IS HERE! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "There are lots of magazines, and there are lots of websites" says Canadian Publisher/Editor Dean Murdoch. "We have both." As the drag racing magazine Speedzone
enters it's fifth year of publication, the Canadian-based firm has introduced
an all new website "It was a natural progression" said Murdoch. "We are now one of the only drag racing print magazines that has a full service web site". "Full service" means that speedzonemagazine.com is not simply an online advertisement for the print version. "The site will have some content similar to the print publication, but it will also have a full slate of original content". The site also includes a forum for registered users. "For the moment we will concentrate on west coast issues, but that will not stop us from covering anything in the world of drag racing and beyond" states Murdoch firmly. The site's Webmaster is Larry Pfister, owner of one of the west coast's longest running drag sites horsepowerheaven.com. "I started with this in the mid 90s" says Pfister "The Speedzone site will supplement or possibly even replace my site. This will be better for everyone involved." The new site already has access to a number of experienced writers, photographers and videographers who have the opportunity to create a multimedia site like few other drag sites can. "This site will eventually utilize video in a big way. From coverage to promotion we intend to take this technology to the limit in every way possible", states Pfister. "Advertisers especially will have multimedia opportunities on speedzonemagazine.com that no other drag site currently offers." Look for the site to go through somewhat of a test period for the first couple of months as new content is added and edited. "We already have enough feedback to make us to look at a few changes and additions" says Murdoch. For advertising information please contact Dean Murdoch at speedzone@telus.net For site technical info please contact Larry Pfister at larryp@horsepowerheaven.com Speedzone Magazine Subscriptions are available for $25 from: Speedzone Magazine or our U.S. address: Box 2923 |
was
looking for a new driver, as Bill Evans has taken a hiatus from drag
racing. The NEW driver was out making some upgrade license passes, and
to say they were successful, was an understatement. One of bracket racing's
top performers, and sophomore Stock racer, Cory Thompson (John and
Cory right) got his first taste of 8 second 150mph racing, as he
got his required six runs in this past weekend, in a hectic Easter Sunday
of drag racing. How about lights in the low .4's (.0's for all you new
system racers) including a best of .412 I think. His final full out
passes were in the 8.60's at 155+mph. Cory's crew chief on the Super
Comp car will be his dad Buzz, and he was out as well learning all the
tuning 
aspects
of the injected alcohol small block. While, John nor Cory expect there
to be a win on the resume this year, they both expect a number of middle
to late round finishes. It should be very exciting in the Evans racing
pits this year.
decaling
on both race cars as well as the car hauler, and an extensive racing
schedule which includes the six remaining divisional events, the national
open series, the NHRA Seattle North West Nationals and the inaugural
IHRA Edmonton Rocky Nationals. The schedule will really assist SpeedZone
Magazine in their goal of getting their product out to the racers and
fans in the North West. Copies of the magazine as well as information
on subscribing will be at all events, as well as various promotions.
Look for the bright yellow trailer in the sportsman pits to get your
copy of SpeedZone Magazine. Get in the Zone!
crew
chief effective immediately. Bill has taken on new responsibilities
in his job with the transit corporation (Coast Mountain), and will be
unable to fulfill his duties as both driver of the Super Comp Car, and
Crew Chief for the two car team. John, who will debut the new blown
rear engined Top Comp car within the next month, was disappointed, but
respects the made by Bill. But, much like the optimist that John is,
he
stated that he has already found the new driver for the Super Comp car
and capable Crew chief as well, after going through his short list over
the past week. He and the new sponsor for the team will make the major
announcement shortly. Stay tuned!