Team Press Releases

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 14, 2010) - Cory McClenathan is hot, and it's not just because of the brilliant neon orange color of his fire suit and the FRAM Top Fuel dragster he's driving in the 2010 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. He demonstrated heat on the race track as well at the season-opening 50th annual NHRA Winternationals. He stormed the field by qualifying No. 1 with a 3.787/320.05, then dismissed Steve Faria in the opening round of eliminations with a 3.843/318.77 (second quickest of the round). He followed that with a 3.855/314.39 (also second quickest) to take out Shawn Langdon in the quarterfinals. He met his match in the semifinal round against Doug Kalitta, whose previous laps of 4.518/254.14 and 3.929/309.84...

Pomona, Calif. (Feb. 14, 2010) – Team Mopar® NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series driver Allen Johnson wrapped up his debut weekend in his brand new 2010 Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger in promising fashion, powering his new ride to a semifinals result at the 50th Annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals. Johnson claimed his 190th career round win during the event and is now third in the Pro Stock point standings following the season-opening action at Auto Club Dragway at Pomona, Calif. Johnson started his Mopar Dodge Avenger No. 4, gaining three bonus points overall during qualifying. The Greeneville, Tenn., native knocked off Steve Spiess in the opening round on the strength of a 6.637/209.49 run. Johnson dialed up another solid...

[coverattach=1]POMONA, Calif. (February 14, 2010) -- If the Chinese Proverb that says 'A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step' is correct, then Terry McMillen and his Amalie Oil Top Fuel dragster took two giant steps forward at the 50th running of the NHRA Winternationals this weekend. "We didn't get a chance to test over the winter," McMillen explained. "So, just getting our car in the show was a big first step." McMillen qualified his ride in the 13th spot, keeping his perfect qualifying record as team owner/driver intact. The Indiana based team made many changes in the off season, including the addition of new crew chief, Richard Hartman. "Richard did a great job," McMillan said. "He basically came in...

POMONA, Saturday: Life is moving very fast for Shane Gray. It was just one week ago, that he earned his Pro Stock license and now he is preparing to make his first professional start. He will join his father, veteran driver, Johnny Gray as the two take their new Pontiac GXP’s equipped with their newly developed Gray Motorsports power plants and try their hand against the competition at the 50th annual NHRA Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals. Gray joined his dad in building a new program for themselves in the off-season and weren’t sure what to expect when they rolled in to the famed Auto Club Raceway at Pomona complex a few days ago. But the two determined racers showed everyone what they were able to accomplish as they put both...

POMONA, Saturday: Johnny Gray started out this weekend with a new car, a new engine program, and a new teammate, his son, Shane. This is a great amount of challenges to tackle all at once. But the veteran driver and team owner took them on with a vengeance and came out the conqueror. Both Gray and his son qualified for the 50th annual NHRA Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals at the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona and began the 2010 season on a high note. “To get both cars in the show was a goal that we had,” explained Gray. “You have to set your standards pretty high if you want to succeed. A lot of people said we couldn’t do it but we did. Both the crews worked real hard and the guys back at the shop all spent countless hours in...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- Sophomore Top Fuel driver Shawn Langdon opened this weekend's 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals Thursday with a competitive 3.847 at 309.98 mph in his Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster. He hasn't looked back since, wrapping up the No. 8 position in the competitive field heading into Sunday's eliminations. "The first thing you need to do every weekend is make sure you get in the field," Langdon said. "We did that right out of the trailer so we've really been able to relax and try a bunch of different things for race day. "The second thing you try to do is qualify in the top half of the field. Luckily, our run was good enough for that also so we're really pumped up for Sunday. The groove here is...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 13) -- On the strength of solid Friday run in the GEICO Powersports/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster, Morgan Lucas will start Sunday’s eliminations at the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals from the fifth spot. Friday’s run of 3.823 seconds at 316.90 mph was by far Lucas’ best run of the weekend. He will face Troy Buff, whose best qualifying pass was a 3.950 at 294.05 mph, in Sunday’s first elimination round. "I called the area around this track home for much of my life, so it’s nice to be able to perform well in Southern California," Lucas said. "Lucas Oil has a lot of employees and supporters in just down the road in Corona. It’s been great to see them at the track and I hope there are good results...

Jason Line and the Summit Racing team completed a solid qualifying effort on Saturday, capturing the ninth starting spot for Sunday’s final eliminations of the 50th annual Kragen O’Reilly Winternationals in Pomona, CA. Improving on every run, Line posted the third quickest time of the round at 6.619 seconds along with the second-fastest top speed of the weekend at 210.24 mph to earn his spot in the starting field. However, despite this encouraging progress, the 2009 Winternationals winner turned his attention towards further advancing his race car’s performance for race day. . “We kept improving our Summit Racing Pontiac throughout qualifying, but we still have some work to do before tomorrow,” said Line. “We’re not running as...

The final qualifying results from the 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly Winternationals will show that Summit Racing GXP driver Greg Anderson earned the sixth starting position with a 6.608-second, 209.82 mph run in the third session on Saturday afternoon. Although naturally disappointed after qualifying in the No. 1 position at this race in five of the last six years, the four-time Winternationals winner kept today’s showing in its proper perspective, having endured several hardships during the recently completed off season. In addition, Anderson remained keenly aware that the most important competition will come during tomorrow’s final eliminations. “It wasn’t a great day at the racetrack, but a bad day of racing is still better than...