Team Press Releases

[coverattach=1]New Pro Modified team steps up from Sportsman ranks CORBYVILLE, ONTARIO (February 11, 2010) – After running just one year in the Quick 32 Sportsman Series, Derek Hawker decided to upgrade and increase his racing effort, with the Pro Modified Racing Association. His explanation was simple: “I want to go faster,” he said. “It’s just my thing. I’m not a bracket racer.” So the Hawker Racing Team, based near Belleville, Ontario, took his two-year old 1963 Corvette Sting Ray, removed the tunnel ram-injected engine, and replaced it with a 526-cubic inch Alan Johnson supercharged unit complete with a PSI Supercharger, Atchison Fuel System, and a Lenco three-speed on the back of the engine. Hawker said the team...

POMONA, CALIF. - Babe Ruth has nothing on 23-year old Danny Gruninger. The sophomore driver of the USRECOGNITION.COM PRO STOCK DODGE from Denver, Colo. knocked one out of the ball park today in the first qualifying session for the 50th Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals contested in Pomona, Calif. at Auto Club Raceway. The four-time Little League World Series competitor uncorked a career best elapsed time when his USRECOGNITION.COM Dodge Stratus traveled the Pomona quarter mile in 6.698-seconds at a speed of 207.18 miles per hour. The run for the Gruninger Motorsports team served as the 15th quickest elapsed time of the day in the ultra-tough NHRA Pro Stock division. “We knew coming into this weekend our car would...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11) -- Top Fuel racer Shawn Langdon kicked off his sophomore season in the professional ranks Thursday evening with a stellar pass down Auto Club Raceway in Pomona. Langdon, a native of nearby Mira Loma, posted a 3.847-second pass at 309.98 mph in his Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster to grab the No. 2 position in the provisional field. "I've been waiting to make that pass for three months," Langdon said. "We ended last season right here with our only DNQ of the season and that didn't sit well with any of us. To be standing here with the second quickest pass of the day is a huge boost for this entire team. "The run was nice and straight and we didn't hurt anything in the motor. It actually rattled the tires early but...

Pomona, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2010) – Allen Johnson drove his 2010 NHRA Pro Stock Mopar® Dodge Avenger to a solid NHRA national event debut today in the first round of qualifying for the 50th Annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals. The Team Mopar star grabbed the provisional No. 5 spot at Auto Club Dragway at Pomona, Calif., in his maiden run in his new Mopar HEMI®-powered machine. Following months of testing and tuning, the Greeneville, Tenn., native’s Mopar Dodge Avenger reeled off a first-class first pass. Johnson posted a 6.611 ET at 209.39 mph in the first run that counted in his Mopar Dodge. Lower elapsed times and higher speeds will come in the final two days of qualifying, according to Johnson. “We were really...

POMONA, Calif. (Feb. 11, 2010) - Cory McClenathan, driving the FRAM Top Fuel dragster, grabbed the provisional pole position today for the season-opening 50th annual NHRA Winternationals, posting a 3.809-second lap at 320.05 mph. If it stands through three more rounds of qualifying, it will be McClenathan's 34th of his career, the fifth at this track and third at the Winternationals. "I can guarantee you one thing, it won't stick," said McClenathan, who has never won the Winternationals. "Somebody is going to run definitely in the 3.70s. This cool weather [helps] and it doesn't have to be that late. The track and the conditions are really there. "Preparation and the commitment all of us on the FRAM team made in the off-season...

[coverattach=1]NORWALK, Ohio (February 11, 2010) – Sheldon Bissessar has always had the drive to be the fastest. From his early days racing at an airstrip in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago to his current gig as the world’s fastest sportsman in the IHRA Top Dragster ranks, Bissessar has always known drag racing was his future. “I have always had a passion for speed with encouragement from my mother Stella Bissessar and from my family and friends,” said Bissessar. “I still remember my first car being a Ford Escort powered by a Ford Pinto 4 cylinder engine. It ran the quarter-mile in approximately 17 seconds and at the time that seemed really fast for me.” Bissessar has since graduated from his days running the...

With the 2010 NHRA drag racing season set to get underway this weekend in Pomona, CA, Rodger Brogdon and the Attitude Apparel Pro Stock team aren’t looking towards the end of the season, they’re focusing on the race at hand and plan on challenging the season one race at a time. “The season is 23 races long and sometimes I think everyone gets caught up in that championship chase mentality,” said Rodger. “By taking it one race at a time and focusing on each race rather than the season as a whole we can accomplish what we need to be there at the end of the season.” “We’ve got a new car and we’ve got a new look,” added Brogdon, “but we’ve got the same team and attitude that we had last year. The second half of the season we were...

Jim Dunn Racing's Driver for 2010 Fulfills Life-Long Dream with Full-Time Ride in the CANIDAE/Lucas Oil Funny Car POMONA, Calif., February 10, 2010 - When Funny Car driver Paul Lee straps into the CANIDAE Pet Foods/Lucas Oil/WileyX Chevy for the first time at this weekend's season-opening 50th annual Kragen O'Reilly NHRA Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, there will probably be the requisite butterfly or two that any NHRA rookie racer might feel. Except the 52-year-old Lee with a degree from Wharton Business School and two graduate degrees from Rutgers isn't exactly your typical rookie. Nerves or not, the New Jersey native will see the life-long pursuit of a dream realized when the CANIDAE car is rolled to the line for...

[coverattach=1](2-10-10) DOHA, Qatar – Just a day away from the first qualifying round of Round 6 of the Arabian Drag Racing League’s seven-race series, Von Smith and the Barwa Racing Pro Extreme Team are reminded of the situation they were in last season, taking the championship battle down to the last round of the last race. Having been here before, and given the opportunity to do things slightly different, Smith and company are hoping to widen the gap and take a step towards clinching their second Pro Modified world championship at the Qatar Race Club with a win this week. “Winning last year’s championship here in Qatar for Sheikh Khalid and Al-Anabi Racing was a crowning achievement for both Howard [Moon, crew chief] and I,”...