BAYTOWN, Texas – Former NHRA Division 3 Top Alcohol Funny Car Champion Chris Foster and his Forbes Construction backed team kicked off their 2011 season with a win during this past weekend’s NHRA Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Royal Purple Raceway Park just outside of Houston. Foster used career- best numbers to take out current national record holder Tony Bartone for the win.
The Davenport, Iowa, based team took advantage of some good fortune but made it count when the race was on the line. Foster qualified his Will Hanna tuned 2011 Mustang second in the short field with a 5.740 second elapsed time at 250.32 mph. In round one he received a bye run when scheduled opponent Steve Burck could not make the call and recorded an early-shutoff 5.961. Due to the short field, Foster received a competition bye run in the semifinals and stepped up to a career-best 5.619 at 256.11 mph to set up with the final against the defending Division 4 Champ Tony Bartone.
Crew Chief Hanna decided to play the consistency card and it paid off as the team reset their career best e.t. and speed again with a 5.608 at 257.04 mph to defeat Bartone who encountered problems and shut off early.
“It always feels great to start the year off like this,” said Foster. “I can’t thank Tom Forbes enough for sticking with us this year. Last year at this race we didn’t make a good run all weekend, lost in the first round and blew a motor up doing it. Forbes Construction had a lot of guests on hand and provided us with some great Texas-style BBQ all weekend. It was great to not only get the win, but having the Forbes group on hand made it special.
“I really have to take my hat off to the team for the effort it took to just get ready for this race,” stated Foster. “We tested here the weekend before, and hurt a lot of parts on our last run. Matt Bieneman and the guys at MBE Cylinder Heads came through and got our heads repaired in time so that we had spare heads for this weekend. The crew busted their butts fixing the body damage and getting everything ready. Due to the weather we had to make four runs on Sunday and the crew performed flawless. I also have to thank the support of our associate sponsors DragRaceHose.com, Motorsports Unlimited, Goodridge Hoses & Fittings, RBS Superchargers, Red Line Oil, NRE X-1 Heads and Ace Clutch Discs. It’s nice to reward their support with a win.”
“It was a tough race,” added Hanna. “The air conditions were mineshaft, but the track was really green from 60’ to about 150’ out. For some reason the rubber just never stuck good out there, so it was a real trick just getting the car through there. The track was pretty stout to that point, but it was night and day before and after that first expansion joint in the track. Luckily for us we had the fortune of having some bye runs to test a few things. We were able to find a tune-up that would go down the track. It was a team effort. Chris did a great job driving and the crew did a great job getting the car ready. Hopefully we can do this a few more times this year.”
The next race for the Foster Racing team will be the Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Apr. 29-May 1.
Foster Racing is supported by these great companies:
DragRaceHose.com - Log on to check out sportsman drag racer Will Hanna's complete line of Goodridge Hoses & Fittings. PUSH THE LIMITS with Goodridge.
RBSSuperchargers.com - Foster Racing trusts RBS Superchargers for all of their supercharger and drive accessory needs. Check out their website for a complete listing of parts and components they stock and sell.
RedLineOil.com - Foster Racing relies on Red Line Oil products to put them in the winner's circle.
The Davenport, Iowa, based team took advantage of some good fortune but made it count when the race was on the line. Foster qualified his Will Hanna tuned 2011 Mustang second in the short field with a 5.740 second elapsed time at 250.32 mph. In round one he received a bye run when scheduled opponent Steve Burck could not make the call and recorded an early-shutoff 5.961. Due to the short field, Foster received a competition bye run in the semifinals and stepped up to a career-best 5.619 at 256.11 mph to set up with the final against the defending Division 4 Champ Tony Bartone.
Crew Chief Hanna decided to play the consistency card and it paid off as the team reset their career best e.t. and speed again with a 5.608 at 257.04 mph to defeat Bartone who encountered problems and shut off early.
“It always feels great to start the year off like this,” said Foster. “I can’t thank Tom Forbes enough for sticking with us this year. Last year at this race we didn’t make a good run all weekend, lost in the first round and blew a motor up doing it. Forbes Construction had a lot of guests on hand and provided us with some great Texas-style BBQ all weekend. It was great to not only get the win, but having the Forbes group on hand made it special.
“I really have to take my hat off to the team for the effort it took to just get ready for this race,” stated Foster. “We tested here the weekend before, and hurt a lot of parts on our last run. Matt Bieneman and the guys at MBE Cylinder Heads came through and got our heads repaired in time so that we had spare heads for this weekend. The crew busted their butts fixing the body damage and getting everything ready. Due to the weather we had to make four runs on Sunday and the crew performed flawless. I also have to thank the support of our associate sponsors DragRaceHose.com, Motorsports Unlimited, Goodridge Hoses & Fittings, RBS Superchargers, Red Line Oil, NRE X-1 Heads and Ace Clutch Discs. It’s nice to reward their support with a win.”
“It was a tough race,” added Hanna. “The air conditions were mineshaft, but the track was really green from 60’ to about 150’ out. For some reason the rubber just never stuck good out there, so it was a real trick just getting the car through there. The track was pretty stout to that point, but it was night and day before and after that first expansion joint in the track. Luckily for us we had the fortune of having some bye runs to test a few things. We were able to find a tune-up that would go down the track. It was a team effort. Chris did a great job driving and the crew did a great job getting the car ready. Hopefully we can do this a few more times this year.”
The next race for the Foster Racing team will be the Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series opener at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, Apr. 29-May 1.
Foster Racing is supported by these great companies:
DragRaceHose.com - Log on to check out sportsman drag racer Will Hanna's complete line of Goodridge Hoses & Fittings. PUSH THE LIMITS with Goodridge.
RBSSuperchargers.com - Foster Racing trusts RBS Superchargers for all of their supercharger and drive accessory needs. Check out their website for a complete listing of parts and components they stock and sell.
RedLineOil.com - Foster Racing relies on Red Line Oil products to put them in the winner's circle.
