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Their family made the purchase of a beautiful 1967 Mustang and he returned to the track in 2010 to compete in NHRA Super Gas class racing.
"The way my dad tells the story," says Brian Smith, "my mom had me early so we could make a race!" And so it began. He attended his first race when he was only 2 weeks old, and spent the majority of his childhood up until he was 10 years old at the racetrack. His father had spent the better part of 30 years drag racing throughout the West Coast, sometimes up to three times a week at different tracks. When Bayland's Raceway closed in the late 80's (the last of a long string of legendary tracks that shut down in California) he decided it was time to hang up his helmet.
Brian made his first trip down the track when he was nineteen. Starting off in a street driven 1965 Chevelle, he quickly made the decision to get more serious. With the help of his dad, he purchased a proven racecar, a 1977 Vega, and started competing in NHRA Super Street.
"Initially I raced at local tracks including Sonoma and Sacramento in the Summit Bracket Series before making the move to a busier schedule competing in the National Hot Rod Associations Super Street 10.90 category," Smith went on to say.
"The early years included some growing pains, but the rewards were numerous late round showings and Top Ten finishes in the Northern California Super Street Association over the first three years of racing. In 2003, we made the move into NHRA Super Gas 9.90 competition and immediately found success with a National Event Runner-Up finish at the Sonoma event. Years of hard work had come to fruition and I earned my college degree from California State University Sacramento, majoring in Communications and my father ended a thirty-five year career as a Truck Driver to enjoy retirement. In 2004, we embarked on a great journey to compete in the Full Throttle Racing Series for the entire season. Our experience was blessed with continued success, including a National Event Runner-Up finish at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago," concluded Smith.
Being able to depend, without any concern, on K&N products gives me great confidence allowing my focus to be on my driving.
Smith then took a six-year break. He stepped away from the sport to pursue a career in the fire service. He went back to school, volunteered as a firefighter, and after two years of testing, was hired as a Professional Firefighter in National City, CA. His years away from the track also included getting married, purchasing a home, and starting a family. All the while he was waiting for the right opportunity to return to the sport that he loves so much.
Their family made the purchase of a beautiful 1967 Mustang and he returned to the track in 2010 to compete in NHRA Super Gas class racing. Their first outing yielded yet another Runner-Up finish in the ultra competitive Southern California Pro Gas Association racing, followed by a Semi-Final Divisional finish.
Smith developed a partnership with K&N in his early racing years, as well as upon his return. He went on to say, "With ANY other sport, you have so many opportunities to make up for a hiccup in your performance. Stock car racing has 400 miles, Golf has 18 holes, baseball has nine innings, and football has four quarters. However, with drag racing, you are measured in thousandths of a second and you have one chance to be perfect and you have to repeat that six or seven times during eliminations to become a winner."
"Drag racers spend an incredible amount of time earning the money to race, building and preparing the car, engine, and drivetrain, preparing support vehicles, and driving to the events all for the opportunity to race down the track side by side with another competitor. All of the preparation and work can be for naught when you have parts failure."
"Being able to depend, without any concern, on K&N products gives me great confidence allowing my focus to be on my driving. K&N has gone to great lengths from development and R&D to track testing to produce superior products. In addition, they are MADE IN THE USA."
K&N's Brad Burton capped off his 2011 season by winning two of the four days at the Las Vegas Bracket Nationals run at LVMS.
West Coast drag racers were once again treated to one of the most important bracket races in the western United States when Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosted the 10th Annual Bracket Nationals at The Strip.
"Dad and I went to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving for their high dollar bracket race and I won two of the four days in Pro, and ended up winning the points for the four day race. Dad didn't do too bad either, with a quarter final finish Thursday and third round losses Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," reported Golden, Colorado's Brad Burton. "After what was a pretty rough year for me, it was great to end the year with some wins, which were hard to come by in 2011."
Burton Racing had their best year to date in 2010, with Brad winning two national events, a divisional, along with reaching the runner-up spot at another divisional.
Brad and his father, Scott, are entering their seventh year racing together as a team and both race Stock Eliminator. Scott started racing in 1998, competing in his 1971 Pontiac Formula Firebird, and back in 2004, Brad and Scott began building the 1972 Firebird that Scott runs. Although they receive a tremendous amount of support from family and friends, the two do most of the maintenance, crewing and research and development by themselves.
"I had done well at this race in previous years and I was feeling very comfortable with my car and driving this year," Brad told K&N. "As a competitive driver, I expect to do well at every race and I want to win every race. We all know that can't happen, but you have to go into these races with the right state of mind and attitude. Winning the points total in Las Vegas was unexpected as there were many good drivers there. You never go into something thinking you are going to win points totals. You take it race by race, and day by day, and set up small goals to reach a big one. First you have to win a round, then you have to win a race, and maybe then that leads to winning multiple races. After you do that, then you can think about winning championships and points totals."
Scott Burton started racing Stock Eliminator back in 1998 in his '71 Firebird.
The K&N sponsored driver said he definitely feels that ending the 2011 season with a couple of wins boosts his confidence and momentum heading into 2012. "You always want to end the year strong because you have three months of downtime. I hope to carry the momentum I had in Las Vegas into this coming season and come out strong in February."
Brad and Scott kick off their 2012 season racing in Pomona, California at the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona Raceway. "I plan on hitting a lot of races and hopefully getting back to my 2010 form and run for another national championship," remarked Brad. In 2010 Burton Racing had their best season to date, with Brad winning two national events and a divisional, along with reaching the runner-up spot at another divisional.
"As I said earlier though, you can never think about championships until you complete your smaller goals. My first goal this year is to go to Pomona and win a round, and then win the race."
K&N has great news for farmers with Apache crop sprayers and John Deere
windrowers. The washable, reusable
38-2031S
heavy duty air filter is available and it fits some of these models.
The 38-2031S
also fits many Hino, Kenworth, Ottawa, Peterbilt, and Sterlink trucks as
well as several Ford, GMC, and International diesel trucks and busses.
Disposable paper air filters can be a thing of the past to these owners.
As any good industrial grade vehicle operator knows, to get the best
performance out of your engines you need the best parts. K&N, an American
manufacturer of high performance filtration products has designed the
38-2031S
heavy duty air filter with low restriction and outstanding filtration to protect your big investment.
The 38-2031S
heavy duty diesel air filter is made with a dry synthetic filter media that
is really easy to
clean,
especially since this K&N heavy duty filter does not require oil. See for
yourself by watching K&N's
heavy duty air filter cleaning video. This heavy duty air filter is also backed with a 3 year, 300,000 mile limited warranty. "When designing K&N Heavy Duty air filters, in regards to the media and pleat design, we
put a great deal of focus on filter efficiency and air flow," says K&N Product Manager Todd Jarrard. "We also pay a great deal of attention to the dirt holding capacity
for a long service life. Our heavy duty air filter program has gone through extensive testing through our filtration lab and using the data collected, we are confident that our filters will perform."
If you're a farmer harvesting grain or spraying crops it doesn't take long
for the dusty conditions to impact your engine's flow of air through a paper
air filter. K&N's 38-2031S
reusable air filter is designed to be a simple replacement for costly stock disposable paper filters. The best way to find the correct K&N heavy duty air filter for your engine is to use K&N's cross reference
search or take a look at K&N's
Heavy
Duty Air Filter Cross Reference page on KNFilters.com.
During Southern All-stars Dirt Racing Series (SAS) qualifying, Ray laid down the second quickest lap.
Brasstown, NC driver Ray Cook began his career in motorsports racing 4-cylinder cars in pony classes, moved up to super late models following the Hav-a-Tampa series and pretty soon realized he'd like to make a career out of the sport of racing. "Like so many others, I started out racing as a hobby, and over time made a career of it," states Cook. "Laying groundwork for the future, I then decided to form my own series so that one day when I pass the torch to other racers, I can still actively participate in the sport."
Ray is on the gas more than ever with 68 races under his belt for the 2011 season, and promotion for 27 more.
For now though, Ray is on the gas more than ever with 68 races under his belt for the 2011 season, and promotion for 27 more. He racked up eight wins, numerous 2nd places and his Dirt Late Model Series the Schaffer Oil Southern Nationals was a huge success.
His eighth feature win of the 2011 campaign in his season finale was on November 19 at the historic Cleveland Speedway in Cleveland, Tennessee. During Southern All-stars Dirt Racing Series (SAS) qualifying, Ray laid down the second quickest lap, which put him on the outside of the front row for the 50-lap "Gobbler." The popular driver known as the "Tarheel Tiger" grabbed the top spot at the drop of the green flag and held the point for the entire distance. At the end of fifty circuits, Ray found himself crossing underneath the checkers ahead of Jonathan Davenport, Dale McDowell, Brian Reese, and Shane Clanton to pocket the $5,000 winner's purse.
Hoping to start the 2012 season the same way he ended it in 2011, he and the D&R Motorsports team are heading to the Ice Bowl at the Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama for the Jan 7-8 kick off of the year. Best of luck guys, and keep those wins coming. As a K&N partner for more than 15 years, we love hearing all of your success stories.
Paul Brown of the Tiger Racing World Challenge team grew up in his father's repair shop, was around cars constantly, and never thought of doing anything other than working with them. According to his Mom, he was taking things apart and putting them back together as a toddler and simply never stopped.
Paul started out doing autocross or gymkhana events with his street cars and the local SCCA, moved on to open track events with various clubs, then got his race license and got really serious. "As I got older and worked on the Saleen program right out of high school, I worked with Steve Saleen, Rick Titus, Scott Pruett, Parnelli Jones, George Folmer and Pete Halsmer to name a few in the exclusive league," stated Brown. "They all had an influence on me one way or another and I soaked up as much information as I could. Sometimes it didn't make much sense until a decade or so later when I could actually apply what was being taught or fit the scenario. I've even had the pleasure to race against many of them years later in either modern pro racing or vintage racing which is always fun."
Paul Brown driving the K&N Time Attack G35.
"The real thing I found with all of them is that it doesn't come easy. Every one of them had to eat, live, and breathe the sport to make it where they are today, or at the height of their careers. I think it's actually tougher to stand out now than back 20-40 years ago. So many modern cars have driving aids that help you be a better driver whether it's anti-lock brakes, traction control, or data acquisition, to just having better quality parts like shocks and tires. It's a much different game today. You also have all the driving/race schools and clubs that are around now; it's really a full time business and the separation between a good driver and a great driver is actually closer than it's ever been."
Paul getting up on two wheels at Sears Point.
To date, Paul holds more than a dozen track records, and numerous championships in SCCA Pro Racing, NASA American Iron Series and Monterey Historics. He has been a factory test driver for Aero Racing USA, a tier 4 test driver for Ford Motor Company, and has even been called in to drive K&N's G35 Time Attack car.
"I actually started out selling K&N products over 15 years ago," said Brown. "When I relocated to the west coast I got to know some of the staff and guys in the race shop from being at the track and race events. This eventually led into the sponsorship of the Porsche GT3 car we raced in World Challenge back in 2008. K&N has been a big part of our program for many years now and the products are top notch."
Paul Brown has now become a mentor as well. He takes the experience he's gained on the track and uses it to help other drivers. From coaching trackside, to managing one of the largest and most successful race shops and retail outlets in the Midwest, to now building a reputation for himself on the West Coast, he does everything from modifying street rods to building complete racing chassis. Paul's mechanical knowledge of the cars he drives, his innate car control skills and his focus and dedication to the sport, all combine to make him a fearsome and noteworthy competitor.
