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Sprint Car Rookie Carson McCarl is Experiencing a Stellar Season

18 Jul 2011

At sixteen years of age, most folks are just getting accustomed to driving, but Carson McCarl is a far cry from your average driver. In fact, during his rookie year as a sprint car driver, Carson doesn't seem to be intimidated in any form or fashion by his older and more experienced competitors, as he has managed to win two feature races this season in the 305 division at the Knoxville Raceway.

#97 Sprint Car Driver Carson McCarl

On April 30th the young driver logged the first win of his early career. Evidently, Carson savored the taste of victory, as he got his second feature win at Knoxville on June 16, 2011.

Although earning his first win was a memorable feat, Carson was equally excited about his second win of the season, if not more so, and for good reason. In fact, the race on June 16 was fast and furious, as Carson and a fellow driver exchanged the second spot on four different occasions. Carson made his move into the lead with two laps to go and managed to hang on to the position for the win. I think the win made a statement," he said. "I think they all take me pretty seriously now," he continued, referring to his competition. Upon getting his first victory, Carson became the youngest driver to ever win a sprint car feature at the Knoxville Speedway. "That was awesome," shared Carson. "I've been going there my whole life, and to get a feature win was very special. To be honest, prior to the race, I thought we would get a top five if we were lucky and was prepared to be happy with that, so a win was great."

According to Carson, as a third generation driver, his father, Terry, has played an important role in his early success. "He's won a lot of races at Knoxville, and won a lot of races everywhere, and has really taught me a lot." When asked if there were other keys to his success as well, Carson explained, "We've got a really good team. We're really positive all of the time and are having fun no matter what."

Of course, Carson has anticipations of continuing success throughout the remainder of the season. To do so, one might suspect that he should continue doing exactly what he has been doing throughout the first portion of his rookie season. "I'm really an aggressive driver," stated Carson. When asked the key to continue success throughout the remainder of the season, he said, "I have to keep cool and not make any stupid mistakes."

Living in the neighborhood, only thirty minutes form the Knoxville Raceway, Carson benefits from the opportunity and experience he gets from competing at one of the largest sprint car venues throughout the entire country on a consistent basis. "Knoxville is the only place where I race right now," explained the driver. "I eventually want to go and race at other places, so I can see what I can do, but right now, it's just Knoxville."

"I'm pretty confident right now," stated Carson. "My team and I are pretty fast and we haven't run out of the top four yet, and haven't finished under the top two of any of our heat races." When asked if his two recent wins were of important elements of his future success, Carson answered, "Yeah, I think it got people talking about me and got me on the radar a little bit."

Although Carson has not been in the industry long enough to have a strong understanding or opinion of many products on the market, he is aware of the importance of keeping his engine well-lubed and dust free. That said, Carson depends on, and is no stranger to K&N Filters. He has watched his father, Terry McCarl, use them. In fact, Carson is actually the third generation using K&N products, as Terry recalls seeing his father use them as well in his race cars.

When asked about his sponsors and fans, Carson said "My sponsors are really great, and my fans are really great." In closing he stated, "Just keep supporting me."

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Max Gresham Wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

18 Jul 2011

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East racer Max Gresham celebrates.

Max Gresham won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday and might have wrapped up the East Series championship.

Max Gresham took the lead in the New Hampshire 125 on lap 113.

The win, combined with the finishes of championship contenders Darrell Wallace Jr. and Matt DiBenedetto, gave Gresham a comfortable lead in the East Series standings with four races to go.

But it wasn't exactly smooth sailing for Gresham. While leading the race, he missed pit road and had to circle the track as the rest of the race leaders came in for fuel and tires. When Gresham finally made his pit stop and returned to the race, he was 21st.

"When we missed it, it was just a little thing that we thought was going to end up hurting us in the long run," Gresham said. "We had to go back to the back of the pack after that because we were the last one to come on pit road. We fought our way back from the back, didn't really get into anything, and just kept our nose clean, kept the tires underneath it. We drove our race and just drove back to the front in a slow and constant pace."

Max Gresham wins NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Gresham worked his way through the field and took the lead in the New Hampshire 125 on lap 113. Once he was out in front, he pulled away from the rest of the field and won his second race of the season.

"Once we got up there, we just kept where we were running, got by Brett (Moffitt) there with about 15 to go and just ran away from him," Gresham said. "It's been a cool weekend for us. Everyone's been putting in a lot of hours at the shop. To finally get this second victory this year is very cool for us and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing."

DiBenedetto came into the race second in the K&N Pro Series East standings. He finished 27th in the race at New Hampshire. Wallace was third in the East Series standings but finished 30th.

"I know both of them were very close to me in the points," Gresham said. "I hate to say they had problems, but it's good for us. It gives us a bigger points lead. With four races left to go this year, it gives us a little bit of a cushion to ride on the rest of the season."

Brett Moffitt moved into second place in the K&N Pro Series East Series standings with a runner-up finish in the race at New Hampshire. He is 94 points behind Gresham.

"Normally you'd be really happy with a second-place finish, but when the points leader wins, it kind of makes it not as fun," Moffitt said. "We're going to keep going and see what we can do to try and win this championship. We just gotta keep digging."

DiBenedetto fell to third place in the East Series standings, 125 points behind Gresham. Wallace is fourth in the East Series standings and 139 points out of first.

Gresham won the pole, but Wallace, who started on the front row, led the first eight laps of the race. Gresham passed Wallace for the lead in the race on lap 9. Gresham was out front until lap 48, when the race leaders started cycling through the pits. Gresham missed the pit entrance and had to stay out for an extra lap.

When he pitted, Ryan Gifford took over the lead and held it for three laps. Sergio Pena passed Gifford for the lead on lap 53 and was out front until lap 75.

Cory LaJoie passed Pena and took over the lead for seven laps, but lost it to Moffitt after a restart.

"Dirty air was a pretty big issue," said LaJoie, who finished third in the race. "I think we were about the same speed when he was behind me and I was probably the same speed when I was behind him. It was just a matter of me missing that shift on that last restart. I kinda put us behind the 8-ball. Luckily we didn't get wrecked or wadded up or turned around. Something like that usually happens, but I got lucky. I was little frustrated myself with that. We ended up third. I messed up on that restart and that's part of it."

Meanwhile, Gresham steadily worked his way through the field. He finally caught the leaders with less than 20 laps to go in the race. He passed Moffitt on lap 112 and held on for the remaining 12 laps of the race.

"Most people want to go back to the front as fast as they could," Gresham said. "We just slowed down, ran our pace and try to get it one car a lap. We knew if we could do that and keep the tires as best as we could, keep the fenders as clean as possible, we'd have something for them at the end. We were able to do that. It definitely paid off in the long run. We were there at the end and we were just as fast as we needed to be at the end."

It was the fourth career K&N Pro Series East win for Gresham and his first since June 11 at Gresham Motorsports Park.

The New Hampshire 125 will be broadcast on Speed on Aug. 4 at 6 p.m. ET.

The next K&N Pro Series East race is the inaugural Jegs 150 at Columbus Motor Speedway in Ohio on July 23.

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Greg Anderson Gets First NHRA Pro Stock Pole in Two Years Plus K&N HPC Bonus at Joliet

15 Jul 2011

NHRA Pro Stock Champion Greg Anderson

It may be hard for one to believe, but Multi-Time NHRA Pro Stock and defending Full Throttle Champion Greg Anderson qualified number one during the O'Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals to end a dry spell that spanned back nearly two years. Although Anderson finds himself generally well in the top half of the field, the last time he was on the pole was back in July 2009 during the Sonoma event.

Greg Anderson went on to win the O'Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals

During the first qualifying session on Friday, it was Erica Enders who sailed to the top of the pack with her 6.616 lap, nearly a full two hundredths of a second ahead of Anderson's 6.634 number three effort.

That all changed during Friday evening's run. Anderson was part of the next to last pair to make the lap, and able to watch what the track conditions would hold, tuned his Summit Racing Pontiac right to the top. Anderson jumped up a whopping five hundredths from the first session and posted a 6.586, with teammate Jason Line being the only other car able to manage a pass into the fifty's during the session.

"It's just a great feeling to have a hot rod underneath me again," said Anderson shortly after his jump to number one on Friday evening. "It's a confidence booster and I've needed that lately. This [Pro Stock] deal is a mind game. If you lose that confidence, it's awful hard to win or run fast."

"It kind of feels like old times," he added.

The weather on Saturday remained typical for mid-summer in the Chicago area, lots of humidity in the morning and hot afternoon temps don't exactly give the naturally aspirated power plants a whole lot to work with.

Anderson and his teammate Jason Line were able to post the two quickest laps of session three, both in the low sixties and it was starting to look like Anderson's prior day 6.586 pass was in no threat of being bumped off.

In the final session on Saturday, Anderson and K&N's Mike Edwards made the quickest laps of any other Pro Stock team, both putting 6.617's on the board, but it would be Greg Anderson qualifying number one for race day for the first time in two years.

"This makes me feel pretty good," Anderson confessed of the feat. "We have whole different attitude and race car than we've had lately. I really have a race car right now. The pressure falls right back on me not to screw it up. That's the way it used to be for us."

The recently crowned 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Champ earned some very precious points for the 2012 Challenge along with the cool $3,000 low qualifier bonus check from K&N Engineering. While the Challenge chase to make the top seven for 2012 is still in its infancy with just two events in the books, as with the rest of Pro Stock it's already a tight pack at the top with Erica Enders sitting at number one, a mere ten points behind is Jason Line at two and Greg Anderson a short pounce away at number three.

Greg Anderson went on to win the O'Reilly Route 66 NHRA Nationals and get his first victory at the facility in the history of his career.

The teams have a short one weekend break before the kickoff of the three races in a row "Western Swing" commences July 22-24 with the first stop at Bandimere Speedway in Morristown, Colorado, just outside of Denver. Lots of teams will have their brooms handy, looking to sweep them up and Pro Stock teams always keeping a special eye on the K&N Horsepower Challenge standings.

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Madison Whitten Wins 2011 Fontana Track Championship for 13 to 14 year-olds

15 Jul 2011

Madison proudly displays the Wally she just won at Fontana Dragway.

"This all started when Madison was eight-years-old, and she saw top fuel run at Pomona, and she said 'that's what I want to do,'" explained her dad, Doug, who works in the race shop at K&N. Last weekend Madison Whitten went three rounds deep on Sunday and won the 2011 Fontana Dragway Track Championship for 13 to 14 year-olds.

In 2010 Madison had five wins, this season she already has four wins, a track championship, and three more championships in her sights.

From the get-go, the weekend started off on a sweet note as the Corona, California teenager qualified with two .004 RT passes for the number two spot.

"First round we had a better light and backed it in for the win, second round the other car went red, third round we got the bye with the .004," commented Doug. "It got a little tougher in the fourth round, we where second off the line but closer to the dial and took the win by .0001."

The number one qualifier had a perfect light to win their semi race, so the final set-up with the number one and two racers dueling for the Wally. Madison had a perfect light and RJ Karl went red by.007, and the Wally was Madison's. The win Madison also gave her the lock on track points, and the track championship.

"Madison didn't even know she won until I told her after the second round on Sunday," adds dad. "You have never seen a face like that - she was stoked. We started racing last year in April, so this is our first full year of racing, and we try to race every week if there's a race with-in 500 miles."

Even in an incomplete 2010 race season Madison still managed to notch five victories, and so far this year she already has four wins. "We are going to Arizona this weekend and try to win the Arizona State Championship, which is contested between Speedworld and Firebird Raceway," Doug continues, "We are in first by two-hundred points. We are also trying to win the Speedworld Track Championship and Division Seven Championship; we stand in the number two spot in both of those."

Madison's car runs 7.90 at 85 mph. She is also got licensed in Jr. Comp this year at 6.90 and 105 mph in the 1/8 mile. Madison hopes to do a lot more Jr. Comp runs this season too.

"It's all about the great racers and families we have met along the way," Doug says. "We still have a lot of racing to go this year, and we take it one round at a time. All this kid thinks about is running top fuel someday."

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Harold Goldberg is the Grand Prize Winner in the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes

14 Jul 2011

The 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes Prize was a 2011 Ford Explorer won by Harold Goldberg

Out of the thousands to enter the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes, eight lucky finalists were selected and flown to Ohio in late June for an experience of a lifetime. The eight folks from all over the US, were then paired during a random drawing with one of the eight NHRA Pro Stock drivers who would be vying for the K&N Horsepower Challenge Championship that was held during the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals, in Norwalk, Ohio.

Harold Goldberg wins the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes

Harold Goldberg, of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, who notes that he is an avid fan of all types of motorsports, was one of the lucky eight finalists selected for a shot to win a 2011 Ford Explorer in the Sweepstakes. When the Pro Stock drivers were paired with the finalists, Goldberg learned that he would be cheering hard for last year's Champion, Greg Anderson to win the event again and in the process win a brand new Ford for himself.

"I was actually on my exercise bike when I got the call that I was selected as one of the eight finalists," Goldberg smiled as he reflected. "I knew some of the names of the Pro Stock drivers who were in for the shootout. I didn't know all of them, but when I drew Greg Anderson, well, I knew who he was. I thought, this is awesome I felt like I had a really good chance."

The drawing to pair drivers and finalists took place at the K&N display on the midway where Goldberg got a chance to meet and chat with Anderson. "It was really nice to get to speak to Greg," he said. "He was the event defending champion and I just felt really good about our chances at winning."

Harold Goldberg celebrates with Greg Anderson who's event win brought him a new Ford Explorer.

During each round of the Challenge, Goldberg was burning up the cell towers making calls back to his wife in New Mexico, who was unable to make the trip with him, passing along the good news of each of Anderson's winning laps.

"While I'm retired, unfortunately my wife isn't yet," he explained. "With such short notice, she was unable to take off from work. It was a bummer that she couldn't be there with all the emotions that were flying. When we won the first round, I called her and said, 'well, we are in the semi-finals' and then called her again and told her we were going to the finals."

As the rounds went and Anderson made his way to the final of the K&N Horsepower Challenge, Goldberg knew he was also getting closer to winning as well. For the final, Goldberg and his fellow finalist were taken to the top end of the track to witness history in the making and who would come out as not only the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Champion, but who of the two remaining finalist that would be driving away in a brand new 2011 Ford.

"One of the officials had a little radio that they carried with them so we were able to hear the track announcer," said Goldberg of the intense moments of the final round. "When I heard that Greg had won, it was just awesome. I knew before he even came around the corner in his car. I mean, I'm sixty-six years old but I was acting like a two-year-old, you know jumping up and down and so on."

"Being a part of the K&N Horsepower Challenge was just an awesome weekend," says the new 2011 Ford owner. "I now have a brand new Ford sitting in my driveway thanks to K&N, Ford and of course Greg Anderson and his team."

"After all the yelling and screaming I did when I won, my voice was really raspy for about two days," he chuckled. "I'm so excited to have my new 2011 Ford. And you know I have been a K&N product user for years so I can't wait for K&N to come out with their upgrades so I can add them to this new vehicle, too."

Congratulations to all the finalists and to Harold Goldberg, the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes Grand Prize winner!

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