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Henry says his K&N Filters, Wide Open Graphics backed number 15 is dialed in just the way he likes it this year.
Attica Raceway Park located in central Ohio was the site for the season opening UMP Late Model race series. While the night air was a bit chilly, the racing surface was in excellent condition, and the action on track was smoking.
"I really felt comfortable with my racecar from the beginning and knew our team had a good shot," said Ada, Ohio's Jon Henry beside his K&N Filters, Wide Open Graphics backed number 15. Henry redrew the number two starting position for the feature which helped him on the exceptionally fast racetrack.
Jon Henry won the opening UMP Late Model race at Attica Raceway Park and followed it up with another victory the next weekend.
Although lap traffic created a struggle a few times, causing him to lose the lead, he was able to quickly regain the top.
"It was an exciting race for the fans and I was able to hold off charges from the 2010 UMP National Champion, Rusty Schlenk, and the 2009 World of Outlaw Rookie of the Year, Russ King."
Henry first battled with the 2010 National UMP Champion and then traded slide jobs with King the last half of the race before taking his second career ARP victory. For Henry, the late model victory was extra sweet as his family is fielding their own machine in 2011.
After his win at Attica Henry said he really has to thank his dad for all work and money he has invested in him.
"I first have to thank the fans for coming out on such a cold night. This year is our 'Share the Experience 2011' campaign where we share the ups and downs of racing with the fans through our in-car camera and they will get an eyeful tonight," said Henry. "I really have to thank my dad for all work and money he has invested in me."
Henry commented that he wants all his fans to know he will be posting videos from each race this season on his website, explaining in detail what transpires during the course of his races. "It's a way to keep more fans involved and also give potential fans access to see what really goes on at a dirt race," said Henry.
"After winning our first night out around home we have some high expectations for this season. I feel we have a really good package in our racecar and will continue to learn and grow throughout the season."
During his off season Henry went down to Florida to race at Volusia. "We hadn't really changed anything from the previous year and our program just wasn't where it needed to be. So we came home and spent a couple months evaluating everything and now were really headed in the right direction."
For 2011 Henry also plans on running in the Sunoco American Late Model Series Championship, splitting time between his car and the number 11 Lawrence Motorsports car.
"We will be at Attica Raceway Park for a couple more weeks until we hit the Sunoco ALMS season opener at the famed Eldora Speedway April 16th, remarked Henry at the time of this interview.
The following weekend at Attica Raceway, Henry once again held off a hard charging Rusty Schlenk, to earn his second feature win in a row. It wasn't easy, as Henry took the checkered by only a half a car length over the 2010 National UMP Champion.
"That was a little too close...I was trying to take it easy because I knew dad didn't want me hitting those tractor tires down there. I started to hear something with about two to go, and I was like, I need to stop taking it easy. Two in a row - this is awesome. I have to thank my dad and John McClain for all their help," added Henry.
K&N backed LTD Racing's Tomas Puerta and David Gaviria swept the Daytona AMA Pro SuperSport races.
2011 is LTD Racing's third season in AMA Pro competition. The K&N backed team's steadfast focus has been on developing young talent, and once again this year they field a three rider team comprised of Huntley Nash, Tomas Puerta and David Gaviria. Last year the team brought aboard former AMA Superbike and World Superbike crew chief Gary Medley to help raise a new generation of hyper-fast road racers, and this season they have additional backing coming from Yamaha Extended Services (Y.E.S.) to help towards that goal.
Fabled crew chief Gary Medley feels that Huntley Nash has the skills to go far in the racing game.
The vastly respected Gary Medley made his name working for Rob Muzzy and with champions like Doug Chandler and Scott Russell. We spoke to Medley to get his insightful take on how things are going at LTD Racing, as he once again has some of the fastest riders in the AMA under his vigilant tutelage.
You kicked-off your season at Daytona recently, give us a few insights from your perspective as to how it went for you and the team? Also, how does Tomas Puerta feel about getting his first SuperSport win?
LTD Racing's three rider team made up of Huntley Nash, Tomas Puerta and David Gaviria, represents the new generation of super-fast road racers.
"We had a great weekend with Tomy winning his first race for us and also David Gaviria winning, too." (In winning his first ever AMA Pro Super race on Sunday, Gaviria lead an LTD Racing sweep of the Daytona AMA Pro SuperSport races).
"Tomy has been with us for a while and this is his third season with LTD. He's worked really hard during that time and to see him get a win was rewarding. It's impossible not to root for him because of his personality. This is the year for Tomy to step up and get the results that Huntley and Joey Pacarella got last year, which was winning and getting on the podium."
"With David, we really did not know what to expect. We raced against him last year and it was clear he had a lot of talent but he wasn't running up front and contending for wins. Any time a team has a new rider, there's a period of when everyone is learning each other. At the start of the weekend, it was clear he was ready to go and there wasn't really much of an adjustment period! We got a good setting and he raced it. We're looking for a great year out of him."
"Huntley (Nash) has moved up to Daytona SportBike and he was 12th in the Daytona 200, a good result for him since he hurt his ankle in the offseason and wasn't quite fully recovered. He put his head down and kept getting faster all weekend. We lacked a little pace at the beginning but that will change."
Talk a bit about the Y.E.S. backing, how did that come about, and how important is it to your team? Also, did the added support make it possible for you to carry three riders this year, or would that have happened anyway?
"We have run Yamahas our entire existence and we wanted this to happen eventually. Their support is invaluable for us. We couldn't compete at the level we want to without it. Three riders are hard to run and LTD Racing has been about giving talented riders the opportunity rather than fielding the guys that can pay. The Y.E.S. deal allows the team to keep operating that way. We are a small organization, but we try to be a team that gets talent ready for the next step. Everything is about getting the equipment to be as good as we can, then working closely with the riders during the race weekends to get the most out of the bikes and their talents. That's our goal and so far, it has worked. The added bonus is being officially associated with the Yamaha brand, which we feel has a lot of class."
Did you do anything out of the ordinary during the off season to prepare for this year?
"We had new equipment for the boys, so the offseason was about getting everything ready. Also, the jump to DSB (Daytona SportBike) means we had to prep a different spec machine, so that added some to our plate. We also got a new hauler so some work had to go into that as well."
What sort of race goals have you set for the team this year?
"Obviously we want to win both SuperSport division titles and we want to contend in every race. Tomy is East Coast and David is West Coast, but it looks like both boys will race every round. DSB is going to be tougher with Huntley because the competition is greater, but that's what he wanted and the team wanted. That kid really can go far in this game. It is going to be a learning year, but we expect good results. Right now, we are looking to get him in the top ten and then we'll take it from there."
Is there anything else new this year you'd care to talk about?
"The competition in AMA Pro gets tougher every year and so you can't sit still. We're always trying to get better on every level of the team."
LTD Racing's next round of competition is in May at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Valley, California.
Duck Tape Racing's Michael Beard and his Plymouth Turismo
Duck Tape Racing’s 1985 Plymouth Turismo has been putting up the usual numbers that eventually lead to a successful year. The first win of the year, so far, came about in the Farmington Race of Champions at Farmington Dragway. He reached two semi-final rounds this season helping tremendously in the points chase. Beard faced a few unexpected problems early this season, experiencing a flat tire at the last turn of the track during the Palm Beach Nitro Jam and a minor brake issue at Immokalee Regional Raceway, which luckily could be fixed before the first round began the next day.
Michael Beard made many changes to the Duck Tape Turismo this year, and it looks to be paying off.
Beard made some changes to the Duck Tape Turismo this year including; new racing slicks which, Beard remarks, “are two inches taller than what we're used to running on this car. With a front wheel drive combination, obviously the slicks are on the front, and this can affect both reaction time and the car's final gear ratio.” The new tires took Beard all the way to the semi-finals at the Carolina Class Racers Association S/SS Combo in Fayetteville, NC. Post race Beard mentioned, "It feels good to light a bunch of win lights, particularly right off the bat with a new combination.”
Farmington Race of Champions at Farmington Dragway
Reaction times and E.T.s remain consistent for Beard this season despite the minor set-backs. He has managed to make the necessary adjustments to stay on his game; even, "Between fixing a dragging right-rear brake drum and the swap to a lighter pair of wheels on the back of the car coupled with much lighter Mickey Thompson ET Front tires, the car is making that initial move a little quicker.” Beard feared red-lights would become common with the new set-up. He did not have much luck in Rockingham lighting a red-light almost every run and, “ went back to shallow staging, which we are required to do in Stock Eliminator racing anyway. It's a challenge, but I'm more comfortable trying to hit the tree hard than to wait on it," as he mentioned after the double header in March.
Some may have seen Beard driving his Duck Tape Volare last season to a few event winner’s circles and they will have the chance to see the car back in action soon enough. Work is currently being done on the car to get it ready for racing. The car is expected to make its first appearance of 2011 on the weekend of May 6th and will be driven by Beard himself.
K&N's Multi-time National & Divisional Event Champion, Tommy Phillips. Photos by: IHRA Communications.
After a uncharacteristic slow start to his 2011 season, multi-time NHRA event champion Tommy Phillips swept his first ever IHRA Nitro Jam event during the sanctioning bodies return to San Antonio Raceway.
Tommy Phillips doubles up at his first IHRA Nitro Jam in his K&N Quick Rod and Super Rod entries. Photos by: IHRA Communications.
Phillips entered both his Tigerflow/K&N Engineering backed '57 Corvette Roadster in Super Rod [9.90 index class] and one of his dragster's into Quick Rod [8.90 index class].
Not only was competing in this type of event new to the Forney, Texas resident, but so was competing with the dragster he brought along for Quick Rod.
"I actually didn't take my normal [8.90 class car]," Phillips confessed. "I have two new dragsters this year and one was built just so I could bracket race. For whatever reason, I don't really have an explanation why, but I just wanted to run that other car and hadn't really had any seat time in it. So I thought that was the one I was taking."
K&N Corvette Roadster performed flawlessly throughout the San Antonio event. Photos by: IHRA Communications.
Over the course of the event, there were as many as five opportunities for Phillips to make time runs in each of his classes, although he chose to skip a couple of sessions.
"Even though I had never driven the dragster I brought in 8.90 class before, it was just dialed in," he said of his choice to sit out on the additional runs. "And the Corvette was the same way. It made really good runs and my lights were where they were supposed to be. Neither car did anything weird or gave me any reason to go out and work anything and make more runs."
Not the car he built for 8.90 racing, Phillips takes his bracket dragster to the Quick Rod final in its first event. Photos by: IHRA Communications.
"I didn't really have the best draw for first round in Quick Rod, running one of the hottest drivers over there [IHRA] right now, Clayton Nance," he said. "That's not an ideal draw and normally would be a difficult run, but he red-lighted. I ended up having a good run and it would have been a good race."
"Right or wrong, I don't pay a lot of attention to who I'm going to run," he added. "I just try to stay in my own little word, for the thirty seconds or so and run my race."
That set Phillips up for a run with former Division 4 champ, Michael Johnston in round two. Phillips able to carry his .016 starting line advantage for a win light and on to round three.
Over in Super Rod, Phillips was maintaining the round for round pace in his Corvette, also making his way to the later and darker rounds and was doing his best to keep dialed in on the starting line in both cars.
"I knew going in that the later rounds at this event were going to be after dark," he explained. "I'm pretty conservative and I'm pretty old-school and traditionally I'm a little slower on my react at night with the LED bulbs. But I have a good fifteen years or so before LED bulbs of running at night where you would normally pick up two [hundredths]. So I usually struggle a little but at night, because my brain will not let me roll that delay out like I should."
Phillips had earned a bye into the final in Super Rod and his .012 redlight during that round weighted on his mind as he went on to his first of two finals, the first his match-up in Super Rod with Kip Guenzel.
Call it conservative or just plain smart, Phillips had a comfortably safe light .026 light and although behind at the hit, still managed to outdrive Guenzel at the stripe and force his opponent under for the Super Rod Ironman.
In Quick Rod, Phillips had also earned a bye into the final and this time to meet up with Gina Mundt.
Unlike Super Rod, Phillips not only had the starting line advantage this go-round but also a little extra strategy prepared based on lane choice. His plan worked, as he was easily able to force Mundt deep under the index for an 8.876 to 8.919 victory.
The wins in both Quick Rod and Super Rod were not only Phillips' first IHRA Nitro Jam Ironmen, but also set him up for a shot at IHRA World Champion crowns in both classes when the 2011 IHRA Tournament of Champions is contested later this season at Virginia Motorsports Park, just outside of Richmond, Virginia.
"You know overall it was textbook," he said of the weekend. "I drove pretty well for me and I say that because I got off to kind of a rough start for the season. I really struggled and made some poor decisions during the first few races."
Phillips has been a K&N product user for many years and is proud to not only use their entire line of products, but carry K&N to the winner's circle, no matter which car from his stable that he may be competing with.
"Gosh, you know I just couldn't be out there doing all this without K&N and their products," he said. "Truthfully, it's just nice to work with K&N. They have a true commitment to sportsman racing unlike many companies out there. I just feel very fortunate to be able to work with everyone at K&N."
While Dan Fletcher didn't consider win latest victory, "pretty, but effective enough to win", the dynamic sportsman racer from Churchville, New York may just have a different take on the weekend's events than the "Average Joe".
After Gainesville, Fletcher parked his rig and cars outside of Atlanta in preparation for the Concord 4-Wide event and flew to Las Vegas to drive his friend, Dave Bridgewater's Comp Eliminator car and his Stock car, although Fletcher entered it in Super Stock.
"Qualifying was hot, hot and slick," Fletcher reflected. "The track wasn't all that stellar on the starting line. The first run was a throwaway, we had some problems. The second lap we made a decent lick, I think we were eight or nine [on the ladder]."
"There were only twenty-eight cars total," he continued. "The third session we spun and didn't get down good and got bumped all the way down to sixteenth. So that gave us number two in the first round, which was not a good draw obviously. He was faster than us and even if we made a good run he would still be a couple of hundredths quicker than us."
Coming into the 12th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Fletcher had an astounding seventy NHRA National Event wins, with twelve of them coming in Comp Eliminator and with that much racing knowledge, he certainly had a game plan for round one.
"If you beat him you are probably going to have to use up index to win the round," he said of his first round pairing with Clint Sallee. "If I did beat him I was going to have [Dave] Rampy second round and the future just didn't look very bright."
With a little bit of luck on Fletcher's side for the first time during the event, Sallee pulled up the red in round one and sent him on to meet up with fellow K&N competitor Dave Rampy in round two. Both able to come into to the round clean or no CIC penalty after round one.
"As the situation played out, round two was run Sunday morning when the track was still in good shape," explained Fletcher. "So we made a good run against Rampy and I hit the tree good. You know if we made a good run, we were probably about equally as fast [as Rampy]. He was a little late, so that enabled me to get down there, kill a little and still get there first."
Even though the round win cost him .05 CIC, Fletcher was starting to have a little different outlook on the remaining rounds. "So fortunes we changing a little bit," he said. "What wasn't looking so good, now wasn't looking so bad."
In round three, Fletcher slayed Jeff Lane on the tree giving himself .044 starting line advantage and showing how it's done at the stripe, he cut that down to .009 for the win and no additional CIC.
The semi-finals would pair Fletcher up with 2010 Division 6 Champion, Aaron Strong who also was carrying a CIC hit into the round, but .03 less than Fletcher. The K&N champ made up a bunch of it right off the line, by bettering Strong's reaction time by .02 and on to the final.
"I knew it was going to be an interesting final," he explained. "I knew I couldn't go fast enough to do permanent damage [CIC]. I thought I was just going to hold it wide open and not even look. That plan was aborted at about three-hundred feet when I looked up and saw my win light was on."
Alan Ellis was down .04 going up against the champ, and threw away his chance at a fourth NHRA National Event win by a .016 premature launch, handing Dan Fletcher his thirteenth NHRA National Comp Eliminator Wally, seventy-first overall.
"You know I thought going into the whole event, after qualifying, that my chances at doing well were actually better in Super Stock," Fletcher confessed. "And once we got going I thought I may even have a chance at winning in both, but it didn't work out that way for me in Super Stock."
Fletcher is quick to point out that whether he is driving his familiar K&N Chevy Camaros or his friend's cars, like he did in Las Vegas, they are all fully equipped with K&N products.
"The Comp car has all the same K&N products on it that took us to a World Championship in that car two years ago," he said. "They all served us well again this weekend. As you look across the Comp ranks, I can guarantee you that we put more runs on our motor between freshen ups than any other teams do. We all know that a big part of that is an oil system and an oil filter that keeps everything lubricated and safe. And that's what K&N products do."
