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Sal Biondo Victorious in Comp Eliminator; Makes It a Family Double at NHRA GatorNationals

30 Mar 2011

Maspeth, New York native Sal Biondo got an early start on his 2011 season when he and the Vinny Barone crew headed west for the NHRA opener at Pomona. It was at the WinterNationals where Biondo debuted the team's new 2007 Chevy Cavalier in the I/AA Comp Eliminator class.

Competition Eliminator I/AA Cavalier driven by Sal Biondo

While things didn't go as well as they would have liked at the first race of the year, fast forward two weeks and 2,400 miles to Gainesville, Florida and the NHRA GatorNationals.

Sal Biondo has been competing on and off in Comp Eliminator since 1995 and certainly knows the ins and outs of playing the class rules to his advantage and not costing himself or his team any permanent CIC (Competition Index Control) for the season.

That can become very challenging for other racers who aren't as seasoned as Biondo, especially at an event such as Gainesville, where the weather on Thursday and Friday was nearing "mineshaft" conditions. By Saturday and Sunday, the weather had warmed up and that actually helped the racers.

"That took the pressure off of us," noted Biondo of the weather changes. "We were no longer in the big-time index wrecking position. By later in the weekend, we could only hurt ourselves a little bit and it took a little pressure off the driver."

Biondo whittled his way through his side of the ladder, giving himself the starting line advantage in each and every round through the quarter-finals where he earned a precious bye into the Comp Eliminator final.

What makes Comp Eliminator such a difficult and interesting class are the number games these drivers have to deal with. The class is much like bracket racing in many ways, but with a very different twist where drivers can hurt themselves in rounds to come by taking too much stripe and damage their index, which can really play into the hands of their next round opponent, as it did for Biondo in round three against Van Puckett.

"Third round was pretty big for me as I had an opponent who was pretty fast so he lost a lot of his index already. He had lost fourteen hundredths, that's a pretty good feeling to already have fourteen to work with against the guy," explained Biondo. "He is a friend of mine and I knew when I passed him by a car and a half at halftrack that he would probably lift and shut off. And he even told me, 'Hey there's no reason for me to run you to the end and hurt you [CIC] for the next round.' So it was really a big favor he did for me by shutting his car off after I passed him and trusting him and knowing him, I was able to kill enough ET."

"So that round and the bye into the final were both very crucial for me," he continued. "Because without those rounds and to run Frank Aragona Jr. in the final, if I would have been down any kind of index, I would have been in trouble."

Aragona Jr. wasn't able to stay "clean" through the event as Biondo had, with respect to their individual class indexes, and had to carry a two-hundredths CIC into their final round match up.

"In the final it was a little warmer and the car was running a little slower than we thought, but I didn't know that. I figured I was still running a sixty-eight on the run, which would have been permanently damaging to the index," he pointed out. "So I scrubbed as much as I could up to four-hundredths and took two-thousandths win light."

"It's neat to have somebody really close on the tree [index or dial-in]," he continued. "But Frank had lost two-hundredths of his index. So I really was hoping and praying I could be twenty [on the tree] and that might shut the door on him. I was twenty but I didn't expect him to be double-oh, which he was. And he was pretty close to out running us. He claims he was on a bad run and I was on a pretty good run, like I said I had killed some which I didn't really need to, but being in the car and not knowing and trying to protect the index for the rest, well actually the whole entire season. It was important to save it that round."

While Sal was blasting though the Comp Eliminator rounds, his brother Peter was doing the same in Super Stock.

"When Peter won his final first, that was added pressure," confessed Sal. "I know we've done it before, but here I am saying, 'well, we can do it again'. Today we could be in the winner's circle together again and how special that would be. Plus, I was pulling for the K&N car of Dan Fletcher in the Stock final, he's a good friend of mine, too. Gotta pull for all the K&N team cars."

"So Fletcher lost, then Peter won then a good friend of ours Tom Dauber won and then I had won," he said. "The amazing part about it, if you think about it, is that we took home three trophies [Wallys] a thousand miles from home. We all live eleven miles from each other."

The Comp Eliminator victory at the GatorNationals was the ninth NHRA National Event win for Sal and the fourth time that he and his brother Peter shared the winner's circle with a family double.

"It was just fantastic," he said. "And to do so in this Cavalier in only its second event out is an absolute tribute to all the people and products that are a part of this team. We have worked with companies like K&N for a very long time and their people and whole line of products are really second-to-none. You don't have a chance to win races of this caliber without using the best products you can get. That's why this and every car I compete in is protected by K&N filters."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Kody Swanson Earns First Career USAC Dirt Midget Victory at John Padjen Classic

30 Mar 2011

TK Motorsports is proud of the season opening win in Chico, for themselves and K&N.

Spring is here and with that comes certain guarantees - the flowers will bloom, the boys of summer will be returning, and TK Motorsports' Swanson brothers will be winning. The 2011 USAC Western Midget season started with the John Padjen Classic at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California, and a field of 21 chomping-at-the-bit midgets showed up at the quarter-mile dirt bullring eager to cut loose. And, as sure as the swallows return to Capistrano, the Swanson brothers were in the fray, with Kody picking up his first ever career USAC Dirt Midget win by less than a foot. Tanner Swanson continued his strong run from last season as he finished with a solid fifth place effort.

Kody and Tanner Swanson are looking to make 2011 another year of victories and firsts.

"When I saw him (Bryan Clauson) look low into turn three, I knew that he would have to hit some ruts on his way off of turn four, and get tight, so my only chance to win would be to turn back underneath him and race to the line," detailed Kody.

Clauson continued to close on Kody into the last lap, making his final attempt at the lead on turn four, as the two came down the front-stretch together to a photo-finish.

Kody notched his first USAC Dirt Midget victory with a dramatic photo-finish.

"It was a terrible feeling, we had done so well in the early parts of the race, but I had got myself caught up on a few lapped cars and let him back into the race," said Kody about watching Clauson waving his arms believing he had won.

"He's tough enough to beat, let alone give him a second chance, and I thought I'd let one get away. When he got out and on top of his car, I thought he'd won. So when they called me, it was a big rush of emotion, changing from complete disappointment to surprise, and then excitement. It was great to have held on to that one, but it was way too close for comfort."

Unusually heavy California rain made for a very wet and rough feature event at Silver Dollar Speedway, "I was fortunate to come from eighth to the lead in just a matter of six laps, but there were a number of close calls along the way," remarked Kody.

"With the track in that kind of condition, everyone was doing their best to hold one, but no one really knew exactly what their car was going to do. I'd say that I got lucky to get through to the front easily, and then got caught up with the lapped cars, whereas Bryan seemed to get caught up in getting to the front, but flew through the lapped traffic. It was a tough and tricky 30-laps."

As usual both Kody and Tanner had a busy off-season working on putting together sponsorships for their team. They also spent time organizing their annual TK Motorsports Banquet, something they do every year in appreciation of their crew members and sponsors. When they weren't doing that, they were spending hours in the garage preparing their pavement Sprint Cars and Dirt Midgets.

"As far as preparing for our driving duties, we are still underway, and continue to get in better shape with the bulk of the season fast approaching," commented the K&N sponsored driver.

We wondered if during the off-season they also discussed game plans and goals for the coming season, or if it was simply a one race at a time strategy for them?

"I'd say I look at both," answered Kody. "I ran third in USAC Silver Crown points last year, despite having the highest number of top-two and top-five finishes, and this year, I would love to win the title and give Team 6R Racing the first championship of their storied history."

"I am very excited about the Wilke-PAK car this season in the National Midgets, and would love to be able to win the National Midget title. Both of those would be very tough to pull off, but I feel like if you don't aim for it, you'll never win it by accident. And then obviously the other side of the coin is that I always want to win the next race, which currently would be the USAC Pavement Sprint Car race at Anderson, Indiana with my TK Motorsports number 75."

Another first for Kody this year is being asked to compete in the prestige's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

"I received an email from Les Unger, from Toyota Motorsports, asking of my interest in competing in the event. I am really excited to be able to compete in the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race for a number of reasons. Not only is it for a great cause (Racing for Kids), but it provides me a great opportunity to showcase what the USAC and I have to offer in terms of driving. It is a great opportunity to learn to compete on a road course, and I really feel like this legitimizes what I am doing as a racecar driver in the United States Auto Club. I feel really fortunate to have this opportunity, and I am excited to try to make the most of it."

Kody and Tanner Swanson's next race will be in the 100-lap Glen Niebel Classic at Anderson Speedway in Indiana.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

K&N's David Rampy Makes it Number 75 with Comp Win at NHRA CajunNationals in Belle Rose

30 Mar 2011

With many of the biggest names in the country in Comp Eliminator on hand for the NHRA JEGS CajunNationals held recently in Belle Rose, Louisiana, it's no wonder it ended up being one very quick field with drivers needing to run more than .542 under their index to make the show.

David Rampy and his 1932 Bantam in NHRA Comp Eliminator

All the ingredients were in place for a stellar field from the get go, with the event not only being an important one for so many, but the added $25,000.00 in total bonus funds to be paid out for the class put up by Attitude Apparel.

David Rampy usually has a very special way of putting himself right where he wants to be on the qualifying ladder for eliminations; after all going into this event he was number six on the NHRA all-time win list. For this event, the Piedmont, Alabama resident placed his K&N 1932 Bantam at number six in the field and set himself up for a first round match up with the 2010 NHRA Comp Eliminator World Champion, Al Ackerman.

Not one to fold to any type of pressure, Rampy easily took the win light in round one with a much better reaction time and plenty of room to keep it safe at the stripe, when Ackerman had some apparent mechanical difficulties, his car running well off its usual pace.

That would set up Rampy for a heads-up race in round two, with fellow A/EA class competitor Michael Johnson. Rampy was nothing but stellar on the tree with a .007 light and would have made it really tough for Johnson who qualified almost a full tenth of a second slower than Rampy. Johnson gave it up on the line with a red-light and sent Rampy on to the quarter-finals and allowing him to keep his index safe for the time being.

Things can change pretty quick from one round to the next in drag racing and for NHRA's Comp Eliminator drivers, those changes can make things rather tough on them if those changes are big hits to their index.

In round three, Rampy managed to get a little better light over fellow heavy-hitter Arnie Martel and caught him before the stripe. Martel stayed in it hard and made Rampy work for the round victory, causing the multi-time champ to carry a .06 CIC into the semi-finals.

Rampy pulled out his second near perfect reaction time eliminations, giving him a whopping six-hundredths starting line advantage over Steve Szupka and he needed every last bit of it. The semi's proved to be another exciting round for Rampy, taking as little of the stripe as he could for the win, but unfortunately taking another CIC hit by adding another .03 to his index for the final.

On the other side of the ladder was the Cinderella story of the class, Russell Joly who had only made his way into this very quick field by making it in as, not first or second but third alternate.

For the final round, both Rampy and Joly both were down .09 on their index. Over the last two rounds, Joly seemed to have been able to step up his program from qualifying as his car posted his best numbers of the weekend. Unfortunately, his day came to an end before the race could be run as his car refused to start and a great story came to an abrupt end.

At this point all Rampy needed to do was to stage under power with his K&N Bantam and take the green for the win in his 124th career final round appearance.

Rampy made a nice pass down the quarter, getting out of it early and coasting across the finish line for his seventy-fifth NHRA National Event victory. The most recent win now ties him with Pat Austin at number five on NHRA's All-Time win list.

The milestone of just the 124th final round is also quite notable in itself. In the history of NHRA Drag Racing, only John Force and Warren Johnson have competed in more finals than David Rampy.

"It was a heck of a race to win, but I hated to see Joly have problems in the final," said Rampy. "The way he was running the last couple of laps, I knew it was going to be a tough final round, heck every round we had today was tough. I can't say thanks enough though for the opportunity to take home the $10,000.00 winner's check from Attitude Apparel. Their support of the race weekend brought some of the best in the country together. To be able to leave with the Wally and the check means a lot."

David Rampy uses both K&N air filters and oil filters on not only his Comp Eliminator car, but also his new for the 2011 season 1989 Chevy Camaro he competes with in Super Stock.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

Sammy Halbert Wins Opening Round of AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Flat Track Championship

29 Mar 2011

After working his way into second, Halbert said he put his head down and went after Jake Johnson. Photo by Dave Hoenig.

In winning the opening round of the AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Flat Track Championship, contested on Daytona International Speedway's demanding flat track quarter-mile, Sammy Halbert earned 56 points in just two days of racing. Earlier in the evening the K&N backed rider supersized his points total by also winning the Cometic Gaskets Dash for Cash.

In order to prepare for his extreme sideways riding style, Sammy Halbert says he practices riding a unicycle to improve his balance. Photo by Dave Hoenig.

"It feels amazing to start the season off like this," commented the Graham, Washington, resident. "I gained the maximum points over the double-header, I don't think anyone in the history of the sport has earned 56 points in just two days."

Asked why he felt Daytona suited his riding style so well Halbert said, "I don't really know, in the past I have struggled riding the DTX style bikes on slippery short tracks, and Daytona is the slickest one we come to, but there is something about the way I am able to ride that track that allows me to go just a little faster than the next guy. It takes a lot of balance so I practiced riding a unicycle before this event more that I practiced riding my dirt bike. I am always the type of rider that likes to get really sideways and I am able to make that work for me very well at Daytona."

Sammy Halbert, Johnny Lewis, and Jake Johnson, three K&N backed riders, filled the podium in the opening race at the Daytona Short Track Championship. Photo by Dave Hoenig.

Halbert also kicked-off the 2010 season with a win at the opener in Daytona, however, a crash and a mechanical issue prevented him from doubling-up in that event. He went on to finish last year with six podium finishes and fourth overall in the Grand National Championship.

After winning the race this year and leading the final five laps on his Woody Kyle Racing/Fredericktown Yamaha-backed YZ 450F, Halbert remarked, "Wow what a race. I didn't get that good of a start and kind of had to come from behind. I got hung up behind Johnny (Lewis), and Jake (Johnson) was getting away, but after I was able to get into second I just put my head down and went after Jake."

The three K&N backed riders in fact packed the podium the first night at the Daytona Short Track Championship races, as Lewis went on to finish second behind Halbert and Johnson held on for third.

Halbert says that during the off season he changed a few things in his personal life in order to properly focus one-hundred percent on his job without distractions.

"I have also been working on my technique and focusing on staying patient and racing smart," added Halbert. "And I will definitely carry this momentum throughout the rest of the season, being able to draw on my experiences of how I won the Overall Grand National championship in 2009, and learning from the mistakes I made in 2010, is going to make the difference for me this year. I am confident in my abilities and we're going to keep things fun this year at Halbert Bros Racing."

Even with the added momentum his goals for the 2011 season remain pretty much as they always have explains Halbert – "its one race at a time."

"For the last few years the goal has been to be Grand National champion, that doesn't change, but do I have a couple new personal goals, first being to ride mistake free races. I always give it one-hundred percent effort so that's not an issue, but when I attempt to give it even more than that, that's when there's problems. So, my goal is to do my best without pushing beyond that limit, and to always be happy and content with my results."

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.

2011 to 2015 Honda CR-Z with the 1.5L Engine Gets Simple Drop-in Performance

29 Mar 2011

Replacement Air Filter for 2011 to 2015 Honda CR-Z 1.5L

Honda's CR-Z 1.5L hybrid is not only great to look at with its sleek lines and sporty exterior. This vehicle is also technologically savvy sporting many of the modern features that new car drivers demand. This sophisticated compact car combines hybrid engine technology with an optional constant variable transmission. These features provide drivers with a very quiet engine and when combined with seamless shifting can translate into consistent daily enjoyment.

Restriction Chart for 33-2459 Air Filter

In order to enhance this enjoyment K&N has recently introduced a replacement high-flow air filter for this incredible machine. Air filter 33-2459 has been designed to replace the original factory air filter. K&N's design uses thick ridges along the outer edge to help ensure a proper air box sealing surface and incorporates a wire screen on the outside of the four layered cotton gauze media that aids in smoothing and straightening airflow.

Installing K&N part 33-2459 into the 2011 to 2015 Honda CR-Z is a great way to protect your car's engine while helping to save money over time. This premium performance air filter features service intervals up to the 50,000 mile range when driven primarily on paved roads and it is designed to add more power to the 1.5 liter engine.

Like all K&N air filters this air filter is washable/reusable, can be easily cleaned using cleaning kit number 99-5000 and protected by our industry leading million mile limited warranty.

Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world.