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After a very disappointing DNQ during the NHRA National event held at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pennsylvania one year ago, Team Mopar Pro Stock driver, Allen Johnson was very much looking forward to putting that all behind him or avenging it, if you will.
Allen Johnson's 2010 Dodge Avenger
Just coming off a number one qualifier during the previous NHRA event at Dallas, Allen Johnson has been steadying making his way back near the top in the all important 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge point standings with hopes of gaining even more during the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals in Reading.
Things didn't start off so well in qualifying for Johnson when his transmission gave way during the first session on Friday as he went to shift his 2010 Avenger into second gear.
One may not have ever guessed that Johnson had had any troubles earlier in the day when he came back for session two Friday evening and laid down a track record setting 6.551 elapsed time at 210.70.
"We made a really-really good run on Friday night in that good air," noted Johnson. "In those conditions, we hit it almost perfect."
Johnson would be very thankful for that pass come Saturday, as he was not able to repeat that effort in the changing weather conditions.
"We were not able to make a good run on Saturday and were just not able to back it up," he added.
During session number three on Saturday, Johnson was on able to muster a 6.570 and while that was two hundredths off his previous run, it was still right there with the rest of the field for the session.
"Saturday morning we were really expecting it [weather conditions] to get better and while it did just a little, we just didn't make the good run at all," he said. "I think we could have picked up just a little more."
Still hanging on to the pole position heading into the final session, Johnson and Mike Edwards, who was paired with Johnson, added a little extra excitement to wrap up qualifying. Both drivers posted identical E.T.'s and Johnson put a very strong 211.16 MPH up on the board, just a hair shy of the track MPH record.
Johnson was able to remain at the top of the Pro Stock heap after qualifying was completed which earned him not only the maximum 175 points for the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge, but the nice $3,000 bonus provided by K&N for the number one qualified team.
He has now moved even closer to the top spot in the K&N Challenge being only eighty-five points behind current leader Mike Edwards and a mere five behind Jason Line who sits at number two.
"If we hadn't had the one little Charlotte blip, we would be about one hundred points in the lead," confessed Johnson. "And maybe we can still get that back."
While there are only two events left on the 2010 NHRA schedule, there are many for the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge. Each team will continue to throw everything they can at qualifying for a shot to finish in the elite eight and a chance to vie for the biggest payday in all of Pro Stock, when K&N puts $50,000 dollars on the line to be handed to the last driver standing.
Multi-time NHRA Pro Stock event champion, Dave Connolly literally shook up the class during the most recent NHRA national event at Maple Grove Raceway for the 26th annual Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals.
NHRA Pro Stock event champion Dave Connolly
Connolly, who just recently returned to the wheel of a Pro Stock car after announcing a very limited schedule for the remainder of the 2010 season, made a strong showing at his first appearance. But it was during his second event back when he took it all the way to the winner's circle, all while providing fans a very exciting final round.
Qualifying wasn't exactly a good indicator of how the weekend would end up for Connolly and his team.
"We actually had an issue during Q one," admitted Connolly. "We ended up changing motors going into Friday night's session. We didn't end up running all that well and ended up being number fourteen after Friday."
"On Saturday, I thought it was going to be a lot cooler and it ended up being warmer." He continued. "We knew that we were going to have to make some really good runs to get into the top half of the field."
Connolly and his Cagnazzi powered 2010 Chevy Cobalt made two excellent passes during Saturday's sessions, being the second quickest car during Q three and the quickest overall during the fourth and final session. These runs placed the team solidly in the top half of the field for Sunday.
"We knew we had a good race car going into Sunday," he said. "It was just going to be up to the driver not to make any mistakes and up to the crew to make the right calls."
Connolly sailed through round number one over Ron Krisher, nailing both a better reaction time and a better E.T. over his opponent.
His fortunes continued in round two, when his K&N scoop clad Cobalt was already past Larry Morgan by the 330 foot mark, to taking the win and doing so only .005 off his first round numbers.
In the semis, Connolly would find himself paired up with Shane Gray for the first time in his career.
He more than doubled up in reaction time on Gray at the hit, which helped propel him to the final, since his car fell a little off pace when he only posted a 6.597 after back to back 6.55 passes during the previous two rounds.
"Making calls on the car is still all a little bit new to us," he noted. "Maybe we are all still a little bit inexperienced come race day. The air kind of took off one on and got a little worse. The changes we made with the clutch, well the car just didn't respond too well and we just made a bad run there. We knew we were going to have to make some wholesale changes for going into the final with Greg [Anderson]."
With already twenty-one NHRA National event Pro Stock wins, not to mention the numerous victories in many sportsman classes, Connolly was firmly prepared for his final round match up with multi-time World Champ, Greg Anderson, not only mentally but also with a machine very capable of taking the win light.
"Greg had outrun us every run [during early rounds] basically," said Connolly. "Going up to the final round we made some changes to the car and it responded or we would have been on the losing end of it."
The Pro Stock final would have fans and teams alike on their feet and proved to be one of the most exciting finals in any class in a while.
It would be the twenty-first time KB Racing and Cagnazzi Racing would match up in the finals, each having ten wins. Anderson having a 7 - 6 record against Connolly in prior final rounds and Connolly set to even up the score.
Connolly would take his ever so slight yet monstrously important two-thousandth of a second starting line advantage and turn it into a holeshot victory over Anderson by taking the stripe by a mere .0011.
"That was just a great race," said an elated Connolly. "It was just a meant to be thing for us that day. That's all I can chalk it up us, it was just our day to win."
"Going into it obviously, they are a very good team and Greg is trying to race for the championship and he's got the pressure of the points," he continued. "We are just trying to go out there and perform well for our sponsors and try to land a fulltime deal. So I guess you could say we had different kinds of pressure. It was just two great teams and we both show each other a tremendous amount of respect."
"For it to all be decided by a thou was just incredible," he added.
When the announcement was made that Connolly would return to the seat of a Pro Stocker, it was stated that the plans were only for three of the events remaining on the 2010 NHRA schedule. But with already grabbing an event championship in just two of those, Connolly hopes that it will help him and his team add the Vegas event and be able to finish out the rest of the schedule, which already included the Finals at Pomona.
"The Vegas race is still up in the air yet and we haven't given up hope on it," he admitted. "I mean a decision will have to be made in the next week or two. It's coming down to the wire and we are going to keep our fingers crossed until the deadline runs out."
"Hopefully someone will come on board and keep the good streak going," he added.
Although Connolly will be taking a weekend off from the driver's seat, he still has a very full plate between now and the end of the 2010 season, both as a pro and a sportsman racer and a lot of traveling from one coast to the other.
"We are going to do some testing in the Pro Stock car, then I have the five-day race in Florida, back out to Pomona and then finish up November in West Palm Beach, Florida," he said.
When not behind the wheel of the Pro Stock car, Connolly keeps more than busy racing several NHRA sportsman classes. From the Top Dragster, Super Comp and Super Gas cars, among others, all much like the newest champion Pro Stock car and its specially designed K&N Pro Stock scoop, Connolly's sportsman race entries utilize numerous K&N Filter products from high flowing air filters, oil filters and more.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. came out to Round 7 of the Formula Drift Professional Championship with high hopes of putting himself on the podium one last time to finish off his successful season. Not only did Vaughn accomplish that goal when he took 2nd place at Irwindale Speedway - his sixth podium out of seven rounds - but he secured himself as the official 2010 Formula Drift Champion and as the "Driver of the Year" in the Monster Energy Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang.
2010 Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin Jr.
Over the weekend, a sold-out crowd filled the paddock and the grandstands at Irwindale Speedway, otherwise known as "The House of Drift". Vaughn has had much success at Irwindale in the past, and he is always welcomed as a crowd-favorite. In 2005 he made history when he won the D1GP USA vs. Japan, becoming the first American to win a D1 Grand Prix event. In 2007 at this southern California track, he brought America home the gold once more by winning the D1GP World Championship. He also won his first Formula Drift ever at Irwindale Speedway in 2008.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. gets Podium finish at Round 7 of the Formula Drift Professional Championship
Vaughn qualified in 6th place out of the 40-plus drivers in attendance and he was matched with Formula Drift rookie, Nikolay Konstantinov, in his top 32 battle. Vaughn led first and put his car in all the right places, while blazing through the course with intense angle. Nikolay struggled to keep up with the powerful Monster Mustang. When it was Vaughn's turn to give chase, Nicolay couldn't properly initiate his drift. Vaughn tried to mimic his competitor, but passed him as Nicolay sunk down the bank. Vaughn finished out his run, leaving a thick trail of Falken Tire smoke in his path.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. has taken to the podium six times out of the seven rounds.
By winning his battle in the round of 32 and gaining some crucial points, Vaughn officially secured the 2010 Formula Drift Championship. "This is just simply unbelievable," says Vaughn. "Winning the Championship has been a dream of mine for the past seven years and everything we have been working towards fell into place this season. Consistency and reliability were huge factors to our success over the last seven years. Huge thanks to K&N for their amazing products and unconditional support during this quest for the Formula Drift championship. We did it!"
Vaughn Gittin Jr. took 2nd place at Irwindale Speedway
But the day wasn't nearly over for the newly-announced Champion. Vaughn still had one last podium to shoot for. In the top 16, Vaughn was paired with "Rookie of the Year" Fredrick Aasbo, who was the only driver the entire year thus far besides Daijiro Yoshihara to win in a tandem battle against Vaughn. This would be the fourth time of the season that these two fierce competitors would meet on the track.
Monster Energy Falken Tire 2011 Ford Mustang battles for position
Vaughn led first and entered early, maintaining a high line on the bank with a ton of angle. Coming off the bank, he was able to pull a gap and put the Monster Mustang right up on the infield wall as Aasbo tried to close the gap and followed with a more shallow line. Vaughn gave chase next, sticking close to his competitor and mimicking Aasbo's every move on the track. After the Falken Tire smoke had settled from the two vehicles, the judges declared Vaughn the winner; he would be moving on to the Great Eight.
Vaughn found himself faced with Matt Powers in the top eight. Powers had placed fourth in Irwindale last year, so Vaughn knew not to count him out. Vaughn led first and put down another picture-perfect run, with much more angle and speed than his competitor. When it was his turn to give chase, Vaughn put intense pressure on Powers and didn't let up once throughout the course. Vaughn took the well-deserved win, and would be moving on to the semi-finals!
Vaughn would battle it out with Michihiro Takatori in the final four. Vaughn led first and immediately was able to pull a sizable gap on the bank after his initiation. He hit all the clips while Takatori was not able to catch up to the engine-screaming and tire-smoking Monster Energy Falken Tire Ford Mustang.
Vaughn gave chase next and was able to reel into Takatori immediately, keeping close to him throughout the course. Vaughn tapped the infield wall and maintained his drift, showing the crowd and the judges that he deserved to be in the finals. The judges agreed and sent him into the finals to face two-time Formula Drift Champion, Tanner Foust.
After two insanely aggressive and incredibly close runs by Vaughn and Tanner, the judges (and the crowd) called for a One-More-Time. During the OMT, Vaughn gave it everything he had, but the judges deemed Tanner an advantage and gave him the win. Vaughn would take the 2nd place spot atop the podium for Round 7 at Irwindale Speedway.
With his 2nd place finish in Irwindale, Vaughn has taken to the podium six times out of the seven rounds - a record number of podiums in one season by one driver in the history of Formula Drift. This was just icing on the cake for Vaughn, as his real victory was being crowned the 2010 Formula Drift Champion. Vaughn is the second driver in the history of Formula Drift to come from a strictly-drifting background - the first driver being K&N drifter, Chris Forsberg, who won the Championship in 2009.
Not only was Vaughn deemed the 2010 Formula Drift Champion, but he was voted the "Driver of the Year" by his competitors, their teams, and industry affiliates.
"Wow, what a year of dreams coming true," says Vaughn. "I turned 30, launched the Mustang RTR, got engaged, and now I am the 2010 Formula Drift Champion. This dream of winning the Championship has been chased since the first Formula Drift in 2004. Our sport has grown a lot since then and I have grown as a driver, learning more and more every year. This year the hard work and dedication paid off huge."
"While I am the guy behind the wheel," Vaughn continues, "there a lot of people behind me on that work extremely hard to make sure I have the tools to do my job and without them, there is no way I could have done it. I sincerely want to thank everyone that has been a part of this journey; I couldn't have done it without you. I'm not sure how I am going to top this epic year, but believe me, I plan to try! 2011... here we come!"
Oenes squeaked out the win in a run-off by nine- thousandths of a second.
"I don't know if the fact that we won the Fast 16 Championship has sunk in yet. Probably because we have two more races left and the ever coveted Wally has eluded our team so far. But the championship is the best thing that has happened to our team in a long time," commented Henderson, Colorado drag racer USAF Sergeant David Oenes.
Sergeant Oenes says the Fast 16 Championship has been 12 years in the making for his team, and it's particularly sweet coming after such a rough start to their season.
The last race of the Fast 16 season was contested at the mile-high, Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colorado, and it was a thriller. At over 5800 feet above sea level the speedway is often referred to as Thunder Mountain, nestled up against the hogback leading up to the Rocky Mountains, where things can sometimes get very interesting in the rarified air.
"The car was running amazing," explained Oenes. "However I was having trouble with the tree and could not get a good reaction."
Oenes says all the waiting worked in his favor, as it got him irritated, taking his mind off the overwhelming significance of the moment.
Oenes wound up red lighting by six-thousandths of a second, leaving him in a dead tie for the number one spot in the overall points standing. Being that this was the last race there would now have to be a race-off for one single point to determine the championship.
"The race-off was a strange deal. We had to wait until the race was over because there were still people in competition that could have passed us. So once we found out we started heading down to the staging lanes. Then the officials came over the PA and said, hold on a second we have to run through the numbers again, and then they said ok come on down. Then once we were all suited up, seat belted in the car at the stop sign waiting to start our cars - we had to wait again. There was some confusion about qualifying points or something."
"Anyway, after ten or fifteen minutes they finally said...start em' up! I think having to wait so long actually helped me. Instead of working myself up about how much this one race meant, I was a little irritated. So perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. We won the race by nine-thousandths of a second (.009)."
The 2010 season started out pretty rough by Oenes Motorsports usual standards, what with planetary gears exploding in new starters, seat belts coming undone during a run, and batteries mysteriously going dead.
"We never could have imagined, or dreamed, that we would end up in such a coveted position," remarked the Colorado Air National Guard Sergeant. "But with a huge amount of help from our sponsors like K&N, and our determination and perseverance, it all culminated in an amazing finish."
This is Oenes third overall career championship thus far, but by all measure he says it's the sweetest. His other two championships came in the High School class back in '90 and '91. This championship has been 12 years in the making for Oenes and his team, which is when he first started racing the Fast 16.
"We have finished second a couple times and third once, but we've never been the champs. The main reason this championship means so much more is because we are the first team to win the Fast 16 Championship with a supercharged engine. Every other champ has used Nitrous Oxide (NOS)."
"As far as next year goes," continues Oenes, "We have a new supercharger on order, so we will have the potential to turn the wick up if we wanted to. Also, we are making some chassis upgrades to make the car as safe as it can be. Other than that, our main focus will be defending the title, and with any luck at all getting a Wally. Hopefully we will be able to attend a National race in the Top Dragster class.
"Again, I have to add, this championship would not have been possible without K&N and all our other sponsors and our friend from Canada, Clif Bakx - so a huge thank you goes out to all."
2009 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show featured K&N's Infiniti G35
Once again the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show, one of the largest automotive specialty products events in the world, is back in Las Vegas, November 2nd through November 5th 2010. This event will bring hundreds of manufacturers, car builders and some of the newest products displayed on some of the most amazing and hottest vehicles in the world.
K&N will be attending at Booth 22443 promoting new intakes and products for the newest applications, and looking to show some of the most unique custom vehicles of the year. In the booth, K&N will be promoting all of its product lines, from its high flow replacement air filters to its multiple styles of performance air intake systems and oil filters.
"K&N is excited about SEMA 2010," states K&N Vice President of Sales, Tim Martin. "We will have many new products on display. K&N has continued to expand its market-leading product lines in high flow washable air filters, performance air intake systems, and wrench-off oil filters and SEMA is a great place to showcase the vehicle customization lifestyle and the enthusiast car culture."
Bob Griffith's completely custom racing Dodge Viper
Martin also stated that K&N thinks it is important to be involved in this lifestyle, and SEMA illustrates our long-term involvement; including the many people at K&N that are involved in SEMA councils and committees in support of this industry.
"Most of the exhibits at SEMA are designed to personalize your car, which is very different from the traditional auto parts business. SEMA provides a great opportunity to meet with K&N supporters from around the world and we offer advice and product information, as well as information about product displays, catalogs, website tools, and other information needed." Martin, as well as many other members of the K&N team will be in attendance.
Along with the many new products and systems on display at the K&N booth this year, several cars and motorcycles will be displayed. K&N is looking to include Bob Griffith's completely custom racing Dodge Viper. Built with the aid and talents of fabricator Andrew McClelland, and renowned Viper engine builder Kevin Singleton of Exotic Engine Development, Griffith's visions of this speed performance vehicle have come to fruition. Along with Shane Tecklenburg and Greg Pyles engineering the electrical, this performance specialty Viper required almost 4 years of work to complete but on its initial outing at Nevada's Silver State Mile Shootout speeds in excess of 210 MPH gave this masterpiece vehicle the win. Sporting a custom body paint design, this Viper is designed to turn heads to the real capabilities of such a high performance machine.
SEMA will provide K&N the opportunity to also show off its newly styled truck and trailer complete with displays and vehicles at the SEMA DUB location throughout the event. Along with the star power of the manufacturers and attendees at the show, SEMA will certainly provide an event that will celebrate the very best in the auto industry and the performance-boosting products K&N has to offer.
