NEWS NUGGETS
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POPULAR NEW YORK-NEW YORK HOTEL AND CASINO FANFEST RETURNS TO KICK OFF RACING ACTION AT THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: More than 25 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series drivers will be at the annual Fan Fest March 29 on the Brooklyn Bridge in front of the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, including all seven Don Schumacher Racing drivers and the Summit Racing Equipment duo of Greg Anderson and Jason Line. The party starts at 5:00 p.m., with driver autographs from 6:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m. The free event will be hosted by Team Full Throttle and include music and giveaways. For tickets to the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, call 800-644-4444 or log on to LVMS.com.
CAPPS SERVES AS HONORARY CREW MEMBER FOR NASCAR TEAMMATE TRUEX: NAPA Auto Parts Funny Car driver Ron Capps served as NAPA’s Honorary Pit Crew Member for NAPA NASCAR teammate Martin Truex Jr. during the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. During the pre-race activities, Capps and son Caden were interviewed on SiriusXM satellite radio and on Speed’s NASCAR Race Day. Capps and Caden attended the driver meeting with Truex and participated in the NAPA team meeting, where Caden addressed the crew. Then they were off to driver introductions and pre-race festivities. When it was time for the engines to fire, Capps got on the team radio and gave the NAPA driver and crew words of encouragement. The highlight of Capps’ experience was signaling Truex in for his first pit stop by holding and waving the driver’s pit sign to help him negotiate his way into the NAPA pit stall. Capps’ name was prominently displayed on the No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota. Capps will return the favor to Truex when the NASCAR driver serves as the Honorary Pit Crew Member at the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina, April 13–15. The entire NAPA Sprint Cup team will show its support for Capps as well by attending the NAPA Race Day Experience and watching Capps during competition.
CANDLEWOOD SUITES EXTENDS PARTNERSHIP WITH KALITTA MOTORSPORTS: Candlewood Suites, IHG’s midscale extended-stay brand, will rejoin Kalitta Motorsports in a two-year sponsorship as a major associate and primary sponsor for the team in the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. The Candlewood Suites logo will be prominently displayed on all four of the Kalitta Motorsports nitro-fueled, 7,000-hp, 300-mph race cars, including the Technicoat Top Fuel dragster driven by Doug Kalitta, the DHL Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by Jeff Arend, and the Tequila Patron Toyota Camry Funny Car driven by rookie of the year contender Alexis DeJoria. The primary sponsorship on the David Grubnic-driven Top Fuel dragster kicks off at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas March 30.
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ZIZZO WALKS RED CARPET AT GENESIS AWARDS IN HOLLYWOOD: Top Fuel driver TJ Zizzo attended the 26th annual Humane Society Genesis Awards March 24, in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife, Jennifer, and two marketing partners from Misix. The Genesis Awards is the nation’s premier animal-welfare consciousness-raiser acknowledging the efforts of the international media, entertainment, social, business and humane communities working to make a difference. The taped event is edited to become the “Genesis Awards Television Special,” airing nationwide on the Animal Planet network. At the after party/social media lounge, Zizzo challenged attendees to test their racing reaction time against him using NHRA’s race simulator.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
SUMMITRACING.COM NHRA NATIONALS, THE STRIP AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, March 30–April 1: The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series makes its first of two stops of the season in Sin City for the fourth race of the season. Defending event winners are Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Robert Hight (Funny Car) and Mike Edwards (Pro Stock). For tickets, call 800-644-4444 or log on to LVMS.com. For media credentials, contact Director of Media Relations Anthony Vestal at avestal@nhra.com.
NHRA FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS, zMAX DRAGWAY, April 13–15: The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series makes its first of two stops of the season in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the only four-wide national event. Winners from 2011 were Del Worsham (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock). For tickets, call 800-455-FANS (3267) or log on to CharlotteMotorSpeedway.com. For media credentials, contact Media Relations Manager Alex Baca at abaca@nhra.com.
O’REILLY AUTO PARTS NHRA SPRING NATIONALS PRESENTED BY SUPER START BATTERIES, ROYAL PURPLE RACEWAY, April 27–29: The NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series makes its first stop of the season in the Lone Star State for the sixth race of the season. Winners from 2011 were Del Worsham (Top Fuel), Jeff Arend (Funny Car), Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle). For tickets, call 281-383-RACE (7223) or log on to RoyalPurpleRaceway.com. For media credentials, contact Director of Media Relations Anthony Vestal at avestal@nhra.com.
| HE SAID, SHE SAID | INSIDE THE NUMBERS | |
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| CONTINUING THE MOMENTUM THROUGH LAS VEGAS: “Obviously, we’ve left
a few scraps on the table with this Summit Racing team winning two of
the three, so it’s a good but not a perfect start, and we strive for
perfection,” said Summit Racing Equipment Pro Stock driver Greg Anderson
of his team’s 2012 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season. “It’s
also a big deal every year when we go to Vegas because of it being (team
owner) Ken and Judy’s (Black) hometown and combined with the fact that
this is a Summit-sponsored race. With all of the brass coming out to
cheer us on, it means there is a lot of added pressure and emphasis on
doing well. The good thing about this year’s race is that we’re coming
in on a high, so we’re hoping to continue that roll and put two Summit
Pontiacs in the final round so we can put that big smile on everyone’s
face again. It feels good to be going in with a little positive
momentum.” |
12: NUMBER OF RACES K-LOVE WILL SPONSOR TWO-TIME FUNNY CAR WORLD CHAMPION TONY PEDREGON: K-LOVE, a national radio broadcaster that features positive and encouraging music, will be the primary sponsor on two-time NHRA Full Throttle world champion Tony Pedregon's Funny Car for 12 of the final 20 races of the season. K-LOVE will be a major associate sponsor on the car for the remainder of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season as well. The K-LOVE Funny Car will take to the track for the first time at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals in Las Vegas and banner the primary backing through the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta. After a two-race break, K-LOVE will return as the primary sponsor at five of the eight remaining races leading up to the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals Labor Day weekend. K-LOVE will finish the season at three of the Countdown to the Championship races, including the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona. |
DID YOU KNOW
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RIDING A HOT STREAK: Hight will roll into The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 13th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals, March 30–April 1, as the hottest Funny Car driver in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Not only is Hight the event’s defending Funny Car winner, but he is also riding a two-race winning streak. Funny Car driver Robert Hight is also the only two-time Funny Car winner (also 2007) at the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals. He’ll try to keep the momentum going and add a third-straight victory to his early season collection.
“It is harder to start a winning streak than keep one going,” Hight said. “Once you have a couple wins, momentum carries over from win to win. Your team builds up confidence and it just seems to get easier. You never want to take it for granted because streaks can end just as quickly as they start.”