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In the debut of his personal Guts Racing No. 53 Gregg finished 2nd.

"After the first three races of my season I'm feeling like I'm on top of the world!"

Andy Gregg opened his sprint car season with a 3rd place finish in the Silver Cup finale at Chico.

Andy Gregg has every right to experience such titanic sentiment, with the 2014 season having just started he's already had a view from all three tiers of the podium. Gregg opened his season at Silver Dollar Speedway where he made it to the Silver Cup finale campaigning for Russell Motorsports. Driving the K&N backed Mike's Hard Lemonade/Capitol Ace Hardware/Thompson's Auto No.14R sprint car, Gregg finished the contest in third, as he flawlessly navigated the tricky track surface.

"It is awesome to get out here and run up front to start our season off, but I was just beyond thrilled that we were even able to get out here and race," Gregg said. "The Russell family made some huge changes to their program for this season, and everyone involved on this team worked a ton of late nights to get us race-ready."

Next up was Gregg's debut of his personal Guts Racing No. 53 back at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California. Gregg put on tremendous charge as he rallied from his seventh starting spot to finish second aboard his Miller Fortune/Poor's Equipment Repair/K&N backed entry.

"It was a pretty greasy track, and tough to pass on, but we were pretty good in the feature event, and I really have to thank my team," remarked Gregg.

Gregg and his Scott Russell team earned a commanding victory in their second outing together at Marysville Raceway Park.

Then, only one week after Gregg and his Scott Russell team burned the midnight oil to reach the Silver Cup podium, they returned to action at Marysville Raceway Park. This time however Gregg flat-out dominated the California Sprint Car Civil War Series presented by Flowmaster opening event, leading every lap in both the Dash and Feature Event.

"Winning the second night out in the Russell Motorsports No.14R car was epic," Gregg said. "During the off-season Russell Motorsports built a new car from the ground up, even the motor is new to the team. So to come out and get 3rd the first night and win the second night shows it was a wise decision. To top it off, between the 3rd and 1st in the No. 14R, we also picked up a 2nd place in my own No. 53 sprint car. So it's been great start for both teams."

Physically and mentally I feel more prepared for the 2014 season then I've ever felt in the past," he adds. "Our next race will be at Stockton Speedway in Stockton, California, this Friday March 21st."

In a follow-up we can report that Gregg remained hot, finishing with his fourth podium in a row at the FVP Shootout. With much of the top-five battling wheel-to-wheel, Gregg made a stirring pass that earned him a third place finish at the stripe.

Frank Hawley's Dragster Adventure offers enthusiasts an opportunity to drive a dragster.

It may not rank as a contender for the eighth wonder of our planet, but the great million-dollar sound wall of Fontana indisputably fits prominently into the world of motorsports. For nearly 15 years the 2-mile banked oval Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California also included a drag strip, until noise complaints from neighbors closed it down two years ago. We're happy to report the lawsuit has been settled and drag racing is back, thanks to a 24-foot-tall, 1800-foot-long wall constructed along the northern strip.

Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School is the most respected program of its kind in the world.

"We are very happy it has reopened and they've done a tremendous job," said Frank Hawley. "A lot of great companies like K&N and Lucas Oil and Auto Club worked together, and the great new wall will make it (drag racing) friendlier to the neighborhood. They've also painted everything and installed a brand new timing system, and we can't wait to get out there and get started."

Hawley is an NHRA World Champion driver, author and sought after motivational speaker. His Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School is the most respected and the most attended school of its kind in the world. Whether teaching today's professionals or supplying the adventurous with the thrilling experience of speed and acceleration - Hawley's programs deliver.

"Our home base is in Gainesville, Florida, we've been based here for 28 years, and we travel all around the country, so this year we've already had a class in Phoenix, we're going to be in Huston, we're going to be in St. Louis at Gateway Raceway a few times this year, we're in Norwalk, Ohio, and then Reading, Pennsylvania. So we've remained fairly mobile during that time."

Home based in Gainesville, Florida, Hawley estimates that half the NHRA racers have been licensed at his programs.

For the decade between 1996 and 2006 Hawley's school had a fulltime location in Pomona, California, but their lease wasn't renewed. "So from that time until now we haven't had a presence back in southern California, basically because there wasn't an opportunity for us to be there," Hawley explains, "But now there is. As soon as we found out Auto Club Dragway was going to reopen we jumped all over it. We wanted to be there and make it our West Coast home."

"About half the NHRA drag racers have been licensed at our programs," Hawley says. "We've had programs from top alcohol dragsters and alcohol funny cars all the way down to super gas and super comp, where you can come for a two-day program and get qualified for your NHRA competition license. But we realized that not everybody wants to invest the resources necessary to becoming a NHRA competition licensed driver, so we have what we call our Dragster Adventure Program, and these cars are powered by big block Chevy engines."

As accomplished NHRA World Champion driver and author, Hawley is also a sought after motivational speaker.

The Dragster Adventure is specifically designed for drivers that have always fantasized about driving a dragster, and perhaps even compete in some side-by-side racing, yet without committing the time and money required to become a licensed racer in one of Hawley's many licensing courses. The course provides drivers with full-sized competition styled cars capable of blasting from 0-to-60 in three seconds and reach 130 mph in the 1/4 mile.

"They have a gas pedal, brake pedal and automatic transmission and they run in the 10's," Hawley adds. "It's a real nice entry level program were, for 399 bucks, we'll teach how to drive a dragster and make some runs down the dragstrip. And if you want to stay over and do another half-day program to complete the full-day program, then you get to do some real racing, because during that second program we do let people race each other."

"It's a great idea for high performance enthusiasts, maybe they're street rodders, or they like stock cars or road racing, but they've never actually tried drag racing, and this gives them an opportunity to get behind the wheel and make some runs and have fun. It's also the perfect platform for a lot of corporate entertainment. So you can bring out groups of sales people or managers and they can come out and drive these dragsters and have a lot of fun."

There is a resurging interest in drag racing and in people wanting to find out what the drag racing experience is really all about. Hawley was nine when he first got hooked on racing. "And what I've always loved about drag racing," he says, "Is that it's one of the few motorsports were everyone can participate. You can literally take the car you drive all week to work and then take it to the local drag strip on the weekend and compete. Because if you can learn how the timing system works and learn how to get a good reaction time, and learn how to predict the performance of your car, which we call 'dial-in,' you can actually go out and win a drag race. Southern California is like a country in itself and we're looking to get a new generation reengaged in motorsports, or high performance driving, or just cars in general."

Frank Hawley's Drag Racing School officially opens Thursday April 3, 2014 at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana.

At the 2013 SEMA show Warn Industries displayed a Jeep JK with an ARB brute conversion and K&N air filter with wrap

If you consider yourself a serious off-roader you’re already very well versed with Warn Industries. Located in Clackamas, Oregon, Warn is credited for developing the first recreational winch in 1959. And, if you’re a weekend warrior wondering how a winch can possibly further improve your off-road experience, here’s the lowdown. A winch can move trail blocking debris, it can help get your vehicle over seemly insurmountable obstacles, and it can drag your buddies’ rigs out of near-impossible situations making you a hero.

Warn focuses on three specific markets, consumer aftermarket, industrial/commercial, and original equipment. With customers in over 65 countries, Warn is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands in vehicle performance enhancing equipment.

Arthur and Sadie Warn started a Willy's dealership in South Park, Washington in the 1930's, and founded Warn Industries some 18 year later. Warn began with one man's vision for converting thousands of surplus World War II Jeeps into practical, on-road vehicles. Arthur Warn's extraordinary invention of wheel locking hubs in fact revolutionized the automotive industry. In the 1990's Warn created the ATV/UTV winch market, and today the company designs, manufactures and markets a full line of off-road equipment and accessories that advance the performance of four-wheel-drive vehicles, ATV's and utility vehicles. And for that reason, every year at the SEMA show in Vegas, Warn continues to be one of the most trafficked of all the booths.

“Warn Industries had a 40x50 display at the 2013 SEMA Show,” reported Warn’s Adel Adams. “The show was well attended and we had many inquiries about our products. The vehicle we featured was a Jeep JK with an ARB brute conversion.”

Other products on the vehicle included a Hi-Lift Slide-N-Lock tie-down system, Currie model 44 Rock Jock front axle and model 60 rear axle, ARB front and rear lockers, Six States drive shafts, Ried Racing steering knuckles, Bushwacker fender flares, a Rubicon Style front axle U-joint and a series 1350 drive shaft U-bolt kit, a transfer case yoke (15033), a Speedy Sleeve (TK99187), a K&N performance air filter (RC-4630XD) and a K&N air filter charger (RC-4630DK).

Warn’s Industrial Division also markets electric and hydraulic winches and hoists to commercial, industrial and severe duty customers. Pretty much every variety of winches designed for professional trade workers and do-it-yourself consumers who need powerful tools to assist them in pulling, hauling, dragging or lifting, you can bet that Warn produces them.

“Warn Industries has reserved an even larger booth at the 2014 SEMA show,” says Adams, “And will be there in full force.”

Dave Martis unleashed the K&N Mustang RTR for the first outing at Sonoma Raceway.

After much anticipation, Dave Martis and the K&N Motorsports team made their first successful appearance in the all new K&N Mustang RTR at Sonoma Raceway on March 15th and 16th. Campaigning in the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) American Iron series, Martis, K&N’s R&D Manager, finished an impressive 4th place in both Saturday and Sunday’s contests.

Martis finished both races of the American Iron series in 4th place.

“The handling needs to be dialed in,” commented Martis after the team’s first weekend of racing, “We were clearly in new racecar territory.”

Packed full of thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing and punctuated by the fiery sounds of V8 thunder, the NASA American Iron class is limited by a power-to-weight ratio aspect and several other key factors intended to keep the cars on an even playing field, despite including nearly every pony car that has been produced in the United States since 1960.

Ford Racing supplied the Mustang body and Martis and his crew built the car entirely in-house.

“The class rules limit the amount of power you can make based on the post-race weight of the car,” Martis explains. “The formula is a limit of 9:1 horsepower and 8.5:1 torque (car’s weight/horsepower and torque).

The RTR’s bold, instantly familiar, K&N graphics running from bumper-to-bumper and side-to-side caught everyone’s attention, drawing them in for a closer look, and then the painstakingly built Mustang’s craftsmanship wowed them. Martis and his crew built the Ford Racing “body-in-white” Mustang from the shell up.

“The car is powered by is a stock 2014 Ford Coyote 5.0-liter engine and it makes 387 horsepower and 391(ft/lbs) of torque to the rear wheels,” details Martis. “The air box was my design and we had it made by the Forecast 3D company using FDM (fused deposition modeling) which is a type of 3D printing. And of course we couldn’t have done this without our partners.”

The K&N R&D Manager designed the exclusive air box and Forecast 3D produced it.

• K&N Performance Air Filter
• K&N Oil Filter
• K&N Fuel Filters
• Ford Racing (the body-in-white)
• Mustang RTR (body parts)
• Cortex Racing (suspension)
• JRi Shocks (shocks)
• Eibach (springs)
• Baer Brakes (brakes)
• Hawk Performance (brake pads)
• Bassani Xhaust (exhaust system)
• Toyo Tires (race tires)
• Lucas Oil (lubricants)
• AEM Electronics (engine management and electronics)
• Optima Batteries (battery)

“For the Sonoma race, I’d like to give a shout out to Filip Trojanek, who owns Cortex Racing. He kindly showed up and provided at-the-track support and advice which helped us improve our lap times. This was a huge help to the team,” adds Martis.

The NASA American Iron series continues April 5th and 6th at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.

Total Chaos driver, Nicole Pitell -Vaughan, recently invited Jessi Combs to be her navigator in the "Battle at Primm."

The Team Total Chaos crew is no stranger to stiff and fierce competition. However, they recently embarked upon a journey into unknown waters, when they rolled into Primm, Nevada to race in one of the snore series' most popular events . Not only had driver, Nicole Pitell - Vaughan never competed in the "Battle at Primm," but she would also be working with her navigator for the first time - Myth Busters television star, Jessi Combs.

Although Nicole Pitell - Vaughan and Jessi Combs had never raced together prior to the "Battle at Primm," they came out of the gates as a competitive force.

Although Vaughan and Combs had never raced as a team prior to this event, the driver was very confident in her teammate's skill level and abilities. "Jessi is a highly experienced motorsports athlete and has competed in several disciplines of off road racing," ensured Vaughan. "I have high expectations for my navigators, and I knew the 1450 class at this race was very competitive.

The driver said, "We see each other at a few industry events every year. When I lost my three-peat co-pilot who I had been racing with, she was one of my first replacement choices to sit in the right-hand seat when I started looking.".

"We were supposed to race back in October at the Race for a Cure in Barstow. But we had some scheduling conflicts with her world record attempt. . ."

With all of their ducks in a row, the female duo and their crew arrived at the event confident they had the equipment and experience to prove a competitive force. Their Toyota Tacoma was fine tuned and ready for competition, and they were geared up and eager for the waving of the green flag to deem the battle underway. However, in spite of their readiness, it was only natural to feel some sense of uncertainty.

"Actually, I was really nervous to start up front," recalled Vaughan. "I like rear class starts. I knew over half the field ran V8s and, hands down, had more power than Lil-T. I trusted Jessi and that extra set of eyes to keep me from getting punted off of the course. And I knew the truck was set up very well," she explained. We have some of the best fabricators and pit crew in the industry at Team Total Chaos."

The female duo of Nicole Pitell - Vaughan and Jessi Combs proved an effective team, but a mechanical malfunction on the final day of racing left their vehicle strnded and lying on it’s side.

But the nervousness was short lived. And when the battle began, the Total Chaos duo wasted no time establishing their position. Drawing the 11th starting position for the opening day of racing, they managed to finish the event in sixth place out of a field of 54 trucks. Their finish alone was something to be proud of. Only one minute separated fourth and sixth place, which made the accomplishment even sweeter.

Vaughan, Combs and the crew returned to the track the following day with anticipation of what would transpire in the hours to come. Again, they made a run toward the front early, reaching the fourth position. But bad luck lurked farther down the course, as they blew a steering rack seal.

Even though Vaughan tried to maneuver the truck off course and "hang on," the results were not favorable. In fact, the truck rolled over, coming to a stop on the driver's door.

Although the outcome of the final day did not go as hoped for, overall, Total Chaos made an impressive stand at the Battle at Primm, and one can rest assured that the team will continue to make showings in the future.

Nicole Pitell - Vaughn and her team are acutely aware that proper maintenance will play an essential role in their success so they depend upon K&N products for their filtering needs.

"A race is generally won or lost in the garage," she explained. Worn out or damaged components can cause a race car to not perform to its full potential. We have endorsed K&N filters exclusively for over ten years," she continued. K&N is a premium product for daily driving use and race applications. All of our shop pre-runners, race trucks, and daily drivers use either the K&N intake systems or replacement filters. K&N filters are an awesome product."

Looking back at the her recent experience at the Battle at Primm , the driver concluded, "I have to admit, the most rewarding part was how pumped some of the competition was on our position on the opening day, as well as the chick fans who congratulated us after the race. It was very cool to see some women pumped that two ladies were out there racing and battling with the top field of boys."