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Strong Super Stock Final Round Appearance for Gary Stinnett During NHRA Topeka Event

Jun 6, 2012

The car was still getting too high in the front on the launch. When a car gets that high [wheelstand], it literally runs out of gas at a forty-five degree angle.

In a car that Gary Stinnett only just began to compete with in the Super Stock ranks, the well-known Emporia, Kansas engine builder took his former bracket car all the way to the championship round at its first NHRA national event, during the 24th annual Dollar General Summer Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka.

"I put a legal Super Stock motor in this car over the winter and then took it to the NHRA divisional at Great Bend [SRCA Dragstrip] to kind of sort it out," Stinnett said. "Next we took it to Topeka to race it and everything went smoothly. Early in the weekend, the thing was too violent on the launch and it was just coming up way too high. So round by round, I just kept putting five or ten more pounds on the front of the car and kept dialing accordingly for the additional weight. By the time we got to Sunday, the weather was so much better that I ended up having to put another fifteen pounds on the front of it and in the final, it actually got too high again on launch."

The Super Stock categories are known and loved for their side-by-side crowd pleasing wheel stands and while the fans may enjoy the wheels hanging in the air as the cars blast past the Christmas Tree, there are actually other reasons the wheel stands are a good thing, besides their aesthetically pleasing wow factor. "You need it to come up and transfer the weight," noted Stinnett. "There is a fine line between a perfect run and it getting too high."

Folks who don't compete in the Stock or Super Stock ranks may not know that many times a car can be built for one class and with a little weight change here and there, can easily slip into another. For Stinnett and his 1990 Camaro, he decided to change classes after seeing some of the other cars that were entered for the event.

"The car is actually an 'H' car [GT/HA classification]," he said. "But because David Rampy and Jeff Town were both going to run in 'H,' I ran it in 'G.' So I was actually a couple of hundred pounds heavy and it looked like at the beginning of the race that making that class change was going to be a mistake because Lloyd Wofford showed up in 'G' and he was number one qualifier. We had class at this event and when I ran him, he outran me by five tenths, of course two of those tenths is because I was two hundred pounds overweight, but there was no way I could take it out."

With qualifying for the main event completed and this now in the back of Stinnett's mind, he's carefully looking ahead at the ladder and the potential match up with Wofford in round four. "Fortunately for me, Lloyd went out in round three or I would have never made it to the final, since we would have had a GT/GA heads up match," he confessed. "At the beginning of the weekend, it wasn't looking very good for me when I saw that we may have to meet up and there was no way I would have been able to beat him. With Lloyd going out, I then had to run Jeff Town and not have to worry about a heads up, because I was in 'G' instead of 'H' like I would normally be."

I've won NHRA national events in four different categories and I'll have three opportunities to make that five this year between Chicago, Denver and Dallas.

"I had even tried to place myself on the ladder and try to avoid meeting up with Lloyd," he said. "I shut off on my first qualifying run, but with all the shuffling that was going on during class eliminations, it was really hard to try to pick your spot on the ladder."

Prior to meeting up with Town in round four, Stinnett sent home Pete Peery, Kyle Ratliff and Jason DeForrest, who wanted the round win a little too much and turned it .008 red. Knowing the air on Sunday was much better than what the racers had been dealing with the two days prior and the wind had now changed directions, Stinnett dialed his K&N 1990 Camaro down a few numbers and set out to take on Town and his '87 Somerset. Stinnett held two full hundreds over Town as the two past the tree and used it to force the fellow Kansas racer under the dial.

Next he would move on to the semi-finals to face Korey Mawhee. Again with the starting line advantage, Stinnett masterfully drove his Camaro to a 10.459 on his 10.45 dial to defeat Mawhee's 9.604 on his 9.59 dial and move on to the Super Stock final to take on Eric Pearson in his very first NHRA national event final round appearance. "As I mentioned earlier, the car was still getting too high in the front on the launch. When a car gets that high [wheelstand], it literally runs out of gas at a forty-five degree angle," he explained. "And in the final, it actually stumbled just a little bit on me. Plus when I got to the finish line, I screwed it up by trying to be a hero and tightening it up too much and actually gave it back [stripe] by two thou."

While the Super Stock title for this event may not have been in the cards for the multi-time NHRA World Champ, it's not really a class that he had set out to pursue a championship in for the 2012 season and looks to get back to his hope of a charge to the top in his beloved Super Comp class and his 1967 Camaro with which he will be competing in Super Street.

"I really want to play around with the Super Street car and get it working the way I want it to," he said. "It was a Super Stock D/A car that I have put a 582ci in. It's pretty heavy and it weighs 3275, but the 582 makes a 1050 horsepower. So at Topeka, I have been running 10.90's at 148-149mph. I'm just trying to get it perfected, it really works pretty well but I want it to be perfected. For the last few years I have run Stock and Super Stock as my secondary category. Now I want that secondary category to be Super Street to compliment my Super Comp car. I've won NHRA national events in four different categories and I'll have three opportunities to make that five this year between Chicago, Denver and Dallas."

When not blazing down a drag strip somewhere and turning on win lights, Stinnett is a well-known engine builder who puts together well over seventy power plants ranging in many different cubic inch combinations. Whether it's his racing engine or a customer, Stinnett insists on every motor having the protection of a K&N oil filter. "They are the absolute most elite filter manufacturer on the market," Stinnett pointed out. "No matter what it is, we try to use only the best in everything we do and everything we build. With K&N we know what we are getting each and every time. The protection of these high dollar motors should only be trusted to the best and that's K&N. For 2012, I also added the second generation K&N Dragster Composite scoop and just with that change, even picked up some mile-per-hour in my Super Comp Dragster."

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.

Jason Line Sails to Fourth NHRA Pro Stock Number One Qualifier of Season in Hotlanta

Jun 6, 2012

Line only managed to eek a 6.680 at 199.67 mph during his first attempt and only good enough for a very uncharacteristic 12th spot on the ladder.

Just like the term "Hotlanta" may suggest, the on-track action during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway was nothing short of exciting as NHRA Pro Stock Driver Jason Line remained as the one to beat during qualifying. Line used a 6.607 seconds at 209.04 mph to secure his fourth pole of the 2012 NHRA season, also his ninth K&N Filters Horsepower Challenge award and maximum qualifying points for the 2012 K&N Horsepower Challenge since the new season began late last June.

The Atlanta national event qualifying certainly didn't start off on the right foot for Line and his team. During the first session on Friday, Line's car had the strongest tune-up of the pack for the first sixty feet but was unable to carry that through the rest of the 1,320 feet that make up the quarter mile. Line only managed to eek a 6.680 at 199.67 mph during his first attempt and only good enough for a very uncharacteristic 12th spot on the ladder. The slow time slip for Line was caused by losing an engine and with only a few hours before the next session, the team would be quite busy turning the Pontiac GXP around.

Where things didn't fare well for Line during session one, they did for former K&N Horsepower Challenge Champion, Allen Johnson, who would claim the early bragging rights as the class leader with his 6.620 at 209.07 mph.

With a new bullet between the frame rails for Line, things starting looking up for him during the second qualifying lap. The air conditions remained nearly identical from the prior session, but the track had cooled ever-so-slightly, which allowed teams to get after their tune-ups just a little more and the shake up on the ladder, after the class completed their second lap, showed minor improvements for many and a major one for Line. From a somewhat dismal 6.680 during his first attempt, Line powered all the way to the top and bumped Johnson down with a 6.612 at 208.68.

"We didn't even have time to start the thing," Line admitted about the motor change shortly after the second session ended. "There's probably some room left [to improve]. Hat's off to our engine guys for being able to plug an engine in from underneath the bench and go to the pole. That's a very reassuring feeling for sure."

Jason Line and his daughter enjoying the warm southern sun in Hotlanta.

Saturday rolled around and the Pro Stock teams knew that the first session of the day was going to be "make it or break it time" with their best weather and track conditions for qualifying and that if they were going to make a move, it needed to be now.

The battle continued between Line and Johnson, as the two were the final pair to take their turn down the Commerce, Georgia quarter mile. Where Johnson remained consistent only losing five thousandths of a second from his previous lap to remain in the number two spot, Line picked up another five thousandths, moving the number one spot to a 6.607.

The hot and sticky conditions for the fourth and final session of qualifying would just not warrant the naturally aspirated Pro Stock cars to make any major improvements and only two teams actually bettered their earlier attempts, while everyone else fell off their pace with the 133 degree track temperature and the adjusted altitude nearly three hundred feet worse. Line's 6.607 would remain safe as the number one spot for the event and would mark his 28th career Pro Stock number one.

"The racetrack was hotter, but great job by NHRA. The racetrack was great," Line said following the commencement of qualifying. "It was a good job by the NHRA because for a track to be this hot and be this good, is phenomenal. For us to go a 6.62 in this heat is great."

"We just wanted a good and safe run in the final session," he confessed. "My crew did a great job as they have done all season. I haven't really held up my end of the deal. I've struggled to maintain the intensity to be the best in this class. I haven't done a great job of that this year."

While Line may being a little hard on himself for how he feels about his race outcome on Sundays, he has surely set the bar quite high in the 2012 K&N Horsepower Challenge where he remains as the leader with just four events left to be contested before the big showdown in Norwalk, Ohio. The elite seven top qualified NHRA Pro Stock drivers, along with a fan voted eighth will battle it out for the $50,000 championship check from K&N Engineering on Saturday July 7th during the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals.

Eight lucky finalists will be selected from all who enter the 2012 K&N Horsepower Challenge Sweepstakes and paired with one of the eight NHRA Pro Stock competitors. Should their driver come out as champion, they will win a 2012 K&N Horsepower Challenge Edition Toyota Tundra.

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.

Rocky Mountain Challenge Series Strives To Be Affordable and Fun

Jun 5, 2012

Drivers representing several states, as well as British Columbia, Canada, race in the Rocky Mountain Challenge Series.

Nine years ago, the Rocky Mountain Challenge Series was born, with aspirations of welcoming all who race in the Late Model class and ensuring that the series remain fun. That in mind, the decision was made to deviate from some of the rules and guidelines to which drivers and other series were accustomed.

"We just tried to offer something different and our format resonated with competitors and fans, and we flourished," explained Public Relations Director, Derrick Shannon. "We have seen steady growth through the years, but it leveled off a couple of years ago due to a variety of economic factors: price of gas, and the downturn of the economy," he continued. "And while the downturn has had an impact, we continue to see a strong interest and support in the series from competitors, fans and track operators."

Striving to keep the sport of racing affordable, the series devised a tire rule. According to Shannon, the rule ensures that drivers are not forced to purchase several sets of tires to embark upon a weekend of racing. "Each competitor starts the season purchasing six tires, and we generally allow for the purchase of two new tires at each race. The Hoosier 2040 is a fantastic tire that repeats perfectly and lasts. Back in 2007, John Newhouse won the championship, and used the same left-side tires for seven races."

Referring to other rules deviating from the norm, Shannon said, "The (Full Field) invert is obviously what sets this series apart from others. With our invert and starting the fast guys in the back, fans will see cars passing cars, and drivers will learn how to pass cleanly. In order to promote healthy competition, we pay the event purse based on total point accumulation for the race. We award passing points for position, and we offer special awards as incentive," he continued. "If you start on the pole and win the race, you will not get the money or the points. The driver who starts toward the rear and finishes towards the front generally wins the most money and is awarded the most points. At the end of the day, it is about competition and performance. We award performance."

The Rocky Mountain Challenge Series was designed with allotting all drivers of Late Model race cars the opportunity to compete.

Those competing in the Rocky Mountain Challenge Series will race at three different venues during eleven scheduled events. When asked if he expected any changes in venues, Derrick Shannon said, "The simple fact is that the intermountain west is somewhat cut off from other hotbeds of racing by geography. It's about travel. The more miles we travel, the more costs we all incur. The three tracks in our region fit our series, and allow us to compete in the major markets within our region that is good for our local and regional sponsors. While we are open to taking the show to new venues, the financial side has to be a benefit to the teams," he continued.

"We have had numerous offers from tracks throughout the western U.S., but to date, the negotiations have not been mutually beneficial. We are very excited about the three tracks we run- Meridian Speedway, Idaho, Magic Valley Speedway, in Twin Falls, Idaho and Rocky Mountain Speedway, in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have three very invested and dedicated partners."

The Rocky Mountain Series welcomes any Late Model Type Car, including Big Spring, Coil Over, Tour Car, Super Late Model and Late Model. Although all Late Models are welcomed to compete, each car must meet strict safety requirements, track width requirements and weight expectations. Throughout the years, practically every combination of chassis has won the series championship. "It always comes down to driver talent at the end of the day," ensured Shannon.

According to Shannon, a simple and consistent rules package is partially responsible for the Rocky Mountain Challenge Series' growth and success. In fact, several states are represented by competitors in the series. Folks from Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Wyoming and California participate as well as British Columbia.

In the racing world, it's a well-known fact that success depends a great deal upon proper maintenance of one's vehicle, and K&N products have set the standard on filtration needs of many drivers. When asked his take on K&N products, Derrick Shannon said, "K&N is a world-class company, delivering world-class products. Most of our competitors already use K&N products, and we would love to enter into a formal partnership with K&N to represent their brand to our loyal fans throughout the region."

When asked what fans can expect from the Rocky Mountain Racing Series in 2012 Shannon said, "Full-Field inverts, and cars passing cars. We have a special two-day show at Meridian in July that will have competitors from throughout the region in attendance. Two feature events, one each day. We also have a 200-lap race on August 11, at the Magic Valley Speedway. A 15-year-old racer, Jeremy Doss, has won two of the first three races this season, and he did it from the tail of the field. He could be the next young superstar in the sport, and fans will get to see him today."

In closing, Derrick Shannon summed it up with a few short sentences, "It is the age old story- do it better than the rest and you will be successful. Offer something that people want, and you will have a strong customer base. Be consistent, honest, and make it fun, and people will stick around."

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.

Cody Swanson Grabs 3rd at the VRA Midget Show in Ventura, California

Jun 5, 2012

Cody throwing it sideways in a heat race in Hanford, California. Photo by Patrick Grant.

The month of May was a busy one for California midget racer Cody Swanson. The up-and-coming open wheel racer made four starts, all on dirt, and although he hasn't found victory lane yet, he's knocking on the door.

"One of the biggest moments of the month wasn't a race," Swanson explained. "After the first VRA (Ventura Racing Association) midget race, I went to Cory Kruseman's school. I was able to test one of his Sprint Cars and it was a big learning experience. He taught me a lot that day, and it greatly improved my driving in the midget."

Swanson in a heat race with Pricket in Hanford, California. Photo by Patrick Grant.

Swanson's best finish of the month came at Ventura Raceway in the local VRA Midget show, where he grabbed a podium, finishing third. Swanson then embarked on a pair of USAC Western States Midget events, first in Santa Maria, then in Hanford, California. Swanson finished fifth and sixth, respectively, before returning to Ventura, where a flat tire derailed a strong run.

Cody Swanson qualifying in Hanford, California. Photo by Patrick Grant.

"We built a new car in 2011, and last year was a big learning year," Swanson said. "The car was much different then my old one. We made some slight, but significant changes to the car this past offseason, and those changes mixed with my added experience have made us very fast everywhere we've been so far."

Swanson and his team have gained enough confidence through the first three months of the season that they feel like their first win is just a matter of when, not if. "We have proven race after race this year that we have the speed needed to win," Swanson said. "We just need to hone in on whatever the circumstances at the track are that day, and take advantage of every opportunity we get to improve, from hot laps to the main event. Each time out on the track is another opportunity to learn from some of the more experienced guys."

Swanson was quick to praise K&N Filters for helping the team be so competitive right out of the box this season. "Every filter on our car, from the air to oil and even the breather filters are K&N and they perform great. They are the greatest filters manufactured and keep everything in our engine clean, helping us squeeze every ounce of horsepower out of the engine that we need, all while stretching out the life of our motor."

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.

Casey Currie Takes the Podium at LOORRS Race at Firebird Raceway

Jun 5, 2012

Once the green flag dropped it was an all-out mud storm but we made it through to position 3.

Talk about starting off on the right foot. Casey Currie blasted out of the gates at this year's Lucas Oil Off-Road season opener at Firebird Raceway in Chandler, Arizona this past April. After a shaky Saturday, Casey earned his podium finish, taking home 3rd place on Sunday in the Pro Lite class. The win on Sunday prepared Currie for a clear shot at the championship, amping up Casey and team for plenty more wins this season.

The win on Sunday was par for the course, as Currie is no stranger to winning, having clinched the 2010 Pro Light Championship and World Championship in Crandon, Wisconsin that same year. The third-generation motorcycle racer turned to racing in LOORRS and TORC after participating in Score, BITD, MDR, and CORR since he was 21 years old.

We lost this race by .5 of a second so it was an extremely tight battle.

Qualifying 10th on Friday in his Monster Energy/General Tire Nissan, Casey entered a huge field of Pro Lites on Saturday. Despite the popular class, he worked his way through the field to 3rd place. His finish however, wouldn't be achieved unscathed. After some wheel-to-wheel rubbing with a fellow driver on Saturday, Casey's truck was unable to continue, landing the team their first DNF of the season.

"First round of the year started out awesome and went down hill fast," explained Casey after Saturday's race. "We started 10th and moved quickly to 3rd with some great battles in between, but when wheel-to-wheel contact was made, a belt was spit off the truck, causing the engine to die, and ending our race. Sometimes accidents happen; now we're all about shifting our focus to gathering our points back tomorrow in round 2."

Thankfully, Sunday proved more fortuitous as Casey's driving landed him 1st place qualifier early in that day. Due to the top 6 starting inversion, Casey was placed to start in 6th position, providing the young racer an advantage. Currie moved quickly through the slower qualifiers to gain ground up the field. Currie caught up with Chris Brandt and RJ Anderson - giving the fans one heck of a show - as an extremely close finish came down to the wire, resulting in Casey taking 3rd in the Pro Lite class.

"Today was such a rewarding day for the team," commented Currie. "We qualified on the pole, and set the fastest lap. Once the green flag dropped it was an all-out mud storm but we made it through to position 3. With 3 laps remaining, everything else faded away and the track was in clear focus-my truck then really came alive."

The nail-bitingly-close finish that earned Currie his first podium of the season left the team in good spirits. "To finish 3rd isn't ideal but being on the box is amazing," Currie explained. "We lost this race by .5 of a second so it was an extremely tight battle."

When asked how his relationship with K&N Filters came about, Currie notes, "I got connected with K&N when I was racing motorcycles and quickly became part of the family, but I've always run K&N filters on my trucks and motorcycles. They protect my engines better and make the most amount of power than any other product on the market."

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.

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