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Kyle LeDuc Experiences Success At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Jan 27, 2012

Upon pulling into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to race in the Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series, Kyle LeDuc and his fellow competitors likely all had heavy hearts. Just three weeks prior, fellow driver and off-road champion, Rick Huseman, his brother Jeff, and their friend Danny Hicks had lost their lives in a plane crash. Of course when the green flag waved Kyle and the other drivers would focus on the race at hand, but prior to the event, time was allotted to the respect of their lost friends, as Chaplain Steve Hanson offered a prayer, and Kevin Huseman led the Pro4 Unlimited field around the parade lap in the #36 truck to pay the final respect for his lost brothers.

Kyle LeDuc recently won his third consecutive Pro4 Unlimited Victory during a race at Las Vegas MotorSpeedway.

"Vegas was a special and sad event," shared Kyle LeDuc. "The very recent loss of my buddies, Rick and Jeff Huseman, was fresh on my mind and in my heart. I wanted to represent for Rick and win it the way he would've- charging and giving nothing away and scooping up a win. We delivered."

Qualifying first, Kyle LeDuc started on the outside of row two and behind his brother Todd, who was on the front row after the inversion. Their father, Curt, was also in the field of drivers as he began the race in the third row.

During the first half of the race, Kyle and Todd held the third and fourth spots, and eventually both gained a position when fellow driver, Josh Merrell rolled his truck. Both drivers remained in the second and third places until the final lap of the race when Kyle made his move and drove under the leading driver, Carl Renezeder, and took the checkered flag for his third consecutive Pro4 Unlimited victory.

When asked the key to his success, the driver said, "We won both rounds in Surprise, Arizona, and then Saturday in Las Vegas, followed by a second, and then won the final race of the year. My success has been a culmination of many skills on my end, as well as great preparation of the truck. I like to save my truck for after the halfway flag, and then unleash the beast that is the #99 rocket ship. My truck is very easy to drive, very versatile and can pass at will with great concerning speeds and acceleration," he continued. "I'm very confident in both myself and my truck, so it's very hard for the competition to keep up."

Immediately after stepping down from the podium, Kyle jumped into his #99 Pro Lite Unlimited truck and qualified second, for what some considered as the "wildest race of the day." During the race, fans watched as Kyle bicycled the truck several times and even ended up on his lid once, obviously putting him in the trailing position of the nineteen truck field.

With the 2011 season behind him, Kyle LeDuc is already anticipating a successful and exciting round of races during 2012.

The driver continued swinging through the remainder of the race though, and passed two trucks on the final corner, earning himself a sixth place finish and the fastest lap along the way. Although Kyle LeDuc got off to a fast start in the Pro Lite Unlimited class on the following day, a faulty fuel pump ended his chances of a victory early on.

After taking the checkered flag in the Pro4 Unlimited race the day prior, Kyle LeDuc lined up behind his father, who was on the pole, and Todd, who was on the outside of row two. As the race progressed, both Kyle and Todd LeDuc managed to work their way to the front of the pack, but during the last lap, Carl Renezeder took the lead in turn two, a position of which he held onto, leaving second place for Kyle and third for his brother Todd.

When asked if his team played a role in his success, LeDuc said, "Team is what makes it racing. I build the trucks, and my guys keep it at a level that can sometimes seem overkill. But when you sweep a weekend and fight for a championship, it needs to be done that way; perfect every time."

When asked to share his thoughts on K&N products he continued, "On my Pro4 truck, I currently run their air filter with the power top, as well as a wrap. We also run the oil filters," he continued. "K&N has given my team and me the confidence that their products deliver at extreme levels, and we never second guess the products coming out of the K&N factory."

Referring to the upcoming season, LeDuc said, "In the 2012 season, there will be some records broken that may be hard to imagine. But with our team and our desire to be the best, we will succeed and make our stamp in the world of off-road racing, and keep the LeDuc name in everybody's mind."

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.

Martino Motorsports Reflects on 2011 and Gearing Up for the 2012 Drag Racing Season

Jan 24, 2012

From "Little Deuce Coupe" and "Two Lane Blacktop" to "American Graffiti" and "Heart Like a Wheel" - hot rod memories have sustained and entertained us since the first two motorized carriages stared down the same dirt road. Like two gunfighters compressing an entire lifetime of experience into a handful of seconds - drag racers focus their sights one quarter-mile at a time - living in a paradoxical world of controlled calm and explosive aggression.

Tom Martino and his son Ryan say their K&N second-generation composite dragster scoop with K&N air filter added an additional three mph to their dragster in the 1/4 mile in 2011.

Tom Martino and his son Ryan understand all too well about the compelling nature of drag racing and they thrive on it. The father-son duo says that racing brings their family closer together. "When we're together we're unstoppable," says Ryan.

Martino Motorsports is a family owned and operated NHRA drag racing team out of Youngstown, Ohio. Tom, a well respected and recognized fixture within the drag racing community for decades, began his drag racing career back in 1970, sneaking his daily driver out to Youngstown Ohio Drag City with his two brothers when he was barely 16.

When Tom was introduced to a white 1969 Dodge Dart GTS, by a close friend in the late 1970s, his dream of becoming a drag racer transformed into reality. Tom, his brothers and the Dart went on to set numerous NHRA, AHRA, and IHRA world records in Stock and Super Stock, as well as winning multiple events. In the winter of 1990, Tom unexpectedly sold the Dart, when he was doing a display for the Coors Brewing Company and Mancini Racing in Cleveland, Ohio. Within a few months, Tom had his first of three dragsters and the rest, as he likes to say, "Is history."

Ryan has been around drag racing all of his life, and began his drag racing career in 2002, when he earned his Super Comp license. Ryan has had the fortune of gaining some valuable seat time in their Top Dragster over the past few years and competing in the Sport Compact ranks with a hometown built Chevrolet Cavalier. In the summer of 2011 Ryan upgraded his NHRA competition license to Advance E.T., during the NHRA Lucas Oil Series Division 3 event at National Trails Raceway, and he looks forward to competing at select events in 2012.

The Martinos' partnership with K&N dates back to December of 2008 when the duo first met Bob Harris at the PRI Show in Orlando, Florida. The long time fans of the K&N product lines were invited to join Team K&N for the 2009 race season. Martino Motorsports utilize the K&N second-generation composite dragster scoop with K&N air filter, which they say added an additional three mph to their dragster in the 1/4 mile in 2011.

Tom adds, "Why trust your precious hard-earned investments with anything else? Whether it's our 200-plus mph K&N Top Dragster, our daily drivers, tow vehicles, or even our generators and golf cart, we rely on K&N filters to get us through the most extreme conditions. K&N filters have out of the box performance with proven results you can trust."

Although Martino Motorsports has won countless races, finished in the top five of class points multiple times, set various world records, had the honor of representing some of the finest companies in the industry, and have received a collection of over fourteen Best Appearing Crew and Car awards in our careers, there's something else that gives them even greater fulfillment.

"Something far more rewarding to our program over the years has been using our platform to help increase seat-belt safety awareness, using our race car and real life experiences in a first-class video production with the American Red Cross," Tom told K&N. Their effective seat-belt production received national merits and nation-wide airplay.

"Also our multiple efforts with regional doctors and cancer survivors promoting prostate cancer awareness, speaking to grade school and high school students about the importance of staying in school and the values of an education, and multiple advertising campaigns to help prevent driving while under the influence of alcohol."

"2011 was quite the learning experience for our team," says Tom. "It was the first season with our new 640 cubic- inch engine combination. After chasing a few gremlins early in the season, and countless hours on the dyno with Dale Cubic of CFM Carbs and Dean Gellner of Gellner Engineering, we finally had the chance to see what a monster we created when our 1280+ horsepower single carb combination came to life at Summit Motorsports Park (Norwalk, Ohio) late May and recorded multiple low 6.80 passes on a mild one-stage Ny-Trex Nitrous Oxide Systems tune-up."

Recording career best E.T.'s and qualifying in the top half of their class most of the season, was very rewarding after all the countless hours the team put into straightening out their dragster early in the year. "Although we had numerous round wins and multiple quarter final appearances, we ended the season without a "Wally" to add to our mantle," adds Tom. "It's going to be a long winter, but 2012 will be our year. We look to compete in about 20 plus events in 2012. Our main focus will be to make a strong run for the NHRA Division 3 Lucas Oil Series title."

The Martinos and their K&N Top Dragster look to kick the 2012 season off at the NHRA Division 3 Lucas Oil Series event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Indiana April 27-29.

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 Craig Anderson Grateful For Opportunities in 2011 and Optimistic for Exciting 2012

Jan 24, 2012

Waxahachie, Texas resident, Craig Anderson spent the 2011 season again chasing points in two, of what many consider, NHRA's toughest sportsman classes, Super Gas and Super Comp. While Anderson continued to drive the 1963 Corvette Roadster that he won the Super Gas Division 4 championship in the season before, the car he wheeled in Super Comp throughout the year, including a final round appearance at the World Finals in Pomona, was thanks to some good friends with some outstanding equipment.

Craig Anderson's New 2012 Chevy Cobalt Ready to Turn Heads on and off the Track!

"I had sold my Super Comp dragster and I ran the Hughes Motorsports dragster all year long," he explained. "They knew I had sold my car and was waiting on a new Top Sportsman car that I had ordered and I was very flattered that they offered for me to drive one of theirs. He said look, we have this car sitting here, so come get it. So, I started out the year with it at the first Pomona national and then brought it home with me. They told me to just treat it like it was my own and if I blew a motor, they would build another and so on."

"That was just a great opportunity and meant a lot to me for someone to do something that that for me," he continued of racing the Hughes dragster.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest highlights for Anderson during the 2011 season came as a car owner and not a driver. "After finishing first in the division the year before in my Gas car, I started to think maybe I was really turning the corner of having an outstanding season," he said. "I was having it all happen this year and just couldn't get anything together. I would be dead-on the dial and have a bad reaction [time] or I'd be good on reaction and the car wouldn't run the number. So come time for Indy [US Nationals], so I put a kid in my car , Ryan Herem for Indy, just on a whim and he went on to win Super Gas. He mowed through a field of tough customers to make that happen, including the sponsor of the car I was driving in Super Comp. That was the big highlight of the year for me, my car winning Indy."

Anderson did have a fairly strong year in the Super Comp car he was driving finishing tenth in the NHRA Div 4 standings after some good turnouts in Arizona and Louisiana. "I didn't get to compete in my last division claim of the year or it's very possible that I could have finished higher," he said of his 2011 Super Comp Finish. "For the final points race, which was Vegas, we decided to get Jim's son, Joey Hughes in the car. He needed to get some experience and it was his last chance to get a grade point to be ready for next season."

Before he completely relinquished the driving duties of the Hughes Super Comp dragster for the season, he was able to compete with it one final time and did so during the NHRA World Finals at Pomona, where he took it all the way to the final before bowing out to Val Torres in a tough round.

"I've always been able to go rounds at Pomona," he said. "A few years back I was able to runner-up in Super Gas and now I finished last year with a runner-up in Super Comp. One of these days I'll get that win."

As much as Anderson was excited about his last race of the season in Super Comp, he was even more so for finally being able to pick up his new Top Sportsman in December. "I've got it in the shop and it turned out really-really nice," he admitted. "I'm not for sure as to when I'm going to debut it, but I'm also going to run it in Super Comp. It's a 2012 Jerry Bickel Cobalt and it has a 706ci Sunset Racecraft motor from Tracy Dennis which makes over 1400 HP without nitrous. I'm going to have a single stage of nitrous on it, just for grins. So if I can't make it in somewhere [in Top Sportsman], maybe I can push it a little bit."

"I plan on running the new car at every event I go to, whether it's in Super Comp or Top Sportsman," he continued. "We are kind of leaning to start with it at Pomona [February national event], but we are still not for sure about that. I'm trying to find a place to test with decent weather that doesn't take two days to get there."

Like every ride Anderson competes in, each are loaded with nothing but the best available parts and many of those coming from K&N Engineering. "This new car is really super nice and not only does the new K&N scoop look great on it, but the engine has all the protection it needs with K&N air and oil filters," he noted.

"K&N is always working hard in all of the development of new products and even tweaking others," Anderson said. "I have worked with Steve Williams [K&N VP Vice President of Research and Development] a lot and he not only is a very smart racer, but he has also shared a lot of tips and what-not to me to help make my cars a lot more consistent. I just cannot say enough about Steve or K&N."

During Anderson's last trip to the southern California area, he had a chance to visit K&N's headquarters in person. "All I can say is wow," he exclaimed. "It is a sight to see all that they do there and how they do it. They just don't throw things together. They design it and they even have the machines that build the other machines that manufacturer the K&N products. Talk about quality control, it was absolutely amazing to see it all."

When Anderson is not racing or working, he is hard at it behind the scenes of the very successful annual Circus Motorsports Greg Morris Memorial Golf Tournament, just last year raising almost $80,000. "All of that money goes to NHRA drag racers that may become sick or injured and K&N is a big part of what we have been able to accomplish with our event over the years," he said. "Steve Williams and K&N have been extremely helpful for anything we needed to make this event a success."

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.

Custom 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor Built By John Williams Was Featured at the 2011 SEMA Show

Jan 20, 2012

John Williams' 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor at SEMA

While SEMA may be the center for all things aftermarket, it is still amazing to see the variety of causes that theses aftermarket parts can represent. Sometimes people will choose a cause to support or sometimes they will choose a specific purpose to build the vehicle and sometimes they just build a car because they like building cars. In this case, the Ford F-150 built by John Williams was a blitz project that was begun 2 weeks before SEMA began and was finished 2 days before the show was to open. Let me repeat that 12 days of work to build this from the impressive, but stock, Raptor.

2011 SEMA Show featured this highly custom Ford F-150 Raptor

The F-150 in question began life as a 2010 F-150 Raptor with a 6.2 engine, which will be growling at the world through the K&N 77-2579KTK Performance intake system and will see an estimated 20Hp increase from this mod alone. John has done some previous work on SEMA vehicles as well, even earning some awards for his efforts. No wonder this particular build was no slouch on the suspension mod list:

ICON Upper control arms
Sway Away 2.5" shocks
Deaver Leaf Springs
Poly performance rear shackles

12000VR winch on this Ford F-150 Raptor stood out at the SEMA Show

4.56 ring and pinion from West Coast Differentials
Front Auburn Ected locking Differential
Warn 12000VR Winch
Custom pre runner bumpers
Superchips Cortex Programmer
Baja Designs Lights
Black Rock Wheels
BFGoodrich Mud Terrain TA KM2 Tires
K&N Performance Intake.

When asked what this vehicle does outside of SEMA John replied, "Drives me to and from work and pre running on the weekend." It certainly ought to do that well. John has had some previous experience in building cars. In the past he has built cars for BRGoodrich, Bully Dog Technologies and Black Rock Wheel just to name a few.

The SEMA featured 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor was equipped with Black Rock Wheels

When asked why he uses K&N specifically John replied "It's the best product out there with years of testing and a long history of being the best air filter." And when asked what experiences he's had with K&N he said, "I have been using them on all of my vehicles since 1998!"

Now that SEMA is over John says that he is going to try to get back into rock crawling events and dirt racing. John also has a goal for his custom raptor; in short, 38x14 BFGoodrich Mud Terrain tires. As John puts it, "No other Raptor will be on tires this big!" And that's a pretty impressive statement. That's not to say that the entire project was bolt on or easy. That front bumper was an entirely different matter, it was custom built by John and in his words "They were the first tube products that I actually built." With all of these custom parts and Fords recent foray into rock crawling at Moab it looks like this raptor is a dinosaur not to be taken lightly.

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.

Team Quad75Dezert Clinches Class 24 and Overall ATV Title at 2011Baja 1000

Jan 20, 2012

Brown points to longtime friend and mechanic, Kenny Sanford, along with his entire crew for the success they've had over the past years.

As we've reported before, the 44th SCORE Baja 1000 was one of the gnarliest, human and machinery devouring races ever. Survival became its own reward. The 2011 course combined the San Felipe 250 and Baja 500 courses which amounted to roughly 692 miles of bone rattling adventure. 278 entries from 16 countries, including entries from 34 states started the race, 155 finished to brag about it. K&N sponsored team Quad75Dezert conquered small and large adversities throughout the race to win their class and finish second overall for ATVs, which was plenty enough to secure their Class 24 championship as well as the ATV Overall championship.

Brandon Brown and his Quad75Dezert team won the Class 24 and 2011 Overall ATV Title.

Heading into the granddaddy of all desert races Quad75Dezert had already amassed four overall ATV wins, five Class 24 wins and one win in Class 25. "We had three overalls in a row going into the 1000 this year," said team owner Brandon Brown, "And we were hoping for four straight but it didn't work out. Regardless, we were stoked on the season and the getting the season ATV Overall Championship. Everyone involved put in a tremendous amount of work and it felt great to have it all pay off."

Brown's first Baja 1000 experience came in 2006, when good friend and fellow WORCS Racer, Josh Fredrick got him on the team with the factory Can-Am effort. They ended up third overall that year. "It was a great experience and something that I had always dreamt about doing since I was a kid," said Brown. "After that I was hooked and fortunately was asked back the next year to ride with the team again for the season."

For the 2008 Baja 1000 Brown and fellow Polaris teammate, Nick Nelson teamed up, once again finishing third overall for ATV's. After that they put together a program for the entire 2009 season, where they won the Overall and Class 25 in the Baja 500. The following year Brown decided to put together his own program, involving longtime friend and mechanic, Kenny Sanford and racer Jorie Williams.

Rider changes were uneventful and went smoothly all race long for the team.

"Nick (Nelson) ended up racing with us too, as his program fell through at the last minute and we gladly welcomed him back for the season," explains Brown. "We had a good year and ended up with the overall for the point-to-point Baja 1000 from Ensenada to La Paz. Then we managed to follow that victory with Overall and class victories at the San Felipe 250 and Baja 500 and another Class victory at the 2011 Baja 1000."

Team Quad75Dezert drew the first quad off the line for Class 24 and Jorie Williams took off on a tear. "This kid is an animal, but he knows when to ride within his means, and he has plenty of experience down there. We trust his judgment," remarked Brown.

Next up was Kenny Sanford, Sanford wasted no time reclaiming the positions lost during the first pit, coming into the race mile 95 pit second overall. Williams once again took over the ATV, and he battled back-and forth for the lead the entire time until passing off the quad to Brown at the Borrego Road crossing. Brown then passed it back to Sanford, and then Jamie Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was once again battling for the lead until he crashed on the infamous Old Puertecitas Road. According to Brown, Kirkpatrick rode his heart out trying not to lose too much time before handling over the controls to Williams again. The mishap took its toll on Kirkpatrick and he had to pass his next ride over to Brown, a section Brown had not pre-run before the race.

The team makes one final inspection before Brown brings it home for the Class 24 win and the overall 2011 ATV Championship.

"I rode hard to race mile 424 where we had a scheduled four tire change pit stop and full bike check," said Brown. "The pit went well and I was on my way. I made my way back through the whoops of San Felipe and Borrego, up to Mike's Sky Ranch, then down to the Valley De Trinidad. I handed the bike off to Jorie (Williams) one last time for his short section over to the coast. At this point we had a good lead on second in our class and the rest of the field but the Honda team had 34 minutes on us and we still were gunning for the overall. The fog was horrible coming in, and Jorie dealt with it safely and swiftly before handing over the bike to, Richie Brown at San Vicente near the Pacific Coast."

"Richie had a great ride on the coast and chipped away at our deficit his entire time on the bike. As he was coming into the field at Ojos, where he would hand the bike of to me for the finish, I heard him on the radio letting saying that we had no rear brakes. We had a quick pit to check and then I got back on for the final stretch into Ensenada. I was able to chip a couple more minutes off of the gap but simply ran out of miles. We had a great race and a crew that made great decisions under adversity. Fortunately Jamie was fine after a day or so and we had a Class win and Overall Championship to celebrate!"

Brown say that the team attends WORCS races when they can, but mostly just local races up around the Northwest. "There is some really good desert terrain on the east side of both Oregon and Washington that we like to train in as well," continues Brown. "And yes, we'll be back in Baja for 2012. We would like to thank K&N as well as the rest of our sponsors and support crew that helped make it all happen."

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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