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Racing became a passion for Moses Smith at a fairly young age while attending his father's off-road races. At age 10, Moses received his first go kart and began his journey down the racing career pathway. Today, he races in the NASCAR K&N Pro series west circuit in the #16 HASA pool products Toyota Camry. He was voted the pro series most popular driver in the Pro Series in 2008 and 2009.
NASCAR K&N Pro series west driver Moses Smith
Moses attended the K&N Engineering meet and greet on Friday before the race at Toyota Speedway, in Irwindale California. I had a chance to get up close and personal with Moses before the big race this weekend. He has an extremely positive character with strong ambitions to keep racing for many years to come. He lives the life of a typical racer with lots of traveling, day to day work out sessions to stay in shape, and best of all racing in the K&N Pro Series West. I asked Moses a few interview questions which he was more than happy to respond.
K&N: What are your future career goals?
Smith: "Keep climbing the race ladder."
K&N: How is the 2010 season going compared to last year?
Smith: "This year is a lot better. Our defense is on lock and we are working on our offense."
K&N: What is your favorite track?
Smith: "The oval track at Phoenix, it's near my home town."
K&N: Why do you run with #16 on the car?
Smith: "Number 16 was always the car to beat."
K&N: how did you get the #16 car?
Smith: "When I moved to Bill McNally Race Team they wouldn't let me run the number 16. Bill said I had to prove myself and gave me the number 18 car."
K&N: Is racing a family event?
Smith: "Yea. My mom helps my team with PR."
K&N: What advice do you have for young racers seeking to enter a career in racing?
Smith: "Don't five up. It's a long road but, it's all about hard work."
K&N: What do you think of Talladega Nights: The ballad of Ricky Bobby?
Smith: "It had good lines and scenarios. I hope to be Ricky Bobby(jokingly)?"
Moses currently stands 4th in the NASCAR Pro Series West with 836 points. It has been a good year for the Bill McNally Race Team. Moses finished 4th at Irwindale over the Fourth of July weekend, after qualifying 14th overall. Hopes are high for Moses to win yet another most popular driver award and a number one spot as the 2010 season is underway.
Darrell Wallace Jr. won the second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race of his career.
Darrell Wallace Jr. won the second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race of his career, driving through the infield grass at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire to beat Ryan Truex and Eddie McDonald to the finish line with three laps to go in the race.
Darrell Wallace at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire
The pass by Wallace sparked some paint swapping between Wallace and Truex during the cool-down laps. Truex ran into the back of Wallace's car and spun out Wallace.
After the race, Truex said he didn't mean to spin out Wallace. But Truex admitted he was angry with the way Wallace won the race.
"Right as I crossed the start-finish line I knew we won it," said Wallace, a 16-year-old rookie driver for Revolution Racing. "I was excited. The whole team was excited. After the race I got turned by Truex. He said he didn't mean to. He said he was mad."
Darrell Wallace Jr.
"That's what you do when you get passed in the grass like that. That's pretty much sore losing right there. Kind of upset about that, but, oh well, can't let that get to me. We just spanked him in this race."
Truex was in the lead on the final restart of the race on lap 122. Wallace took the lead from Truex on lap 123 and held it for the final two laps of the race. The final three laps were the only laps of the race Wallace led.
"I didn't mean to spin him out. I got into the back of him. I was a little angry with him," said the 18-year-old Truex, the reigning East Series champion. "Anybody would be. When you're racing side-by-side with somebody, and he just goes through the grass, doesn't even try to pass you. He could have waited a lap and maybe got under us and raced us clean. But he decided to drive through the grass and drive into my door. If that's how he wants to race, I'll race like that. I don't like racing like that. Anyone will tell you I race people clean and I have respect for people, but if they're going to drive me like that, that's what's going to happen to them."
Truex finished second in the race, followed by Brett Moffitt in third.
"We were really fighting the car all day long when we unloaded off the truck," said the 17-year-old Moffitt, who posted his fourth top-five finish in seven East Series races. "We definitely got a lot better for the race. Our series hasn't run here for years, so we didn't know what to expect. We had to really work at it, throw a lot at it."
McDonald, who led a race-high 66 laps, ended up in fourth. Rookie Cole Whitt was fifth.
"We went in the race and the car was just awesome," Truex said. "We were the best car out there other than Eddie McDonald. We got up there, me and Eddie were racing clean, racing hard. He wanted to win here, his home track. I was having a good time racing him, whatever happened there on the last lap, Darrell Wallace just drove us through the grass. It took away a good race from me and Eddie. Happy with second, good points day, but wanted the win."
Wallace trimmed Truex's lead in the East Series standings to 33 points. Wallace won for the first time since the season opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina in March. It was Wallace's fifth top-five finish and sixth top 10 of the season.
"I wasn't expecting it again," Wallace said. "When we were sitting in third, I didn't know what the two leaders were going to do. When we got it, I was happy. Hopefully I can get another one. I know this helped out a lot in the rookie of the year. This is awesome. Hopefully we just go for another one next time."
The next East Series race is at Gresham Motorsports Park in Georgia on Aug. 28.
The first qualifying session was all that Johnson needed to get his bearings straight on what it would take to make his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger happy.
Tennessee based Allen Johnson has been showing numerous signs over the last several months of his team's crucial power gains in their Team Mopar Dodge Avenger along with their hopes of being the newest NHRA Pro Stock powerhouse.
Allen Johnson and the Team Mopar Dodge Avenger.
His most recent accomplishments, in that department, would come during the final event on the NHRA's "Western Swing". Johnson not only nearly dominated during all four of the Pro Stock qualifying sessions, but also persevered through the elimination rounds on Sunday to secure his first event victory of the 2010 season at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.
The weekend didn't start of for Johnson quite as it ended high on the mountain. During the first qualifying session his Dodge Avenger was only able to muster a 7.063 elapsed time, which garnered him the number two spot just behind Mike Edwards.
"Not testing there really cost us that first pass," said Johnson. "We didn't have any data for that track this year, so we just started with where we ended last year. That wasn't quite good enough for the first pass."
"From there we honed in on it though," Johnson added.
While the air temperature and humidity during the weekend wasn't all that bad compared to what the teams have run in at other events during the season, it was extremely low barometer. Due to the Bandimere Speedway's high altitude the barometer hovers in the low 24" range. This causes the tuning of the naturally aspirated Pro Stock engines to be so much different than many other events, especially when the adjusted altitude on the weather gauges soared well above 9,500 feet, more than double, if not triple the "air" of most facilities on the NHRA tour.
The first qualifying session was all that Johnson needed to get his bearings straight on what it would take to make his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger happy. With the very next qualifying session Friday evening, he moved up to the pole position and never looked back.
It was during session number two that Johnson began a trend that he carried throughout the remainder of qualifying, continuously improving upon his previous numbers and outrunning the entire Pro Stock field each and every time.
In the fourth session, Johnson posted a 6.966 at 198.64 MPH and a new track speed record.
"We are hitting our peak right about the right time, it seems like," noted Johnson. "If we can just keep going, keep the engine solid and keep me solid in the driving compartment, I really think we have something for them."
The K&N Horsepower Challenge offers the top qualified Pro Stock team at each event bonus money and points based on position. At the end of the Challenge qualifying season, the top eight qualified teams will spar off for the biggest single payday in all of NHRA Pro Stock and a shot at $50,000 for the event champion.
Just four events into the 2011 K&N Horsepower Challenge, Johnson has already started to put a little room between his current number one spot and the driver sitting at number two, Jeg Coughlin, albeit thirty-five points.
"The Horsepower Challenge is very important to us," conveyed Johnson. "What K&N does for us and the money they put up for first place [qualifying] each week and just the prestige of running in the K&N event is very-very important to me. The qualifying points each week are huge toward that, so we are working toward that always."
With the Pro Stock pole at Denver, Johnson and his Team Mopar Dodge Avenger have now racked up back-to-back number one qualifying positions, most notably a feat no other Pro Stock driver other then Mike Edwards has accomplished in quite some time.
This past weekend the 4th Annual Spocom Long Beach Supershow took the California Coast by storm. With an incredible turnout of some of the most intense, customized imports in the country, along with dozens of premier product dealers, the hottest models, and thousands of attendees ranging from hard core racers and tuners, to the everyday car enthusiast out to see the show. With a series of events on the grand stage area ranging from model shows and dances to the ultimate custom sport compact car showdown, hundreds of the industry's best were up for the world to see.
Ryan Hawkins's 1993 Toyota Supra
K&N's presence was noted by its booth full of the newest K&N products and intakes as well as Ryan Hawkins's 1993 Toyota Supra.
K&N will also be present at the upcoming SPOCOM event in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 28th, which is sure to draw the same attention and the most amazing compacts both on and off the islands. That also includes our own booth sporting a collection of K&N products custom designed for peak performance and power gains as well as our own product specialists representatives experienced with our entire product line and ready to help you make the next step in performance upgrades on your vehicle.
Ryan Hawkins's 1993 Toyota Supra is complete with:
Engine
Engine Code: 2JZ-GTE
Type: 3.4L Inline 6, Iron Block, aluminum head
Internal Modifications: Head and Main Studs, Stroker Kit, Crank Bearings, Cams, Pocket Port, Extrudhoned Intake manifold
External Modifications: GT61 Turbo, external wastegate, tubular header, intercooler and piping, 4-inch midpipe/downpipe, 95mm exhaust
Engine Management Modifications 720cc injectors, Dual Walbro fuel pumps, FPR
Drivetrain
Layout: Front engine, rear-wheel drive
Drivetrain Modifications: Boostlogic modified oem transmission, stall convertor, clutch type rear differential
Suspension
Front: coilovers, anti-roll bar, bushings, adj. upper control arms
Rear: coilovers, anti-roll bar, bushings
External
Wheels: 18x10(f), 18x11(r) Work Meister S1 3-piece
Tires: 285/30R18(f), 315/30R18(r)
Body: full body kit, OEM European hood scoop, CF Stock shaped wing, rear diffuser
Interior
Seats: 4 point harnesses, 6-point roll bar, stereo
Roll along I-81, west through Lima, into Allentown, hang a right on Dutch Hollow Road and Ohio's Limaland Motorsports Park is a quarter mile up on the right - Can't miss it. Ada, Ohio resident Jon Henry says he's pretty familiar with place.
Jon Henry returned to Limaland for the first time this season, the site of his 2008 Championship.
"Well, I started racing UMP Modifieds at Limaland when I was seventeen, so for the last seven years, I've had plenty of time to really critique my driving style to fit the track."
The 2009 American Late Model Series Champion clearly had the track dialed in last weekend, driving the number 52 Luchini Motorsports JBR Modified, Henry ran away with the entire enchilada.
"The race track was in excellent shape and held good moisture for having extreme heat and wind all day," remarked Henry. "I knew I had a fast racecar, and I just needed to be patient, but it was hard, because my car just felt that much faster than everyone else."
On lap six there was a caution flag and when they went back to green, Henry relied on his experience to recognize that the high side was the place to pass.
"I knew there was no way I could make the pass on the bottom without running over the two cars in front of me. I have been known to race on the cushion at Limaland, and when I saw the bottom wasn't going to work, I made my move to the top and it paid off," explained Henry.
"I walked away with the win in my first appearance at Limaland this season. What an awesome feeling to come back to a track that I won a championship at in 2008 and still not miss a beat. I had a lot of fun and I would like to thank Dave, Jeff, and Nick for the opportunity to wheel one fast machine."
Then on Saturday, Henry once again raced the number 52 Modified, at Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield, Ohio this time.
"I had a good run in the heat and was able to gain eight positions for a second place finish," said Henry.
Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans before the start of the feature. With a lot of rain falling in a very short amount of time, Waynesfield was forced to cancel and make up the feature this Saturday July 31st.
"I will start fourth in that feature" added Henry.
Henry says he is very grateful for the continuing K&N support. "My K&N products are great! Best filter I have ever used, very durable and reliable - they're never a worry."
Currently Henry says he is busy working on sponsorship for 2011 to compete in the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series.
"I would love to test out an asphalt car in the near future also."
