Jon Henry Racing LTD and Their New Rocket Ready to Blastoff Into 2012

The Jon Henry Racing LTD team entered the 2012 with a full head of steam after a highly successful 2011 season.
The Jon Henry Racing LTD team entered the 2012 with a full head of steam after a highly successful 2011 season.
Sometimes just knowing you're ready to run with the big dogs is all you get, and often that's plenty good enough to spark a highly success year. Third-generation racer Jon Henry and his Ada, Ohio team opened the 2012 season in promising style, even though their car may not have seen it that way.

The Jon Henry Racing LTD crew traveled to Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky to be part of 33 Late Model field for the opening of their 2012 race schedule. Henry finished second in his heat race and started 4th in the feature. The racing surface was super fast, abusively demanding, and started rolling up quite a bit in the corners, which created a survival mode for racers. Henry moved up into 2nd in the feature before having to surrender on lap 17 after the vibration in his car got too severe.
Jon Henry made it into 2nd place at Florence Speedway before having to retire on lap 17.
Jon Henry made it into 2nd place at Florence Speedway before having to retire on lap 17.


"Well we were rolling really good until the vibration continued to get worse and worse forcing me to pull off before any major damage occurred," explained Henry. "Come to find out we had a bad u-joint from our driveshaft and it was almost to the point of slipping out. But take the good with the bad in these situations- we weren't able to finish, but we showed a lot of potential running in the top three with some heavy hitters."

Henry has every intention of keeping the momentum train rolling down his tracks after a stellar 2011 season. "Last season was an awesome year!" adds Henry. "I became a two-time Sunoco American Late Model Series Champion, I was co-Late Model Champion at the famed Eldora Speedway, I finished 3rd in the UMP national points, and won the East region for UMP. It was a very successful year!"
With their new Rocket and help from Scott Smith, plus taking some additional forward steps, Jon Henry Racing LTD feels they're ready for this season.
With their new Rocket and help from Scott Smith, plus taking some additional forward steps, Jon Henry Racing LTD feels they're ready for this season.


During the off season the team sold their 2001 Rocket that won a lot of races for them last year, including making it into the 2011 World 100. "After that I bought a brand new 2012 Rocket," said the K&N sponsored driver. "Thanks to everyone at Rocket we were able to spend three days down in Shinnston, West Virginia at Rocket Chassis to completely assembly the car from top to bottom. I also still have my 2003 Rocket that we just kicked off our 2012 season with, but I'm really looking forward to getting out that new Rocket soon."

The highly motivated and thoroughly promising team made some other key changes during the off season by hiring some very experienced part-time help. "Scott Smith, also known as ‘Schoolboy,' has been a big help to getting our program headed to the next level," said Henry. "Another big change was me personally spending some time at Accu-Force Shock Service in Millersburg, Ohio with owner Keith Berner. Keith is very sharp with shocks and with these racecars; he taught me a lot in a short amount of time and it's going to be a huge help to my performance in 2012."

"Our goal is to run in the Summer Nationals this year, which is also called the ‘Hell Tour.' It consists of 28 races in 31 days over seven different states. We will also be contending for another Eldora Speedway Championship, and hopefully we're in the mix again for another run at the UMP national championship."

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