“Yeah, Maybe I Should Have Lifted.”

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ – It was a good weekend for Spencer Massey as he beat Alan Johnson in the Top Fuel finals at the Supernationals in Englishtown, NJ. A baby-faced Massey garnered his second consecutive win on the holeshot running a 3.821-second run at 319.07 mph against a 3.815-second run at 322.19 by Worsham. “It’s awesome to beat the Alan Johnson/Al-Anabi/Del Worsham car in the final,” said Massey. “The Al-Anabi car has been on a roll and running killer numbers, so we knew we had to be on our 'A' game, that the car had to run well, and I had to be on my game.”


Though taking unnecessary chances, Mike Neff took top-honors in Funny Car paired up against Cruz Pedregon in the final round. Neff’s Castrol GTX Ford Mustang went 4.071 at 314.09 mph which was more than enough as Cruz red-lighted. “I knew he red-lighted,” said Neff. “I was sitting there waiting for the Tree to come down, and I heard him leave and knew he red-lighted because the Tree hadn’t come down yet. I looked over and saw that his bulb was red, then I looked up and saw our win light on. By that time, I had already hit the gas and was taking off and saw our win light on. I wanted to see what it would run, then I was saying ‘Don’t drive over the centerline or something.' Wouldn’t you lose if you did that? Yeah, maybe I should have lifted.” It appears that Mike lives by the motto “never-lift.” We know why Neff get’s along with John Force so well!


As usual, Pro Stock was especially competitive. So competitive in fact that legend Warren Johnson failed to qualify! Last week’s winner Shane Gray qualified second, but was taken out by Greg Stanfield in the first round. Shane was a little late at the light and was never able to catch Greg though he ran a blistering 211.03 mph top speed run. Stanfield made it to Round 3 before losing to Allen Johnson by a mere 4 feet! The Nitrofish GXP ran a 6.559-second 210.87 mph run against Johnson’s-6.555 second 210.70 mph. Dang it was close!


In the Final round it was all Dodges with rookie Vincent Nobile going against Allen Johnson. Though Nobile ran 6.618 second e.t. against Johnson’s 6.689 seconds, the rookie was a little too quick at the line posting a red light. Johnson was not a bit dismayed at being slower than the rookie since he supplies Nobile with engines. “I’m very proud of our engine guys and Mark [Ingersoll, crew chief], who makes the tuning calls. Vincent is a fierce competitor, and I’m sure we’re going to tangle a few more times before this is over.” No one can accuse Johnson at holding back the good engines.


Pro Mod seemed to have the “prettiest” pits with Melanie Troxel and rookie Leah Pruett-Leduc. After several successful test runs in the RoadRage.com Camaro, Pruett-Leduc, made her Pro Mod Series debut. "Pro Mod is the most difficult car I've ever driven," said Pruett-LeDuc, the reigning Nostalgia Funny Car champion. Though top qualifier and new National record-holder, Troxel’s ’53 Corvette was taken out early in the first round by Dennis Radford. Unfortunately, Radford car came across Troxel’s lane hitting the left wall. The crew was able to get Radford’s car to the start of Round 3. Pruett-Leduc made it to the second round before losing to Mike Castelana. The show was won by Danny Rowe in his ’68 Camaro.

Alas, Where Better To Gamble Than Monte Carlo?

MONTE CARLO, MONACO – With such a remarkable weekend in racing including the Indy 500, the Charlotte 600 and the Monaco Formula One race, how does one choose which to blog? I choose the Monaco GP of course! Though the history and pageantry of this GP is without compare, the race is often boring – but not this year! The Red Bull driver, Sebastien Vettel, ended up at the finish line first in an action packed race which saw several drivers retired. Alonso followed in second place in his Ferrari while Jenson Button claimed the final podium finish for McLaren. Vettel’s win can be attributed to a gamble late in the race choosing to stay on his same set of soft tires. Alonso and Button fought hard and were catching the Red Bull driver during those final few laps, and I am sure making the German think twice about his choice.
But alas, where better to gamble than in Monte Carlo!


Lap 68 was the most exciting lap of the race. As the three leaders made their way through traffic the STR-Ferrari of Alguersuari made contact with a blue Renault sending it hard into the barrier. For a few moments it was unclear whether Vettel had been taken out. After the traffic had cleared, it turned out that Renault driver Vasily Petrov, running in 4th at the time, had hit the wall and that Vettel had maintained his lead. The subsequent red flag stopped the race allowing the Red Bull team to change out the German’s car and almost assuring the Red Bull driver the win. Vettel said. "The roulette button must have stopped last night and kept on spinning."


Petrov’s Renault contacted the wall quite hard and the Russian needed to be assisted out of the car. Complaining at first that he had lost sensation in his legs, team boss Jean Alesi happily reported that Petrov was “fine” following a complete check up at Princess Grace Hospital. “It was quite a big impact,” Petrov recounted, “and I could not feel my legs very well after the crash. I thought it was best for the medical team to assist with removing me from the car as it was difficult for me to move and my legs were trapped in the cockpit.”


Vettel, the defending champion, has had a remarkable season winning 5 of the 6 Grand Prix races this year. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was the only other driver to win this year in China. Vettel increased his championship lead to 58 points ahead of Hamilton. Mark Webber follows 6 points behind with Button and Alonso rounding the top 5.


The year is turning out to be a tough one for Ferrari with Alonso’s second place finish at Monaco the best of the year. If not for Petrov’s late crash, it could have been a win for the prancing horse, but that was not to be. “Immediately after the race, I said the fight for the title was getting ever more difficult, not to say impossible,” Alonso said in his Ferrari website blog. “Sure, if Vettel ends up winning a race in which we felt there was a chance of victory, then you get a feeling of disappointment, but that does not mean we will not continue working hard at the track and back home on developing the car. Clearly the gap in the championship is widening all the time. We can do the maths, but neither myself nor the team are used to throwing in the towel.

Hope Jack Was Ok With That…

CHARLOTTE, NC – After wining Saturday night’s SPRINT All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Carl Edward’s decided to take a victory slide on the infield grass. Unfortunately, the stunt did not go as planned. After leaving the pavement, the car’s splitter hit something in the grass, possibly a man-hole cover, lifting the car and destroying the front end. "As soon as I turned to the grass...it just dug in the splitter.” Carl continued, “ I didn't expect that," The 99 car’s crew chief, Bob Osborne was not amused and said “the 99 program does not have disposable cars.” But Carl still found it humorous. “Bob has been doing a really good job of keeping the splitter down," Edwards said. "It helps on the racetrack, but it doesn't help on the grass." I guess it is hard to get upsetting after winning a $1.2 million purse. I also assume that Mr. Roush was ok with it – a win is a win. Edwards exited the car with one of his infamous back-flips.


Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch looked to have the strongest cars all evening. After a competition 10-minute break, and then a mandatory pit stop for tires, Edwards and Busch were fighting for position on the restart. The Edwards pit crew did a valiant job getting Carl out first. Busch really is one of the best drag-racers out there, but Edwards was able to pull it off and gain the top position with Busch hard on his tail. “I’ve been practicing that little part there,” Edwards said. “There are so many parts of this sport that you have to be good at. Kyle is so good at that. I was really nervous about that last run.” David Reutiman finished third with Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle rounding out the top-5.



The victory for Carl Edwards is further evidence of the domination of Roush-Fenway, particularly on the 1.5 mi ovals. The victory makes it 4-in-a-row for the Roush-Fenway contingent with Edwards win at the 2010 season finale at Homestead and this year’s Las Vegas race combined with Kenseth’s victory at Texas. When Jack Roush was asked if they had found the trick, he was adamant to say there are no tricks. “It's not a matter of finding a trick,” Roush said. “With all the inspectors they have today, they won't let you have a trick. It's a matter of doing the complete job better than everybody else.”


Edwards said the Ford engines are key. “I feel like Jack and Doug [Yates] have got the engines to a point where we can run with and beat most of the guys on the race track, go down the straightaways,” Edwards said. He also added that Bob Osborne and the crew are doing a great job making “the cars good.” At Burns we’d like to believe that the Burns exhaust technology has something to do with it.
So, with the next two races at Charlotte and Kansas being at 1.5 mi tracks, can Roush Fenway keep it up? Stay tuned to find out. The Coca Cola 600 next weekend is the longest race of the season and will definitely put the Roush equipment to the test.


In drag racing news, Burns customer Shane Gray of Gray Motorsports went up against Burns customer Greg Stanfield at the NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka Kansas in the Pro Stock finals. Before Sunday, Stanfield was 3-0 against Gray but had never gone against each other in a final round. The Nitrofish GXP of Stanfield put up a valiant effort posting a 0.040s light against Shane’s 0.047s. Stanfield kept the starting line advantage to almost half track when the Gray Motorsports power came on beating Stanfield’s et of 6.693s run by a mere 2 feet, posting a 6.679s blast! Shane’s top speed was 206.95mph vs 206.29s for Stanfield. This is Shane’s second Pro Stock victory. “We’ve struggled pretty much since the year started, had car issues, engine issues, we just went back to the shop, regrouped, dissected the motor, dissected people, made probably 100 test runs, came here, and the car ran really well,” Gray said. “This win goes to [crew chiefs] Ian [Landies] and Craig [Hankinson] and the entire Service Central team.” What made the victory sweeter for Gray was that he had to eliminate BOTH KB cars in the elimination rounds. Not an easy feat!

Pratt and Miller Camaros Win At Bosch 250

DANVILLE, VA – Though much of the race was run in torrential rain behind the pace car, the GRAND AM Sports Car Series race at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) was an exciting History making event. Bill Lester claimed the victory in the GT-class co-piloting his #88 Autohaus Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to victory with Jordan Taylor. The victory makes Lester the first African-American driver to win a GRAND-AM Rolex event. The 07 Cool-TV Chevrolet Camaro of Schaldach /Gavin placed second followed by the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 of Dalla Lana/Auberlen.The Autohaus Camaro prepared by Pratt and Miller runs Burns merge collectors. Burns Stainless worked closely with the engine supplier, Katech, to develop the winning header design. Lester and Jordan move to 3rd in points following this momentous win.


The other exciting race was the Daytona Prototype (DP) class where the Gannassi six-race winning streak was brought to an end by the #9 Action Express Porsche/Riley of Barbosa/France /Borcheller. Barbosa claimed the checkered flag a mere 0.27 seconds ahead of Scott Pruett, who along with co-diver Memo Rojas have won 12 of the last 15 races. So unbeatable had Team Ganassi become, that GRAND AM posted a $25,000 bounty to the team that could end the Gannassi winning streak. "Chip Ganassi and his entire organization have done an amazing job fashioning one of the most remarkable streaks in the annals of American sports car racing," said GRAND-AM Director of Competition Mark Raffauf. "This reward gives their competition another incentive to step up and beat them to the checkered flag."


The winners took home a purse of over $83,000 – better than a poke in the eye I’d say! Joao Barbosa commented after the race, "Everything clicked today. We were able to get the track position at the right time and then I tried to do the best I could at the end. With Scott (Pruett) behind, it's never easy, but I pushed as hard as I could and tried to gain a safe margin just in case. You never know what can come from those guys. It worked out really perfect.


Also of note is that the #30 iMoto Racing MazdaSpeed3 driven by Chip Herr and Team owner Glenn Bocchino was equipped with an undercar exhaust built by Burns Stainless incorporating a Burns Ultralight muffler. The VIR 250 was a shakedown race for the brand new car. We are expecting great things from the Continental Cup ST class entry in races to come.

The Southern 500

First Cup Victory for Regan Smith

DARLINGTON, SC – It has been three long years since Regan Smith’s victory at Talladega was taken back from him by NASCAR for illegally passing Tony Stewart on the apron. But Smith kept going after it and he finally made victory circle at Darlington. "This is no knock against Talladega at all, but I would trade in a lot of Talladega wins for one win in the Southern 500," said Smith, “This race is so special and so meaningful. We were standing there looking at the names and the faces on the trophy, and you just look at it, and you think, 'my face is going to be there right next to these guys, and it'll be there forever.'"
It wasn’t at all clear until they crossed the finish line that Smith was the victor.


On lap 341, Kasey Kahne acquired the lead until Jeff Burton’s motor grenaded spewing oil all over the track. During the caution, Smith Keslowski and Stewart decided to forego the final pit stop claiming the first three spots on the restart. Smith, with help from Keslowski, managed to hold Kahne off leading into the final laps. It was an exciting few laps with very close racing. Then on lap 363, Harvick came up a tapped Busch on the left rear bumper then came up beside him to pass. With the duo running side-by-side, Clint Boyer came along the inside making it three-wide out of turn 4. It then appeared that Boyer slid-up on Harvick spinning himself into the infield wall. Seconds later, Kyle Busch came up on Harvick, in apparent retribution spinning him and putting the 29-car into the outside wall.


Carl Edwards on fresh tires made a strong run on Smith crossing the finish line alongside Smith, but Regan held on to the win. Edwards was obviously disappointed that he couldn’t beat Smith, but was happy for Smith. Carl and Regan formed a strong friendship back in 2002 while both drove for Mike Mitter. About Regan Busch commented, “I got a lot of respect for him.”


The tempers were still flaring between the 18 and 29. Harvick commented over the radio that “…the 18 hooked me.” The reply came not to worry, “we’ll hook the 18 some other time.” Harvick must’ve thought that meant now following Busch onto pit row, then cutting in front and stopping him dead in his tracks. Harvick climbed out of his car and walked back towards Busch. Busch wasn’t going to wait for Kevin to come back and punch him, so with Harvick clear of the car, Busch hit the gas, pushing the 29 car into the pit wall. My choices were limited. I was either going to get punched in the face and then wait for Harvick to get back in his car, or just drive through his car and push it out of the way so I could get out of there."
Luckily no one was hurt. Coincidentally, the 18 and 29 haulers were parked next to one another, and the crews had to be separated following some angry pushing and shoving. Then Kevin Harvick arrived and challenged the Busch crew to a fight. “Y’all are a bunch of %$#8!A NASCAR official said “You’re coming with us to our hauler now!” Harvick followed the official into the “woodshed,” followed soon thereafter by Busch and team owners Joe Gibbs and Richard Childress. After about a 20 minute meeting with Mike Helton behind closed doors, NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp stated that “it will be determined Tuesday whether any teams and drivers will be assessed fines and/or penalties.


"It was tight racing after the restart there and Harvick was up on the top, a little bit loose, and I gave him room," Busch said. "He kind of came off the wall -- that's a bad angle, obviously -- and then lifted early to let me go into Turn 3 and I thought it was all good. Then he drives into the back of me there, so ... it made my car loose all the way through the exit, and just made a run for those two guys to get back on my inside. "And then obviously Clint wrecked, bouncing off Harvick. It was just uncalled-for; it was unacceptable racing. I know it's the last couple of laps, but I gave him room coming off [Turn] 2 and I didn't get the room."
"Obviously we were just racing hard and doing what we had to do at the end. And things happen. That's it," Harvick said. Asked what got discussed with Busch, Joe Gibbs and NASCAR officials in the NASCAR hauler, Harvick grinned and said: "Not much."

BMW Wins Handily At The Beach!

LONG BEACH, CA – Racing at the Beach, is there any better to take the sting out of tax day? Not in my book! As has been the norm the past several years, Long Beach was home to the IndyCar league as well as the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series. The most exciting race was the ALMS GT2 featuring the competitive BMWs, Corvettes, Porsches and Ferraris. The tight city streets seemed to favor the BMWs this year, ending a two year winning streak for the Flying Lizards Porsches.


The BMW M3 of Hand and Muller started from the pole and easily took the lead early in the race. A mishap by teammate Bill Auberlein in the Fountain turn resulted in the two bimmers to be stopped on the track. After extricating themselves, it took Hand a mere 15 minutes to get around the lead Porsche of Parick Long and the Corvette of Oliver Gavin. In the end, it was the BMW followed by the #4 Corvette driven by Gavin/Magnussen. Third place went to the beautiful Risi Competizione F458 Italia driven by Vilander/Melo.


The LMP1 race was a bit boring with only two cars entered – the Muscle-Milk Aston Martin and Mazda-powered Lola of Dyson Racing. Starting from the pole, Chris Dyson-driven the Lola/Mazda was passed by Luhr on the first lap. The Aston went on to an overall and class win with a 24.624 second margin. "In my head, I had planned to get by Chris in the first corner, but that didn't work out quite well," Luhr said of the start. "He really made a good start and didn't give me a chance to get by him. But I saw I was quicker in the Carousel, so I dived into Turn 5 on the inside and tried to build out a gap."


LMPC was won by the CORE Autosport Oreca FLM09 of Jeannette and Gonzalez. The GTC class was won by the Porsche GT3 Cup car driven by Pappas and Bleekmolen. LMP2 was a one horse race by Level5 Motorsports.

Now that the open wheelers no longer run turbos, racing at the Beach for these cars is not the same. The tight street course makes passing very difficult for the open wheelers, and no longer do the tunnels resonate with the pops of blow-off valves and wastegates. Nonetheless, the Beach is one of the most popular venues for the IZOD series. This year’s winner was a surprise with 3-year veteran Mike Conway crossing the finish first. It did not look like it would be his day after locking up in the pit lane during his fist pit placing him at the rear of the pack. But the calm Englishman kept his composure and ran a cool and calculated race, being at the right place at the right time during the restarts. "It looked a bit difficult here earlier this weekend,” commented Conway, “but this morning I knew the car would be fast. It was really tough to overtake here, but they just told me to hang in there. The team did a great job; good strategy. I can't thank the guys at Andretti Autosport enough, as well as everyone at Window World Cares and DHL, for putting their faith in me." Penske Racing’s Ryan Briscoe managed a 2nd place finish while IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti finished third.

Roush-Yates FR-9 Engines Sweep 5 of Top 10 at TMS

FORT WORTH, TX – It was Matt Kenseth’s first win in 76 races, but from his performance Sunday, it is hard to imagine he was out of the winner’s circle this long. Kenseth clearly dominated the race with his Roush-Fenway Ford leading 169 of 334 laps and crossing the finish line 8.34 sec ahead of Clint Boyer. Roush teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle followed in 3rd and 4th places respectively. It was an impressive night for the Roush-Fenway team as David Ragan finished in seventh place.


Kenseth’s win was an important one for the 2003 series champion and was also the first victory for Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig since 2005. After heading up the Roush R&D department, Fennig was recruited as crew chief to the No17 team at the middle of last year in an effort to turn their program around. Together, the Wisconsin natives were able to pull it off with an unquestionable victory at Texas.


With Marcos Ambrose’s 6th place finish, it was an even better night for Roush Yates Engines, placing 5 engines in the top ten spots. "We're really happy to see (Roush Yates Engines) clients performing so well, across so many teams," CEO Doug Yates said. "With the Woods winning at Daytona, to Nationwide and Cup Series poles and wins spread out across so many of the Roush Fenway drivers, that is the service and consistency our company strives for as a provider of engines.”


After winning 2 of the first 3 races of the season, Roush’s dominance in 2011 was in doubt after wins by Hendrick, RCR and Gibbs in subsequent races. But the performance of the Roush-prepared cars at Texas has re-established the Fords as the favorite for 2011. "I am really proud of what we have been able to do in 2011," Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush told reporters Sunday in Texas. "We tuned up our engine with Ford's help over the winter and got a new Ford nose [for the car]. Everybody got a new nose this year, but our new nose is better than our old nose and we have our FR-9 engine up to speed. All of that is going well."


The race went relatively smoothly with a minimal number of accients. The first caution was on lap 11 following some fluid loss from the #37 Ford of Tony Raines. David Gilliland caused the second caution on lap 47 when he slammed into the wall in turn 1. The biggest accident f the night occurred on lap 216 as Martin Truex lost control exiting turn 2, possibly as a result of being tapped by Kevin Harvick. Mark Martin struck Truex’ car and slammed into the wall. Regan Smith also suffered damge in the wreck.