Racing News: Keystone Automotive Named Supplier for NMCA and NMCA WEST

 

	Keystone Automotive has signed on as a major sponsor with the NMCA and NMCA WEST series in 2012.

Keystone Automotive's 1-800-AUTOPARTS Official Performance Parts Supplier of NMCA and NMCA WEST


Keystone Automotive, a distributor and marketer of specialty automotive equipment and accessories, has signed on as a major sponsor with the NMCA and NMCA WEST series in 2012. Keystone's "support your local speed shop" campaign resonates as their speed and performance accounts plan to participate with both series. Expect to see Keystone speed and performance customers on display as a part of the manufacturer's midway at most events. Keystone's dealer locator program, 1-800-AUTOPARTS, will become the official performance parts supplier of the NMCA and NMCA WEST.

Stenhouse Jr., Jason Johnson Racing Form New ASCS Sprint Car Team
Two-time ASCS National Sprint Car Champion Jason Johnson and 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have announced that they have partnered to launch an all-new team called "Stenhouse Jr. Racing." The Stenhouse Jr. Racing ASCS team has selected Roush Yates Engines of Mooresville, North Carolina. as the team's power plant supplier. The team will continue to run Maxim chassis.

Under the new team partnership, Stenhouse Jr. Racing will field a Ford-powered sprint car team that will witness Johnson in an all-out assault to win the 2012 ASCS championship. Stenhouse Jr. will compete in a team car in anywhere from three to five races in 2012, as his NASCAR racing schedule permits. Johnson and Stenhouse Jr. will campaign the numbers 41 and 6, respectively.

In addition to the team's commitment to compete on the 2012 Lucas Oil ASCS national tour, it was also announced that driver Johnson, aka "The Ragin Cajun," will compete in approximately 20 to 25 World of Outlaw events.

	The 4th Annual shopHEMI.com Late-Model HEMI Shootout will take place at Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland, June 8–10, 2012.

4th Annual shopHEMI.com Late-Model HEMI Shootout Announced
The NMCA Flowmaster Muscle Car Nationals has announced that the 4th Annual shopHEMI.com Late-Model HEMI Shootout, presented by Mopar Now magazine, will once again take place at Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland, June 8–10, 2012. Mopar Now, published by the folks who produce Mopar Muscle, will provide pre-event and post-event coverage of the Late-Model HEMI Shootout. This NMCA event will feature race and car show classes specifically designed for modern HEMI-powered Chrysler and Dodge vehicles. Other event features include a huge car show, manufacturers’ midway/swap meet and a 300+ mph jet dragster.

Jacky Jones Ford & Ford Racing Bring Cobra Jet Showdown to NMRA Season Opener
The NMRA Keystone Automotive Ford Nationals has announced that Jacky Jones Ford & Ford Racing will sponsor a special Cobra Jet Showdown that will run at the Nitto Tire NMRA Spring Break Shootout event at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida, the weekend of March 1–4, 2012. Watch as Cobra Jets from all around the U.S. converge on Bradenton Motorsports Park and set their combinations on kill for the title of Cobra Jet Showdown Champion. Jacky Jones Ford, a Cobra Jet dealer in the southeast and presenting sponsor of the Showdown, will be at the event with customer cars and a great display on NMRA’s huge manufacturers midway.

The class will qualify on Friday, and run on a Sportsman ladder with a .500 full tree for Saturday eliminations. The class will feature a $2,500 purse and the overall winner of the Showdown will receive $1,000, a custom jacket and award, and exposure in national magazines.

For more information on the Cobra Jet Showdown including rules and purses log on to www.nmradigital.com/FL.

	Brianne Corn at the 2011 Tire Rack Solo National Championships. (Photo: Rupert Berrington)

Top SCCA Solo Award Winners Announced
Brianne Corn, of San Marcos, Texas, and Jonathon Lugod, of Oceanside, California, have been selected by the Sports Car Club of America Solo Events Board for two of the top honors in the program based on their efforts at the 2011 Tire Rack SCCA Solo National Championships.

Corn earned the 2011 Driver of the Year title after becoming just the third woman to win an open-class National Championship in SCCA Solo competition, earning the B Modified title with a 1.054-second win over two-time defending champion Clemens Burger. After earning the B Modified Ladies championship in 2008, Corn moved strictly to open-class competition and finished as the runner-up in 2010 driving the Le Grand Dragon that she would pilot in 2011.

Lugod made his first appearance in Lincoln in 2011 as a 24-year-old, finishing third in the Street Touring class behind the wheel of a 1991 Honda Civic. Trailing only three-time champ Andy Hollis and former title winner Jason Frank in the 44-car class, Lugod’s run was made more exceptional after a severely broken ankle in April left him in a wheel chair until two weeks before the August event.

In that two weeks, Lugod relearned to walk, and also to right-foot brake after previously using his left foot on the pedal. The steep learning curve also hampered his ability to walk the course prior to runs, but the payoff earned a trophy and the Rookie of the Year award.

The two drivers will be presented their awards during a celebration at the 2012 SCCA National Convention, March 1–3, at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

	Falken Tire, partnered with Savvy Off Road, claimed its first off-road victory in the Smittybilt Every Man Challenge at the Ultra4 Racing King of the Hammers event, February 5.

Team Falken Scores First Win With Savvy Off Road in King of the Hammers' Every Man Off-Road Event
Falken Tire claimed its first off-road victory. Partnered with Savvy Off Road, the team took first place in the Stock Class in the Smittybilt Every Man Challenge at the Ultra4 Racing King of the Hammers event February 5. According to the rules, teams competing in either the Stock or Stock Modified classes must run stock, DOT-approved tires. Savvy Off Road ran Falken WildPeak A/T Tires, sized 35x12.50 R15.


The inaugural Every Man Challenge was created as a partner event to the King of Hammers (KOH) race, allowing off-road enthusiasts a chance to race their stock and modified stock vehicles during the dedicated one-day off-road race. Savvy Off Road competed in a stock class Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, which started in 33rd position. Running a stock engine and transmission platform, Driver John Currie (co-owner of Currie Enterprises) and Savvy Off Road car owner/co-driver Gerald Lee quickly passed 30 cars and ran in third place for the majority of the race, competing on much of the same desert terrain as the KOH event, before catching the race leaders to take the win at the 77-mile end. Currie and Lee completed the course in less than three hours.


For the main KOH event, scheduled this coming weekend, February 8–10, Falken will field a vehicle in the Ultra4 Class to be driven by Falken Vice President of Marketing Andrew Hoit, as well as support Race Prep Racing—the husband-and-wife-managed team that will also compete in the same class.



Both King of The Hammers and the Every Man Challenge take place on public lands in Johnson Valley, California, near the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Center located in Twenty Nine Palms. The KOH race has evolved from 12 teams to more than 150 teams competing before thousands of fans both live and online.

	Red Line's mobile display with product available for sale to racers and fans will be presented on the NHRA Nitro Alley Manufacturer’s Midway at 16 NHRA Full Throttle events.

Red Line Oil Continues NHRA Major Sponsorship
Red Line Synthetic Oil Corp. has announced its 14th year of partnership with the NHRA as an official Major Sponsor of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. Red Line will post more than $125,000 in contingency prizes to NHRA drag racers in various professional and sportsman categories. Red Line is also continuing its major technical partnerships with some to the racing industry's most successful drag-racing teams. 

Red Line also announced its continued collaboration with FM3 Marketing and Optima Batteries.

A mobile display with product available for sale to racers and fans will be presented on the NHRA Nitro Alley Manufacturer’s Midway at 16 NHRA Full Throttle events. More information is available at www.RedLineOil.com.

Tobler Tunes Beckman to Career-Best Elapsed Time
Jack Beckman posted the quickest elapsed time of his career three weeks ago in testing when his Valvoline NextGen Dodge Charger R/T tuned by crew chief Rahn Tobler completed a lap in 4.037 seconds at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Florida. However, it would be more meaningful to him if he and his Valvoline NextGen team can match that quick time this week when the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season opens Thursday with the Winternationals at Pomona, California.

Beckman won three titles last year in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series and finished 72 points behind Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate Matt Hagan, who knocked Beckman out of the NHRA Finals last November in the second round. At last year's Winternationals, Beckman lost in the first round to Ron Capps, another DSR teammate.

The Winternationals opens Thursday with one round of qualifying followed by a single session on Friday. The last two sessions are Saturday with championship eliminations set for Sunday.

Returning NASCAR Team Sponsor Reese Towpower Announces 2012 Sponsorship Dates With Multi-Teams
Second year NASCAR team sponsors, Cequent Consumer Products (CCP) and its brand Reese Towpower will kick off the 2012 NASCAR season February 24, 2012, at Daytona International Speedway as part of Brad Keselowski’s Twitter truck at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Keselowski held a Twitter promotion in which fans had to Tweet the answer to a question and follow sponsors @ReeseTowpower @CooperStandard and @Keselowski for a chance to be featured on the Keselowski’s #19 RAM truck. The promotion gained massive appeal through Twitter with NASCAR fans and the media.

After Daytona, Reese Towpower will then go to the Kansas Speedway April 21–22 with sponsored teams at both the SFP 250 and the STP 400 races. Reese Towpower and Highland will return for a second year to sponsor 2000 NASCAR Champion driver Bobby Labonte of JTG Daugherty Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Labonte will drive the No. 47 Toyota Camry Reese Towpower car on April 22 at the Kansas Speedway.

The Kansas City race is also when Reese Towpower will debut as the primary sponsor of the No. 29 Reese Towpower RAM in the Camping World Truck Series with up-and-coming driver Parker Kligerman of Brad Keselowski Racing (BKR).