Coming off the team’s first National Event victory at the IHRA Salt Lake Nitro-Jam in June, the Santa Clarita, Calif. based team will also use the weekend’s racing activities to debut their new marketing partnership with Combustion Technologies USA (http://www.combustionusa.com) and their CleanBoost® PERFORMANCE MOTOR OIL product line.

“We are very excited to have partnered with the group at Combustion Technologies USA for the remainder of 2010 and beyond,” noted Johnny Ahten, the 38-year old driver of the CleanBoostoil.com/Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster. “We met with these guys at the Las Vegas National Event in April and absolutely hit it off from the start. They are all dedicated drag racers, who have developed several environmental safe performance products, which also provide exceptional cost-savings to race teams. Plus, their stuff is amazing quality and we feel gives us a performance advantage. We’re hoping to prove it this weekend in Sonoma. We’d love nothing more than to provide them with another NHRA Wally this weekend.”

Based in Sandy, Utah, CleanBoost® PERFORMANCE MOTOR OIL is a subdivision company of Combustion Technologies USA, a privately held corporation, owned and operated by drag racers and automotive enthusiasts, who provide specialized products and services focused towards equipment performance and maintenance solutions coupled with measurable improvements in the operating costs of your equipment. They specialize in the Trucking, Construction, Mining, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Motorsports, Marine Industries and private label licensing of their products. They accomplish this by providing customers with the latest and most advanced products and service available in the industry today, while focusing on developments and new technology to improve the quality of their products to reduce the pollution effects of our environment.

“We can’t begin to explain how excited we are to have partnered with the Ahten Family and their competitive A/Fuel Dragster for the remainder of 2010 and beyond,” noted Tim Charlet, Director of Sales and Marketing for Combustion Technologies USA. “The Ahten Family has proven over a period of time to be nothing short of the definition of class. We’d also like to thank Kevin Stith from Stith Printing for going above and beyond to ensure the team had new crew shirts available this weekend in Sonoma. We’ve got 3 NHRA Divisional Wally’s and 1 National Event Wally with teams using our products since April this year and we believe Johnny, Al, Bob, Howard, “Shark” and “Rocky” will help us add to the winning totals.”

The Ahten Racing team will also have Mark Niver Tribute stickers available at their pit area. The team is asking for a $5.00 donation for each sticker. The proceeds will be added to those raised by Combustion Technologies USA with their online sales and donated to Racers for Christ on behalf of the request of the Niver Family. Other stickers will be available from several Top Alcohol Division 7 teams in Sonoma.

To learn more about Johnny Ahten, please visit his team page at crxmedia.com.

Keep up to date with all the racing activities in Sonoma by visiting dragracecentral.com.

“We are very pleased to have the guys from CleanBoost® PERFORMANCE MOTOR OIL join our A/Fuel Dragster team for the remainder of 2010 and beyond,” noted Johnny Ahten, the driver of the Ahten Racing Cleanboostoil.com/Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster. “We have tested both their CleanBoost® 70 wt Racing Oil and their Z-Alt 10X Oil Booster with amazing results and have noticed a significant improvement in internal engine parts wear. We love working with these guys. They are racers like us, who are dedicated to providing cost saving solutions for racers in all racing applications. We look forward to establishing a relationship with CleanBoost® PERFORMANCE MOTOR OIL for years to come.”

Based in Sandy, Utah, CleanBoost® PERFORMANCE MOTOR OIL is a subdivision company of Combustion Technologies USA, (http://www.combustionusa.com) a privately held corporation, owned and operated by drag racers and automotive enthusiasts, who provide specialized products and services focused towards equipment performance and maintenance solutions coupled with measurable improvements in the operating costs of your equipment. They specialize in the Trucking, Construction, Mining, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Motorsports, Marine Industries and private label licensing of their products. They accomplish this by providing customers with the latest and most advanced products and service available in the industry today, while focusing on developments and new technology to improve the quality of their products to reduce the pollution effects of our environment.

“We are honored to support a quality team such as the group at Ahten Racing,” stated Tim Charlet, Director of Sales and Marketing for Combustion Technologies USA. “We believe in providing cost-saving solutions for business in several different industries and we feel the best way to showcase how well our products work is in the quickest and fastest motorsport in the world. As a second generation drag racer and fire fighter, Johnny Ahten is a natural born spokesperson for any company. We look forward to working with Johnny, Al, Bob, Howard, “Rocky” and “Shark” for years to come.”

To learn more about Johnny Ahten, please visit his team page at crxmedia.com and at cleanboostoil.com.

Salt Lake City, Utah – Johnny Ahten, a 38-year old Firefighter Specialist from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and driver of the Ahten Racing / Island Renovations Injected nitro-methane IHRA Pro Fuel Dragster, captured his first National Event championship in dominating fashion this past weekend at the Inaugural running of the IHRA Salt Lake Nitro Jam contested at Rocky Mountain Raceways in Salt Lake City, Utah.

After recording a shocking 5.58 second elapsed time off the trailer in day one of the Nitro Jam, Ahten and the Santa Clarita, Calif. based team experienced a slight ‘hick-up’ in the money round by red-lighting away a race victory against Brandon Johnson on Friday evening, which served as the first event of two in the unique IHRA Nitro Jam format. The opening night’s mistake however provided the Southern California invaders with a bit of inspiration to rebound on day two.

“I felt like we had let down all our friends, fans and marketing partners with our red-light on Friday evening,” noted Ahten, who’s had gone zero-for-three in previous final round appearances driving his teams nitro-rail in NHRA A/Fuel Dragster trim. “In the run against Brandon I never saw the red-light come on. When I got out of the car, I started to celebrate until one of the track officials informed me I had lit the “red tomato” and lost. Needless to say, I had to remove the egg from my face and get our car ready to come back with a vengeance on Day two. Fortunately we did that; and then some.”

Ahten qualified for the final round by setting low elapsed time of the opening session, a cylinder dropping 5.82 second run. This set up a final round pairing against fellow IHRA newcomer Larry Miersch in Saturday’s Pro Fuel final. Ahten erased every track record in the books in claiming the win, laying down a blistering 5.56 elapsed time at 248.75 miles-per-hour in the all-new, all-nitro IHRA category. Miersch ran a 5.91 ET to earn the runner-up spot.

“That car was flat-out hauling the mail in the final round and it was great to capture our first team win at our first IHRA race,” Ahten said. “We felt we came in this event with a little bit of an advantage, as we tested last weekend in Nevada because we knew it would be a similar elevation and we wanted to come here prepared. Obviously that worked out for us. Getting the trophy and taking that virtual monkey off my back really made up for last night. We dig this new format. We love racing and out here we are just racing with nitro cars. The fans were incredible and it was great to capture a race win for our crew, our team at CRX Media, and our new friends in the Salt Lake City area. It was also cool that one of our buddies and loyal team supporters, Brett Winberg advanced to the finals in Top Sportsman. We want to thank him for his support over the past few races. This weekend is one I’ll never forget.”

To learn more about Johnny Ahten and the Ahten Racing team, please visit their team page at crxmedia.com. For more pictures and event details, log onto dragracecentral.com and nitrojam.com.

“A-fuel cars do not run very well at high altitude race tracks historically,” noted the 38-year old flame chaser from Santa Clarita, Calif. “Top Gun Raceway has a base altitude of 3990 feet above sea level and with temperatures expected in the upper to mid 80’s the corrected altitude is expected to climb above 6,000 feet. The higher the corrected altitude equals less oxygen to blend with our nitro-methane fuel which starves our car of hundreds of potential horse power. But, we gathered some very valuable data at our last event which we feel will be very beneficial to our team this weekend in Fallon.”

Ahten is referring to the team’s last on-track experience at the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals contested on “The Strip” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April, when the Ahten Racing / Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster dropped a close first round race against Sandy, Utah racer Cody Perkins. After qualifying with a 5.48 second elapsed time, and running another 5.48 in the first round loss, the team found what they believe could be a solution as to why their A/fuel car drops cylinders at higher altitude.

“We have done fairly well in the past at higher altitude tracks and when it got hot, we were able to cool down our fuel to help fire those cylinders down track,” Ahten said.

“However, we don’t have that luxury any longer after the NHRA made a rule change which limited the minimum temperature to 50-degrees at the beginning of this season. We’ve looked at our run data and we believe we have found a way to help our A/Fuel car run better at altitude, so this weekend’s race will be a bit of a test session for us, but we have confidence the changes will work well and we can go head to head with those blown cars. I’m really excited about our chances this weekend for our team to receive our first NHRA Wally.”

When not racing, Ahten is employed as a Firefighter Specialist with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He has moved up through the ranks to be the one who drives and pumps the fire engine. He gets to drive fast on and off the track. “Both my racing and my career can be very similar,” noted Ahten.”Both require good people skills and performance under pressure.”

To learn more about Johnny Ahten and his Ahten Racing / Island Renovations sponsored A/Fuel Dragster team, please visit their team page at crxmedia.com.

Keep up to date with up to the minute race results posted on dragracecentral.com.

Johnny Ahten 2010 Vegas Recap (Spring) from CRX Media on Vimeo.

The boys from Santa Clarita, Calif. plan to prove, an A/Fuel Dragster can win at a higher-altitude track such as “The Strip” at Bruton Smith’s luxurious Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend during the 11th running of the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals.

“A/Fuel Dragsters usually do not have great results at higher-altitude race tracks,” noted Ahten. “Last year, we showed up to this event and ran very well, placing our car in a top-of-the-field qualified position, before bowing out to Chris Demke in the second round. And at last October’s National Event, Monroe Guest and his Tigerflow A/Fuel team stunned everybody with those amazing 5-teen runs. Our team ran very well too. It seems the rare-air is kind to our A/Fuel Dragster. We hope our A/Fuel Dragster will not be kind to our competition this weekend.”

Ahten began the season in Pomona, Calif.; during the 50th running of the O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals with a number three qualified effort and a second round loss to eventual runner-up Joey Severence. As a matter of fact, Ahten has reached at least the second round in his previous 5 NHRA starts. The fun-love flame-chaser would love to improve on this unique statistic.

“I honestly did not realize that,” Ahten responded when asked about his second round success. “We go out to each race and try our best. It’s an honor to be able to compete with these highly-skilled racers. That little gold guy Wally has avoided us like the plague since we’ve been racing in TAD. Our team is solid. We’ve paid our dues and we are prepared to win at every event we attend. With help from my dad Al, (who was also a Fire-Fighter in Southern California), Uncle Bob, Howard, Rocky and Shark and all our friends and fans attending the race this weekend, we’d love to take that Wally guy back home to Santa Clarita.

The Ahten Racing / Island Renovations / Lucas Oil A/Fuel Dragster team will begin qualifying for the Summitracing.com Nationals on Friday, with two sessions scheduled. The team will receive one more shot to crack the top 16 on Saturday morning, prior to first round of eliminations later in the day.

To learn more about Johnny Ahten, please visit his team page . Stay up to date with up to the minute results posted at dragracecentral.com.

The driver of the Lucas Oil/Island Renovations Ahten Racing A/Fuel Dragster, affectionately known as ‘The Stump-puller’, operates as fire-fighter specialist in Los Angeles County in Southern California. He moonlights as the driver of a 270 mile per hour, nitro-methane powered dragster which will be competing at the first NHRA Division 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event, this weekend contested at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Az.

For Ahten, this weekend’s race at Firebird Raceway is just another day at the office.

“There are several similarities to being a fire-fighter specialist and driving one of these 5-second dragsters,” noted Ahten. “You have to be surrounded by good people, people that work well together. Each person has a specific job to do to achieve the common goal. Whether it’s top side ventilation working with interior fire attack or the diver working with the guys on the top of the motor, everyone must communicate and do their part. Fortunately, I have a great group of people in both avenues in life which I feel very comfortable working with.”

Ahten grew up in Southern California looking up to his father Bob, a former firefighter himself, for advice and guidance. Currently, the patriarch of the Ahten Racing team serves as the crew chief, working together with his brother Al and Howard Katano to walk the fine line between recording a blistering elapsed time, limping the car down the 1,320 foot race track or performance somewhere in between.

After today’s initial qualifying session, the Lucas Oil/Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster fell into the somewhere in between category. A 5.50 second elapsed time at only 240 miles per hour was the result of their first attempt to qualify for the eight-car field. And although 240 mph is much quicker than most people will ever drive in a car, Ahten knows today’s performance is not an indication of the cars potential.

“This car has run in the mid 5.20-second zone on several occasions, so today’s 5.50 is about three tenths of a second off-pace,” stated Ahten. “We did accomplish a goal today by laying down a base line pass, which will give us something to tune our car with for tomorrow. We are currently qualified in the number 3 position and are only 0.03 seconds from the quickest E.T. of the day, so we feel pretty confident our Lucas Oil/Island Renovations Dragster will pick up the pace for eliminations.”

To learn more about Johnny Ahten and the Lucas Oil/Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster team, please visit their CRX Team Page.

Keep up to date with up to the minute results posted on dragracecentral.com

Johnny Ahten, the fire fighting specialist from Santa Clarita, Calif., will enter final eliminations in the Top Alcohol Dragster division from the 3^rd qualified spot, after his 5.310 second elapsed time recorded in the second qualifying session at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif. earlier today.

During the second qualifying session earlier today, the Lucas Oil/Island Renovations Ahten Racing A/Fuel Dragster left the starting line with a very quick 60 foot time, very similar to the team’s career best elapsed time recorded last season. Incremental numbers down the Pomona 1320 foot race track kept pace with the 5.256 second E.T. best. However, at approximately 1000 feet into the run, the powerful nitromethane injected assisted engine lost power in one cylinder, slowing the car nearly 14 miles per hour off their personal record pace. The run was not a total loss for the Ahten Racing team.

“The car launched very hard, very similar to that 5.25 we ran here last year,” noted driver Johnny Ahten. “Right at 1000 foot I felt it nose over a bit, (the same feeling I get when the car drops a cylinder) so I legged it out, pulled the chutes and knew the car was on a great pass. We’ll service the car; skip the final qualifying session tonight in order to save parts for eliminations.”

Ahten and his team will line up for first round tomorrow against the 14^th qualifier, Mike Austin, driving a team car of Jerry Maddern Racing’s Peen Rite team. Austin qualified nearly three tenths of a second slower than the Lucas Oil / Island Renovations A/Fuel Dragster, however Ahten is very well aware of the fact, anything can happen in eliminations.

“These cars run on such a fine edge, anything is possible,” concluded Ahten. “Those Maddern Racing guys can hop that car up to run a solid number at any time. I know Mike will be on his game tomorrow, but I also know Dad, Uncle Bob, Howard, “Rocky” and “Shark” will be too. I’m cautiously optimistic we will have a good run tomorrow.”

Eliminations begin for the Top Alcohol Dragster contingent tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. You can keep up to date with the Ahten Racing team on the crxpromotions.com website.

Check out up to the minute results posted on www.dragracecentral.com

Pomona, Calif. – The CRX team of NHRA Sportsman racers had a very educational first day in the 2010 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, as the 50^th Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals kicked off its first day of qualifying at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif.

31-time NHRA National Event Champion Tony Bartone, drove the Rick Jackson Racing Centre Pointe Collision Center / FireIce.com Top Alcohol Funny Car to the provisional pole position today, after recording a solid 5.570 second elapsed time during the first qualifying session of the new season. The run was a welcome surprise to team owner Rick Jackson.

“That’s more like it,” stated the very happy team owner of the Santa Clarita, Calif. based TAFC team. “Last season we hit some out of the park and also stuck out a bunch too. We need to ensure we can run these numbers all weekend, because the rest of the hitters out here will get their cars tuned to this quick Pomona track. The run was a good start, but we are a long way from our goal for this weekend.”

One of those hitters could very well be the Lescure Company (www.lescurecompany.com) sponsored Ron August Jr. driven Ford Mustang TAFC, which produced a conservative 5.78 second elapsed time in Q-1 earlier today. According to August however, the run was anything but spectacular.

Bartone's 5.570 second run in Pomona gave him the pole position

“Les (crew chief Davenport) told us to do exactly what we did last season so he could get a baseline in which to tune our car for the rest of the weekend,” noted August who lives in Pleasanton, Calif. “I told him ‘Well, I don’t know if we can purposely run like S%#t, but we’ll do the best we can’. Last year this car was plagued with a tune up which produced performance we are simply not accustomed to. That’s why we brought Les on board to help us get back to basics. But, the car did get down the track and Les is the man. I’m sure we’ll get the Lescure Company Inc. TAFC car solidly in the field before Saturday’s first round.”

A/Fuel Dragster driver, Johnny Ahten, CRX’s lone representative in the sportsman categories quickest category, Top Alcohol Dragster, ran a sub-par 5.656 second elapsed time at only 222 mph in his first run of the new season. For the fire fighter specialist, who recently moved to his new home in Santa Clarita, Calif., the afternoon’s pass was far less than he expects out of his Lucas Oil / Island Renovations A/Fuel car.

“We missed on the compression ratio a tad on the first pass of the day,” noted Ahten. “The car launched pretty well, had a good 60 foot time, but dropped a cylinder about 330 feet down track. I kept my foot in it and it just kept dropping cylinders. We ran 222 mph with 5 holes out. Luckily we did not damage any parts. We’ll fix the problem and head out tomorrow for we hope will be a much more productive session.”

Tony Bartone, Ron August Jr. and Johnny Ahten will conclude their qualifying efforts tomorrow in Pomona with two sessions scheduled. You can keep up to date with the performance of the CRX Family of drivers with instant results posted from each team on the CRX facebook page and a full recap at crxpromotions.com.

You can also log on to dragracecentral.com for up to the minute detailed race results.

For the fire fighter specialist from Santa Clarita, Calif. the 50^th ‘Big Go West’ is more than simply the beginning of the 2010 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, it is a chance to capture victory at a historic event. “The 50^th Big Go West is very special to me and my racing family,” noted Ahten. “Between my dad, Uncle Bob and I, I’m sure we’ve attended the majority of these races over the years. To race our A/Fuel Dragster at this event is an enormous honor. And I’m looking forward to matching up against some of the best cars and drivers in the world this weekend.”

The Lucas Oil/Island Renovations Ahten Racing team enters this weekend’s race with a freshly assembled car, completely ready to tear up the lightning quick Parker Avenue quarter-mile. At the season ending NHRA World Finals contested last year in November, Howard Katano, Johnny’s father Al, his uncle Bob, Todd “Rocky” Rockwell and Kevin “Shark” Colvell tuned Ahten to a career best elapsed time; a 5.256 second blast at 269.78 miles per hour in the second qualifying session of the weekend. A repeat of last year’s qualifying effort is definitely on the mind of the Southern California ‘flame chaser’.

“In my perfect world, we’d unload this car on Thursday for qualifying and lay down the same performance in Q-1 as we did in the second session last year. If we can do that, we’ll service the car and save those parts for eliminations,” said Ahten. “The way this car performed at the end of the season last year, we feel our perfect world scenario might be a reality. The car ran great in the high altitude of Las Vegas, and we ran career numbers last fall at this same track. Howard and the boys found some serious performance in this car. We believe our best days are ahead of us. Hopefully, those days come this weekend at the 50^th.”

Johnny Ahten and the entire Ahten Racing crew will begin their quest to capture the teams first NHRA “Wally” with their first qualifying attempt on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The team will also have two more sessions to crack the 16-car field on Friday. Eliminations begin on Saturday afternoon.

To learn more about the Ahten Racing team, please visit their team page on the CRX Promotions website at http://crxpromotions.com.

Stay up to date with up to the minute race results posted on http://www.dragracecentral.com