Davenport, IA – For NHRA Division 3 Top Alcohol Funny Car driver, Chris Foster and his crew chief Will Hanna, the 2009 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series will go down as one for the ages. After capturing three divisional event victories in Chicago, Ill., Columbus, Ohio and Noble, OK., the Davenport, Iowa based driver captured his first division championship in NHRA D-3 by a mere 10 points over second place finisher Andy Bohl. The team also finished the season 7th in the NHRA National point standings.

“Foster Racing’s 2009 season was a make or break year,” stated Foster while attending the PRI show in Orlando, Fla. “We decided we were going to make the car run competitively or park it. With a new engine combination, fuel system and the knowledge of newly acquired Crew Chief Will Hanna, we were able to achieve three wins, two runner-ups, and two semifinal finishes. We were able to win the Division 3 Championship and finish 7th nationally. To say we met our goals would be an understatement.”

In order to clinch the D-3 championship, Foster needed to capture an event victory at the team’s final opportunity to claim points, the Division 4 finale in Noble, Ok. The team qualified in the number 3 position and advanced to the final round after defeating defeat Burl Brown in the opening frame. In a huge semifinal bout with three-time Division 4 Champion Steve Harker, the D-4 kingpin triggered the red light with a -0.007 second reaction time, while Foster was clean and green with a 0.027 light. Foster eventually beat Lance Van Hauen to capture the event victory and the Division 3 TAFC Championship.

“Our back was definitely against the wall going into Noble,” Hanna stated. “We took a risk and made the switch to the new NRE X-1 Cylinder Heads. We thought they would be worth a ‘little’ more power. They ended up being worth quite a bit, and it took us a few races to get a handle on it. We finally got a handle on the monster in Noble. Noble was such a clutch performance by the whole team. Chris and the guys never let the pressure get to them, even going into the final. I’m proud to just be associated with the feat.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of our sponsors, DragRaceHose.com, Ken Juszczyk of Motorsports Unlimited, Larry Goldbeck of Tracktamer Engines, JR at RBS Superchargers and Derek Dahl at Victory Valves,” added Foster. “Behind the scenes we had a year of zero mistakes by the crew, which is a big part of our success. My dad John, My step dad Dwight Baxter, Dewayne “Cooter” Scott, Bruce Meyer, Kevin Felske, Rick Hanna and Bryan Brown did a superb job this year. Of course, my mom Jean and my wife Deanna made sure everyone was fed all year. It truly was a team effort, and we look forward to 2010.”

Belle Rose, La. – In NHRA drag racing, being the quickest and fastest car is not always as important as being consistent. Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Tony Bartone and his crew chief Steve Boggs proved this as they captured the event victory this weekend during the Division 4 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event held at No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, LA. Bartone, from Boca Raton, Fla. and his car owner Rick Jackson, Santa Clarita, Calif. won for the third time in the 2009 NHRA season.

Bartone’s Center Pointe Collision Centre/ FireIce™ sponsored team had to battle not only the other entries in the Top Alcohol Funny Car division this weekend, but temperatures over 90-degree and high humidity. These type of conditions provided a challenge for Jackson Racing crew chief, Steve Boggs, but he was up to the task. Boggs tuned Bartone to a 5.66 second elapsed time in qualifying, placing Bartone in the number 2 position in the six-car field. “The weather gave everybody fits this weekend,” noted Bartone. “But Steve (Boggs) has raced in these conditions more than a few times in his career. I felt pretty confident having him in my corner this weekend.”

In the first round the Jackson Racing Funny Car matched-up against Arlington, Tex. based Kebin Kinsley. Both cars left the starting-line with Kinsley capturing a slight reaction time advantage. The Boggs tuned flopper caught Kinsley by the 330-foot mark of the 1,320-foot race track. And Bartone took the round win recording a 5.680 E.T. in the process. The victory set up a semi-final appearance against Burl Brown, Gainesville, Tex.

Brown had difficulties staging the car and triggered the red-light, handing Bartone the automatic round win. In an attempt to capture lane choice for the final round, Bartone drove his 2009 Ford Mustang Flopper down the No Problem Raceway quarter-mile in 5.683 seconds, only 0.003 seconds slower than his previous round victory.

The final round saw a rematch of the Division 2 LODRS TAFC final in Atlanta, Ga. Steve Harker from Gainesville, GA, captured the win last week when Bartone left the starting line too early and lit the red light. This time Bartone took the event championship recording a 5.688 E.T. at a speed of 252.05 miles per hours as his opponent lost traction at the hit of the throttle.

“Boggs turned this car a bracket car today,” noted team owner Jackson. “It feels great to break through with a win this weekend and I am so proud of the effort this team put forth this weekend.”

Boggs was the winning crew chief in TAFC this weekend. He also tuned Brandon “the Kid” Lewis’ A/Fuel Dragster to a victory in the Top Alcohol Dragster division as well. He also set a track record for the TAD division in the process.

Courtesy of CRX PROMOTIONS
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Tim Charlet
News Editor
InsideTopAlcohol.com
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Indianapolis, Ind.- The Jerry Maddern Racing team celebrated their return to historic O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. with Dairy Queen ice-cream cake as qualifying began today at the 55th NHRA Mac Tool’s US Nationals presented by Lucas Oil.

The Sunland, Calif. based team returned to the location of one of their most memorable single race victories. In 1998, Darren Nicholson drove the Peen-Rite sponsored Top Alcohol Dragster to the US Nationals championship. It was the first National Event victory for not only Nicholson but also the Maddern team. Current driver Chris Demke is hoping lightning strikes twice at the “Big Go” for the team affectionately known as “the Circus Clowns”.

The Maddern team began their weekend long birthday celebration for crew member “Hamburger” Mike Demke with a solid, yet conservative first qualifying effort. A 5.384-second 263.20 mile per hour run was good enough to place the team in the fifth qualifying spot after one qualifying effort.

“The car ran solid and smooth today,” stated Demke, who is seeking his first career National Event ‘Wally’. “We put a fresh blower on the car and put good-old-trusty “Ludwig” between the rails of the Dave Uyehara chassis for this event. We wanted to get a solid baseline tune-up for (team owner and crew chief) Jerry to work with.”

The team had planned to turn up the wick for Q-2, however they were unable to test the cooling track, as their second qualifying effort for the day was postponed until tomorrow morning, due to delays caused by electrical failure and oil downs.

“It’s not every day we have the chance to visit this historic city. And our team was planning on paying tribute to those amazing racers who have made this city a ‘Mecca’ of motor sports, by visiting the Indianapolis Motor Speedway museum. I guess we’ll have to post-pone that trip and establish some history ourselves,” concluded the sly Demke.

The Peen-Rite team will hit the track again tomorrow with a qualifying session scheduled to begin promptly at 10:30 a.m. The third qualifying session should be scheduled later during the day’s racing activities.

Stay up to date with daily coverage of the 55th US Nationals in the sportsman section of Competitionplus.com. And up to the minute results available from the great folks at http://www.dragracecentral.com.

Courtesy of CRX PROMOTIONS
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Tim Charlet
News Editor
InsideTopAlcohol.com
press@insidetopalcohol.com