Airwerks Outlaw SFWD Shootout
To put it lightly, import drag racing is braking hard these days. And nobody knows it more than the East Coast heads. Since the NHRA's pull-out last year, and NOPI's foreclosure earlier this year, what looked to be a promising 2008 season for East Coast racers panned out to be anything but. That's why earlier this fall, while drag racing's only remaining sanctioning body was taking care of business on the West Coast, East Coast-based Sport FWD-class racer Brian Ballard joined forces with New Jersey's Englishtown Raceway to produce the baddest grassroots event to date. The rules were simple: $1000 entry fee; $10,000 First Place purse, with "bounties" paid out for accomplishments like posting the best 60-foot time, highest trap speed, or being the first person to break in eliminations. The result was record-breaking: Tony Palo and his DC2 Integra became the first Sport FWD competitor to break the 8-second barrier, with an 8.997@167.55 in semifinals, and an 8.975@166.81 winning run in the finals against host Ballard, and walked away with better than $15K in cash and prizes. Full coverage at
importtuner.com
Battle Of The Imports Fontana
Remember import drag racing's "only remaining sanctioning body" referred to in the previous story? Well that happens to be these guys: Battle of the Imports. While the East Coast crew was holding it down at E-Town earlier this fall, BOTI took to the track at Fontana, Calif.'s Auto Club Speedway to crown the import world's undisputed 2008 series drag champs. Points-monger Ed Bergenholtz had the Pro FWD top spot in the bag even before competition, but managed to tack on yet another event win in Fontana, ending his season in style. Likewise, Norris Prayoonto emerged as the Pro Srock class champ in the Semis, while on his way to an event win against Leslie Armenderiz. But the Pro Import class was a different story; despite an event win and a broken record by Bryan Jimenez, it was Kenny Tran who emerged in the top spot for the season once the dust had cleared, based on his larger number of wins at previous events. Check out importtuner.com for all the madness, and BOTI's official site for next year's plans.
www.battleoftheimports.com
Torco Meet
If you've never considered a switch to synthetic motor oil, maybe it's time you do that. After all, is it any coincidence that import drag racing's two fastest all-motor competitors both use it? We think not. So, what does it say about a particular brand of oil if the same two contestants trust their racing fates to it? That the guys at Torco must be doing something right. Attendees of the company's second annual Sports and Import Car Show, recently held at their Santa Fe Springs, Calif. headquarters, not only had a chance to discuss winning strategies with import all-motor drag icons Bisi Ezerioha and Jeremy Lookofsky, but also to check out Torco's complete product line-up, grub down on some free BBQ, and and kick it with some of SoCal's cleanest street-worthy imports. See more at
importtuner.com
www.torcousa.com
Rally America Championships
It seems like just last week we were rolling around in the dirt at Carson, Calif.'s Home Depot Center to bring you coverage of the ESPN X Games' rally competition, and since then Rally America has hosted three events, ending its 2008 season with the recent Lake Superior Rally in Houghton, MI. And coincidentally, atop Rally America's championship points standing are names X Games fans will be familiar with: Travis Pastrana, in First Place with 130 points, followed by Ken Block in Second with 86 points-and the event win at Lake Superior-and EVO-flipping ACP in Fourth, with 63.
www.rally-america.com
www.subaru.com/rally
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