Tuesday, June 21, 2011

CINDI LUX TAKES PODIUM FINISH IN ROSE CUP RACE

Cindi Lux became the first woman in Rose Cup history to earn a podium.  
Shown in the Black Rock Coffee Bar-Lux Performance Dodge Viper Comp. Coupe on the grid.  
Image by Jeffrey Zurschmeide.

PORTLAND, June 21, 2011 - Aloha's Cindi Lux added yet another accolade to her already stellar motorsports resume on Sunday. The 12-time, road racing champion earned her first career podium with a third-place finish in the 51st Annual Rose Cup Race at Portland International Raceway (PIR). In the process of setting her personal-best in the Rose Cup, Lux, driving the No. 4 Black Rock Coffee Bar-Lux Performance Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, also made event history. The daughter of the inaugural winner of the race, Dick Hahn, became the first woman in the 51-year history of the Rose Cup to finish on the podium.

Lux, who had previously won her class at Rose Cup support races but never finished better than fourth in the main event, drove a spectacular race to overcome a substantial horsepower disadvantage. Starting fifth against the unrestricted, high-power competition, the 2003 Oregon SCCA National Driver of the Year never placed a wheel wrong during the 45-minute race. She fought her way into third-place before lap 20 when the first, full-course caution bunched the field. With such a massive power disparity, the Viper fell to fourth nearing the restart. However, the pass came while still under caution and race officials swapped the order. With the precise setup placed under her by husband/crew chief Fred Lux, the former Dodge and Mopar factory driver was able to hold-off the subsequent, unassisted assault. Lux kept third until the checkered flag fell.

Cindi Lux on her way to her first Rose Cup podium finish in the
Black Rock Coffee Dodge Viper. Image by Jeffrey Zurschmeide
Despite always downplaying her place in the progress and success of women in motorsports, the 75-time race winner is credited with several major milestones for females race drivers. Lux bettered over 150 other drivers to win the inaugural American Le Mans Series' Women's Global GT Series championship in 1999. She was named the 1999 Pro-Driver SCCA Driver-of-the-Year and was presented the Northwest Pat Piggot Memorial Award for the most outstanding driver in 1992.  She also became only the second woman in history to win the prestigious SCCA June Sprints in 2004 and repeated the feat in 2006.
The Rose Cup weekend at PIR, which supports the annual Rose Festival, was the debut of Black Rock Coffee Bar into the world of motorsports marketing. By all accounts, the relationship with Lux Performance Group was a resounding success for all concerned. Black Rock Coffee Bar, a Portland-area franchise which features premium-blend coffees sold via an easy drive-thru format, embraced the event using its social media platform, eight-area locations and a concentrated on-site program to maximize its partnership with Lux. The tie-in helped bring guests to Black Rock locations across Oregon, Washington and California as well as introduced the product to hundreds of track workers and spectators at PIR.
In addition to the Dodge Viper entered for Cindi Lux, Lux Performance Group also prepared and managed the Pirelli Cup entry for driver Steve Streimer. Streimer scored his personal career best in the one-make Porsche 911 GT3 Cup series race finishing second. The success of the weekend was not only a testimony to the driver's efforts, but to Lux Performance Group's preparation of the German car and the coaching ability of Cindi Lux who has been instructing Streimer for four years.


Quotes
Cindi Lux:  
"I don't think I could have driven my Black Rock Coffee Bar Viper Comp. Coupe any harder in this race! I asked 110% of out of the race car for 45 minutes and she held up like a champ. I cannot speak enough about the quality prep that comes from our guys on the Lux Performance team. They gave me the best race car I have driven in a long time; it was on rails. Finishing third is respectable but only gets me fired-up to climb the final two steps in future years. I am never satisfied and always pushing myself to do better. That is especially true here, in front of my hometown crowd! Having Black Rock Coffee Bar on board this weekend was pretty cool. It kept me personally 'fueled' up and ready to attack.  Overall a great weekend."

About racing her home track: "Racing in my hometown is always significant to me and I really try to juggle my crazy schedule to allow me a few days off to race the Rose Cup each year. I'm really looking forward to seeing all the Portland fans at the track. I have gotten to know so many of the fans over the years of coming here it's like coming to a family reunion. This race carries so much personal importance to me. I want to go out there and do my best for my family, for Black Rock and for the city! This is going to be like a giant shot of Black Rock espresso!"
To learn more about Black Rock Coffee Bar and national franchise opportunities, please visit: www.BlackRockCoffeeBar.com. Follow Black Rock on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/BlackRockCoffee and on Facebook at Black Rock Coffee.

Learn more about the Rose Cup, its traditions and its current races at www.RoseCup.com.

For more on Cindi Lux, please visit www.CindiLux.com. Learn more about the Dodge Viper Cup at www.ViperHeadquarters.com.

Follow Cindi on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/CindiLux and Cindi Lux on Facebook.
  

Friday, June 17, 2011

For Enders, a great drag race always begins with a perfect start


BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 15) — When Erica Enders starts her ZaZa Energy Pro Stock Chevrolet at this weekend’s Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, she’ll begin a long procedure that has made her one of the best drivers off the starting line in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

It’s the same procedure she’s used for years, and she repeats it every time she makes a pass down the drag strip.

The procedure actually starts long before she crawls in the ZaZa Energy Chevy Cobalt, when Enders takes 10 minutes of quiet time to begin focusing on the task at hand. Soon, she’ll begin to clear her mind of outside thoughts and think only on cutting the best light.

“Once I buckle in, all the outside thoughts go away,” Enders said. “I’m able to get all the distractions out of my head, and I think that’s one of the reasons why I do a good job.”

Easier said than done, of course, so Enders first asks for a little help from above.
“I pray for a clear head,” Enders said. “Something my dad told me a long time ago was, ‘Once you get in the racecar, you can’t change anything on the outside.’ There are times when it’s challenging to be able to do it but most of the time I’m able to forget everything else.”

Before she actually fires the powerful Cagnazzi engine on her car, the actual starting-line procedure begins. And though the entire process only takes a few moments, Enders needs several minutes to verbally explain it.

First, she goes through a 12- to 15-step mental checklist before starting the 2,400-horsepower engine.

“That helps me to never forget anything,” Enders said.

Then comes an array of moves, settings, and adjustments that boggle the mind: Enders fires the car, puts the transmission in first gear and rolls through the water box. She puts it in second gear and then stops to make sure it’s in gear. Next, she sets the brake pressure and revs the engine twice.

On the second rev, she drops the clutch and goes through the gears – third, fourth, and fifth – as she drives across the starting line for the burnout.

When she stops after smoking the tires, she pushes in the clutch and begins to back up, listening to crew chief Dave Connolly on her radio as he position her on the track and tells her where to stop.

Enders then goes through another mental checklist, this one more extensive than the first. Switches are toggled, and then Connolly directs her forward to the correct spot.

Crew member Rich Saulino then takes over at the side of the car and guides Enders to a spot just short of the start line, inches from the pre-stage light.

And the checklist continues.

“I re-check everything,” Enders said. “I’m one of the few drivers who hasn’t ever forgot to turn my fuel pumps on or forgot to do this or that. I double-, triple-, quadruple-check everything.”

She’s communicating with her crew, too, confirming switches or changes, so she can check it off in her head and eliminate more things from her mind.

Before staging, Enders then puts the car in neutral to set the brake and clutch as the crew makes its last-second adjustments.

“Dave says, ‘It’s all yours,’” Enders said. “I take a deep breath, put my visor down and make sure all my switches are in the right spot.”

Enders pushes in the clutch and puts the transmission in first gear, rolling forward to turn on the pre-stage bulb. She sets the brake pressure and gets her left arm – her steering-wheel arm – in the correct position.

She revs the motor, gently lets the clutch out a little and stages shallow in the second beam. The Christmas Tree will then begin, and Enders jams the throttle to launch, hopefully cutting a good light somewhere in the .020-second or quicker range.

Enders will then repeat the procedure – exactly – for the next session. And the next, and the next…

“There’s always going to be something different every time you get in the car,” Enders said, “but for the most part, I do my procedure the exact same way every time.”

And that’s with an incredibly long list of things to do, though Enders insists on repeating it every time – and with good reason.

“That’s one of the things that is important to me,” Enders said, “and I think it helps me drive better.”

Qualifying for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals gets under way at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday. Qualifying continues at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by a Fan Fest in the pits immediately following the final round of qualifying.

Eliminations get under way at noon. ESPN2 will air the qualifying show at 7 p.m. EDT on Saturday and the elimination show at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Enders has several media and fan opportunities scheduled for Thunder Valley, from an appearance in the Bruton Smith Suite on Friday at 2:15 to the Fan Fest to the Track Walk before eliminations Sunday.

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Contact: Lee Montgomery at 704-258-0903 or lee.montgomery@zazaenergy.com.

Please visit www.ZaZaEnergy.com for more information.

RoadRage.com Driver Pruett-LeDuc > Bristol Dragway NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals



BRISTOL, Tenn. (June 15) – It’s been an anxious week since the end of the NHRA SuperNationals, but now both Leah Pruett-Leduc and the RoadRage.com Camaro are ready to participate in this weekend’s Get Screened America Pro Mod Series race at the Ford Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway.

Even though Pruett-Leduc’s home and the R2B2 Racing shop are on opposite sides of the country, she kept close tabs on the progress on permanent repairs to the RoadRage.com Camaro following a crash into the gravel trap during the first round of eliminations in Englishtown, N.J.

“Honestly it stinks being in California while all the guys are back in Duluth (Ga.) putting the car back together,” Pruett-Leduc said. “They would send me updated pictures during the week but it’s not the same thing.
“I really have to thank Kevin Mutters and the R2B2 Motors guys for giving us a new coat of paint and of course the race team for working long hours rebuilding the car in-house.”

Pruett-Leduc hopes to repay the team in the best way possible on Sunday afternoon.

“I owe them a trip to the Winner’s Circle and plan on doing that this weekend in Bristol,” she said. “After my crazy first weekend of racing a Pro Mod, I feel confident we’ll put a good number on the board in qualifying and go some rounds on race day.”

Pruett-Leduc qualified seventh in her first effort in a Pro Mod and won a round.

“I can’t thank Roger Burgess enough for this opportunity,” she said. “I’m excited to go to Bristol and make all the hard work my crew did this past week really pay off.”

Get Screened America Pro Mod Series racing gets under way at 4:30 p.m. EDT from Bristol Dragway. Qualifying will conclude on Saturday at 1 p.m., which will be followed by the first round of eliminations, which are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. the same day. Eliminations will continue on Sunday afternoon.

Contact: Geiger Media at 832-971-9345 or rob@go2geiger.com.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Congratulations Track Chic Andrea Robertson - 54 yr old Grandmom takes Podium at 24 HR Le Mans!

Robertson Racing score sensational Le Mans podium
 
American sportscar outfit Robertson Racing today wrote one of the great fairytales in Le Mans 24 Hours’ storied history by claiming a superb GTE Am third place finish at Circuit de la Sarthe in France, the first of any kind for the team in its short four-year history.

The storyline of the plucky privateer American Le Mans Series squad, which receives little manufacturer support in a class dominated by factory-developed machines, could not have been better composed with team owners/drivers Dave and Andrea Robertson celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary today.

Foregoing traditional festivities in favour of the world’s most famous twice-around-the-clock endurance race alongside long-time co-driver, friend and lynchpin David Murry, the crew kept to a strategy built around the consistency and bullet-proof reliability of the Braselton-based team’s fan-favourite #68 Ford GT.

285 laps and 3876 kilometres later, Andrea crossed the finish line to become the first female to climb a Le Mans podium in any class since 1931. The records do not end there though, for this was also the first husband and wife driver team to finish on the rostrum in Le Mans’ 79-race history. Murry meanwhile picked up his second consecutive GT podium finish at La Sarthe following a ten-year absence.

No modern Ford GT has finished the gruelling Grand Prix of Endurance, let alone recorded a podium finish, since the car was first produced seven years ago, while the last Ford chassis of any kind to repeat the feat did so in 1972. Of course, the last Ford GT40, on which Robertson Racing’s machine draws such iconic styling cues, last finished in the top three at this race way back in 1969 when Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver triumphed outright.      

While the rest of the GTE Am class fell by the wayside, Robertson Racing kept up a metronomic pace, the car’s only reliability issue of the entire race occurring after four hours when the team lost two laps converting to the ‘manual’ sequential gearbox when its paddleshift system developed problems.

Dave Robertson: “We are as happy as can be. From day one I honestly thought we had a chance in this class, which is why we entered it. We are not the fastest, and I know we have a lot of progress to make, but if the team could work together and have a mistake-free run I always believed this was feasible. We just kept going for 24 hours. We are so glad to be here, but wouldn’t be were it not for the fantastic group of people in the garage and back in Braselton. This is for them. It’s also great to be the first husband and wife on the podium and it makes it even more special that it’s our anniversary. The only problem is I’ve no idea how to top this next year!”

Andrea Robertson: “It comes as quite a shock to be the first woman since 1931 to make the podium and just proves what a male-dominated sport this is. I’m not sure why; perhaps they’re intimidated?! I am also still in awe at being the first married couple on the podium but I think it’s kind of neat. I would once again like to thank everyone in the team from the bottom of my heart because without them, their hard work and dedication, we would not have come this far.”

David Murry: “I am so happy for Dave, Andrea and the team. We have worked so hard for the past four years and this is the pinnacle of what they wanted to achieve, so to come and get a podium on debut is just fantastic. You always dream about a possible result but don’t ever think it could happen so we have just taken one step at a time. This was a 100% team effort and that is what contributes to podiums at Le Mans.”

Andrew H Smith, Team Manager: “Unexpected, fantastic, awesome! Everybody worked so well and it’s been a true team effort over the last two days. It’s taken years of preparation to get here. With just a small bunch of people and a lot of desire we’ve taken on some of the world’s major car manufacturers at the world’s greatest race. I think we can all be immensely proud of our achievement.”

Lee Penn, Chief Engineer: “Awesome! It was absolutely amazing. I never expected it and never dared imagine it even in my wildest dreams. It is just the most unbelievable result ever and beats the podiums I have achieved here so far, including the win with Panoz.”
 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Points leader Karen Stoffer collects runner-up result, just .0002 seconds away from a win



ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (June 5) – Another day, another trip to the money round for Karen Stoffer and the GEICO Suzuki.

Stoffer finished as runner-up at Sunday’s 42nd annual NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, her third runner-up result of the season, and extended her lead in the Full Throttle Pro Stock Motorcycle points.

“I’m not looking at points right now,” Stoffer said. “I’m just looking at how consistent the bike can be. You look at our ETs and you look at the bike going straight. Whatever outcome we get because of that, we’re going to get.”
The only thing Stoffer didn’t get in E-town was a better light than opponent Matt Smith in the final, losing on a miniscule holeshot. Smith got a slight advantage at the line (a .023-second reaction time to a .035 by Stoffer) but his elapsed time was slower than Stoffer’s as he ran a 6.900 second lap at 191.73 mph to Stoffer’s 6.889-second lap. The race was a dead heat to three decimal places but Smith ultimately took the victory by .0002 seconds, or about one inch.

“I really didn’t have a bad light,” Stoffer said. “It was where we wanted to be and where we put the bike. Consistency got us to that final and got us to where we are in points, so we weren’t going to go away from that.

“I’m sure Matt saw me, because I saw him the whole way down. I was getting tucked in as far as I can to scrub off the time. If we stick to this consistent game plan, maybe one of those pewter Wallys will come our way.”

On the way to the final, Stoffer defeated GT Tonglet, Michael Phillips, and Gerald Savoie with ETs that were either first or second quickest in each round.

She now leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle standings by 43 points over Andrew Hines.

Stoffer’s GEICO teammate Morgan Lucas reached the second round in Top Fuel for the second time in the last seven races.

“We made four out of six runs down the track, which is a good improvement,” Lucas said. “We’re going the right direction with the car. We’ve got to get a little more ET and speed out of the car, but that will come in time.”

In Round 1, Lucas and the GEICO/Lucas Oil dragster ran a 3.870 second pass at 316.52 mph to beat teammate Shawn Langdon, who ran a 3.981 at 306.88 mph in the Lucas Oil/Speedco dragster.

“We won that round legitimately,” he said. “We didn’t do it in a pedaling contest or anything.”

In the second round, Lucas fell to eventual race winner Spencer Massey, who crossed the line in 3.807 seconds at 320.51 mph against Lucas’ 4.507 at 175.82 mph run.

“Spencer has a good car and we knew we had to go for it,” Lucas said. “We just didn’t hang on tough enough. However we made it farther down that lane than anybody else that session.”

Up next on the NHRA Full Throttle Series schedule is the June 17-19 Ford Thunder Valley Nationals from Bristol Dragway.

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Contact: Geiger Media at 832-971-9345 or rob@go2geiger.com.

Please visit www.geicogarage.com for more information.

Michelle Theriault Looking for Redemption at Gresham


MOORESVILLE, NC (June 8, 2011) – After three weeks off of the track and out of her No.45 ProGold Lubricants, VPParts Warehouse Toyota, Michelle Theriault is ready for a comeback at Gresham Motorsports Park (GA). Although Theriault was plagued by unfortunate circumstances at Iowa Speedway, the 25-year-old female racer is looking for redemption during her visit to Gresham.

“I couldn’t be more ready to get back on track,” said Theriault. “The last couple of races haven’t resulted in my favor, and I would love to finish my weekend at Gresham on a high note.”
The Slack Auto Parts 150 marks the halfway point of the NASCAR KN Pro Series East (NKNPSE) 2011 season and is a crucial stop on the series’ schedule. Having raced at Gresham on three separate occasions during her time in the USAR Pro Cup Series, Theriault feels prepared to tackle the half-mile oval.
“Although the track has changed quite a bit since I’ve raced there in Pro Cup, it’s always easier to return to familiar territory,” said Theriault. “I really want Gresham to be the track where we turn our luck around.” 

In addition to her experience racing at the track in Pro Cup, Theriault also had the opportunity to test at Gresham last Tuesday. The seat time not only strengthened Theriault’s confidence to maneuver her No.45 machine to a solid finish at Gresham, but built up her excitement for the 150-lap event, too.
“I’m glad that the team and I were able to visit Gresham so that we could be better prepared for the race this weekend,” commented Theriault. “Being able to shake down the car and to familiarize myself with the track again is really going to be beneficial when we show up on Saturday.”
Theriault and her No.45 ProGold Lubricants, VPParts Warehouse Toyota will take to the track for the 150-lap, 75-mile Slack Auto Parts 150 on Saturday, June 11 at 8:30 p.m. EST. Practice is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by two-lap qualifying at 4:30 p.m. Live audio coverage and lap-by-lap updates of the Slack Auto Parts 150  will be available on nascarhometracks.com.
For more information about sponsorship opportunities or partnering with Michelle Theriault during the 2011 race season, please contact MTR Enterprises, LLC at 404-787-6696 or mtrenterprises@gmail.com.
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