Jim Whiteley Looking Forward to Racing Without the Pressure in Vegas

Courtesy of Will Hanna
Photo courtesy of YNot Racing

LAS VEGAS – With his long-sought goal of the NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster National Championship clinched, Jim Whiteley and his YNot Racing team can ‘race easy’ during this weekend’s Big O Tires Nationals at ‘The Strip’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  Whiteley comes into the weekend with a 10 round win streak in Las Vegas, as he won the Division 7 closer there last November, the Western Regional and the SummitRacing.com Nationals there this spring.

Whiteley, from Grand Junction, Colo., cites his Norm Grimes lead team will be doing some experimenting for next season without the stress of earning points.

“It’s going to be nice racing without the pressure,” said Whiteley.  “We’re just going to go out there and play with a few different things.  We want to try to learn as much as we can without doing anything to look stupid.  Hopefully we can learn what we can get away with on this car.”

While the pressure of the National Championship may be off, Whiteley and his YNot Racing team will have to put their game face back on for next weekend’s Western Region finale in Las Vegas.  He is locked in a tight points battle with Chris Demke for the Western Region Championship, and it will basically come down to which driver goes the furthest.  His wife Annie has already clinched the Western Region Top Alcohol Funny Car Championship, so there is added motivation for the four-time defending Division 7 Champ.

“We definitely want to get the Regional Championship,” commented Whiteley.  “We can play around with a few things this weekend, but next weekend we will have to go back to business.  I’m so proud of Annie and her team winning the Regional Championship in her rookie year.  It would really be neat to win it with her.”

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with two sessions and will conclude Saturday morning with one final session.  Eliminations begin with round one Saturday afternoon and final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.

To find out more about YNot Racing’s promotional partners, visit the websites below:

RaceGoodyear.com - Goodyear's position as the leading tire maker in drag racing is unquestioned. The quickest, fastest and most powerful earth-bound machines in the world look to Goodyear for tires that generate enough traction to take advantage of their stunning ability to go fast in a straight line.

NGKSparkPlugs.com - When performance counts, the fastest teams on two wheels or four, on land or on water choose NGK Spark Plugs.

The team would also like to thank the continued support of J&A Services and Advanced Oilfield Services.

TAN