VP Racing Fuels to Continue Support of NHRA Racers

Courtesy of VP Racing Fuels

Contingency Awards, Top 10 Program, Significant Weekly Track Presence to Continue

SAN ANTONIO, TX (December 11, 2014) VP Racing Fuels today announced it will continue programs to support NHRA Sportsman racers in 2015. “VP Racing Fuels remains committed to actively supporting NHRA Sportsman racers and the wider drag racing market as we have for nearly 40 years,” said Steve Burns, VP’s Founder and Director-R&D. “While VP will no longer bear the title of Official Racing Fuel of NHRA beginning next season, we’ll never abandon the Sportsman racers or forget our friends in the Pro ranks whose longstanding support formed the foundation of VP’s success as a company.”

“Going forward, we’ll continue to post awards for NHRA divisional and national events through the NHRA contingency program as we always have,” Burns said. “We’ll also continue our ‘Top 10’ program including some enhancements, wherein racers who finished in the top 10 in each class in 2014 will be entitled to free or half price fuel at each national event they attend in 2015. This program will be repeated for racers who finish in the Top 10 in 2015, after which they can redeem their fuel awards in 2016.”

VP fuel trucks will be at a great number of NHRA divisional events to provide fuel service in 2015 (schedule attached) and for those events where VP can’t be on site, its extensive dealer network throughout the U.S. and Canada makes VP fuels easy to find. In addition, VP continues to be the Official Fuel of high profile tracks including Atco, Cecil County, Lebanon Valley, Epping, Bristol Dragway, Orlando Speed World Dragway, Gateway Motorsports Park, Royal Purple Raceway, The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and many more.

“As racers plan their programs for 2015,” Burns continued, “we encourage them to contact VP Racing Fuels to ensure they get the best fuel for their application where, when and in the quantity they need it.”

For details regarding VP’s contingency programs or to find the nearest VP dealer, racers can contact their regional VP distribution center:
 
VP East (DE) – 302-368-1500; jimkelly@vpracingfuels.com
VP South (GA) – 706-335-3355; robert@vpracingfuels.com
VP Midwest (IN) – 812-466-1175; jason@vpracingfuels.com
VP Central (TX) – 210-635-7744; bhorton@vpracingfuels.com
VP West (CA) – 951-696-5100; mark.ticen@vpracingfuels.com

Racers can also contact VP’s full-time professional Tech Support staff for advice on fuel selection and tuning. They’re readily available to answer questions by phone or email, as well as at the track and on the dyno:

VP Tech Support - 812-878-2025; dragtech@vpracingfuels.com

“With a 40-year legacy of success in racing, VP is looking forward to a very bright future in which drag racers will continue to play an integral part,” Burns asserted.

About VP Racing Fuels
VP Racing Fuels is best known as the World Leader in Race Fuel Technology™, fueling champions in virtually every form of motorsport on land, sea and air since 1975. VP is the Official Racing Fuel of Tudor United SportsCar Championship, AMA Supercross, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, TORC-The Off Road Championship, Pirelli World Challenge, NHRA Championship Drag Racing, and Rally America, among more than 60 VP-sponsored series and sanctioning bodies.

As part of its retail branding program, gas stations/convenience stores across the U.S. are being branded as VP Racing Fuels, with each providing distribution for VP’s other product lines including ethanol-free VP Small Engine Fuels for 2- and 4-cycle outdoor power equipment; VP Madditive™ performance chemicals; and VP/PowerMaster® hobby fuels for R/C Racing. More information is available online at VPRacingFuels.com, VP-SEF.com or PowermasterFuels.com.

Driver Blog - Johnny Ahten - TAD

Ahten and family at Disneyland

I can’t believe it’s already the end of 2014! As I write this blog it’s after Christmas and New Year’s is right around the corner. I hope everyone was able to enjoy Christmas and the Holiday Season with family and friends. My wife and I usually host Christmas Eve at our house but this year I was scheduled to be at work, so Monica and the boys came to visit and eat dinner at the fire station. Having grown up in the Fire Department myself, I really don’t know much different. On Christmas morning I came home and was able to have a great day playing with my boys and building Legos.

I have often said that on the West Coast we don’t have much of an offseason. We run the last race and the first race at Pomona. That doesn’t leave a lot of time to sit around. Right now I’m focusing on servicing our Freightliner, the trailer, and of course grinding a mountain of floaters from the last three races of the year. That itself will keep me plenty busy. I always like to strip the car down to the bare chassis and then put it all back together. This is the only way to thoroughly inspect all the wiring, air lines and welds for cracks. My dad is busy freshening the heads and motors. I have plans of replacing most of the aging fuel system with new Aeromotive fittings and hoses. 

I had a lot of people ask me what the heck happened in Pomona with a DNQ. Let me tell you, we ran pretty well in Las Vegas and when we got to Pomona we were trying to put the car into the Golf Course at the top end on Q1. The track had other plans for us and we shook pretty hard at around .6 seconds. This was really early in the run and it kind of surprised us all. It was a little too early in the run so I aborted. We looked at the data and decided to back it down for Q2 to go A to B and that’s what it did. Super lazy and was just too slow. That put us in the corner. We hopped it back up and it ran better but shook at 1.3 seconds. I gave it a slap and the car marched but the motor wasn’t exactly happy. We ran a 5.49 on a 5.47 bump. It just wasn’t our weekend. It was tough to not be able to defend our Finals title, but I was proud of my friend, Larry Miersch, and Cameron Ferre making career numbers and a runner-up finish. Look out for those guys next year.

Ok, I need everyone to watch the 2015 Rose Parade. A few years back my Engine Company crew was awarded The Medal of Valor for our actions on the “Station Fire". As a recipient of this award I was selected to be able to walk in the parade. So keep your eyes peeled!

The next few weeks I’ll hopefully be catching up on the clutch maintenance and will make some cool announcements for 2015. 

Happy New Year Everyone!

Johnny

Johnny Ahten is the driver of the Island Renovations/Combust Filters A/Fuel Dragster. Away from the track, Ahten spends time with his family and serves as a Los Angeles County fire captain. Follow the 2013 NHRA Finals champion on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Australian Steve Ham to Race NHRA TAFC in 2015

Courtesy of Bennie Bishop

Reigning Australian Top Alcohol Champion, Steve Ham has sacrificed the chance to defend his
Australian Top Alcohol title by taking his racing to the United States in 2015.

“It all started after we were going to race selected rounds here and have a holiday in the USA. After seeing John Evanchuk’s package for sale, a few ideas were thrown around. I got in touch with one of our suppliers, Ken at Motorsports Unlimited, about how to base the car etc, and Ken was so keen to help, that now we have struck a partnership in the race operation.”

“Ken is fantastic and we feel very comfortable knowing he can help us with all the unknowns that come with being in another country. We’ve purchased the whole deal from Canadian John Evanchuk in Edmonton, Alberta. The car is a really nice Hadman with a Monte Carlo body in which John won an NHRA event in Seattle in 2012, plus pretty much the whole transporter and inventory and of course the golf cart!”

Ham is entering into the deal one step at a time, beginning his American campaign in bite sizes.

“We’ll leave Australia mid-June to prepare the car in time for the first of three full NHRA meetings at Norwalk on July 2 and then Chicago the next week, and then we go onto Columbus a fortnight later as part of the North-Central NHRA Division series as well.”

“We’re not going over with any stars in our eyes, but really just want to start by ticking off a massive bucket list item and get to see the country a little at the same time. We’ll do some testing as well which we’re really looking forward to.”

“All the boys are very keen but it’s a big deal to take a few months off work just to go racing, so we’re making it as easy as possible for them to come, but not applying any pressure. Ideally we’d love to have them all over but that may not be feasible for some of them. James (Rowland) is the most likely starter, as he will have finished his studies, as well as the reality that we have a great driver/tuner relationship that I think is one of the main reasons behind this year’s success.”

Ham conceded that it had been a tough decision to sacrifice his Australian Top Alcohol championship defense to head overseas, but he believes that the trip could teach them things that may give them an edge in the future when they return.

“It seems stupid to finally get the Australian championship and then run away but we want to be doing this for a long time and this opportunity is just too good to refuse. It just ticks all the boxes and we’re already very excited. I’ve already got my NHRA license after they gave us the nod based on our Australian timing cards and all the other requirements like medicals and the like, so we’re already counting down the days.”