In a continued effort to grow its sportsman programs and continue to provide an abundance of options for its competitors, the International Hot Rod Association announces a brand new, entry-level sportsman index class that will be run at select events in 2015.

The new class, currently labeled the No Throttle Stop (NTS) 11.50 class, will be run at four events in 2015 and will feature entry-level, heads-up index racing for racers without the need for additional expenditures.

"This class will be a way to introduce heads-up racing to a large number of No Box competitors who want to try 'old school' index racing without major changes to their vehicles," said Skooter Peaco, VP of Race Operations. "We will be testing the viability of the class in four distinct regions on the IHRA's Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series. We look forward to seeing how this class develops throughout the year."

The NTS 11.50 class will be run in conjunction with the Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series events at San Antonio Raceway (March 13-14), Bradenton Motorsports Park (April 17-18), Maryland International Raceway (June 19-20) and US 131 Motorsports Park (August 7-8) and will provide a great new option for No Box racers to compete during IHRA national event weekends.

Among the major rules for the new class, NTS 11.50 will prohibit delay boxes and throttle stops, while mechanical fixed or "restrictor plate" style methods of slowing the car will be allowed. To help grow the class, IHRA memberships will not be required for the first year.

"We really wanted this class to be a way to enter the world of heads-up racing in a basic and simple fashion. It is very intimidating to jump into Hot Rod racing given that this has not been an 'entry level' class for some time," Peaco said. "We all talk about the lack of new blood in our sport, so collectively we thought it was a good time to do something about it. My hope is that this class will appeal to a large group of current No Box racers who may find that they enjoy index racing and, in the process, create a true way to bring new racers to national event style racing."

Winners of the NTS 11.50 class will be awarded an Ironman and $1,000, with the runner-up receiving $500. During its trial run, the NTS 11.50 class will be a non-points earning class and racers that enter the class will not be allowed to compete in other Pro-Am Tour classes.

For more information and a complete set of rules for the NTS 11.50 class, visit www.ihra.com to view the IHRA Supplemental Rulebook.

GoPro Motorplex and Valvoline, a business of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH), announce their new sponsorship agreement. Under the sponsorship, Valvoline will become the official karting oil for GoPro Motorplex’s state-of-the-art fleet of 25 Sodikart RT8 390cc rental karts capable of speeds up to 55 mph. Also, GoPro Motorplex’s row of 40 garages offering karters superior storage with a yearly lease will be named the “Valvoline Garages.”

The karting facility’s prime location in Race City USA, Mooresville, North Carolina, has allowed the Motorplex to attract some of the most prominent karting events in the country, as well as many of the racing industry’s most prominent drivers.

“Partnering with industry-leading brands is central to GoPro Motorplex’s business strategy,” said Justin Marks, GoPro Motorplex owner. “Valvoline has a rich history in motorsports and this partnership will allow both companies to make strides in promoting quality products in the karting industry. It’s both an honor and a privilege for us to work with Valvoline and represent such a successful brand in the automotive industry.”

Laura Carpenter, Director of Marketing for Valvoline added, “The Valvoline team is thrilled to work with GoPro Motorplex to expand on our racing heritage. We have a long history of winning on and off the track through our innovation in the motor oil category and are excited to share that passion in such a fun and engaging way with our customers. This is going to be an exciting and great relationship.”

After 16 years on Burnsall Street, Lifeline Fire & Safety Systems has moved to a much larger facility—still in Coventry—where it has been able to streamline its production, so that motorsport, defense and industrial fire suppression systems, together with ancillary motorsport safety products, all have their own designated areas.

For Lifeline's customers and distributors, this means that, not only will the company be able to deliver quicker from stock but also bring new products to the market quicker. Lifeline's new address is: Falkland Close, Coventry CV4 8AU, UK.

Despite the upheaval of moving premises, Lifeline hasn’t curtailed its R&D effort. It has been working on a number of new projects that are almost ready to bring to market. Visit Lifeline at the 2014 PRI Show to get more information.

Berlin Raceway and the Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS have confirmed the 2015 CRA dates for Berlin Raceway.

As in the past the dates will include two ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS events and one JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour sanctioned event.

The Battle at Berlin 251 will move to Tuesday, June 16, right after the first Michigan International Speedway NASCAR weekend, which was the date for that event for several very successful seasons. The 251 lap event will pay out more than $100,000 in purse and cash bonuses, for one of the largest purses template super late models will race for all season.

Three-time ARCA/CRA Super Series champion Johnny Van Doorn won the last two Battle at Berlin 251’s, while NASCAR Star Kyle Busch won in 2010, 2011 and 2012. More detailed information on this event will be released at a later date.

First the ARCA/CRA Super Series will visit Berlin Raceway on Saturday, May 16 for a warm-up event to the Battle at Berlin 251. The 125-lap event will see the best of the ARCA/CRA Super Series battle against the best of the Berlin Raceway Boyne Machine Company Super Late Models to see who can get the win and get dialed in for the Battle at Berlin 251.

The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance will visit Berlin Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 1, as the series regulars battle the top crate late model drivers from Berlin Raceway and throughout the state of Michigan in a 100 lap green flag event that will be presented by Boyne Machine Company.

Stewart-Haas Racing, the championship-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team, has hired Rex Stump as its technical director, effective immediately.
 
Stump comes to Stewart-Haas Racing after an 18-year career at Hendrick Motorsports. There, he founded the organization’s research and development program and has been instrumental in chassis design and technology.
 
“Rex brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and innovation to Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Greg Zipadelli, vice president of competition, Stewart-Haas Racing. “You can never sit still in this business, and Rex’s record of success will help us stay ahead of the curve.”
 
“Hendrick Motorsports provided me a lot of opportunities to succeed and I wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for Rick Hendrick, Ray Evernham and all the talented people I’ve worked with the last 18 years,” Stump said. “I’m proud of my time there, but I’m looking forward to my new role at Stewart-Haas. This is a team that’s accomplished a lot in a very short period of time. There’s a championship to defend and races to win. I’m ready to go.”
 
Stump graduated from Kettering University (formerly the General Motors Institute) in 1989 with bachelor’s degrees in mechanical and automotive engineering. Upon graduation, Stump worked at General Motors and participated in the Sloan Fellowship program, pursuing a master’s degree in structural analysis from Wayne State University in Detroit. While at General Motors, he began working with the Corvette team in developing the active-suspension of the C5, which was slated to debut in the early 1990s.
 
When the active-suspension program was canceled and the C5 was delayed, Stump delved into motorsports, becoming a race engineer for Team Penske in 1991. Working with a group of engineers dedicated to improving the performance of the No. 2 team of driver Rusty Wallace, Stump helped advance Wallace from a two-win season in 1991 to a massive, 10-win season in 1993.
 
By the end of 1993, Corvette had reactivated the C5. Stump returned to General Motors to assist with the project and stayed until the end of 1995, joining Hendrick Motorsports in 1996.
 
One of Stump’s most memorable achievements at Hendrick Motorsports was the design of Jeff Gordon’s race-winning car for the 1997 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. Dubbed “T-Rex” for its Jurassic Park paint scheme that featured a Tyrannosaurus Rex, the car dominated, crossing the stripe with a 1.02-second margin of victory. While the car conformed to NASCAR’s rulebook, the design was so advanced that NASCAR requested the team never bring it to the racetrack again. The sanctioning body amended its rulebook shortly thereafter. Stump continued to build race-winning cars nonetheless, as Gordon captured Sprint Cup championships in 1997, 1998 and 2001.
 
Another of Stump’s notable accomplishments was the development of Hendrick Motorports’ Car of Tomorrow (CoT) program in 2006. The new car was a vast departure from the previous generation racecar, and thanks to Stump’s meticulous work, Hendrick Motorsports was the class of the field when the car debuted at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in March 2007. A Hendrick Motorsports’ CoT car won at Bristol and the next four events where the CoT raced.
 
Through the development of the CoT in 2006 and well after its debut in 2007, Hendrick Motorsports won five straight Sprint Cup championships (2006-2010). And the 2011 Sprint Cup championship Stewart-Haas Racing won with driver/owner Tony Stewart came with CoT chassis built by Hendrick Motorsports.

SparkPlugs.com announces it will host a guest appearance by Tabara Racing Development at its PRI Show booth (Yellow Hall Booth #2606) Saturday, December 13, 12-2 p.m. All three power boat drivers from the Formula 1 power boat racing team will be in attendance.
 
Tabara Racing Development has a long heritage in the racing industry, being founded in the early 1980s by Mark Tabara. He entered his first boat race in 1968 with a 10' hydroplane sporting a 20hp Chrysler outboard and was forever hooked to speed on water. In 1987 Tabara entered his first Twin City Power Boat Association (TCPBA) race, starting a family tradition that extends to this day. Mark's sons, Steve and Brian have since taken over the family racing team, with Mark still serving as a crew member.
 
Over the last decade Tabara Racing has won several regional and national championships, recently capturing the 2014 Formula 150 National Championship title.  Brian also builds engines that have won over 20 Championships around the globe.
 
SparkPlugs.com, a sponsor of Tabara Racing for over six years, invites all attendees of the 2014 PRI Show to stop by its booth to meet the team members of Tabara Racing.  Attendees will have the opportunity to meet all three drivers, Brian Tabara, Steve Tabara and Jessica Olson, and receive signed 2014 championship memorabilia.
 
For over a decade, SparkPlugs.com has supplied Tabara Racing with hard to find NGK, Denso and Champion racing plugs. SparkPlugs.com’s inventory extends well beyond spark plugs, including many maintenance items for DIYers and racers alike. Its parent company, Monarch Products, serves as a master distributor for garages, engine builders, and other WDs.

Lucas Oil Products Inc. has launched a new series of oils and lubricants titled XRF (Extreme Racing Formula) targeting the racing market.

The launch, first announced at SEMA in Las Vegas, has followed 18 months of race testing by some of the premier teams in NASCAR, IndyCar, Off-Road and NHRA.

XRF breakthrough racing technology began development when Lucas Oil partnered with Richard Childress Racing and Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technology (ECR) just over 18 months ago. XRF is a unique blend of zinc, moly, phosphorous, and special additives.

“The XRF line are the most effective advanced lubrications available and include utility lubricants such as engine break-in oils, gear oils, greases, and suspension fluids,” said Lucas Oil’s CAO and General Manager Tom Frederickson.

“XRF is a major breakthrough in racing oils and lubricants. It raises horsepower in the toughest of environments and most importantly provides better engine protection between oil changes. The new zinc technology and special additives offer the racer a thicker and tougher film that can bond with the moving parts in a high-performance engine to help protect them from destructive metal-on-metal contact,” said Lucas Oil Director of Motorsports Tom Bogner.

The soon to be released Holley EFI Digital Dash claimed the award for Best Engineered New Product at the 2014 SEMA show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The award is based on how innovative a new product is, the quality and workmanship of the product, and the overall technical achievement of the product.  



The Holley EFI Digital Dash features plug-and-play compatibility with all Holley EFI systems via a CANbus connection. The compact unit features a seven-inch low glare, high brightness, high contrast, full color touch screen for easy viewing, even in full sunlight. The screen is designed to provide nearly limitless customization, allowing users to choose multiple gauge and indicator types for use in a variety of motorsports applications. The Holley EFI Digital Dash also allows users to toggle through multiple active screens (tune, warm-up, race, drive, etc.) and setup user-defined alarms and configurable shift lights. It also allows on-screen playback of Holley EFI data logs and it has a digital switch panel that eliminates the need for mounting analog switches to control various aspects of the vehicle's drivetrain.



Over the past few years, Holley Performance Products has produced EFI aftermarket products like the Terminator, HP, and Dominator EFI systems, as well as plug-and-play wiring harnesses for popular engines like the GM LS and Chrysler Gen III Hemis (Ford Coyote and Mod Motors coming soon). The introduction of the Holley EFI Digital Dash is the next step in the evolution of Holley's EFI product line.


* Bronco Boost: There must be something in the water (race fuel perhaps?) at Boise State University. Last month we came across a story in The Arbiter, the school’s student-run newspaper, about a pair of BSU freshman that planned to start a drag racing club in the spring. Kylie Jenkins and Leah Johnson first met in high school, where the pair bonded over a love of fast cars, the article said. Both come from racing families: Kylie’s father Larry has been involved in the sport for 20 years; Leah’s mother is a racer herself. And an affiliation with the local drag strip—Firebird Raceway in Meridian, Idaho—helped provide an outlet for the kids’ passion, one that will carry them into next semester and, hopefully, far beyond. “I want to be able to show people that this is really fun,” Jenkins told the paper of her new endeavor, “and you don’t have to have a massively expensive car. You can just go out and do it for fun; you can even just go out and support people you know.” Meantime, another Boise State freshman—Hannah Newhouse from Twin Falls, Idaho—recently became the school’s first on-scholarship race car driver when she signed the university as a sponsor for her Late Model Chevrolet Impala SS. Newhouse, who also took part in this fall’s NASCAR Drive For Diversity program, is in the midst of a full race schedule on the Spears SRL Southwest Tour, which visits tracks like Madera Speedway, Pikes Peak International Raceway, The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Irwindale Speedway, among others. When she isn’t touring, Hannah brings her #46 car—outfitted in Bronco blue with a large orange “B” on the hood—to various school activities. “We’ve got her at the tailgate for this Friday night’s game, where she’ll be out with the car signing autographs,” university spokesman Greg Hahn told us in mid-October. “In fact, we tried to get her for the homecoming parade but she was racing that weekend!” Here’s to Boise State for clearly recognizing the benefits of motorsports and supporting its students as they pursue their passion for racing.  

* 50 Years For Lane: Not to be overlooked among this year’s milestones is the golden anniversary of Watervliet, Michigan-based Lane Automotive. The company founded by George Lane in 1964 started out like so many in the industry—one man building dragsters out of the small garage at his family home. As the story goes, Lane turned his enthusiasm for racing and hot rods into a part-time business supplying speed equipment to local racers. A reputation for reliability and top-quality race parts carried the business into its next phase, which included full-time hours and a traditional storefront to better serve customers. Lane Automotive continued to outperform its confines, however, and a series of relocations and renovations would ultimately lead the thriving retail and ensuing wholesale operation (Motor State Distributing) to become one of the world’s top suppliers and warehouse distributors of speed equipment. It’s still very much a family business, as George’s two sons, Doug and Dave, handle primary duties while George and his wife Janet assume advisory roles for Lane and Motor State. And with a third generation now being groomed to continue Lane’s tradition of excellence, the road ahead looks promising indeed.   

* One Of A Kind: Graduates of the over-the-wall training program at Performance Instruction & Training (PIT) in Mooresville, North Carolina, can now say they received instruction at the only state-accredited pit crew training school in the country. PIT officials were notified earlier this year that the eight-week program had been officially licensed by the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges, an objective more than five years in the making. According to GM Bob Plott, PIT has placed some 70 percent of its students in racing jobs over the past 12 years, “and during the past three years, we had at least one—and often several graduates—in victory lane 93 percent of the time in [NASCAR’s] Truck, Nationwide and Cup races.” That’s certainly worth a tip of the graduation cap.

Coming to the PRI Show? Nine manufacturers will present 30-minute product training seminars that you won’t want to miss at the 2014 MPMC Education Day on Wednesday, December 10.



Education Day will provide insight on the latest racing products, tips on installation and even some insight into the latest industry trends, direct from the manufacturers themselves. Three seminars will run concurrently over three, 30-minute time slots beginning at 2:00 p.m. and ending at 4:00 p.m. This is an exceptional and convenient opportunity to get 90 minutes of new product information in just two-hours.



Admission is free, but the sessions are filling quickly. Register now directly from the PRI Attendee Registration website (http://bit.ly/11zKU9S). If you're already registered for the PRI Show, you can register for MPMC Education Day from your attendee dashboard. 




2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Mahle, Room 240

MSD, Room 241

Turbosmart, Room 242 



2:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Holley, Room 240

Driven Racing Oil, Room 241

Lunati, Room 242 



3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Ron Francis Wiring, Room 240

Edelbrock, Room 241

Comp Cams, Room 242 



Questions? Contact Jim Skelly at 909-978-6690.