WC Vision announced this week that Hawk Performance, a leading solutions provider for high performance and severe duty brake pads, has been named the Official Brake Pad of the Pirelli World Challenge Championships.

All series teams will have the option of using Hawk Performance brake pads.



Since 1990, Hawk Performance, a subsidiary of Carlisle Brake & Friction (CBF), has been in the motorsports market offering highly-engineered friction products for nearly every type of racing, including applications for pavement circle track racing, drag racing, dirt circle track racing, open wheel/formula racing, rally racing, and sports car/GT racing.

A number of Pirelli World Challenge teams already run Hawk Performance brake pads, most notably the No. 2 Hawk Performance CRP Racing Nissan GT-R of Mike Skeen.



Carlisle Brake & Friction is a leading solutions provider for high performance and severe duty brake, clutch and transmission applications to OEM and aftermarket customers in the mining, construction, military, motorsports, renewable energy, industrial and aerospace markets.

Additional information on Hawk Performance can be found at www.hawkperformance.com.

If you’re in the business of auto racing, it’s a wonderful thing to witness a line of race vehicles for tech inspection that begins at 9 a.m. and keeps going virtually nonstop until past 5 p.m. That’s what happened at the Parker 425 off-road race earlier this month, in Parker, Arizona. We worked the midway on Friday with a PRI booth as part of our buyer attendance development efforts for this year’s PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis. It was great fun to watch the fans mingle with the teams right in front of our booth, as the race vehicles made their way to Tech Inspection. Well over 200 race vehicles were entered in the competition, with a record number of nearly 90 Trick Trucks and Class 1500 cars. The race is the kick-off event in the six-race schedule for Best In The Desert’s car and truck classes, and our exhibit space was organized by the Motorsport Industry Association.

There were plenty of industry exhibits in the midway. The attraction is the sheer number of race cars and racers. Because of the driver team aspect of off-road racing, the number of drivers on-site was in the neighborhood of 600. Furthermore, the sizable investment and the sophisticated technology in a race vehicle like an unlimited off-road truck holds major potential for racing companies seeking customers with bigger budgets and rules allowing for greater innovation.

Off-road racing is definitely a segment of motorsports that carries a high profile with many racing industry companies these days, with several series enjoying terrific car counts. Andrea Brake, PRI Sales Manager, worked the King of the Hammers event in Johnson Valley, California, the week after the Parker 425, and had a similar experience. There’s growing opportunity here. And we’re doing our part to connect racing parts suppliers with the top off-road teams at the PRI Trade Show in Indianapolis, where new racing product lines are introduced.

•     SEMA’s Efforts To Keep Johnson Valley Available For Racing: At the King of the Hammers, SEMA’s government affairs team were on the ground and in the air fulfilling SEMA’s commitment to keep the event’s location—Johnson Valley—a site for one of off-road racing best events. The land has been controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, but the Marines want to expand their base at Twentynine Palms to include nearly 147,000 acres within Johnson Valley in order to conduct large-scale training exercises for one or two months a year. SEMA has joined with a coalition of other land use groups in urging the Marines to simply obtain BLM special-use permits. Congress included a provision in the 2013 Defense Authorization Act that requires the Marines to study alternative ways to share the area with off-roaders without taking ownership of the land. The results of the study are due by April 2. The off-road community has also petitioned the White House for support of the special-use permit approach. Thanks in part to the SEMA Action Network, more than 25,000 signatures were gathered in a petition, requiring an official White House Response, which is expected soon.

Here's a link for joining the SEMA Action Network.

This year the 6th Annual Race and Performance Expo returns to St. Charles, Illinois, for three days (Feb. 22, 23 & 24) and has expanded to encompass two buildings and the St. Charles Ballroom at the beautiful Pheasant Run Resort.
   
Bigger than ever, the Race and Performance Expo will run alongside three other distinct shows all in one place, including the Circle Track Expo, as well as the new Off Road and Performance Truck Expo and Car Builder's Showcase.

The Mega center at Pheasant Run will once again house the ever-growing Race & Performance Expo, featuring displaying exhibitors from many of the top names in the racing and aftermarket industry. The Race & Performance Expo is open to all high performance enthusiasts, allowing what organizers describe at the true grass roots racer, engine, or chassis builder to meet one-on-one with manufacturers and distributors for the parts they need and the questions they'd like to ask.
 
It attracts many big-name exhibitors, like Crower Cams & Equipment, Hellwig Products, RaceQuip, Billet Specialties, Dart Machinery Inc., Aeromotive, Magnaflow Exhaust, Hughes Engines, Weld Racing, COMP Cams, Alston Racing, Hurst Shifters, Holley, QA1 Motorsports and many more.

There will also be booths set up by many well-known raceways from across the country for information and inspiration.
 
Even better, it's just $20 for a three-day pass to all the shows, or $10 to $15 for a daily entrance depending on the day.   
   
Along with all the exhibitors on the main showroom floors, the Race and Performance Expo offers a number of different educational racing seminars. Titles covered include Advanced Fuel System Dynamics, Racing Pistons Basics and Beyond, Secrets of a Clutch, The truth about wiring and more. All seminars are included for no additional cost

Located in the DuPage Expo, the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine Challenge competition is by far the hottest attraction at the Expo, as fans, family members, and fellow school students line up several people deep all the way around the competition to watch.

Teams compete four at a time, with rounds taking place on Saturday and more on Sunday. The team with the quickest time will be declared the winner, and advance to the finals at the PRI Show in Indianapolis next December.

For more information, visit http://www.raceperformanceexpo.com/.

The highly successful class eliminations for Super Stock and Stock will continue for the third season and will expand to 11 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series events.

The class eliminations events also will take place in conjunction with the three JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals races. This program has experienced expanded participation from racers, and many are targeting their projected events.

New for the 2013 season will be bonus points awarded to the class winner at each national event who goes furthest under his or her class index on a class-winning run. One bonus point will be awarded to the class winner at each event who goes furthest under his or her class index on a winning run in Super Stock Automatic, Super Stock Stick, Stock Automatic, and Stock Stick. This also includes the Combo.

Racers will earn points at their best four of six races that they enter. All events where class eliminations take place will be points-eligible events. Full details on the points and tiebreaker programs will be posted on NHRARacer.com.

Winners of the Combo and natural classes will receive an NHRA Wally, as well as contingency awards that will be part of the class competition at the JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals events and the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
  
Year-end points champions are eligible for a minimum of $500 from each of their sponsors who post for class competition. Contingency sponsors in the class-racing program include Comp Cams and Weld Wheels.

Champions in each category will be honored at their division award banquets at the end of the year.

Officials of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series have announced that the series will offer racers over $3.3 million in cash and contingencies awards in 2013.

The amount is a new record for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, exceeding last year's record.

The 2013 schedule includes a series record 47 events in 21 different states at some of the top racing facilities in the country.
 
Drivers that compete on the series in 2013 will be racing for more than $2.6 million in purse monies alone. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will pay out over $300,000 in cash and product awards to the top ten drivers in the national championship point's standings at the year-end awards banquet. The 2013 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion will receive over $75,000 in cash and product awards.

The series will also pay out over $20,000 in cash and product awards to the drivers that finish 1st and 2nd in the JRI Shocks Rookie of the Year presented by Dunn-Benson Ford.
 
The series will sanction ten (10) events paying $20,000 to win or more in 2013. They include: Bad Boy 98 at Batesville Motor Speedway-$20,000 to win, May 17-18; the Lucas Oil Show-Me 10 presented by Protect the Harvest at Lucas Oil Speedway-$30,000 to win, May 24-25; the Clash at the Mag at Magnolia Motor Speedway-$20,000 to win, Jun 14-15; the Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway-$27,000 to win, July 19-20; the Sunoco North/South 100 presented by Lucas Oil at Florence Speedway-$50,00 to win, Aug 9-10; the COMP Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway-$40,000 to win, Aug 16-17; Hillbilly Hundred-$25,000 to win, Sept. 1; the Jackson 100 at Brownstown Speedway-$20,000 to win, Sept. 20-21; the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Speedway-$40,000 to win, Sept 25-28; and the season finale, the RED BUCK Dirt Track World Championship presented by Borrowed Blue-$50,000 to win, Oct. 18-19.
 
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will kick off the season at the famed "Clay by the Bay" for the 9th consecutive year with over $200,000 in purse monies paid out for the week. The 37th Annual DART Winternationals will begin Sunday night with an open practice session. Racing action begins on Monday Feb. 11, with the series running a full show, paying $5,000 to win, on both Monday and Tuesday nights. Then on Wednesday and Thursday nights, drivers will compete for $7,000 to win. The final two nights, Friday and Saturday, will pay $10,000 to win respectively. The final two events on Friday and Saturday will be the first two points-earning events of the 2013 season.
 
The DART Machinery bonus money will be for grabs to racers that compete all six nights at East Bay Raceway Park. The driver that earns the most points over the six nights of racing will be crowned the DART Winternationals Champion and receive the $5,000 bonus monies. Racers will get two additional chances to make the feature event each night through the PRC Strawberry Dash and the DirtonDirt.com Fast Time Provisional. These drivers will start 25th and 26th each of the six nights feature events. East Bay Raceway Park officials have also added two non-qualifier races for Friday and Saturday nights events paying $1,000 to win and $100 to start for racers failing to make the feature on those nights.

For the latest breaking news on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, log onto www.lucasdirt.com.

To learn more about Lucas Oil Products visit their website at www.lucasoil.com.
 
2013 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series "37th Annual DART Winternationals" Schedule

:

East Bay Raceway Park-Tampa, FL


Sunday, February 10 - Open Practice Session - 6-9 PM

Monday, February 11 - $5,000 to win

Tuesday, February 12 - $5,000 to win

Wednesday, February 13 - $7,000 to win

Thursday, February 14 - $7,000 to win

Friday, February 15 - $10,000 to win (points event)

Saturday, February 16 - $10,000 to win (points event)

Todd Okuhara’s drag racing resume is impressive, but it becomes even more so when it’s noted he is 44 years old, and he has a new position to celebrate his 20th year in professional drag racing.

The native of Hawaii living in Brownsburg, Indiana, outside of Indianapolis has been promoted to the new position of Don Schumacher Racing’s Director of Racing by team owner Don Schumacher.

Okuhara will oversee DSR’s seven teams, the world championship DSR fabrication and CNC/machine shops. His promotion leaves Phil Shuler as the sole crew chief on the Battery Extender Powered by Schumacher Top Fuel Dragster.

The 44-year-old will begin his 20th season in NHRA when he arrives at Pomona, California, for the February 14-17 NHRA Winternationals to open the 2013 Mello Yello Drag Racing season. He will direct an operation that won last season’s world championships in Top Fuel with Antron Brown’s Matco Tools team and in Funny Car with Jack Beckman’s Valvoline/Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T.

Okuhara became involved in drag racing while living in Honolulu while working at his father’s machine shop in Kakaako and going to Hawaii Raceway Park. In 1993, he left for Southern California to work on the Funny Car owned by fellow Hawaiian and legendary drag racing crew chief Roland Leong.

Okuhara moved to NHRA Hall of Famer Don Prudhomme’s dragster in 1994 and remained with the Prudhomme team, and won two world championships with driver Larry Dixon.

Okuhara joined DSR in 2006 as crew chief on Beckman’s Funny Car team. That year, when NHRA was still racing nitro cars for 1,320 feet, the team set all-time speed mark of 333.66 mph. In 2008, Okuhara was switched to run the Funny Car for Gary Scelzi, and a year later he was paired with Shuler to crew chief a DSR dragster for Cory McClenathan and then with Spencer Massey beginning in 2011.

The International Hot Rod Association has announced that Palm Beach International Raceway will return to the Nitro Jam schedule with a one-night-only show on Saturday, April 27.

The one-night show will feature four incredible professional nitro classes ranging from Top Fuel Dragsters to fan-favorite AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Car, Nitro Harley and Fuel Altered machines. The event will also feature the side-by-side showdown of the flame-throwing jet dragsters powered by Elaine Larson and Marisha Falk, wheelstanders, pyrotechnics and much more.

The 2013 CarSafe Palm Beach Nitro Jam will take place on Saturday, April 27 beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 at the gate for adults and $10 for children. Adults can save $5 if they purchase their tickets in advance at www.nitrojam.com.

Among the stars of the 2013 CarSafe Palm Beach Nitro Jam is former Palm Beach Nitro Jam winner and former World Champion Bruce Litton in his 8000 horsepower Top Fuel machine. He will be joined by friend and Top Fuel sensation Kyle Wurtzel in the “High Yield” dragster in a battle of 320 mile per hour machines.

The world-famous “Candies & Hughes” and “Chi-Town Hustler” AMSOIL Prostalgia Nitro Funny Cars will highlight an incredible lineup of nostalgia Funny Cars on hand in South Florida as the glory days of drag racing return to PBIR. The event will also feature daredevil Jay Turner and his 220 mile-per-hour nitro-powered Harley Davidson and the wild, out-of-control “Nanook” and “Rat Trap” Nostalgia Fuel Altereds.

Nitro Jam’s entertainment lineup will come to a close with the side-by-side battle of the Embry-Riddle jet-powered dragsters driven by the famed Elaine Larsen and up-and-coming sensation Marisha Falk in addition to Danny O’Day’s wheelstander, pyrotechnics and more.

The event will feature two rounds of Nitro Jam with winners crowed under the lights Saturday night.

In addition to all the nitro action, the 2013 CarSafe Palm Beach Nitro Jam will also feature an IHRA Ironman Classic race for area racers to compete for an Ironman trophy.

For more information on the CarSafe Palm Beach Nitro Jam, visit www.nitrojam.com, www.racepbir.com, or call Palm Beach International Raceway at 561/622-1400.

Rick Crawford, famed NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, has officially taken the helm of Montana Raceway Park, located in Kalispell Montana.

Crawford is the current record holder of the most NASCAR Camping World Truck series races competed in, and has an extensive background in the media and sponsors, along with a background in both racing and promoting racing.

He most recently promoted and operated Mobile International Speedway, located in Mobile, Alabama. 





Crawford and his team also released a schedule that highlights over 20 racing events in the 2013 season. The 2013 season is headlined by Montana's Largest Motor-sporting event, the 23rd annual Coors Light Montana 200 powered by Kalispell Toyota. This event has featured over 50 drivers in past year vying for over $50,000 in prize money. It kicks off on July 18 with open practice and the popular free Fan Fest party.

Racing takes place on Friday, July 19, and the Coors Light Montana 200 rumbles to life on July 20.

Another popular event in the Super Late Model racing community is the 2nd Annual G.E.T. Rich at the Kalispell Toyota Montana Gold 212 featuring the Super Late Models and local support divisions. This event is slated for May 18 and should prove very interesting for the first event of the Kalispell Toyota Super Late Model series. Drivers will again have a chance at over $50,000 in cash, and the top three drivers will be paid in Gold. 



The 2013 schedule also features two kids’ night events, where kids under 12 will be able to ride in real race cars. New this season, kids will also be able to race their bikes and compete on the famed ¼-mile high-banked asphalt track.

During the two Kid's Night events kids under 12 years old will be split up into different age groups and will race their bikes. The kids' nights will take place on May 25 and August 10.
 

For more information, visit www.montanaracewaypark.com; call the track at 406/257-7223 or email: info@montanaracewaypark.com.

All Wright Enterprises LLC (AWE) has announced the acquisition of Fidanza Engineering Corp. from founder and storied racecar builder Lou Fidanza.

Now doing business as Fidanza Performance, the company will be lead by 10-year company veteran, current president and now owner Jeff Jenkins.

Lou Fidanza will continue on as a key consultant to the company while he transitions into retirement.

The change to the Fidanza Performance brand name and new company logo will be completed by end of first quarter 2013 and will give the company a fresh new look, as well as opening up opportunities to add other performance-oriented products under the new company banner.

With administrative, sales, marketing and manufacturing located at 4285 Main St. in Perry, Ohio, Fidanza Performance manufactures high-quality aluminum flywheels, performance clutches, and adjustable cam gears.

For more information on Fidanza’s premium aluminum flywheels and other products, or to find a dealer, contact Fidanza Performance at 440/259-5656 or visit the website, www.fidanza.com. 

Royal Purple Vice President of Sales and Marketing Mark McFann has elected to transition from the day-to-day management of Royal Purple’s marketing and consumer sales, to a role as a contracted consultant for the company.
 


McFann spent the past 10 years developing the Royal Purple brand and growing it from relative obscurity to a leading brand of synthetic motor oils, according to the company.
 


“It’s been a blessing to steward Royal Purple from a start-up brand sold at 300 locations to one that is now sold in more than 30,000 locations across the US and other countries,” said McFann.
 


In addition to his new role with Royal Purple, McFann has joined marketing consulting company Cast a Long Shadow. He also is a principal for the company Xecu Group, whose EZ Waiver product provides cloud-based complete electronic waiver and risk management application.