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The original rendering presented to Jimmy Jackson by Greening Auto Company

A few years back when Jesse was picking up a car to be rebuilt for another customer, he spotted the F-85 nearby, faded and pretty well stripped out. Like a sculptor examining a block of marble, Jesse could envision how the Olds could be transformed. So he brought it home as well, locking it away in a storage building until he had the time to start work on the Olds.

The interior of the Olds F-85 as envisioned by M&M Hot Rod Interiors

The scope of the build was agreed-upon and artist’s renderings of the completed car were presented. Jimmy greenlighted the program and Jesse was off and running, and like most artists, happy that the Olds build had found a patron.

The Oldsmobile body with the floor cut out, awaiting the Roadster Shop chassis

Power will be generated by a 700 horsepower LS7 Black Label engine from Mast Motorsports. Black Label refers to products developed in-house by Mast. The build starts with a fully-machined aluminum block that’s topped off with Mast LS7 305cc cylinder heads. The hand-built LS7 based engine utilizes a Mast Motorsports-developed camshaft with a strong lope that creates great mid and high RPM power for the kind of street manners required of a daily driver but still can be used in competition, if you’re so inclined.

The Olds body dropped onto the Roadster Shop chassis - a perfect fit the first time

Power is driven back through a GM 4L80E four-speed automatic transmission upgraded from stem to stern for an increased torque capacity by Bowler Performance Transmissions. While well-known as a durable and responsive transmission for Chevrolet and GMC light truck applications, the 4L80E has also been used by high-dollar brands like Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar, and Rolls-Royce. Stopping this beast is left to the experts at Baer Brakes, who are suppling a package that consists of 14 inch rotors and six piston calipers all around.

Wheels designed and machined in-house at Greening feature a subtle stripe of orange

Wheels were designed and machined in-house, and if you look carefully, you’ll notice that one spoke has a thin stripe of orange paint – a color that matches the orange exterior of the ’68 Camaro that Jesse built for Jimmy. And when completed, the car will be painted in stunning black, with a subtle stripe of that same orange. If you'll be in Las Vegas for the 2016 SEMA show, this will be one that you won't want to miss. It will be located in the K&N Filters booth, #22755.

Riley Herbst has seven top-five finishes in 13 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races.

“I just wanted to try something different,” Herbst said. “I wanted to try to make a career out of stock car racing. They were very surprised, but they are very supportive.”

Herbst is third in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West rookie standings with one race to go. The season ends at All-American Speedway in Roseville, California, the home track for his team, Bill McAnally Racing. Herbst put together a string of top-five finishes late in the season. He snapped that streak with a 19th-place finish at Meridian Speedway in Idaho in September. But he said his team showed great improvement in the second half of the season.

“I feel like in the beginning of the year we were a little bit behind the goals,” Herbst said. “From Iowa on, we started to click. I set my goals at top fives and top threes each and every week. We were starting to hit it. We just got some bad luck in Meridian. But I feel like we can end on a good note in Roseville.”

Herbst finished in the top five in more than half of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West races. He has seven top fives in 13 races. He posted a couple of podium finishes at Douglas County Speedway in Oregon and Evergreen Speedway in Washington.

“That was a pretty hard race,” Herbst said about the race at Douglas County where he finished third. “It reminded me a little like Meridian. We could never catch a good caution that would put us on the inside. When we were in third with three to go, we were really hoping for a caution to come up with a win there.”

Riley Herbst is third in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West rookies standings after 13 races.

“We just had a good car,” Herbst said. “I feel like BMR was the class of the field that day. I was just happy to get a 1-2-3 finish.”

Herbst continued his streak of top fives during the doubleheader weekend at the Utah Motorsports Campus road course event in September. He was fourth in the first race and fifth in the second race.

“I am very comfortable on the road courses,” Herbst said. “I knew that if we stayed on the track, we would be right up there in contention. We were leading laps in the second race. We just needed the race to be a little bit shorter. I think we would have been able to come out of there with a win.”

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Meridian Speedway proved challenging for Herbst. He was collected in a couple of crashes and was knocked out of contention early in the race. There were 13 cautions for 92 laps in the NAPA Auto Parts/Idaho 208.

“We were running strong. We were top of the board in practice,” Herbst said about the race at Meridan. “We were just riding in third and somebody took us out in the first 30 laps. We worked our way all the way back up into the top five and then we got wrecked again which put us out of the race.

Riley Herbst is sixth in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West standings after 13 races.

With one race remaining in the K&N Pro Series West schedule, Herbst is sixth in the series standings. He is looking to end the season on a high note.

“We were just hitting on all cylinders, not all cylinders, but we were doing good and we were just hitting our stride,” Herbst said. “We had a little hiccup in Meridian. I felt like we were going to add to our stride a little bit longer.

“I wish we were higher than that, but we had a couple of instances, like in Meridian. Orange Show really killed us. We only got like five laps in at Orange Show. That really hurt us in points.”

On the verge of completing his first season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, Herbst said he is grateful for the opportunities K&N has provided.

“It’s huge to have K&N on board to support our young NASCAR careers,” Herbst said. “Without them, I don’t think this series would be around. They are substantial to everything. They let us race, which is the most important part of it. They sponsor our series to let us go out and do what we love.”

The Tekno Autosport 5.0 L Holden coming down through the Esses

This past weekend was the Bathurst 1000, which is the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 combined for Australia. They call it “The Great Race.” K&N supported Tekno Autosports team owner Jonathan Webb described it this way "It's something, when you're involved with motorsport, the go-karts, the Formula Ford, or whatever you've done in your career to get to where we are, this is the one you want to win here in Australia."

The 1000 has been held on the Mount Panorama Circuit since 1963, a road which was funded and built during the Great Depression as a tourist attraction, but always intended to be a race track. So on non-race days the road is a scenic highway. But every year in early October access is blocked, the teams cram into the pits, and spectators flock to the hillside seeking the best vantage point.

Tekno Autosport’s sponsor is the Australian maker of chocolate-filled licorice

The race itself was a thriller, and not just for those at the track. Television ratings for the event set records, not just for motorsports, but for all types of sporting events across the country.

With collisions and time penalties taking some of the top cars out of contention, the race came down to two cars. In front was the Holden of Tekno Autosports driven by Will Davison. Right behind him was Shane Van Gisbergen, who was one of Webb’s Tekno Autosports co-drivers when they won the 12 Hours at Bathurst in a McLaren earlier this year. Webb knew just how good Van Gisbergen was, and how little fuel Davison had left. In fact, Webb hid behind the garages, away from the TV and scoring monitors for the last few laps as he couldn’t stand the suspense.

The one place drivers want to be at the end of a race. Davison and Webb enjoy the spoils of victory

“Unbelievable – we were so close in '14,” Webb said, knowing the fuel situation. “I was out the back just playing with my kid trying to ignore what was going on – it’s unbelievable, it’s just amazing.”

To make victory that much sweeter for K&N, two of its long-time partners in Australia, Harrop, an automotive engineering firm, and XForce, a performance exhaust manufacturer were also sponsors of the winning car.

The K&N KY-2911 features washable cotton gauze filter media

The K&N KY-2911 is designed to perfectly fit the stock air box

The replacement filter comes pre-oiled and ready to install

It couldn’t be easier to insert a little more airflow into your Kymco Downtown or Kawasaki J300. The combination of great filtration and an unsurpassed warranty makes the K&N KY-2911 a no-brainer for your Kymco or Kawasaki mid-size scooter. K&N is constantly adding new and exciting products to its lineup, so consult K&N’s search by vehicle tool to find air filters, intakes, and oil filters for every engine in your garage.

The KY-2911 fits the following vehicles:

2016 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 350I 350 - All Models
2016 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2016 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2016 KAWASAKI J300 300 - All Models
2015 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2015 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2015 KAWASAKI J300 300 - All Models
2014 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2014 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2014 KAWASAKI J300 300 - All Models
2013 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2013 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2012 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2012 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2011 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models
2011 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 200I 205 - All Models
2010 KYMCO DOWNTOWN 300I 300 - All Models

Kyle Benjamin won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover International Speedway

Benjamin won his third K&N Pro Series East race of the season. He won at Iowa Speedway, the highest finishing driver from the East Series, and at Greenville Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. He won three of the final five races of the K&N Pro Series East season.

“Really cool to get a win at Dover,” Benjamin said. “It’s a place you always want to win at, especially, this is probably the coolest track on the K&N schedule. Real neat to win here.”

Rain washed out qualifying, putting Justin Haley, the leader in the K&N Pro Series East standings entering the Dover 125, on the pole. He led the first 42 laps of the race.

Kyle Benjamin celebrates after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race in Dover, Delaware

Benjamin, who started on the front row with Haley, passed for the lead on lap 43. Benjamin stayed out front for the remainder of the race, including the final restart on lap 123. A crash brought out the sixth caution flag of the race and extended it an extra lap.

“It’s nerve-racking because you don’t know what they’re planning to do behind you,” Benjamin said. “They could jack you up. I’ve had a restart at one of these places where I got wrecked at the start-finish line. I didn’t even get going. That was in the back of my mind too. Anything can happen, so you’re always looking out for it.”

Justin Haley leads the field in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover International Speedway

“We’ve had a great year,” Benjamin said. “It’s had its ups and downs. We had a lot of good races and a lot of bad races on the races that were good races. I wouldn’t change any of it at this point. We’ve had a great season, a lot of consistent cars.”

Benjamin and his team used the same car throughout the K&N Pro Series East season. He said after the race that the team will probably continue to use the car in the 2017 K&N Pro Series East season.

Kyle Benjamin does a burn out after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover Speedway

Jesse Little was second in the race at Dover, followed by Dominique Van Wieringen in third. Haley was fourth and rookie Ruben Garcia came in fifth place. It was Van Wieringen’s third top-five finish in a row.

Haley, Benjamin and other top drivers in the K&N Pro Series East will be celebrated at the NASCAR Night of Champions Touring Awards ceremony in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 10.