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Just coming off an exciting weekend in Joliet, Illinois during the Jegs All-Stars event, where he was one of only four drivers to be double entered for the elite event, Michael Miller took his TNT dragster to yet another final round of Super Comp competition, and this time it was for a NHRA National event in Denver.
Michael Miller at the 32nd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway
Miller, of Santa Fe, New Mexico recently took out some fellow serious competitors to make his way to the final of Super Comp in the Jegs All-Stars event, where he fell to K&N's Tommy Phillips. It was really at this event where he felt like things were really starting to gel for him in his new TNT dragster and doesn't seem to be looking back.
During the 32nd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, Miller entered both his 1927-T Roadster Super Gas car and his TNT Super Comp Dragster, both Ford powered. "You know Denver is a very unique race," he said. "I have to spend a day, day and half of work to change my cars over to race there. From the torque converters, to timing, jets and even computer programming."
Where he went out in the early rounds of Super Gas, he more than made up for it by taking his dragster to the championship round on Sunday. "Yeah, I went out in second round of Super Gas," confessed Miller. "He didn't really leave me any room when he was .001 on the tree."
But over in Super Comp, Miller made his way past Adam Chioda in round two which gave him the scheduled bye for round three and on to his next round match up with Tim Parker. Although Parker had the starting line advantage, Miller was able to outdrive him at the stripe and push Parker deeper under the index and on to the quarter-finals.
"I had to race a guy named Mitch Mustard, who is a local guy," Miller pointed out. "He races at Bandimere every weekend and he's good. I kinda thought if I won that round, I could win the race. He's just one of those guys that is dialed and he's going to go fifty [9.50 adjusted index for Bandimere]. Just a matter of trying to manipulate that situation."
Miller once again showed his strong finish line driving skills and even though he was behind at the hit, he knew just the right time to let Mustard have the stripe and stay on the better side of a double breakout.
Even though it was quite hot for the Denver race, with 93 degrees and an adjusted altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, Miller kept his cool in the semi-finals and only took the amount of margin he needed at the finish line [.009] to send Jacky King packing and himself into the championship round where he would meet up with Dave Crawford.
Miller just didn't have the light he was looking for in the final and gave Crawford the window he needed to win his very first NHRA National Event, in his first final round.
"It was just his day," Miller said of his runner-up to Crawford. "When a guy takes out [Gary] Stinnett in the first round, then Brad Plourd and me all in one day, he deserves the win. I am just really happy with the way this new dragster combination is working now, it was great getting into the final."
Miller had lots of thanks to give to his mom and dad, his wife Timberly, his brother John and to the folks at K&N Engineering. "I have had a longtime relationship with the K&N folks," he noted. "Steve Williams, Bob Harris, [pauses] they just get it and totally understand racing. K&N goes above and beyond what you could ever ask a racing type company to do. I don't know of any other company that offers contingency for three products. That's huge for the sportsman racers. K&N's support of racing is second to none."
Miller also pointed out that he was excited to add K&N composite scoops to both of his cars for 2011. The scoops include the specially designed K&N race high performance air filters, which he added the Pro Stock style to his 1923 T Roadster and the 2nd Generation Dragster scoop to his Super Comp entry.
Scott Burton wins NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series - 32nd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals
One of the neatest attributes that can be found in the NHRA Stock Eliminator ranks is that one will see as many different makes and models of cars take to the quarter-mile, as you will personalities. Scott Burton, of Golden, Colorado, covers a little bit of both worlds and recently plowed his way through the rounds to take his B/SA 1970 Formula 400 Firebird to the Stock Championship during the 32nd annual Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.
Scott Burton's B/SA 1970 Formula 400 Firebird
Since he didn't get a chance to race with his son, Brad Burton who is the defending NHRA Stock Champion, Scott didn't need to watch where he qualified for the event at Bandimere Speedway, like he would so they could stay away from each other. "This particular race, he wasn't there so I didn't really pay a lot of attention to where I qualified," he explained. "I wasn't really trying to qualify high on the sheet. But when I saw the final qualifying and the ladder, I felt that I probably had the more favorable side of the ladder."
"As it turned out, the first several rounds I had were pretty tough races," he confessed. "They ended up being pretty close and I had to work it pretty hard. Then it actually got easy from there, which is the opposite of the way it usually is."
Burton, who is a regular competitor at Bandimere Speedway in their weekly bracket program where he currently sits number two in his Pro ET, points out that his first round was surprisingly difficult. "You know everybody likes Bob," Burton said of his first round competitor, fellow K&N racer Bob Unkefer. "Well, he had a good light and came close to running his dial. I just had a better package than he did that round. I worked the finish line on him little bit and just didn't take too much stripe."
That would move Burton on to defeat Mike Jeffery in round two and Dic Geary in round three which would set up a very pivotal quarter final round with Rod Neugebauer. If he could get by Rod, it would award him a bye run straight into the Stock Eliminator final.
"The fourth round was pretty critical because of the shot at the bye in the semi's," he said. "Rod red lit and it was a big sigh of relief knowing that I was going to the final. But not knowing just yet who I would be facing in the final, well I knew it could be interesting should we end up with a heads up final round."
And that's exactly what it was, good ol'drag racing at its best. Burton would face Dwight Machael in his B/SA 1962 Fury and give the fans an exciting final round.
"I had Machael in the final and he's my investment advisor, how about that," chuckled Burton. "He's a good driver and a good person, but I kinda felt like I had the performance advantage going into the final. I had taken a little weight out of the car and hopped it up a little bit, but not too awful much. My frame of mind going into the final was, 'Scott don't be stupid and redlight.' So, I didn't have a tremendous light, but I didn't intend to."
"It all worked out," he continued. "While he had the light advantage, I had the performance. All my buddies had been over there trying to help him hop up his car. Which we do. I know that seems crazy but it's the way we are in this game. We always come to the aid of anybody you can."
While Burton didn't have the kind of light you would want to write home about, as he mentioned he had tons of horsepower to chase down Machael and easily take a whopping .09 at the stripe in turn, denying Machael of his first NHRA National event victory for a little while longer.
Burton was last in the Stock Eliminator final at the Mile-High NHRA Nationals back in 2006 and where he wasn't able to seal the deal then, he certainly took care of the unfinished business by grabbing the 2011 event championship.
Both Burton and his son Scott have been using K&N products for years and in 2011 welcomed the company as a part of their team. "We sure appreciate the help that K&N has supplied us with," he said. "They are such a super company to work with. We are running the K&N air filters and the oil filters on both of our race cars and it really does make a difference in what filter products you use. K&N is the World's Best Air Filter."
McClelland's win last weekend in the NMCA/NMRA West Coast Shootout was his second win in a row at Fontana Dragway.
It is indeed true that you can tune a piano, but you can't tune-a-fish, yet when it comes to the "Tuna Tank", that axiom holds no water. The Tuna Tank in this case is Kevin McClelland's winning Roadster. Kevin is a Sr. Special Project Manager at K&N Engineering and he's positioned smack-dab in the middle of a family of tremendous, Tuna Tank, tuners.
Kevin McClelland current Roadster manifestation is Tuna Tank IV, a far cry from his dad's first TT, which was a Fiat Topolino B/Altered car.
"My current Roadster is Tuna Tank IV, and we're up to Tuna Tank VII with Daniel's wagon," Kevin explained. Daniel is Kevin's son and it was Kevin's father, Dave, who first coined the term Tuna Tank back in the 70's when he worked at the NHRA.
Two weeks ago Kevin and his Big Mac Racing team raced in the Pacific Street Car Association (PSCA) event held at Fontana Auto Club Dragway and Kevin's tank proved to be tuned to perfection as he got the win.
Then, last weekend when the Inaugural JE Pistons NMCA/NMRA West Coast Shootout converged at Fontana, Kevin made it back-to-back Bracket-1 victories at his favorite track. The PSCA and NMRA/NMCA both draw from many of the same racecars for their Bracket-1 class. Both Kevin and Daniel say they race just about whatever association is running at Fontana. "It our home track," adds Kevin.
"Winning two weekends in a row is just about as good as doubling up in one day," Kevin said. "One of the interesting facts of the two weekends is that I only ran against the same car twice, and that was in the final round of both weekends. Both weekends I was blessed with things going my way. Having the best reaction time in the ladder round, which gave me the bye run the next round, to having one of the fastest cars in the class, all attributed to my success. Also, I fully rebuilt the whole car last year, which gave the car a new level a consistency." On his race resume Kevin also lists three National event wins in Super Gas, four divisional wins, and one division championship.
The 2011 Summit Series at Fontana Dragway was an abbreviated season this year, yet Daniel finished third overall in the points, that qualifies him for prestigious Summit Race of Champions. Kevin ended his regular season in the number ten spot in Super Pro, which qualifies him for the Summit Team, "Which we will represent Fontana Auto Club Dragway at the ET Finals held at 'The Strip' in Las Vegas this year," Kevin said.
This weekend (July 29-30) Big Mac Racing is headed to race at another PSCA event at "The Strip" in Las Vegas, Nevada, the figuratively and literally cool "Showdown After Sundown."
"This is a very cool weekend with all racing happening at night," says Kevin. "We don't even start time trials until 7PM, and we race until 3AM in the morning. It's a great way to beat the summer heat in Las Vegas!"
Destin Cantrell has made dirt jumps that carry him up to 50 feet from the ground.
Born into a family with a passion for riding motorcycles, one would suspect that Destin Cantrell would acquire a love for the sport as well.
Sure enough, Destin took to riding as a youngster and has never looked back since. In fact, at a young age, Destin began competing, and after about ten years of racing had the opportunity to jump a ramp, and was immediately hooked by this particular type of riding. Shortly thereafter the fifteen year-old had sponsors and was on his way in the sport of freestyle. It's only fitting that the opportunity arose for Cantrell to try his hand at jumping, as he was an avid fan of Gravity and X Games as a youngster.
Destin Cantrell awes people with an array of incredible jumps and tricks.
Recalling watching these sports as a youngster, he said, "I thought it would be so cool to try it one day. I grew up racing, but just found jumping and doing tricks came a little easier and a lot more fun" stated Cantrell. When asked what he enjoyed most about freestyle, the rider continued, "Going out and practicing new tricks, and the feeling of floating off the bike."
It's not uncommon at all for those who enjoy riding dirt bikes to occasionally goose the accelerator upon approaching a hump and experience their bike gliding through the air for a short distance, but the jumps that Cantrell embarks upon are much more drastic than what the average Joe is accustomed to. In fact, According to Destin, a normal jump from a 75 foot metal ramp will take him about 25 to 30 feet in the air. Granted, just the thought of soaring so high in the sky is exciting, but the rider has made dirt jumps carrying him 50 feet from the ground.
"I would have to say my favorite jump is at Jimmy Fitzpatrick's (a fellow freestyle rider) house," shared Destin Cantrell. "It's a huge 160-foot dirt double that you float forever on." When asked his most difficult jump, the rider continued, "I would say the hardest are double-double jumps, where there is a jump right after another one. It can be kind of hard to time it right."
To keep fit and well tuned at the sport, the rider tries to practice on a daily basis. According to Cantrell, he is known for really big extensions and the ability to bend his body in crazy ways.
Although Destin competes in as many competitions as possible, there are very few contests for FMX (freestyle motocross) and the riders have to be invited to compete. That said, much of his time is dedicated performing demos with TNT Action Sports and Dew Tour throughout the country. In fact, the rider awes people with an array of incredible jumps and tricks in anywhere from 40 to 50 shows a year. The rider has performed in practically every state.
Cantrell performs in demos and competes in FMX practically 12 months a year, although the action seems to slow during Supercross season. When asked if he had a favorite venue, Cantrell said, "I would have to say the coolest one was in Hollywood, California. Shut down Hollywood Boulevard and Vine for us to do a demo is rad because it's such a known area."
To perform with such precision, a rider must have a good rapport with their bike. Cantrell rides a 2010 Yamaha YZF 450. The rider has also made a few modifications to fit his style of riding. Cantrell has modified his handle bars, exhaust and suspension. Cantrell also depends on K&N Filters.
Referring to K&N products he explained, "I use filters (K&N) in my freestyle bikes and also K&N cold air intakes in my Yamaha Rhino, and wife's liberty. They are amazing," he ensured. "My bike runs so good and is so noticeable."
When asked if there was a message that he would like to relay to his sponsors and fans, Destin Cantrell concluded graciously, "Thank you for all of the love and support throughout my career, and I'm gonna keep having fun living life, on my bike."
The LA Strikers are a semi-pro women's soccer franchise based out of Los Angeles.
A first year semi-pro women's soccer franchise The LA Strikers, based from the Greater Los Angeles area, visited K&N's world headquarters in Riverside, CA. Owners Joe and Debbie Caracciolo, Director Steve Miller and players Amy Chapman, Alisha Foote, and Katie Tarrant were led through an extensive tour of the main office, manufacturing plant as well as the R&D testing facilities.
The Strikers learned more about K&N products and the process of taking a filter from raw material to finished good with all about the benefits K&N parts include.
The LA Striker's inaugural year has been one of growth, allowing players to team build and improve, capping their season record at (4-9-1). With the team's visit to K&N, the Strikers were able to learn more about K&N products and the process of taking a filter from raw material to finished good with all the benefits K&N parts include. After the tour the players held an interview with K&N product specialists Matt Smith and Vincent Pistonetti.
Player Alisha Foote, a left wing for the franchise who's hometown is Brisbane, Australia reported to K&N her enjoyment for playing for the Strikers as well as her delight for driving her Suzuki Swift when back home in Queensland. A hopeful to someday see Olympic gold, Foote stated that she enjoyed the tour and seeing the massive scale of K&N's production line.
Player Alisha Foote, Midfielder Katie Tarrant and Midfielder Amy Chapman at K&N
Midfielder Katie Tarrant, a worldwide player from Vancouver, has been involved with many pro leagues and teams such as the Chelsea ladies in the UK and now most recently, the LA Strikers. Aspiring someday to coach either professionally or for a school, Tarrant reported that "growing up around cars and motorcycles, it was really cool to see how all the [K&N] parts are made." Midfielder Amy Chapman, also a native of Australia, told K&N product specialists about her love of Soccer and her aspirations to be a coach for any and all sports after having played for multiple national women's teams around the world and her excitement of being part of the new Strikers team.
K&N is looking forward to the next season for the Strikers and the careers of players Foote, Tarrant and Chapman. More information about the LA Strikers including their full roster, can be found on their official website, www.lastrikersfc.com. More information about K&N oil filters, intake systems and air filters can be found at www.knfilters.com.
