Sport compact scribes trade words for wheels

National Dragster, Jan 30, 2004 by Burgess, Phil

Writers turn racers at star-studded Toyota Performance Challenge media event at Pomona Raceway

Wally Parks may have cut his racing teeth with flatheads and dry-lakes roadsters, but 70 years later, NHRA's venerable founder still knows a hot rod when he sees one. That goes a long way toward explaining Parks' major involvement in the Toyota Performance Challenge, held Dec. 10-11 at Pomona Raceway.

An unabashed admirer of sport compact racing, Parks orchestrated an unprecedented gathering of the sport compact scene's top journalists and high-ranking Toyota executives and engineers for a two-day summit that celebrated the conclusion of the third season of the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series. The event gave journalists some rare face time with the likes of Parks, Toyota Vice President of Motorsports Jim Aust, arid several of Toyota's top sport compact drivers as well as the chance to compete against one another in four different Toyota models.

During a welcome dinner at The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum named in his honor, Parks delivered the keynote speech, drawing similarities between the social atmosphere during NHRA's founding in the early 1950s and today's climate.

Explaining NHRA's dedication to the sport compact market, Parks said, "NHRA President Tom Compton recognized what a future there was if we got involved. The main thing that NHRA has done over the years is to try to provide a place to race. In many ways, a lot of the same opportunities and a lot of the same problems that we had in our early, early years are there today.

"We've gotten this far because of the spirit, the talent and capability, and the ambitions of people like those assembled in this room. You can see, just based on the successes of the last year, that sport compact racing is going to be one of the real stars of the future, and we're very proud to be involved."

Aust, too, was enthusiastic about his company's involvement, not only in this special event but hi the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series.

"Toyota Motorsports and Toyota Racing Development are pleased to be involved in an event like this, especially at such a celebrated location as Pomona Raceway," said Aust, who later presented the Parks NHRA Museum with a $5,000 donation from Toyota. "While Toyota's drag racing program is relatively new, it's grown rapidly to become one of our favorites. Sport compact racing is one the fastest growing forms of motorsports, and the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series has given Toyota a national stage on which to compete, both on the track and in the aftermarket parts program.

"As sport compact drag racing continues to grow and evolve, Toyota will continue its presence in this exciting form of racing. The series is a testament to the talent and determination of the drivers and teams, to the hard work and dedication of NHRA, and to the vision of drag racing's patriarch, Mr. Wally Parks."

Gary Raasch, marketing director for the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series, also spoke glowingly of the rapidly growing series, noting, "I can sum up 2003 and 2004 in one word: excitement - excitement about where we've been and where we're going. Race participation has never been better, and new sponsors are coming in every week. We had great success with the NHRA Stylefest presented by Sony Xplod and the StreetGlow Extreme Rush, and we have many plans to increase spectator attendance. We have fine-tuned the schedule for markets that will support the series.

"We're here for the long term," he added, "here to support the next generation of racers and fans."

The following morning, the journalists - which included the likes of Jackie Ling of UrbanRacer.com, Cam Benty of Motor Trend, Scott Croughwell and Chris Neprash of Overboost.com, Ed Loh of Import Racer!, John Naderi of Super Street, Scott Oldham of Sport Compact Car, and a score more - assembled at Pomona Raceway for an eighth-mile bracket racing competition. They were given the opportunity to flog pairs of Celicas, Matrixes, Solaras, and Scion xAs on the historic Pomona racing surface. NHRA sport compact stars Matt Scranton, George loannou, Ara Arslanian, Vinny Ten, Christian Rado, and Jimmy O'Connor offered staging and driving instruction in a startingline seminar, and the scribes took a trio of get-acquainted passes. The pro racers helped fill out the ladder to an even 32 competitors.

With contestants pairing off against adversaries in equally matched entries, Oldham's reaction times won the day. he engaged in an impressive final-round showdown with Rado and a king-of-the-hill battle against Ten. In addition to the winner's prize were awards for hest reaction time and top speed.

Between runs, Ten and O'Connor made exhibition runs with their Modified-class Supras, and Rado wheeled the Twins Turbo Motorsports street Supra of Super 2NR TV hosts Marc and Eric Kozeluh on its maiden voyage. The racing took place against a static display of Toyota's hottest new street and show machines from Toyota Racing Development, including the 247-horsepower supercharged Toyota Matrix Pace Car.