Sean O'Bannon Houston preview

O'Bannon looking forward to Houston showdown

BAYTOWN, Texas - Always known for it's history of record-breaking performances, in large part due to it's near sea-level elevation, this weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park promises to be one of the quickest of the NHRA tour this year. Second-year Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Sean O'Bannon and the Tequila Patrón/Forest River RV's team are excited about making the trek east from their Southern California home. It's relatively central location and renowned racing surface brings some of the top racers from around the country, which has the Jack O'Bannon Racing team primed to do battle with some of the best drivers in the class.

O'Bannon, 29, of Ontario, Calif., has made steady progress in the Funny Car ranks since switching from Top Alcohol Dragster early last season. In the dragster, O'Bannon finished second in national points standings in 2006. His father, Jack, won five-straight World Championships from 1997-2001 in the Top Alcohol Dragster category with Rick Santos as his driver. Coming into the event hot off a No. 3 qualifying effort at a Division 7 event in Tucson, Ariz., O'Bannon and his Sam Shockley lead team are working hard to make their first trip to the winner's circle in a Funny Car.

"We've made a commitment to become a championship-level player in the Top Alcohol Funny Car class," said O'Bannon. "Some may say that's a bold statement, but that's why we're out here, to win races, and to ultimately win a championship. Are we there yet, hell no. Don't get me wrong, we've made a lot of progress over this past year switching to the Funny Car, but the guys like Frank Manzo and Jay Payne are out in their own zip code some days. We got the car running in the 5.50's last year, and the car runs big mph everywhere we go, so we're getting close on the power level. Considering Manzo has been running Top Alcohol Funny Cars since the class was started years ago, he's got like a million laps."

"We're working real hard to get there," O'Bannon continued. "With the support of Tequila Patrón and Forest River RV's, we're not going to stop working until we get to that level. Pops [Jack] won five championships with the dragster, so he has high expectations for us and doesn't give us any room for excuses. We tell him what we need, he gets it. As hard as we're working to catch the guys like Manzo who are on top of the class, they're probably working just as hard to stay one step ahead of us."

O'Bannon hopes to make a couple of solid qualifying shots early in his 2007 Dodge Charger to free up an opportunity to really swing for the fence in the last qualifier to see what his Shockley tuned mount can do.

"We ran pretty well in similar sea level like conditions in Sonoma last year," explained O'Bannon. "I'd like to think we've come a long way since then. Hopefully we can get pretty solidly in the field early and get a couple of chances to step on the car and see what the track can take. All in all, the weekend should be fast and fun. We're looking forward to it."

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with two sessions, followed by one final session Saturday morning. Eliminations begin with round one on Saturday afternoon and final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.


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To find out more about the Jack O'Bannon Racing Team, visit their website at www.JackOBannonRacing.com

To find out more about Jack O'Bannon Racing's quality partners, visit these websites:

www.PatronSpirits.com - Find out more about the world's number one tequila - Tequila Patrón.

www.ForestRiverInc.com - Find out more about America's largest producer of towable RV's and Cargo Trailers

www.HoosierTire.com - "Tires Designed for Champions"

www.LE-Inc.com - Lubrication Engineers - "Leaders in Lubrication"

Contact: Will Hanna/ Pro Race Communications
Email: Will.Hanna@InsideTopAlcohol.com