Sean O'Bannon Las Vegas preview

O’Bannon hoping to stay on a roll in Vegas

LAS VEGAS – After qualifying No. 2 and making a semifinal round appearance at last weekend’s national event in Vegas, NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Sean O’Bannon and the Jack O’Bannon Racing/Forest River RV’s team will be looking to stay on a roll during this weekend’s Division 7 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at ‘The Strip’ at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The event marks the second-straight weekend the team will be racing in Vegas and currently holds the Division 7 points lead after a win at the opener in Phoenix.

O’Bannon, 30, of Ontario, Calif., cites ignition problems lead to them being shut off in the semifinals of last weekend’s event. O’Bannon qualified his Jeff Lirones tuned ’08 Monte Carlo second in the field for the second-straight year.

“The battery that runs all of our ignition components went dead that run,” said O’Bannon. “Our opponent, Roger Bateman was running pretty strong, but so were we, so I think we would have given him a good drag race. It’s a shame we had that happen and weren’t able to make the run, but overall, it was another good weekend for us.”

O’Bannon and the team are happy with their newfound consistency under Crew Chief Lirones.

“I can’t say enough about the job Jeff has done taking over the tuning responsibilities this season,” stated O’Bannon. “The car is running very consistent. I can’t tell you how much easier that makes my job as a driver when you know the car is going to make a good run just about every trip to the line. Between that and some of the adjustments Jeff and the crew have made to the clutch, my lights are back where they should be. We’re having a good time going racing right now.”

Team owner Jack O’Bannon is no stranger to winning. As an owner, he has five Top Alcohol Dragster World Championships, 37 national event wins and 22 divisional event wins with driver Rick Santos in the late ‘90’s. Sean took over the driving duties in 2005 and won two national events in 2006 en route to a second place national finish in his father’s dragster. The team made the switch to the Top Alcohol Funny Car class in 2007 and finished tenth nationally last season. The team’s win in Phoenix was their first in the Funny Car class, and hope to add more.

“It seemed like we were never going to win one for a while,” O’Bannon recalled. “We went to several final rounds on the divisional and national level, but it seemed like we could never close the deal. Maybe by winning Phoenix, we have that monkey off our back.

“Vegas is a town all about getting hot and winning,” O’Bannon continued. “These points races at Vegas are usually a bloodbath. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a bump for an eight car field in the mid to high .60’s this weekend. It should make for a fun weekend, and we’re looking forward to it. Hopefully we can make another good showing for Forest River RV’s, Lubrication Engineers and Fontana Wood Products.”

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars, followed by two more sessions on Saturday. Final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.

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

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

Attached photo courtesy of Roger Richards @ Competitionplus.com