Simonton and kon rodz tafc hits pre-season testing

SIMONTON AND KON RODZ TAFC HITS PRE-SEASON TESTING

<img src="http://www.insidetopalcohol.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=206&thumb=1&d=1268444216" align="right" borders="0"/>Maple, Ont. – The winter months in The Great White North of Ontario, Canada are often cold, dark and dreary. However, the past six weeks have been hot, full of hard work and optimism for Spiro Kontos and his Maple, Ont. Kon Rodz Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car team. This weekend, they will head due-south to South George Motorsports Park located in Valdosta, Ga. to provide new crew chief Randy Anderson and second year driver Cassie Simonton an opportunity to fine-tune their new set up in a test session prior to their NHRA Season debut at the 43rd Tire Kingdom NHRA Gator Nationals.

The Kon Rodz Racing team made several wholesale changes in the off season, including acquiring the tuning talents of Anderson, the former two-time NHRA TAFC World Champion and NHRA Nitro Funny Car pilot. During the cold and snowy months leading up to the 2011 season debut, the team spent countless hours preparing a new motor combination, adding new colors to the teams Monte Carlo body and new transporter. All the pieces are in place for a much improved 2011 campaign and team owner Kontos is chopping at the bit.

“This has been a very long off-season and I am so anxious to get back to the drag strip to begin testing,” noted Kontos, a Canadian business man and entrepreneur who has been competing as an owner in the highly competitive NHRA TAFC division for the past two seasons. “When we ended our year in 2010 without a round win, I knew we needed to make some drastic changes to our program. Bringing in Randy Anderson was the first step. He is such a great leader and a very humble man. I’m very pleased and proud of all the work our team has put in the off-season. And I’m looking forward to seeing how our car runs in testing in the warm weather of Valdosta.”

The rookie season for Kon Rodz Racing driver ‘Sassy’ Cassie Simonton was definitely full of learning experiences. And headed into testing, she believes those lessons learned, combined with the education from Anderson and others will provide her with the skill set needed to quickly advance her learning curve.

“Last season was an educational experience for certain,” noted 24-year old Simonton. “I learned almost every way these cars can be a challenge and handful. But at the end of the season, we made some significant advances. We qualified at the US Nationals and lowered our career-best elapsed time a bunch during the season. Working with Randy in the off-season has already been very educational. And I’m looking forward to getting down to Georgia, knocking off some dust and go even quicker and faster in 2011.”

To learn more about the Kon Rodz Racing team and their driver Cassandra Simonton, please visit their website at http://www.konrodzracing.com.