Simonton and kon rodz team earns first round win

SIMONTON AND KON RODZ TEAM EARNS FIRST ROUND WIN

Gainesville, Fla. – One of 24-year old Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Cassie Simonton’s favorite quotes is “where there is a will, there is way.” The sophomore driver of Spiro Kontos’ Kon Rodz Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car found the will to record her first career round win and lower her best elapsed time on a glorious Saturday afternoon and will race on Sunday for the first time in her career, at the 42nd Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals contested in Gainesville, Fla.

Simonton entered today’s racing action after a solid 5.612 elapsed time from day one of qualifying placed her provisionally in the number six position. The team lead by crew chief Randy Anderson, knew their car had potential to improve their Friday performance in the prime-time racing conditions of the final qualifying session early Saturday morning. The Kon Rodz team and Simonton rocketed down the Gainesville Raceway quarter-mile in 5.561 seconds, eclipsing the 260 mile per hour barrier for the first time in team history to officially place the second-year driver in the number five qualifying position heading into eliminations.

“That was one heck of a run,” noted Simonton, who currently lives in Brownsburg, Ind., when not working out of the Kon Rodz Racing Maple, Ont. headquarters. “We looked at the run data and felt our car had a bit more potential out of it for the second qualifying session yesterday. However, we had a bit of an issue getting our car to fire and had to skip Q-2. We knew today’s session held even better conditions and Randy proved it. That .56 was smooth and wicked fast. It’s so much fun to drive this Kon Rodz Monte Carlo right now.”

The Kon Rodz team entered eliminations with the choice of lanes over fellow NHRA Division Three racer Tony Bogolo from Hamilton, Ohio, who placed his 99’ Mustang TAFC in the number 12 position. At the flash of the green light, Bogolo was on his game with a stellar 0.024 reaction time, however the power of the Kon Rodz Racing TAFC caught him by half-track and Simonton hustled down the quarter-mile to record a conservative 5.650 elapsed time and her first career round win in a Top Alcohol Funny Car.

“I am so proud and happy for Cassie and the entire team after recording our first NHRA National Event round win today,” noted Spiro Kontos, the Canadian business man and team owner of the Kon Rodz Racing team. “We have such a passion for racing and have surrounded ourselves around professionals who help our team achieve our racing goals. For many people a round win might be a ho-hum event, but this is a very special day for us. I can’t begin to describe how proud I am of the team. We’ll see what tomorrow holds, but win-lose-or draw; this weekend has been an incredible beginning to our 2011 NHRA Season.”

To learn more about the Kon Rodz Racing team, please visit their website at http://www.konrodzracing.com. You can also follow the team on Facebook and Twitter @KonRodzracing.