Tom Bayer Fontana Preview

Bayer ready for Fontana

FONTANA, Calif. -- Tom Bayer Racing, Steve & Patti Federlin and Toyo Tires made their Top Alcohol Dragster debut at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where they qualified for both the NHRASummitRacing. com Nationals and the NHRA-Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event the following weekend. To cap off two very successful weekends of racing, the Toyo Tires team was selected "Best Appearing Crew" of the Pacific Divisional event, a race that attracted over 760 race teams from throughout the U.S. and Canada.

NHRA-Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series 2006 Pacific Division Super Comp and Super Gas Series Champion Thomas Bayer made his debut in the premier NHRA Sportsman class by qualifying for the NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals (April 12-15, 2007) with a 5.63 second, 217.21 mph pass, and entered the 16-car eliminator as the thirteenth qualifier. In round one, Bayer matched up with Duane Shields-currently the second best Top Alcohol Dragster in the country and the TAD points leader in the Pacific Division-but lost as the Toyo Tires dragster lost as it smoked the tires off the starting line.

The Toyo Tires team performance improved dramatically at the Las Vegas Pacific Division series event (April 20-22, 2007) as Bayer qualified fourth with a 5.393 seconds, 263.00 mph, about 3.5 seconds quicker and 100 mph faster than Bayer ran with his Lucas Oil/Toyo Tires Super Comp entry. Fifteen teams entered the qualified 8-car Top Alcohol Dragster eliminator, with Shields qualifying number one with a 5.281 second timing.

In the first round of eliminations, Team Toyo came up .017 seconds short of its first TAD round win, as Scott Murray of Winnipeg, Canada took the round win at 5.464 seconds, 261.88 mph to Bayer's second best of 5.480, 251.81. Joey Severance of Spanaway, Wash., won his second straight event at the speedway, defeating Duane Shields in the final round.

The team was very pleased with its initial outings at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and looks forward to competing at its home track, Auto Club Dragway at California Speedway located in Fontana, Calif., on May 4-6. Bayer claims the Toyo Tires dragster will have a new and improved paint look at this event.

Toyo Tires Race Special: Toyo Tires is offering for a limited time two drag race tires for the price of one. The tire offer is for Super Class cars including Super Street, Super Gas, and Super Comp.


Next Event:
NHRA-Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
Auto Club Dragway at California Speedway, Fontana, Calif.
Qualifying for Top Alcohol Dragster/Funny Car:
Friday 3 pm, Saturday qualifying at noon and 4 pm
Eliminations: Sunday Eliminations begin at noon

Tom Bayer Racing Team Facts:
--Currently #5 in National Super Gas points
--Currently #3 in NHRA Division 6 Top Alcohol Dragster points
--2007 NHRA Lucas Oil Super Gas Champion at Phoenix, Ariz. (March 2007)
--2006 NHRA-Lucas Oil Pacific Division Super Gas Champion
--2006 NHRA-Lucas Oil Pacific Division Super Comp Champion
--2006 Won Super Gas & Super Comp at Woodburn, Ore., NHRA-LODRS event
--2004 NHRA Auto Club Finals Super Comp Champion
--2004 Lucas Oil Super Comp Association Series Champion.

courtesy Bob Johnson