Mindy's Minute
Press Information: For Immediate Release Contact Information Mindy Stephens Ringers Gloves Public Relations 800.421.8454 _mindys@ringersgloves.com_ (mailto:mindys@ringersgloves.com) MINDY’S MINUTE Sprint Cars at Knoxville, NASCAR racing and NHRA too Moorpark, Calif. - (August 15, 2006) The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) visited the land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesota, and Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn., over the weekend for the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. All four professional categories saw Ringers teams in the Winner’s Circle across the board in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. First off in Pro Stock Motorcycle, Schumacher Racing’s Antron Brown met Steve Johnson and his Snap-on/Wyotech Suzuki at the line in finals. In just previous rounds before, Brown’s teammate, Angelle Sampey, was found five pounds light at the scales after her first round win over Ryan Schnitz. Her disqualification shook up the Pro Stock Motorcycle points, dropping her from second to fourth in points. But, her teammate Brown was able to pull through and redeem the name of the U.S. Army Suzuki team, beating Johnson 7.108/186.85 mph to 7.159/187.60 mph and his win raised him from fourth to the top of Pro Stock Motorcycle points heading into Memphis this weekend. Dave Connolly continues to blister the competition in Pro Stock action. Connolly took out KB Racing teammates in both the semifinal and final rounds; Anderson in semis and Line in finals. Connolly smoked Line at the Tree on a holeshot on his way to his fourth victory of the season, 6.743/204.17 to Line’s 6.737/205.22 mph run. Skoal Racing’s Tommy Johnson Jr. took on reigning POWERade Funny Car Champion Gary Scelzi on Sunday in Funny Car finals, as the raindrops start to lightly fall in Brainerd. T.J.’s 4.741/321.73 mph run to his second win of the season also set low E.T. in Funny Car for the event. After coming off a horrible Western Swing, Brandon Bernstein and his Bud King Racing team took their time off to regroup and come out swinging at Brainerd. Bernstein was looked at as the underdog heading into Top Fuel finals against the low qualifier Tony Schumacher, but he proved the skeptics wrong with his 4.510/329.34 mph run over Shoe, who smoked the tires early down track. In Top Alcohol Funny Car, Ringers racer Frank Manzo defeated Cy Chesterman and recorded the top speed in A-Fuel Funny Car for the weekend with a 5.625/259.71 mph pass. NASCAR Nextel Cup Series – AMD at the Glen – Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y. The Ringers team of Penske Racing South and drivers Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman qualified first and third, respectively, for the AMD at the Glen road course race on Sunday. However, Busch sweeping the Busch/Cup weekend quickly faded away as he went to enter the pits a lap too early. The costly mistake put him toward the back of the field and he was later caught up in a seven-car wreck. The No. 2 Miller Lite crew was able to repair the car, but Busch ended up taking the checkers in 19th. His teammate Ryan Newman on the other hand was able to take his third place starting position and use that to maintain a top-10 finish, even though he overshot his pit on a lap 21 pit stop. Newman almost didn’t have a top-10 finish thanks to Boris Said, who bumped him on the final lap, resulting in NASCAR originally scoring Newman in 31st. But after hours of review, Newman was finally scored in eighth place. NASCAR Busch Series – Zippo 200 – Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, N.Y. On Saturday, both Penske Racing South teammates also competed in the NASCAR Busch Series race, Kurt Busch in the No. 39 Penske Truck Rental Dodge and Newman in the No. 02 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. Newman’s ride only lasted 29 laps before his engine expired and parking him for the remainder of the race and handing him a 41st place finish. However, his Penske teammate Busch did some bumping and banging on the last lap with Robby Gordon to take home his second win in his six short starts in the Busch Series. Busch relished in his win with some celebratory grass angels. Other Ringers racers in the field included Paul Menard, 18th; Jason Leffler, 35th and Todd Kluever, 38th. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series –Toyota Tundra 200– Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, Tenn. The Ringers supporting team of Orleans Racing and driver Brendan Gaughan had an excellent run on Saturday in Nashville. After qualifying 14th, Gaughan squeaked his way through a last lap, multi-truck accident and brought his No. 77 Orleans Hotel Dodge home in fifth. Ringers team Billy Ballew Motorsports driver Kevin Grubb qualified in the 28th position, but finished the race two laps down in 24th place. Sprint Car Racing The finale for the Daytona 500 of sprint car racing took place on Saturday night during the 46th annual Super Clean Knoxville Nationals presented by the Midwest Ford Dealers. Three Ringers supporting racers competed in the A Feature, with one of them transferring from the B Feature to race in the highly recognized event. Shane Stewart finished second in an eventful B Feature on Saturday night. He used his second place transfer position to place himself into the A Feature where he went on to finish 17th. Tim Kaeding, possibly the hottest driver on the National Sprint Tour this season, was a heavy favorite heading into the event, but unfortunately he spun out during the race and failed to tame this ½-mile track at the Marion County Fairgrounds. TK crossed the double-checkers in 14th. Brian Paulus had the worst luck out of them all. Paulus and Stewart got together on the frontstretch, resulting in a red flag and Paulus’ night being ended and being scored in 23rd place. On Monday night, the NST traveled to McCool Junction, Neb. and Junction Motor Speedway for the first stop on their way out to the Western Swing. While TK didn’t have the best of luck at Knoxville, he was able to regroup and work back into his usual winning ways, when he took the lead away from Danny Lasoski, who caused quite the controversy during the B Feature at Knoxville, on lap 15 and held onto it for the remaining 15 laps, recording his 12th win of the season. Other Ringers notables in the field were Shane Stewart, seventh; King of California Jonathan Allard, 11th and Brian Paulus, 22nd. About Ringers Gloves Ringers Gloves, Official Gloves of NHRA and title sponsor for the Ringers Gloves Pro Bike Battle, is a full-line manufacturer of high-end, task specific gloves, SFI 3.3/1, 3.3/10, 3.3/20 racing gloves, UnderX protective undergarments and rdigs pit boots. Keep up with your favorite Ringers racers in ‘06 by logging onto _www.ringersgloves.com_ (http://www.ringersgloves.com/) for photos and highlights! Mindy Stephens Public Relations/Marketing Ringers Gloves RingersIndy@aol.com _www.ringersgloves.com_ (http://www.ringersgloves.com/)