Payne hits Vegas jackpot with big win in FireIce Pro Mod car

LAS VEGAS (Nov. 1) -- World champion drag racer Jay Payne claimed the final trophy of the Get Screened America Pro Mod Challenge season Sunday by driving his FireIce Chevrolet Camaro past No. 1 qualifier Brad Personett in the money round of the ninth annual Las Vegas NHRA Nationals.

"This was a fantastic win for us," Payne said. "I couldn't be happier with how my guys pulled together and gave me such a great racecar every round. It was a tough race and it seems like we had a big hitter in the other lane every round, but here we are with the trophy at the end of the day so we must have done something right."

This was the second Pro Mod win in a row for Payne, who also claimed the top prize at the recently-completed fourth annual Virginia NHRA Nationals, and his third of the year for new sponsor FireIce. He previously had won the Top Alcohol Funny Car trophy at the divisional race in Woodburn, Ore., in his FireIce Ford Mustang, a car that he wrecked earlier this weekend during time trials.

"After totaling our Mustang I was pretty down," said Payne, an 11-time divisional champion with 24 national event victories on his resume. "But this sure takes a lot of sting out of that feeling. I mean, what could be better than regrouping enough to win in our Pro Mod car, let alone winning our second race in a row. It's fantastic.

"Credit my wife Shelly for all that she does, Brad Anderson for making such awesome horsepower, and the rest of the crew -- Donnie Peterson, Andre Monarque, J.R. Clark, Scott Bertinotti -- for working their tails off for us. Most of all, I have my kids, Matty and Toby, here with me and that makes it extra special."

Payne hinted about a pending announcement with FireIce, which started supporting his operation in early May. FireIce is a non-toxic, environmentally-friendly fire suppression gel that firefighters add to water in pumper trucks, helicopters, fire planes, and handheld extinguishers to help put out fires much quicker than with water alone.

Aside from sponsoring Payne's racecars and saluting firefighters through its association with his race team, FireIce, a subsidiary of GelTech Solutions Inc., a publically-traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC), is a corporate partner to the Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which helps firefighters in need.

"We won another one for the firefighters!" Payne said with a broad smile. "I tell you, when we signed this deal with FireIce I never factored in the 1.1 million firefighters in this country that suddenly became our biggest fans. It's very special to give them another trophy. Plus, Michael Cordani, the CEO at GelTech, was here with us this weekend so he gets to be a part of the winner's circle. How cool is that?"

"I couldn't be more proud of Jay and the job his team did for us this weekend," Cordani said. "When they wrecked the other car Friday Jay came over and apologized to me. I told him not to worry about it because I knew he was just out there racing his heart out. I'm so happy that they turned right around and won in the Pro Mod car. This is an exciting day for our team and for everyone at FireIce and GelTech Solutions."

The next stop for the FireIce team will be the season-ending 45th annual Auto Club NHRA Finals, Nov. 12-15, at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif.

Payne also receives support from World Wide Emergency Services Inc., an internationally-recognized training and consulting company that has teamed up with GelTech Solutions to provide their expertise to the end users of FireIce.

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Contact: Geiger Media at 281-354-5769 or rob@go2geiger.com.

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