Yas Drag Racing Festival to kick off on March 19
(EDITORS: Attached is a digital image of the Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragster team arriving at the Yas Drag Racing Centre. Additional images are available upon request.) News From Don Schumacher Racing and Yas Marina Circuit FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Ted Yerzyk, Don Schumacher Racing, yerzykt@shoeracing.com , (760) 207-9767, cell YAS DRAG RACING FESTIVAL TO KICK-OFF ON MARCH 19 Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Rod Fuller will pilot Yas Marina Circuit dragsters at first worldwide member NHRA track. ABU DHABI, UAE (March 18, 2010) Top Fuel dragsters are the fastest accelerating vehicles on the planet and in just a matter of hours Top Fuel racing will launch worldwide as the Yas Drag Festival, March 19-20, begins at the spectacular Yas Drag Racing Centre at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The two Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragsters, built and managed by Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) and driven by Tommy Johnson, Jr. and Rod Fuller, will highlight the two-day inaugural drag racing event that will feature more than 100 race cars and motorcycles, including Pro Mods. Yas Drag Centre is the first worldwide NHRA member facility. ³Youıre absolutely blown away by the facility, just the size of the place is awe-inspiring and the quality is over the top; itıs bigger than anything Iıve ever seen,² Johnson said. ³When it was first announced, I was thrilled to be able to come over here and show what drag racing at the Top Fuel level is all about, and to show this part of the world what real drag racing is. Itıs just an honor and a great experience to be one of the first ones down this amazing facility.² ³I never would have dreamed that something like this would have been built and built into a racing facility,² Fuller added. ³Itıs all first class and so modern. Itıs hard to describe. It really does give you goose bumps.² The partnership between DSR and the Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management (ADMM) was announced on January 16, 2010, but it was just 60 days earlier that the project began. Led by championship crew chief and DSR team manager Lee Beard, the two Yas Marina Circuit race crews assembled two entire Top Fuel operations in just two months. Every piece of the Yas Marina Top Fuel operation was brand new, including four Top Fuel dragster chassis and two Volvo transporters and trailers assembled by Competition Trailers. Following a successful test session at Palm Beach International Raceway in West Palm Beach, Fla. in late January, crew chief Rip Reynolds oversaw the transition of the race haulers to Hoegh Lines for a month-long journey from Baltimore to the port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, which is about 50 miles from Abu Dhabi. The two Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel teams pulled into the stunning facility on March 17 and just a few hours later the teams were parked next to a modern, air-conditioned hospitality villa that will accommodate 500 VIP guests during the inaugural race weekend. After setting up the race pits, the two Yas Marina Circuit Top Fuel dragsters, with race team leaders Reynolds (Fuller dragster) and Mike Domagala (Johnson, Jr. dragster) will make a few test laps before a private exhibition performance for ADMM officials on the evening of March 18. The teams then will make three runs per day during the March 19-20 Yas Drag Festival. ³It was a sigh of relief to see the trucks roll through the gate here at Yas Marina Circuit, but the excitement level immediately went up even higher,² Johnson said. ³You canıt describe what kind of destination this is going to be in the future and I canıt see why anybody wouldnıt want to come here as a worldwide travel destination. Yas Island is an amazing place. With the Yas Marina Circuit track, the hotel and Ferrari World, this is a place that people will flock to.² ³Thereıs a huge amount of excitement and now thereıs an extra sense of excitement knowing the two Yas Marina dragsters have arrived knowing and the people of the UAE are going to see something theyıve never seen before,² Fuller added. ³This entire region has really embraced drag racing and they want to learn the sport and one of my goals is to help develop drag racing at a competitive level here in the UAE.² Along with Beard, Reynolds and Domagala, DSR has amassed a strong tuning contingent that includes U.S. Army Racing (Tony Schumacher) crew chief and assistant crew chief Mike Green and Neal Strausbaugh and FRAM (Cory McClenathan) co-crew chiefs Todd Okuhara and Phil Shuler. Former Maple Grove Raceway general manager George Case is the GM of the Yas Drag Racing Centre and workers from Penhall Equipment and Freeburn Track Finishing aided in the track preparation. ³When we first got here we looked at the track surface and it was in fabulous shape; it needed a few minor tweaks and as the week progressed itıs a near perfect track surface,² Johnson said. ³Iım confident that we can run comparable numbers to what theyıre run in the United States in similar weather conditions. It is quite warm here already. Itıs that good a facility and theyıve done a great job of preparing the track.² Johnson is a nine-time NHRA winner and one of just 14 drivers in NHRA history to have won races in both the Top Fuel and Funny Car divisions. He also is a member of the exclusive Four Second and 300-MPH Clubs. Fuller has seven career Top Fuel wins and also has won races in both the Super Comp and Super Gas categories. He finished second in the NHRA Countdown to 1 Top Fuel standings in 2007. ³Tommy and I are friends and weıve had a great time here at the UAE this past week, but when we get in these two beautiful white and teal Top Fuel dragsters, the gloves come off,² Fuller joked. ³Iıve been down the track in street cars and havenıt lost yet and I want to keep that streak going this weekend against TJ.² -30-