Capitol Auto Group Racing News, October 16, 2005

Capitol Car a Big Hit at Bauman Farms Pumpkin Patch (10/15/2005)
While Bauman Farms seems like an unlikely place to display a dragster, it actually generated more interest there than anywhere else the car was displayed at all year. It was also photographed more at Bauman Farms than any where else because it was an instant photo of for parents armed with cameras. All day we had a steady line of kids wanting to sit in the car, Besides the dragster there were also hot air balloons as well as all the rest of the attractions that have made Bauman Farms a Fall favorite for thousands of Oregon families. Thanks to Brent Busch, Brent Sanford, Miranda and Acacia for all of there help today as it was truly needed!

Rumor: TopSportsman to be added to NHRA 6 Schedule (10/15/2005)
Speedzone is reporting that a Top Sportsman class will likely be added next season. Top Sportsman is the door slammer version of Top Comp. Apparently a sponsor has stepped up and is willing to back the new class which is primarily run in the east. If true, this will relieve the Top Comp field somewhat making the bump a little more manageable.

Capitol Racing Featured o n Dan Judy'sAuto Tech Talk (10/06/2005)
Rich Bailey was this week's featured guest on Auto Tech Talk with Dan Judy. Topics covered during the hour long program included a recap of this season, next year's move to blown alcohol, Cap Racing's community involvement, and marketing program. This week's topic interested Dave Wallery enough to call in.

Capitol Extends Sponsorship (9/28/2005)
Capitol Auto Group has renewed their title sponsorship agreement with Rich Bailey of ProMotion Motorsports through the 2006 season. Bailey who has represented the company since 1999 is pleased that Capitol has chose his race car as a venue to once again showcase their company. "Each year we do everything possible to spread the word that Capitol is the best, most friendly place to buy a new or used car. And year after year that effort pays off." Bailey said.

"The benefit Capitol gets as our title sponsor is enormous. The Capitol car is everywhere and people have come to recognize it. The car is an icon at the track, at car shows, and a staple at community events where you would not expect to see a dragster." Bailey said. In addition, Bailey was one of the people responsible for the successful "Night of Fire" benefit in June.

While the team struggled off an on this season, Bailey made up any shortcomings in spades with good exposure and public relations work. The Capitol car was featured nationally on Competition Plus as well as locally in a feature cover story in the Statesman Journal Newspaper. In addition, Capitol Racing was on cable television, NHRA.com, Speedzone, and Drag Racing Online. The team's web site received over 18,000 hits in both April and May.

"I love representing Capitol as it's the people that work there that make it such a good company to do business with. We always hear great things about Capitol from their customers every time the car is out in public. I want to especially thank Scott and Carrie Casebeer, Mike Long and Brian Schindler for allowing me the opportunity to represent them once again.

Bailey Teams Up With Mendoza and Says "So Long" to Fuel Injection (9/26/2005)
In response to a troubling season, Rich Bailey has decided to team up with Art Mendoza to create a new racing program for the 2006 season. While the announcement appears to have come out of no where, Bailey has been considering the move for some time. "It's no secrete that we've had an up and down year. It was especially evident at the Fall Classic that we needed to go a different direction. Art had offered to bring his blown alcohol engine to the table this past July. While I appreciated the offer I didn't want to give up on our injected engine just yet. Art made the offer again at the Fall Classic and now the timing is perfect to accept the offer and end the year on a high note." Bailey Said.

"I want to thank Dave Strauss for all of his help and support this year. He built us a great engine but lately it's become apparent that in Top Comp you need to run either a blower or nitrous just to qualify at the division level. I've read about dragsters similar to ours for sale and have talked to racers who have raced injected alcohol and 7.70's are usually all they can squeeze out of them. Everyone says they will go faster, so we gave it another try. Having said that, I've yet to see a Chevy injected car dip into the 7.50's. We got ours into the 7.60's but couldn't string enough good runs together to be consistent. Our crew headed by Scott Cooke also did a great job and had to handle a lot of variables we didn't plan on. I expect we'll experience a few more, but I also understand that a blown alcohol combination is easier to tune, and not to hard on parts as long as your very conservative and try not to set the world on fire. I hope we can keep those guys involved as I owe them a good year." Bailey Said.

Bailey's best performance of late was a semi-final finish in Yakama last month at their "Night of Fire" event where he also qualified second for the 8 car Top Gun field. Since racing an injected alcohol car, Bailey had his best year in 2000, when he finished 9th in NHRA division points out of 83 cars.

Mendoza, a contractor by trade, has years of experience with blown alcohol cars but never had time to race a full schedule. Ironically, he bought Bailey's original Capitol car and also owns two other race cars, Mendoza hopes that in partnering with Bailey's established team, he will have more time to be involved in the sport than in past years.

Dragster Displayed at GI Joes (09/26/05)
The Capitol car was on display in front of GI Joe's to the delight of many unsuspecting shoppers who stopped in to purchase everything from hunting supplies to concert tickets. Shoppers who took a few minutes to look at the car enjoyed the experience. Bailey signed posters and let the kids sit in the car. The car was on display to promote Royal Purple Motor Oil. The Capitol car was also at Image Action Wear located just up the street on September 10th.

My Indy Top Fuel Adventure (09/09/2005
I just returned from Indy and what a great time I had hanging with the Menard's/MTS team! It was my first trip to Indianapolis and there were signs of the "Big Go" everywhere. The minute I flew in I saw the Brute Funny car sitting in the lobby of the terminal. There were even Bud Top Fuel billboards along the freeway. Driving to the hotel in the team van, I couldn't believe where I was as we passed an exit to Chicago. At the hotel there were Bud racing posters all over the place. That Bernstien is one hell of a promoter. The only bad things that happened was a botched wake up call by the front desk and a scooter that ran out of gas! The team ate like kings as car owner Dexter Tuttle loves to BBQ! I offered to cook but I'm glad he wanted to do it because the man knows how to BBQ. He also arranged a plush hospitality trailer that was first class. It was like having all the comforts from home at the track. And the racing? It was intense as over 26 of the fastest Top Fuel dragsters on the planet were fighting to get into the 16 car field.

For our team, driver Jack Beckman nailed a 4.70 ET right out of the box to qualify eleventh.  But by Sunday, we were precariously in the sixteenth position after the third engine let go, leaving the team one last session to improve our position and stay in the show.  Since we hurt three engines, crew chief Jimmy Walsh made a wise decision and skipped the final session even though we were on the bump with eleven cars still battling to get in.  

While the crew scrambled to find the cause of the engine failiers, some of us walked up to the starting line to see if any of the eleven cars not yet in the show would bump us out. We dodged the bullet as all eleven unqualified cars made a qualifying attempt but none of them ran quicker than 4.70 which would have forced us out.  Meanwhile, the crew found the problem. A slight crack in the fuel system was leaning out the engine which caused all the engine damage at the middle of the race track. On race day, we faced top qualifier Tony Schumacher in the first round. Our team had no choice but to give the car an aggressive tune up and hope the track would hold it. Unfortunately, everyone in the left lane smoked the tires and lost traction right off the starting line. Our car car was no exception as Schumacher took the win. To see our team's Indy Diary complete with photos taken by yours truly, go to www.dragracingonline.com

Cap Racing Goes Rounds at Night of Fire Race! (08/28/05)
The Capitol team fared well at the Night of Fire race held at Yakama's Renegade Raceway and sponsored by Snap On Tools. The event was a one night race held August 27th. I like these one night shows and wish we had more of them on our schedule. They are inexpensive and fun!

The event was worth the trip over the mountains as not only did the car run fairly well in the high altitude but it was a packed house with lots of spectators. We were also impressed with the friendly track staff who rolled out the red carpet for us. Even track owner Tony Adams stopped by to welcome us and stated that he was surprised to see us roll through the gates after a two year absence. We use to race there when they hosted an NHRA race and it's always been one of my favorite tracks. To top it off, the concession stand even cooked up our steaks when we ran out of charcoal!

Unfortunately, the race was marred by a front engine drugstore that went off the end of the track. There was also a lengthy oil down, and to top it off a motorcycle stunt team left their mark with antifreeze all over the starting line area! Other than that it was a great race,

We qualified second for the Top Gun class with a 7.83 and went all the way to the semi-finals when I ran right on my dial-in but took a snooze at the tree and lost a real close one at the finish line. It was a real bummer as I gave the race away, but being that it was dark I didn't want to get to aggressive and red light.

Next stop for me is Indy next weekend for the US Nationals. You can see daily reports from the Menard's Top Fuel team (which is who I'll be working for) on www.dragracingonline.com begining on Thursday. I'll also write about my experience when I get back next week!

We are based in Salem Oregon and strive to be one of the most fan-friendly racing teams in the Northwest. We invite you to stop by our pit and meet the team. We compete in the exciting TopComp class which are staged at NHRA Northwest and Southwest regional events. We primarily race in Oregon, Washington and Canada. In 2005, we are planning to expand our schedule to include new stops in Portland, Boise and Fallon NV.

Our mission is to race hard and serve our sponsors by maintaining a strong marketing program. We also are involved in several community-based programs including the Cub Scouts, Race Against Drugs, and the Crew for a Day program, where we host children with cancer for a day at the races. Please see our contact page for further information. Contact us at: capitolracing@hotmail.com

			Vince Ventura, Branch Manager 888-446-3566