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PENSKE RACING SHOCKS TO SPONSOR RICKIE JONES PRO NITROUS CAR AT PENSKE INAUGURAL NORTHEAST DRAGS THIS WEEKEND
Reading, PA (Thursday, May 5, 2011) The Quarter-Max® Racing Pro Nitrous team announced that Penske Racing Shocks (of Reading, Pa) will play the role of the team’ s major sponsor at this weekend’ s ADRL Penske Inaugural Northeast Drags held at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA.
Penske representative Adam Lambert says – “ We are very excited to be working with the Quarter-Max team, they have helped our drag race program drastically over the years. They were one of the first teams to give us an opportunity to show the quality and repeatablity of Penske shocks. We are constantly working to make our product better, and with the help of
Rick Jones and his team we have opened many eyes to what a quality suspension can do on the race track. “ Rickie Jones – “ I am very excited to have Penske Racing Shocks on board as our major sponsor for the race this weekend. For several years now our team has done a lot of testing and has worked very closely with Penske in the development of their drag shock program.
This year our trailer is equipped with a shock dyno and serves as the home base for Penske Racing Shocks at all of the ADRL events. We are stocked full of shock and strut parts and can provide full shock dyno/rebuild services to all the racers with Penske shock representative Adam Lambert working out of our trailer and attending every race this year. I have been really looking forward to visiting the Penske headquarters on Thursday with their shop just a few miles from the track in Maple Grove.
With the combination of the great track surface at Maple Grove, and the cool weather conditions in the forecast, I predict that we will see the records fall in all the classes this weekend.”
Quarter-Max® Racing would like to give special thanks to partners: Bailey Logistics, Bailey Trucking, Goodridge Hose and Fittings, Lucas Oil, Penske Racing Shocks, RacingJunk.com, Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, Summit Racing Equipment, Strange Engineering, RJ Race Cars, and Quarter-Max Chassis & Racing Components. For more information about team Quarter-Max® Racing visit www.quartermax.com
Jenkins and Jones 1, 2 at the Shakedown
Palm Beach International Raceway was host to 2011’ s Shakedown at Palm Beach, a premier showcase for doorslammer racing. Its main attraction of course is Pro Modified. This race was contested over the 1/8 mile course in which both Rickie Jones and Shannon Jenkins running Cynergy Composites Ultra light 69 Camaro’ s built by RJ Race Cars Inc. ruled the roost. Pro Nitrous rookie Rickie Jones took his Cynergy Camaro bodied to the top during qualifying with a 3.84 @ 195 Mph. Veteran Jenkins also in a RJ Race Cars built Cynergy bodied 69 Camaro Ultra Light followed close behind.
RICKIE JONES JOINING PRO NITROUS RANKS
As the son of professional chassis builder Rick Jones, Jones literally grew up in the Pro Stock arena, most recently competing as a driver in the elite NHRA division. He plans, however, on mounting an ADRL Pro Nitrous effort next season and looks forward to learning all about the properties and mysteries of nitrous oxide, the absolutely verboten power booster to the naturally aspirated Pro Stock crowd.
“ I think it’ s a really cool class,” the 23-year-old driver says of Pro Nitrous. “ I mean the cars are really fast, they’ re lightweight and it’ s just really fun to watch. It’ s got to be fun on the inside, going that fast with all that power. The last couple of ADRL races I got to drive Mark Martino’ s mountain-motor Pro Stock car and even though it was only eighth-mile (racing), I could feel that car pulling harder than what I’ ve driven before and it showed me a little, I think, about what the Pro Mod car could be like.”
Practical business concerns prompted the switch, too, the elder Jones explained.
“ We are looking to do this as a means of building new Pro Modified cars,” he says. “ I feel once we race the class and begin to build cars for this style of racing, we’ ll be able to build a better car for our customers. It’ s something new and exciting for us.”
Though well known for providing Pro Stock rides to the likes of Warren Johnson, Bruce Allen, Greg Anderson and Allen Johnson over the years, RJ Race Cars is no stranger to Pro Mod construction either, having built cars for Scotty Cannon and Jason Scruggs in the 1990s and more recently the speed record-holding ’ 68 Camaro of NHRA Pro Mod star Brad Personett.
What’ s different this time, though, is the freedom provided by the ADRL’ s minimal rule book for its Pro Nitrous, Pro Extreme and Outlaw 10.5 doorslammer classes.
“ In building these cars it’ s fun to do a lot of new design work and incorporate lightweight components,” Jones says. “ It’ s fun for us to innovate and my dad and everybody here at the shop have been working really hard to try and get something new.”
The first of the new cars heading out of the RJ shop in Galesburg, Illinois, will be a ’ 69 Camaro destined for the hands of Pro Nitrous legend Shannon Jenkins. A similar car has already been started for Jones, too, and he says he hopes to be out testing in it before the year is over. Both cars will run with Reher-Morrison powerplants and Speedtech Nitrous under their hoods.
“ I’ m excited to learn about nitrous and how all that works because us Pro Stock guys are pretty much dumb about all that kind of stuff. I’ ve already had some conversations with Shannon and David about the plumbing and technology and how things are done and I just find it all to be really cool and interesting,” he says. “ And over there you can also run fuel injection if you want and I’ m kind of interested in that, too.”
Jones says a long-standing professional relationship between his father and Reher should be nothing but a plus, as well.
“ My dad has known David for a long time when they used to race NHRA Pro Stock with Bruce Allen and we built cars for them and won races and did very well while at the same time my dad was racing Pro Stock Trucks and we were using engines from them. So it’ s been a little while since we’ ve worked together, but when we did in the past everything was very good,” he explained.
“ They (R-M) are very competitive and hopefully we’ ll be able to come out and have a good starting point. David is a real stand-up guy and he builds some really great engines for Shannon and Mike Castellana and a lot of the other Pro Nitrous cars, so we’ re very confident in that aspect.”
Jones will also be paired with team co-owner and sponsor Monty Bailey of Bailey Trucking as well as the advantage of bringing longtime sponsors Lucas Oil, Strange Engineering, Summit Racing Equipment and RacingJunk.com along for the ride into unexplored territory.
Jones Holeshots His Way to Second Career Final at Atlanta
Jeg Coughlin winning his 50th career Pro Stock event was important, but it was who he beat in the final that brought back some interesting memories.
Coughlin, in his early years of racing Pro Stock, was befriended by a junior dragster driver seeking an opportunity to “ hit the tree” . For those not familiar with the pit side terminology, to “ hit the tree” in the pits means to square off on a portable practice tree.Sunday the kid was at the ropes again, albeit in a different situation.
The eleven year old kid was none other than Rickie Jones, the driver with whom Jeg met in the final round of the NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.
Jones, who will celebrate his 23 birthday Monday, nearly got a great early present and impressed everyone by reaching the final, just the second of his career, his first was in Las Vegas last fall.
Jones earned his keep and then some. Jones was lethal on the starting line using lightning-quick reflexes to get the best of points leader and defending series champ Mike Edwards on a holeshot in round one, 6.69 to 6.64, after a stunning .001 light. Jones advanced on 3-time titlist Greg Anderson on a 6.69 to 6.66 holeshot win in round two, and Johnny Gray in the semis, en route to Coughlin in the final.
Jones lost on horsepower against Coughlin as they left the starting line almost dead even, but was out ran by Jeg. 6.659 to 6.686. Jones will be back at the ropes again thanks to a newfound package of performance.
“ Dad really has this new chassis working well,” said Jones of his father Rick, who owns RJ Race Cars in Galesburg, Ill., and co-owns the team with Monty Bailey.“ We came out with it last summer and now we are really showing what it is capable of. We have consistantly been in the top one to four of sixty-foot times every session, all season long.”
This season Jones entered the season with sponsorship from Elite Performance, the supplier of his engines. The Elite Performance engine shop, headed by Jim Oliver, has made significant horsepower gains prior to the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.
“ Beginning of the season we used to struggle to qualify but now we are in the middle of the pack,” Jones said. "It has shown in St. Louis and in Atlanta. This is not bad for a team who moved into the shop a month and a half ago and an engine program which began in December.”
Beating Edwards set the tone for Sunday’ s incredible performance.
“ When you can beat a driver like Mike Edwards on a hole shot, what can you say?” Jones said. “ That was unbelievable and exciting. I had to be almost perfect to beat him because I knew the odds were against me going into the race, and I had to be up on the wheel. It just goes to show how tough this class is.”
“ I always like racing Mike because he brings out the best in me,” Jones said.
Ironically, Jones beat Edwards in 2008 for his first career Pro Stock round win. Sunday’ s win over Anderson marked his first in head-to-head competition victory over the Summit Racing driver.
A day before his 23rd birthday, Jones came into his own.
“ He told me for years he was coming for me,” Coughlin revealed. “ To see his heritage in this sport and see what he’ s become … that’ s pretty special.”
Written by Bobby Bennett, Photo by Roger Richards Monday, 17 May 2010
