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| Aug1704__NORAD RACING PRESS RELEASE,
Cars To Debut At SEMA
D NORAD, the sport-compact racing RandD company formed by Christian Rado and Bob Norwood announced today that two more cars would be added to the NORAD stable in the near future. With the build and testing phase of the Pro-FWD Celica nearing its end two more teams have signed up for the NORAD engine development program. "We are very excited to make this announcement." Rado commented. "With the addition of the two new cars this brings the total to three official NORAD supported entrants. We will all operate our teams independently with separate sponsors and crews but we will be sharing RandD costs and pooling many of our resources." The new additions to the stable are TandT Motorsports led by Dennis and Steve Topletz with their Toyota Celica Modified-class car and Team Dragshotz led by sport-compact photojournalist Chris Harrington with a Scion TC Hot-Rod car. The T' Celica is powered by the same 3RZ four-cylinder engine that has been under development for Rado's Pro-FWD Celica and has a Bruno automatic transmission. Steve Topletz gave us the details: We have been working on this project for most of '04. The car features a Mike Duffey chassis and is as good as it gets. Duffey is a long-time chassis builder with a great reputation so we are confident that the car will be a player. We decided to use the NORAD 3RZ because of the weight-break given to the four-cylinder cars and the fact that we wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary. Steve is the driver of the TandT Ford Mustang that currently competes in the NMRA championships. Brother Dennis is also a long-time racer and is looking forward to competing in the sport-compact drag racing world. "We had been looking for a new venue and the sport-compact drag racing scene impressed us with its enthusiasm and drive. We purchased the Celica from Rado as a rolling chassis and then immediately sent it to Duffey to be re-worked and finished off. The car is only a few weeks away from its first tests and we are confident that we have a potentially winning team." The Dragshotz Hot-Rod car is the latest addition to the NORAD family. Chris Harrington explained how it came about: "I have talked about fielding a car for some time but it takes a lot of money, time and expertise to run a serious effort at this level. " He explained. "I started talking to some potential sponsors last year and have finally secured a large part of the financing, although we are still working on securing more. The new Scion TC got me really excited, I see it as the basis for a great Hot-Rod racecar and Scion stepped up with a car to make the project a reality. We are waiting for the car to arrive and work will commence as quickly as possible. The Dragshotz Scion Hot-Rod will be a contender. We will be running a de-stroked version of the NORAD 3RZ and we have a unique new transmission under development that should give us a bulletproof driveline. " Bob Norwood and Tony Palo are heading up the construction and development of the Scion Hot-Rod and the team is scheduled to be testing in the opening months of 2005. "I am really looking forward to this one." Palo said. "We are going to put all we have learned about the Hot-Rod cars over the years into this along with a few radical new ideas that should enable us to run with any of the current entries." Harrington remained secretive about the driver of the new car. "Negotiations are taking place right now and I don 't want to give anything away at this stage. Rest assured, you will be surprised when we make an announcement at SEMA. in November." Contacts: www.dragshotz.com www.TT-Motorsports.com www.worldracing.com www.scion.com Dragshotz Sport Compact Photography Editorial content and PR 1222 Commerce Street #1705 Dallas Texas 75202 214-752-0720 (Office) 214-336-3044 (Cell) |
