FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kevin Macvaugh
Bullish Racing Communications
(201) 342-8374
pr@bullishmotorracing.com
BULLISH RACING EDGES BNB IN FIRST EVER PRO IMPORT VS. PRO STOCK SHOWDOWN
ENGLISHTOWN, New Jersey (July 5, 2005) – The Fourth of July firecrackers were not scheduled for another 24 hours but Bullish Racing’s Ara Arslanian and BNB Racing’s Bob Benza had their own ideas at the ninth annual BFGoodrich Tires Summer Sport Compact Slam event. The two racers hooked up for the showdown of the decade as the top flight doorslammers from the import and domestic camps faced off on the tarmac of the Raceway Park 1,320.
Following a prolonged, classic staging battle that was finally ended when the starter had both cars restage, the green lights for the last race of the day finally dropped. Bullish team owner and driver Ara Arslanian drove through tire shake and pedaled his way through a crowd-pleasing 6.89/209 come-from-behind finish to edge out Benza, who coasted through the traps after having problems near the top end of the track, in the finale of the 3-race match up.
“I think we finally showed everybody why we’ve been looking for a match up like this for years”, said Arslanian. “I could see everybody in the stands on their feet and cheering from the car. We had an unbelievable reception from the fans and we’re glad to have delivered an exciting show for them in this first-of-its-kind match race.”
Facilitated by Raceway Park and their Events Director, Javier Ortega, the best-2-of-3 match race series was designed to be a fun, but serious attempt at settling whether or not “technology is the replacement for displacement”. While the meeting between Arslanian’s twin turbocharged 3.4L Inline 6 Toyota Solara and Benza’s naturally aspirated 500 cubic inch V8 produced an exciting, on your feet finale for the last race of the day, both teams initially struggled through mechanical and setup issues for the first two rounds. The Bullish team was especially racked by mechanical challenges. In the first race of the match series, Arslanian’s Solara slowed after the 60 foot mark with transmission difficulties. Benza’s team fought setup issues and also had to get out of their first run. In the second race, Benza’s Chevy again coasted through the traps after having mid-track trouble while Arslanian’s Toyota pulled to a complete stop at about the 1,000 foot mark after violent tire shook intercooler piping loose.
“I would like to thank Raceway Park, Javier Ortega, and Bob Benza for making this match race happen. There was no championship line, no big money purse on the line, just bragging rights – this is drag racing at its purest. Bob has a first class operation and appreciate the personal time they sacrificed to come out to race me.”
As expected, the match race has generated a lot of debate on and off line in the renewed import vs. domestic, technology vs. displacement rivalries. In fact, emails from both import fans and domestic supporters flooded the team’s email box before and after the match race. Bob Benza’s BNB Racing Chevy Cobalt is powered by a Tom Martino-built 500 cubic inch, 1,250 hp naturally aspirated V-8. In only four NHRA POWERade outings, the car has already run a best 6.810/204.82 at the recent 2005 Englishtown K&N Filter Nationals – near Benza’s career best ET mark of 6.76/205. Arslanian’s familiar Toyota Solara is powered by twin Turbonetics turbos, feeding a 3.4 L HKS Stroker 2JZ Inline-6 to the tune of 1,650 hp. While Arslanian is the first to acknowledge that the import and domestic counterparts are not exactly comparisons of the apples to apples order, he still believes that closely matched main specs like chassis and weight ensure plenty of fan interest in both camps.
“We’ve already heard a lot of rumbling in the domestic and import drag forums, which is great for everybody. Racing is ultimately entertainment for the fans, and while you could argue from now until the sun burns out about how fair or unfair matchups like these are, you can’t argue that 20,000 cheering fans is something bad for drag racing – domestic or sport compact. I’ve always said that I’ll race anybody from the Pro Stock camp, from WJ on down – Bob Benza and his Pro Stock-caliber team happened to be the first one to graciously accept. Hopefully, this will be the first of many more import-domestic match races.”
More info about the BFGoodrich Tires Summer Sport Compact Slam can be found at www.racewaypark.com.
Editor’s Note: Members of the media interested in attending the event are encouraged to contact Kevin Macvaugh, Bullish Motor Racing, (201) 342-8374 or Seth Rubin, Alan Taylor Communications, (212) 714-1280.
About Bullish Motor Racing
Bullish Motor Racing, based in Hackensack, New Jersey, is a premier professional sport compact drag racing team competing in both the NHRA and NDRA sport compact drag racing series. Owner/driver Ara Arslanian competes in a tube-framed Toyota Solara powered by a 1,600 horsepower production-based, turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 engine. In the past three years, the team has amassed an unprecedented 4 championships with their third consecutive NDRA Championship coming last year. In addition to the national titles, the team also currently holds and has held quarter mile ET and MPH world records in the NHRA and the NDRA, as well as numerous track records. www.bullishmotorracing.com
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