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Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric Pontiac GXP's 6.724-second Effort Holds Up LAS VEGAS, April 12, 2008 -- Forget all this malarkey about what happens in Las Vegas stays in Vegas stuff. This is too big to keep secret: Longtime NHRA Pro Stock driver Kenny Koretsky will begin Sunday eliminations in the No. 1 position for the first time in his career The memorable moment comes in the SummitRacing.com Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and follows an outstanding two days of qualifying, for the Richboro, Pa.-based team. The veteran driver/entrepreneur had the quickest run on Friday -- his best of 6.724 seconds -- and a strong 6.726 seconds Saturday, so this accomplishment was no fluke. With stellar tuning from crew chief Eddie Guarnaccia and good work from the Nitro Fish/Indicom Electric crew, Koretsky withstood strong challenges Saturday from all the series front-runners -- Jason Line, Kurt Johnson, Ron Krisher, Allen Johnson, Warren Johnson, Greg Anderson and Jeg Coughlin. Line came closest and was second at 6.725 seconds, followed by Kurt Johnson and Krisher at 6.726. "It feels great," said Koretsky. "We needed that. We have a lot of NHRA Nitro Fish fans who want to see us win a race (another milestone that has eluded Koretsky). We got a great reception from the fans when we came back (down the return road). They gave us a standing ovation and that means a lot." Koretsky begins the quest for his first national event victory Sunday. His first-round foe is Matt Hartford (16th, 6.775 seconds, 203.52 mph). "It's hard to be disappointed with anything this weekend," said Guarnaccia. "It was terrific. Jerry Bickel built us a good car and Tom Hammonds and Jimmy Oliver gave us a good motor to race with. And Kenny did an excellent job driving." "This is a tough class," added Koretsky. "There were 22 cars here and we're No. 1. It's unbelievable." Koretsky fell short of make four consecutive good runs and took full blame for his aborted final run. "We were trying to get the car ready for eliminations," he said, "and we were trying to get my foot set up for the clutch pedal because in Houston I had some problems and wasn't able to cut a light in the first round. We were all messed up in the clutch department. We tried something here and it worked, I cut a good light -- .048-seconds -- but I wasn't paying attention and forgot to put it in second gear. So we can do that Sunday. "It has been a long time coming, more than 200 races, and it's really a great experience, especially doing it here in Las Vegas." |
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NHRA CRASH IN DALLAS: Kenny Koretsky - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVZuwSgG1hw |
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On the Run with Kenny Koretsky driver of the Nitro Fish Wear Dodge Stratus Pro Stocker How was the first half of my NHRA POWERade season? It has been a lot of fun and at the same time very frustrating. It was exciting for me to watch them race at the K&N Filters SuperNationals in Englishtown last month - it's the only race at which I've seen them - and we will compete at six more NHRA events before the season is over. I've always wanted to own a Top Fuel team, but I really wasn't interested in creating one. When the opportunity to own a top-caliber race team with a prominent sponsor like Werner Enterprises and great associate sponsors such as Golden Eagle 104, Motel 6, Royal Purple, Matco Tools, and Popular Mechanics came up, I couldn't refuse it. My goal is to win NHRA national events before I retire from the sport, and I'll take them either as a driver or an owner. clay and I are looking forward to celebrating our first NHRA victory. Scoring a win has been the hardest thing for me to do. I don't know why I haven't been able to do it yet, and it's frustrating. A national events before I retire from the sport, and I'll take them either as a driver or an owner. clay and I are looking forward to celebrating our first NHRA victory. Scoring a win has been the hardest thing for me to do. I don't know why I haven't been able to do it yet, and it's frustrating. I now have two IHRA wins as an owner, and clay and the team won a special eighth-mile race over the Fourth of July weekend and earned $106,000, the largest Top Fuel payout in history. Now that impressed me. This is one of the best teams in Top Fuel, and I definitely want clay, Mike, and the crew to run as many NHRA races this year as their busy schedule permits. One of the six NHRA races we've added to the schedule is the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, which is close to clay's hometown of Drummonds, Tenn. The team is based in Drummonds, and most of the crew is from there. On
the Pro Stock side of things, we're halfway through the season, and I
still haven't won a round, but it's not for lack My crew chief and best friend Eddie Guarnaccia has worked really hard to get our Nitro Fish Wear Dodge running competitively. It seems like on the times that it has run well, we've faced someone who just flat outran us. Other times, we've struggled in qualifying and wound up racing one of the top qualifiers in the first round. That's not a good way to begin eliminations, either. The good news is that Larry Morgan's engine guys went through our engine after the Madison race and found a problem, and after fixing it and testing it on the dyno, it showed a lot more power. But that's just my luck. I've decided not to drive in Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma because of a nagging pain in my shoulder and upper back. To cure it, I need to take a break and let my body heal. Eddie put together a short list of drivers who could drive the car, and I decided to go with experience and chose Mike Thomas, who got me back into Pro Stock racing four years ago. I'll be at the races supporting them. I hope Eddie and Mike can turn things around in the next three races, and I'll come back to drive a car that can win rounds. The car needs to run fast enough to qualify in the top half of the field. If we do that and get some of that racing luck that's been missing, we should finish strong. Winning as a driver would be my ultimate experience; it's what all of us at Nitro Fish Wear want. Last year, I reached my first final round in Indianapolis, where I raced Greg Anderson. I hope my second comes soon. I want to thank all of the fans who have asked about my wife Karen and her battle with breast cancer. I am happy to report that she is doing very well. She's keeping extremely busy helping our daughter Taylor with her dancing career and looking after our son KyIe to make sure he has all of the parts and pieces that he needs for the Jr. Drag Racing League Finals at Bristol Dragway. He's representing New Jersey's Atco Raceway. Copyright
National Hot Rod Association Jul 22, 2005 |
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