Funny Car driver Chris King has been building his nitro program with an attention to detail that would make Bill Bader Jr., second generation owner of Summit Motorsports Park, proud. Known as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Racetrack\u201d the host facility for this weekend\u2019s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals presents one of the most professional and family friendly motorsports events in the country and King along with his Howards Cams\/Competition Products Dodge Charger Funny Car team is looking forward to racing there for the first time. The event will start with two qualifying sessions on Friday, June 28 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, June 29, before the quickest 16 Funny Cars take to the track for final eliminations on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited to get back on track and race at Summit Motorsports Park for the first time,\u201d said King, who started his season at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals. \u201cThe Baders do an amazing job with their event, and it is one of the most popular races on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series for the fans and the teams. They have a rich history, great track and if you win you get a one-of-a-kind ice cream scoop. \u2018How cool is that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
King and his Bob Peck tuned nitro Funny Car will have their hands full with the rest of the Funny car competition. The plan is to take advantage of all four qualifying runs to gather additional data and build off their positive momentum from Chicago. As a new team they are still putting organizational pieces together and building a reserve of parts to make sure when they go rounds that are keeping a high level of competitiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe organizational aspects are some of the hardest things for a small budget, part-time team,\u201d said King. \u201cWe are training guys all the time and we have to keep our focus on the big picture and also every little detail. All teams have to do that, but they have a lot more people. Bob is doing a good job and I try and be as involved as possible, but I am also talking with sponsors, media and fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team has heard the best part about racing at the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals is the fan experience. This will be a new event for King and the Howards Cams\/Competition Products Funny Car team, but they have heard about how packed the track will be over the three-day event. The track will host a variety of special events including an ice cream eating contest for drivers and massive fireworks display on Friday night after qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want every event to have a personality and I can\u2019t wait to experience Norwalk,\u201d said King. \u201cI know I sound like a fan but as a professional driver you want to go to events that give the fans and sponsors a little extra. We are serious about our racing, but we also want to be part of a great show. I am looking to come off the trailer and make good clean runs that we can build on to race on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the race does get started King will face some of the toughest competition the sport has seen in recent memory. The class will also have Hall of Fame driver John Force on their minds as he recovers from a serious accident at the PlayNHRA Virginia Nationals. The legendary driver is still recovering from a serious on-track incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone is keeping John Force and his family in our prayers,\u201d said King. \u201cHe is one of the reasons I wanted to race Funny Car. I hope he continues to improve and gets back out here if that is what he wants to do. The guy doesn\u2019t have anything to prove. He has every record known to man. I just want him to get better and see that John Force smile at the track again.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Howard Cams\/Competition Products team that King has assembled has been working together since 2021 when King raced in three NHRA national events qualifying for the Mile High Nationals in Denver, The Kansas Nationals in Topeka and the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis. Last year King entered the Route 66 Nationals, the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, the Topeka Nationals, the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd and the Midwest Nationals in St. Louis. This season King is looking forward to competing in five or six national events.
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The Howards Cams\/Competition Products Dodge Charger Funny Car and King will get their first chance to make passes on Friday afternoon and evening when qualifying for the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals get underway. There will be two more qualifying sessions on Saturday with final eliminations for the 16 quickest Funny Cars commencing at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The race will be televised nationally on FOX Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published on June 25, 2024. <\/p>\n
The post Chris King Excited to Race at America\u2019s Racetrack in Norwalk<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Funny Car driver Chris King has been building his nitro program with an attention to detail that would make Bill Bader Jr., second generation owner of Summit Motorsports Park, proud. Known as \u201cAmerica\u2019s Racetrack\u201d the host facility for this weekend\u2019s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals presents one of the most professional and family friendly motorsports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}