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Scott Palmer Racing

Rickey House’s semifinal finish highlights CatSpot race team’s outing in New England

EPPING, NH – Rickey House powered his CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel Harley-Davidson to the semifinals of the sixth annual NHRA New England Nationals Sunday at New England Dragway to pace the efforts of CatSpot Racing, which include Top Fuel dragster pilots Scott Palmer and Dom Lagana.

After qualifying fourth overall, House used the lowest elapsed time of the meet to beat Beau Layne in Sunday’s opening round of eliminations. House’s run of 6.283 seconds at 220.91 mph was more than enough to trailer Layne, who posted a 7.216 at 139.60 mph.

The quick run gave House lane choice against points leader Doug Vancil in the semifinals but a loss of traction just off the starting pad negated the lane-choice advantage and House’s quicker reaction time, ultimately allowing Vancil to advance to the final with a 6.268 at 226.70 mph to House’s resigned 7.621 at 141.94 mph.

“I tried to back it down a little bit in the second round,” House said. “In the first round, when I ran the .28, I actually had to pedal it a little but I was able to recover and still make a great run. That’s why I tried to back it down a little bit in Round 2. I just wasn’t able to save it a second time.

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CatSpot pros Dom Lagana, Scott Palmer, Rickey House all earn top-half slots in Epping

EPPING, NH – Things are going extremely well for CatSpot Organic Cat Litter-sponsored racers Dom Lagana, Scott Palmer and Rickey House at this weekend’s sixth annual NHRA New England Nationals as all three men finished qualifying in the top half of their respective classes.

Lagana and Palmer are slotted sixth and seventh in Top Fuel after some impressive runs in the second time-trial, which was held Friday evening when conditions were the best of the first two days of the sellout event.

Although they run an identical setup, Lagana ran slightly quicker, posting a 3.781-second pass at 326.16 mph on the scoreboard.

“We’ve got so much history out here at this track and Tommy Thompson and CatSpot are keeping us going,” Lagana said. “We’ve been struggling with this car a little bit but we’ve got this thing tuned up now. We made it down in both quick and warm conditions and the car is responding well to the changes that we make.

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CatSpot Top Fuel Harley rider Rickey House already has his hands full in New England

EPPING, NH – A perennial title contender in the Mickey Thompson Top Fuel Harley Series, Texan Rickey House has proven to be calm under pressure on his 225-mph CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Harley-Davidson. But even a drag racing veteran like House can be surprised from time to time, which is exactly what happened on his nearly 2,000-mile journey to this weekend’s sixth annual NHRA New England Nationals.

“The wheel bearing on the race trailer broke on the way up here and the whole wheel came off and actually passed me as I was slowing down,” House said. “Luckily it didn’t hit anything or anybody and I was able to find it and get it back. It chewed the axle and spindle up. I don’t know if it lost its oil or what happened but we’ll get it fixed.

“I only had 187 miles to go so we limped it to the track. Now we’ve got it all torn apart and I got some leads on a new axle and hopefully I’ll get something in here this weekend and get it fixed. In the meantime, I have to work on the race bike and get it going because I’ve got to do better than I did at the last race in Bristol. I didn’t even qualify there and that’s just weird.”

A DNQ certainly is out of character for House, who was runner-up to the world championship last season. Currently fourth in the points with one win to his credit this year, House knows things can turn around quickly in the world’s fastest motorsport.

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Family history has Dom Lagana excited about nitro racing at New England Dragway

EPPING, NH – The family name Lagana holds a lot of weight at historic New England Dragway, a fact not lost on second-generation drag racer Dom Lagana as the sixth annual NHRA New England Nationals arrive in town.

“Dad used to match race all the time up here,” Dom said, referring to his father Bobby Lagana Sr., who barnstormed the Northeast in a Funny Car in the 1980s and ’90s. “Growing up just a few hours south of here (on the New York/Connecticut border), this was a regular stop for us.

“I’ve personally raced here in a bunch of NHRA races, our dad match raced here all the time when we were kids, and we’ve all competed in IHRA events here forever. It’s another one of those tracks we kinda grew up at. I even made my first 300 mph run here in a match race against my brother Bobby in 2009, so that was cool. Nothing but wonderful memories from here.”

Making more happy memories this weekend is at the top of the list for Dom, who races a second CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster alongside Scott Palmer at a limited number of NHRA events. So far, Dom has entered four of 12 NHRA races, successfully qualifying for each one and advancing to the semifinals in Charlotte.

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New England Dragway a peek into the past, says CatSpot Top Fuel pilot Scott Palmer

EPPING, NH – This weekend’s return to New England Dragway provides a peek into the past for Top Fuel pilot Scott Palmer and the fun-loving CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster team.

“There is so much history here,” Palmer said. “Bobby Lagana Sr. (teammate Dom Lagana’s father) raced here in his Funny Car, ‘Jungle Jim’ Lieberman raced his Funny Car here, ‘Big Daddy’ Don Garlits raced dragsters here; all of the legends have been down this track at one point or another. That’s a very cool thing about this place because, you know, there aren’t many legends left.

“Professional drag racing has turned into a big money deal. It’s no longer guys who live and breathe it every day. It’s just not like that anymore. You don’t have driver’s driving their own rigs anymore. If you do that nowadays, everyone’s like, ‘What’s wrong with those guys?’ But back in the day, there were lots of people that racing was their life.”

The NHRA itself returned to New England Dragway just six years ago and the fans have responded with sellout crowds every event. It’s caused such a buzz in New England that a local crew from Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM) caught up with Palmer at a rest stop on the Mass Pike where he was resting in his rig, just like the old-timers used to do.

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Dom Lagana’s best pass of the weekend in CatSpot dragster still comes up short

NORWALK, OH – Dom Lagana and crew chief John Stewart dialed up a great combination for their CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster in the opening round of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals Sunday morning, but his weekend-best pass of 3.837 at 323.89 mph still wasn’t enough to upset top qualifier Clay Millican, who blazed to a 3.759 at 332.26 mph.

“We finally got the car down the track,” Lagana said. “We are still lacking some power, which has really been our problem all along. What happens is the car doesn’t have the power to wear enough clutch and it just makes the tune-up more aggressive than we want. Still, we made a good step in the right direction today.”

Part of the problem for Lagana was the fact that professional qualifying was shortened to just two sessions by rain showers that hung over the area Friday and Saturday. That left him 16th on the grid.

“We didn’t qualify well so we got the unfortunate draw of running Clay in Round 1,” he said. “We figured he would either run really well like he did or smoke the tires. This time he went 3.75, so he beat us straight up. At least we kept them honest.

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Dom Lagana leads the charge for two-car CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel team

NORWALK, OH – Part-time Top Fuel racer Dom Lagana will be tasked with carrying the banner for CatSpot Organic Cat Litter when the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals turn to eliminations Sunday in Northwest Ohio.

A long string of on-and-off rain showers plagued Friday and Saturday’s qualifying sessions, cancelling two of the four time trials outright and reducing the other two to a guessing game on the freshly-poured track surface. In the end, Lagana was able to squeak onto the 16-car elimination ladder with an off-pace 5.039-second shutoff pass at a coasting 140.69 mph.

Teammate Scott Palmer wasn’t as fortunate, missing the cut for the first time this season.

“It’s just been a tricky weekend,” Lagana said. “Even last night, when we ran after rain, it had cooled down to probably run a decent number. But a lot of teams still missed the setup. Not everybody struggled but plenty of us did.

“Today, me and Scott tried hard to improve and we both made it pretty far out there but ultimately spun the tires. We wanted that one bad because we kinda knew it could rainout and that would be the only chance to improve. That’s exactly what happened. It sucks, but it is what it is. We’re getting there with the car but we need more passes.”

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Shane Conway looking for perfect combo in Magic Dry/CatSpot Litter Top Alcohol Dragster

NORWALK, OH – Shane Conway has never driven a racecar down Summit Motorsports Park so he’s looking at this weekend’s NHRA National event as the perfect place for a fresh start in his Magic Dry/CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Alcohol Dragster.

“I like Norwalk, I just haven’t raced a car there myself,” said Conway, who hails from Spring, Texas. “I’ve been there as a crew chief and I’ve been there as a crewman, just not as a driver. I was crew chief on Mike Manner’s team when he won Norwalk in 2010 and now he’s a sponsor on our car with his company, Anglia Homes, so that’s kind of cool.

“My dad (vaunted drag racer Tom Conway) had a huge win in Norwalk in 2008. He actually hadn’t driven a car in like 11 years and had the urge to drive again so he returned at Norwalk and won the race. Funny thing is, he won’t be here this weekend. He’s actually going to the drag boat race in San Angelo (Texas).”

Just like his young career — he won his first-ever Top Alcohol Dragster race in Noble, Okla., last year — Conway’s season started off great with a No. 1 qualifying effort at the Dallas regionals. But in his four races to date, he’s only won a single round of eliminations.

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CatSpot Top Fuel team, together with CAPCO crew, making a mega-team out of underdogs

NORWALK, OH – There’s a quiet revolution underway in the NHRA, a throwback movement to a simpler time when having fun was the top priority and successes were always shared with family and friends. It’s drivers Scott Palmer and Dom Lagana and their CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragsters — racing in collaboration with CAPCO pilots Billy and Steve Torrence — and together they’re giving the huge corporate-backed teams fits.

“Tommy Thompson gave us an incredible opportunity,” Palmer said, referring to the owner of CatSpot Organic Cat Litter and a renowned drag boat racer. “I mean, who takes a chance on one of the smallest teams in the pits and completely funds a guy who has nothing? Nobody but Tommy. What he liked most is that we’re just regular guys, working hard, living a dream.

The addition of Jason McCulloch is proving beneficial to both the CatSpot and CAPCO teams. “He said, ‘Hey Scott, I’ll help you go as far as you want, and get you anything you need just as long as you don’t change.’ Well, we haven’t changed. We are trying to do the right thing out here and I think we are. And we still very much enjoy racing.”

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Scott Palmer races CatSpot Organic Cat Litter dragster to Bristol semifinals

BRISTOL, TN – CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster driver Scott Palmer enjoyed a stellar weekend in the Fitzgerald USA NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway, qualifying a season-best No. 4 and racing to the semifinals Sunday during a hot, difficult day of eliminations.

Palmer’s CatSpot Racing teammate Dom Lagana bowed out in the first round, but both teams improved their hot-weather tune-ups during the weekend.

“Great weekend,” Palmer said. “For sure, a strong weekend for us. Everybody’s learning how to run well in these hot conditions and certainly we learned a lot more this weekend – a lot. What we figured out here is going to help us for another five or six more races because they’re all going to be hot like this.”

After winning in the first and second round, Palmer had a shot at racing to his second final round of the season. But a close race against Mike Salinas was lost when Palmer started to haze his tires down track, allowing Salinas to squeak by for the win.

Palmer, who made 4.0-second passes in the first two rounds, slowed to a run of 4.356 seconds at 211.89 mph to fall to Salinas’ 4.042-second run at 301.07 mph.

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