LAS VEGAS, NV – For the second race in a row Australian Shane Tucker took advantage of solid conditions on the first day of qualifying to put his Auzmet/StructGlass Camaro in position to qualify in the top half of the field. The Auzmet/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro made two solid runs and will enter the second day of qualifying at the 20th annual DENSO Spark Plug Nationals as the provisional No. 12 qualifier.

In the first round of qualifying Tucker and his team posted the eleventh quickest run of the session. The Auzmet/StructGlass Camaro crossed the finish line 6.823 seconds later at 202.48 mph. He was just a few hundredths of a second behind Joey Grose who was the second Pro Stocker across the stripe. During the four-wide eliminations on Sunday drivers just need to be one of the first two cars across the finish line to advance to the next round.

The Friday results have Tucker in a positive frame of mind going into Saturday’s final day of qualifying and then into race day on Sunday.

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LAS VEGAS, NV – Every year millions of people travel to Las Vegas and try to turn their luck around. This weekend at the DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Australian Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker will be looking to continue to build on his positive momentum from his east coast success. Three weeks ago Tucker raced his Auzmet/StructGlass Chevrolet to the quarterfinals at the historic Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. It was a big weekend for the Rob Tucker Racing endeavor due to massive changes in the off-season which saw the team join forces with Nick Ferri, the world champion engine builder.

“We struggled at the end of last season with our motors and we knew we needed more power,” said Shane Tucker.  “Joining up with Nick Ferri was a major decision for us but we are seeing the returns on that investment. The Gatornationals was our best weekend in a long time. We made four runs in qualifying that kept getting quicker and we weren’t hurting anything on the motor. That was fantastic for our team.”

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GAINESVILLE, FL – Shane Tucker and the Auzmet/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro made the most out of race day after a lengthy rain delay at the 50th annual Amalie Oil NHRA Gatornationals. Starting from the No. 14 qualifying position Tucker used exceptional reaction time skills to narrowly miss reaching the semifinals at the historic event held at Gainesville Raceway. The veteran driver dispatched No. 3 qualifier Matt Hartford before losing to Kenny Delco in a close second round match-up.

“This was a great weekend overall,” said Tucker. “We missed some testing time and were working with a brand new motor program from Nick Ferri. From where we started to where we are huge is a huge leap forward. We are excited and it was a very successful race day for this Auzmet and StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro team.”

In the first round Tucker used a starting line reaction time advantage, .048 to .112, to hold off Hartford for the win. His winning time and speed, 6.593 seconds at 209.26 mph were enough to get the win by .04 seconds. The elapsed time and speed combo was also a season best for Tucker.

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GAINESVILLE, FL – On the strength of four runs that consistently improved Shane Tucker and the Auzmet/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro will start from the No. 14 spot at the 50th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals. The Australian driver is chasing his first Mello Yello Pro Stock NHRA world championship and qualifying for the biggest race of the young season is a step in the right direction.

“I think just getting some reliability back has been good,” said Tucker. “We are getting in a routine and all the guys are gelling. We are not oblivious to the fact that this new Nick Ferri engine program is going to be a tough deal to get up to speed. We aren’t going to quit and this is all a process. I think when you get impatient is when you start hurting stuff. We are going to stay patient and keep chipping away.”

The final qualifying pass was a slight improvement from his first run of the day as the scoreboards lit up with a time of 6.620 seconds at 206.04 mph. It was the quickest run of the season for Tucker and continued a streak of improvement which had the team excited about the possibilities for race day.

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GAINESVILLE, FL – Shane Tucker knows he has a mountain to climb as he pursues his first NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Pro Stock world championship. The 34-year-old driver from Australia is making his second appearance at the historic Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway. After two qualifying sessions Tucker and his Auzmet/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro sit No. 15 on the strength of his 6.706 second, 205.57 mph pass. The speed was his fastest of 2019 and showed his tune up is headed in the right direction.

“Everything is new. We have new motors from Nick Ferre and we are just trying to find where they are happy,” said Tucker from his pit area at the end of the day. “We are also getting everyone to gel and work together. It was a mad thrash all week to get here. We missed a couple of days of testing so that cost us probably eight runs. We are making up time here at the race which is tough. We are running smart and trying to not hurt parts.”

“Looking at the data from the first session to the second session we think we can pick up the performance ever more in the third qualifying session. I think we can be there on Sunday and have a chance to run really well. It is just a case of getting everything caught up quick enough,” added Tucker.

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DALLAS – Australian Pro Stock driver Shane Tucker will not be competing this weekend at the Magic Dry Organic Absorbent NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix due to a delay in the delivery of some badly-needed back-up parts for his Auzmet Architectural/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro.

“We found an issue that was hurting the motor,” Tucker said. “We ordered the necessary parts but just ran out of time before the race at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. We intended to make the race as early as yesterday but rather than head West and maybe be competitive we decided to regroup and put our best foot forward at the 50thannual Gatornationals in a few weeks. We plan on doing some testing before then to make sure we are squared away.”

Tucker has competed at a handful of events each season on the NHRA tour since 2014 but this year the 33-year-old has committed to making a serious run at qualifying for the NHRA Countdown in arguably the most competitive class on the NHRA tour. Working with his father Rob and engine builder Nick Ferri, Tucker is investing both time and money in making his Chevrolet Camaro a competitive entry every race.

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POMONA, CA – Season opening growing pains and a broken lifter arm derailed Australia’s Shane Tucker’s season debut in Pro Stock at the 59th annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals. The Auzmet Architectural/StructGlass Chevrolet Camaro showed promise on its two full runs but in the final qualifying session a lifter arm broke and ended Tucker’s bid to qualify at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The team tested in Phoenix but the quick turnaround heading into the first race caught up to the Pro Stock team that is making its first bid to race the full Mello Yello Drag Racing Series schedule.

“We knew it would be tough coming out for the first race and we just ran out of time getting some parts for the (Nick) Ferri motors,” said Shane Tucker, who last qualified for this race in 2014. ”We ran some of our motors from last season that dyno-ed well and they ran in testing. We just need to make sure they are reliable at the races and we get a tune-up.”

The five season part-time racer knows that ramping up his program to full-time status will come with some growing pains but he takes pride in the fact that he is continuing to improve as a driver.

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Aussie Launches Bid for 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Championship in Auzmet/StructGlass Camaro

POMONA, CA – If you missed Shane Tucker’s Pro Stock win at the 2012 Winternationals, don’t feel too badly. Tucker is the only driver in this week’s Pro Stock field with a chance to become a Winternationals’ winner on two different continents.

The fact is, unlike NHRA rivals Greg Anderson, Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin Jr., Tucker didn’t hoist his Winternationals’ hardware at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, site of this week’s 59th renewal of the NHRA’s traditional season opener.

The just-turned-34-year-old Tucker won his title at Willowbank Raceway in Queensland, Australia, 7,200 miles away from the L.A. County Fairgrounds track on which he will launch his first serious bid for an NHRA Mello Yello championship at the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro backed by Auzmet Architectural and StructGlass.

Nevertheless, the charismatic Australian’s four-round victory in the 45th annual Australian National Drag Racing Association Winternationals was no less meaningful than Anderson’s same year success in the NHRA version.

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DALLAS – Dallas, Texas has become the adopted home for Australian businessman and Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker. He has built a successful commercial façade business, Auzmet Architectural, just minutes from the ever expanding Dallas skyline. With projects completed and under construction across the state the 33-year old does not have much free time. What spare time the NHRA professional has he spends behind the wheel of his Auzmet/Structglass Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro and this weekend Tucker will be racing at his home track in front of family, friends and a host of business associates at the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at the Texas Motorplex.

“This is always our biggest race of the season. We invite almost 100 business partners plus the guys from the fab shop to come to the races and have some fun. This year we are introducing a new product, Structglass, before the race and we’ll be promoting that on the Camaro all weekend,” Tucker said.

This will be Tucker’s second race in 2018. In September he took on the biggest race of the year the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis and just missed making the highly competitive field. Starting the season at the biggest and richest NHRA national event is just the sort of challenge that drives Tucker’s competitive attitude but he is also a realist.

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DALLAS – Australian businessman and Pro Stock racer Shane Tucker has lived his life with a laser-like focus on attention to detail and following your passion.  Tucker will bring his passion and focus to the biggest drag race in the world this weekend in Indianapolis behind the wheel of his Auzmet/Structglass Pro Stock Chevrolet Camaro. The 33 year-old built a successful commercial facade company on not just one continent but two. Starting on the Gold Coast of Australia Tucker founded Auzmet Architectural and years later added a Dallas, Texas headquarters to take advantage of the U.S. construction boom that has done nothing but expand his companies reach and impact on the Dallas skyline.

As a competitive drag racer in Australia Tucker knew on he was established in the Texas he had to get back to racing. He built a Pro Stock team with his father who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the duo have campaigned a Chevrolet Camaro Pro Stock on the NHRA Mello Yello Series since in 2014. Balancing the business and racing career was a demanding but exciting prospect for Tucker and he has enjoyed the challenge. He has managed to mix his two passions beyond the race track as well working on projects in the DFW area for Summit Racing Equipment and Traxxas.

“I am an incredibly competitive person in everything I do,” Tucker explained. “I love racing and I grew up around it with my dad Rob. Getting the chance, even for just a few races a year to take on the best in the world is something I can’t pass up. We have also used our racing program to network with other businesses and have had a lot of success away from the track.”

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