V. Gaines NHRA Toyota Summer Nationals Pre-Race Report

Englishtown, NJ – Race number nine in the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello series has V Gaines and his Kendall Motor Oil team in Englishtown for the NHRA Toyota Summer Nationals. Old Bridge Township Raceway is one of the most historical tracks the series travels to every year. E-Town is big, fast and fun.

V and his team will unload the Kendall Motor Oil Dodge Dart in the number 8 spot in the NHRA Mello Yello Championship points. Last weekend in Topeka Kansas the team won a close race in round one and fell in round two when the Kendall Dart made a hard right turn as soon as V let the clutch.

“We have been on a step learning curve with the new car” Rick Semm tells us. Rick is in charge of the back half of the Kendall Motor Oil Dart. “It felt great to win a round last weekend, but we are here to win races not just rounds” Rick goes on to say. We would like to say a BIG congratulations to Rick as he became a Grandpa once again a few weeks back. ” I am 76 years old so I better be a Grandpa” Rick tells us…..okay that’s not right….he is only 56ish. Congrats Rick!

This will be the third weekend in a row the Kendall car has been at a race.

“At times we feel like we are still in Test Mode with the new car” V says from a rare time in his office. “Don’t get me wrong, in the Pro Stock class you’re always in test mode or you’ll find yourself in rest mode” V goes on. “I’m too young to rest…or at least not as old as Grandpa Rick” he finishes with a smile.

Make sure and check your local listings and follow along with coverage on ESPN II. Those of you who are NHRA members you can listen to live action through the audio cast on nhra.com