KENT, WA – CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel Harley racer Rickey House raced to the semifinals of his sponsor’s race, the 31st annual CatSpot Organic Cat Litter NHRA Northwest Nationals on Sunday at Pacific Raceways.

House’s CatSpot teammate, Top Fuel dragster driver Scott Palmer, was bounced in the first round by a surprising Mike Salinas, yet still held his spot in the top 10 of the Top Fuel points standings.

House secured a first-round victory in thrilling circumstance, beating Randal Andras on a holeshot. House left .168 seconds sooner than Andras, and his 6.137-second pass at 218.82 mph was enough to hold off Andras’ better run of 6.282 seconds at 224.02 mph.

House left first on his semifinal opponent, Tii Tharpe, with a .033 reaction time. But though Tharpe slowed to a pass of 6.859 seconds at 218.55 mph, House had issues of his own in a run of 12.292 seconds at 77.48 mph.

“First round was great,” House said. “Got lucky and won on a holeshot, but I’m happy the bike ran consistently all through qualifying and first round. Then second round, I made a small change to it. I kept track of the track temperature and it did get two degrees warmer than it did yesterday, and I didn’t think two degrees was that much – but apparently it was.

Continue reading →

KENT, WA – Top Fuel driver Scott Palmer has been sweating the details in advance of this weekend’s 31st annual CatSpot Organic Cat Litter NHRA Northwest Nationals, which is sponsored by the same company that backs his racing operation. But through qualifying, Palmer has determined he had nothing to worry about as fans in the Pacific Northwest have enthusiastically embraced CatSpot and his team.

“The response has been crazy,” Palmer said. “I’ve never met so many cat owners. These are cat people up here. The crowd has been insane. It’s huge and to be honest I’m actually shocked to see this many people at this track. It’s fully packed.

“The response for CatSpot sponsoring the race has been over the top. I mean we just had some Seattle Mariner players come by for a visit. One of the players has a cat and he talked to me about CatSpot and now that he’s heard about it he’s going to switch over because he wants to do the right thing for his cat. It’s pretty wild the people we’ve reached through this race sponsorship.”

Palmer has been doing well on the track also. His best pass of 3.815 seconds at 323.81 mph placed him comfortably in the field.

Continue reading →

KENT, WA – Top Fuel Harley-Davidson rider Ricky House has one goal left in his 2018 campaign — win this weekend’s 31st annual CatSpot Organic Cat Litter NHRA Northwest Nationals and present the trophy to his friend and sponsor, Tommy Thompson, founder of CatSpot Organic Cat Litter.

“Last year’s Seattle race was the first time I ran CatSpot on my bike so this is my official one-year anniversary racing for Tommy Thompson and CatSpot,” House said. “Plain and simple, if it weren’t for Tommy I wouldn’t have been able to race this year. I owe the guy everything. All my sponsors are vitally important, but none more than CatSpot.

“After my DNQ earlier this year in Bristol, there’s no way I can catch the points leader because we just have Seattle and Indy left in the Mickey Thompson Top Fuel Harley Series. I’m in fourth place now and I’ll be fighting hard to try and get to third or even second place. Of course, that depends on what the other guys do too.”

To make absolutely sure he’ll be in top form this weekend, House spent last weekend running his bike at the Night of Fire at Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon.

Continue reading →

KENT, WA – Professional drag racing comes with a lot of pressure as drivers work hard to keep their sponsors happy by staying in the spotlight, which is always easier to do when your car is running well. Such has been the case for Scott Palmer, driver of the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster, who is enjoying a performance surge at the perfect time as the tour heads to Pacific Raceways for the 31st annual CatSpot Organic Cat Litter NHRA Northwest Nationals.

“I enjoy the pressure; I really do,” Palmer said. “But I can also tell you that once the car starts, I don’t feel any more pressure than what I put on myself. I probably put more on myself than I should and that can be a problem because you can try too hard and do something that hurts
the run.

“I put pressure on myself because the car runs so well and I enjoy knowing that Tommy (Thompson, founder of CatSpot) will see us running well. I’ve seen people in my 15 years out here get a sponsor and never improve their performances so my goal here is to become a respectable, competitive Top Fuel car that can win races and I think we’re there now.”

Palmer credits his team’s alliance with Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence and his entire CAPCO Racing operation. The two groups, who field a combined four cars, share data and help one another with a free exchange of ideas and even labor.

Continue reading →

SONOMA, CA – With just three more national events until the start of the Countdown to the Championship, Scott Palmer admits he’s doing a little scoreboard watching as he works hard to secure a playoff spot for his CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster. A quick glance at the rankings after Sunday’s 31st annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals, where Palmer logged a semifinal finish, shows things are looking great for the veteran driver.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is the improvement we’re making since Tommy Thompson and CatSpot Organic Cat Litter started supporting us,” Palmer said. “Over the years I’ve seen a lot of teams get sponsors and go out there and run the same as they always have. Not us. We’ve won more rounds in the last two years with CatSpot on the car than I have in my entire career. It makes me
feel good.

“Another big part of showing Tommy we’re trying as hard as we can is making the playoffs. We came into this weekend in 10th by only a few points and now here we are Sunday afternoon in ninth place with a few rounds cushion, that’s what we’re after. If we continue to do that at the next few races, we’ll be in the Countdown.”

Continue reading →

SONOMA, CA – For the fifth time this season, Scott Palmer has earned a top-half starting spot for his CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster. As such, Palmer will enjoy lane choice when elimination action for the 31st annual Toyota NHRA Sonoma Nationals kicks off Sunday morning at Sonoma Raceway.

Crediting co-crew chiefs Jason McCulloch and Bennie Patterson for their efforts, which produced a best pass of 3.778 at 323.35 mph, Palmer said everything went as intended during four rounds of professional qualifying, greatly easing the anxiety of race day.

“The plan for tomorrow is to not do what we did just then (in Q4), but what we did just then was part of our overall plan,” Palmer explained. “The last few races we’ve run well enough on Friday to be able to test things on Saturday, so Q4 told us what we shouldn’t try tomorrow. We already know the car will make it down in the heat because it did Friday.

“Today we were able to try new clutch discs on one run and a new blower on the other run.We tried different combinations to see if we could go quicker in the heat and so far, our first round on Friday, which was in the heat, was a good run, and I shut that run off at 700 feet. Friday night was just a continuation of that combination but I just ran it out.”

Continue reading →

SONOMA, CA – It wasn’t until CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel veteran Scott Palmer started racing for businessman Tommy Thompson a year and a half ago that he was able step up his game enough to run with the top teams in the NHRA Drag Racing Series. It’s been a wonderful blessing for the lifelong fan-turned-driver and yet part of competing at the highest level is the big-time challenges that occasionally arise.

“When I was running part-time all those years I had to run defensively,” Palmer said. “I liken it to the way my grandparents said it was here in America during the Great Depression because we had to save everything we could. We’d take parts and pieces others were throwing away and make them work. We really didn’t have a choice if we wanted to race.

“Now CatSpot and Tommy Thompson gives us everything we need to go fast. We’re no longer happy just to make the field. Now we come into every race expecting to run well, and I think our record is showing everyone we’re a legitimate team. When we race the big guys now, they don’t take us for chumps. They run us hard because they know we can beat them, and this is just our second full year with a true race budget.”

Ironically, when he was cannon fodder for the big guns, the only places Palmer could regularly fight on somewhat level footing was at racetracks with dodgy surfaces. Less-than-perfect racetracks curb the advantages of high-horsepower teams as they can’t unleash their full potential for fear of over-powering the track and smoking their tires.

Continue reading →

DENVER – Scott Palmer’s upset win over three-time champion Antron Brown in the opening round of Sunday’s 39th annual Dodge NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway lifted the driver of the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster into the final spot for the Countdown to the Championship playoffs.

There are still four races until the Countdown begins in early September, but it’s always better to be above the cutline. Last season, Palmer qualified for the playoffs for the first time in his career so earning another chance at the title has been a top goal for his team.

“Absolutely this was a great day for us,” said Palmer, who was making is 100th career start in NHRA competition. “We’re no longer a team that people take lightly. They know if they do we’re gonna beat them. Being in the top 10 is important for us, for the crew guys, and for our sponsors. It’s our way of showing everyone we’re not a chump car.”

Against Brown, Palmer gave up a slight edge at the starting line but quickly caught and passed a laboring Brown to take the victory with a 3.894-second pass at 317.34 mph to Brown’s 4.047 at 300.13 mph. Brown’s engine dropped a cylinder almost immediately, causing a reduction in horsepower. Until this race, Brown was 10-0 versus Palmer.

Continue reading →

DENVER – Scott Palmer and his crowd-favorite CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster team are looking sharp through qualifying for the 39th annual Dodge NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway. Palmer and crew coaxed a steady 3.860 at 317.27 mph out of their nitro-burning machine, earning the No. 9 position in the race day field.

“The first two passes Friday were planned shut-off runs and we still put a 3.90 on the scoreboard last night even though I lifted at 750 feet,” Palmer said. “We watched what other people were doing this evening and got on it enough to run a 3.86 so we know what we have. We can work with this tomorrow, for sure.”

Because of its altitude, Bandimere Speedway is unlike any other track on the national tour. The lack of oxygen results in less horsepower being made and crew chiefs, like CatSpot Racing’s Jason McCulloch, have to lean on their equipment more to make up for the deficit.

At the same time, it’s been a hot weekend on Thunder Mountain and this year the NHRA has purposely been less aggressive in prepping the racing surfaces each weekend in an effort to keep teams from going too fast.

Continue reading →

DENVER – The Dodge NHRA Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway always presents a challenge for drag racers running the national tour as the lack of oxygen drastically changes the way their nitro-burning cars perform. Crowd favorite Scott Palmer, driver of the CatSpot Organic Cat Litter Top Fuel dragster, says his blue-collar crew is looking to take advantage of the situation if anyone else struggles.

“It’s a balancing game up there,” Palmer said. “Keep in mind, last year in Denver we ran the same basic combination (points leader Steve) Torrence did and we posted our career best at that track, a 3.87 at 318 mph. That was awesome but we had to run our stuff so hard to go that fast and it can be very tough on your budget.

“We feel like we can run mid to high 3.80s again this year but there are going to be guys trying to run 3.75s or faster. We’ll be forced to draw a line at some point because you have to decide if it’s worth pushing your equipment that hard. There’s going to be lots of expensive parts sacrificed on the mountain and we don’t want to contribute any of ours.”

Continue reading →