Simonton Falls to Manzo Early at Norwalk

NORWALK, OH – Top Alcohol Funny Car favorite Cassie Simonton ended a busy month of racing with another top eight qualifying position and round win at the 7th Annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. Though Simonton and her Randy Anderson-led team anticipated better results, the weekend wasn’t considered a loss.

“We were going into the race hoping we would have the same success as we did last year,” said Simonton, who reached the finals at this event last year. “We went out second round, but we can’t really get upset about it. We raced the best of the best and we gave them a good race. The car is running consistently – it’s been down the track eighteen consecutive runs without any tire shake or problems. Now we’re just working really hard on running faster so we can qualify better and win more rounds.”

The Spiro Kontos-owned team worked with just two qualifying sessions to get the KonRodzRacing.com Monte Carlo solidly into the field. Periodic rain storms teased the teams all weekend long, leading to one qualifying session on Friday and one on Saturday. Simonton established a baseline 5.71 in the first session, then stepped up to 5.67 in the final session to take the No. 7 spot heading into first round of eliminations against Brian Harvanek.

Simonton ran a consistent 5.66 to move on to a second round match-up with 16-time TAFC champion Frank Manzo. Manzo, a friend of the team and rival of Anderson’s during his driving career, ultimately outran Simonton, despite another improved run from Cassie. She left on the drag racing legend, but her 5.64 at 256 MPH wasn’t enough to beat Frank’s 5.57 at 261 – low E.T. of the event.

“I knew we would race Frank early in the race so it was just something that we had to do. We stayed positive and optimistic going into second round. Racing Frank is always a challenge – he’s the best in the class. The car picked up and I did my job on the starting line but we just didn’t have enough on the top end. I ran my quickest run of the weekend but it wasn’t enough to beat Frank,” Cassie said.

Cassie and her Aerodine Composites/Bell Racing USA team will get a well-deserved two month break after a month of races and preparation. They’ll return to competition at the Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indy over Labor Day weekend.

“The team has been very busy over the last few weeks, getting the new body ready. I’m sure it will be nice for all of the guys to have some time off but we’re not really looking forward to two months off. Unfortunately that’s just how our schedule is going to work out this year. I’ll do my best to keep up during the time off – working out and practicing my lights – so we can go to Indy and pick up where we left off. Hopefully we’ll be able to go some rounds and move into the top ten in points.”