08-19-2003 Dallas Texas- Kenny Tran's Quaker State® racing team hit the road this week to begin a western swing that will take them to Woodburn Oregon and then on to Sonoma California for the next two events in the NHRA Sport Compact championship chase.

The Woodburn event on August 23rd-24th will see Tran eager to bounce back from illness that foiled his chances at the recent Dallas Texas event. "I really felt like I let everyone down in Dallas." Tran said. "I had a lot of home fans at the event and my sponsors were all in attendance but at the end of the day I was simply off form and lost in the first round. The best way I can think of making it up to them is to get a good result in Oregon so I will be doing my best."

Tran will also have the help of some more horsepower that crew chief Tony Palo has found on the dyno in the past week. "We have been experimenting with some different cams and one of the combinations worked out pretty good." Palo explained. "We found another eighty horsepower at the big end with no noticeable power loss at low rpm. That should help us to increase our speed in the quarter-mile significantly."

With only four rounds left in the championship the Quaker State® team is optimistic about mounting a strong challenge for championship honors. Currently lying in third place behind the factory-backed GM and Dodge teams Kenny Tran hopes to close the gap in Oregon and Sonoma."I am sure that with a little luck we can give the factory boys a few headaches." He said. "We are pretty close to Mike Crawford and I would like to claim second place before we head back to Englishtown for the October 4th-5th event. From that position I will be able to chase Marty Ladwig in the final two events. We can still do it."

The Oregon event is important to the team and tuner, Bob Norwood, is looking forward to heading back to his old stomping grounds. "I started racing back in the early sixties when I was living in Seattle. I have a lot of great memories of the northwest and I am looking forward to seeing some of my old adversaries and swapping lies about ancient races. Seriously though, the whole team is pumped about the next two events. We faltered a little in Dallas but now we are looking forward to showing everyone what we can do. A great team will always come back from a bad result with vengeance. We have worked hard since the Dallas event and it has paid dividends. We are ready to kick some butt in the northwest so watch out."

The Woodburn event kicks off on Saturday August 23rd at the Woodburn Dragstrip, Woodburn. Oregon.

Contacts:

www.jotechracing.com
www.quakerstate.com
www.raceworks.net
www.bobnorwood.com