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Kon Rodz Racing Prepares for 2013 Season.
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Kon Rodz Racing
Prepares for 2013 Season
Kon Rodz Wrapping Up
2012 Season at Maple Grove
Kon Rodz Looking for
Redemption at zMax
Simonton Eager for First Win
at Indy
Simonton Looks to
Keep Momentum Going in Columbus
Simonton Becomes Official
Member of DRAW
Cassie Simonton Reaches
First TAFC Final!
TAN Driver Blog-Cassie
Simonton-TAFC
Simonton and Kon Rodz
Racing Prepared for 4-Wide Nationals
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Profile
DOB: August 29, 1986
Cassie is a Minnesota native currrently
competing in the National Hot Rod Association
(“NHRA”) Full Throttle Series. Cassie
gets her love of racing from her father, James
Simonton, who has been involved in racing as a
driver and chassis builder for over 25 years. She
began her racing career at the age of 8 in a Junior
Dragster winning numerous bracket races. One of her
biggest accomplishments as a Junior was placing 2nd
out of 165 cars in the IHRA Junior Dragster
Nationals. She went on to win the Division 5 NHRA
Lucas Oil Drag Racing event at Brainerd
International Raceway, in Brainerd, Minnesota. She
ended her Junior Dragster career that same year, at
the age of 16, stepping out of the Junior Dragster
and into a Blown Alcohol Dragster. That same
weekend, after obtaining her license on Friday and
qualifying on Saturday, she completed in the
finals, taking 2nd place.
Cassie graduated, at the top of her class, from
the University of Northwestern Ohio with an
Associates’ Degree in High Performance
Mechanics in 2008. Immediately following graduation
and, with her mechanic’s degree in hand,
Cassie began an Internship with Kon Rodz Racing as
a crew member. In 2010, at the age of 23, she began
her rookie year as a driver in the Top Alcohol
Funny Car (“TAFC”) division of the NHRA,
finishing the year with a recorded ET of 5.68 and
running 256 mph. Cassie is proud to be 1 of only 5
female drivers competing in this division.
After a successful start to the 2011 season at
the Gatornationals in Gainsville, where Cassie
recorded a career best ET of 5.56 @ 260 MPH, she is
extremely excited, and looking forward to, the
challenges she will encounter competing in the 2011
Top Alcohol Funny Car (“TAFC”) division
in the NHRA.
Snippets
We’re all looking forward to racing at zMax
again.
* * *
Cassie Simonton Reaches First TAFC Final!
News
Kon Rodz Racing Prepares for
2013 Season
The weeks leading up to the start of a new season
are exciting for any race team, but they're much
more exciting for the Kon Rodz Racing Top Alcohol
Funny Car team. The Canadian group is ready to
escape the frigid climate of the north to begin the
2013 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series championship
season in the sunny south. The high expectations
set last year just add to the enthusiasm.
“2012 was a great season for our team, our
sponsors, and our fans. We proved that we have what
it takes to qualify on top and win rounds. I think
a lot of people really started to pay attention to
us after the back-to-back final round appearances
in Chicago and Norwalk. The team can't wait to
build upon our success this season,” said team
owner Spiro Kontos.
Team driver Cassie Simonton feels the same way
about the upcoming season.
“We're all excited to get back to the
racetrack just because of how great it was last
year, going to back-to-back finals. The car got
better and I got better as a driver. I'm looking
forward to testing so we can get back into that
routine and prepare for Gainesville so we can
hopefully get our first Wally.”
Though the winter season is a welcomed break
from the stressful atmosphere at the track, the
whole team kept busy. Cassie, Patrick, and Rob
began work on Spiro's latest project, a 1950 GMC
pickup street rod nicknamed TOYPULER. Veteran crew
chief Randy Anderson prepared the team's fuel pumps
at his Advanced Power Systems shop in California.
On top of work on the street rod and the Funny Car,
Cassie did a variety of activities to improve her
skills as a driver.
“I've been working out a lot,” Cassie
said. “I work out three to four times a week,
just to keep myself in shape and make my legs
stronger so I'm ready to go when I'm back in the
car. I've also been doing my practice tree every
week so I can be at the top of my game.”
The team is also eager to welcome new crew
members Cam Brady, clutch assistant, and Deanna
Stewardson, director of hospitality. Aside from the
additional members, the crew from last season
remains the same.
To start the season, Cassie, Randy, and the crew
will meet up at South Georgia Motorsports Park for
two days of testing, March 11-12. Due to prior
commitments, Kontos will not be present during
testing. This will be the first time since Kon Rodz
began Alcohol Funny Car racing that Spiro will not
be there to proudly watch his hot rod scream down
the quarter mile. Following testing, the team will
head south to Gainesville, Florida, for the NHRA
Mello Yello Series east coast opener, the 44th
Annual Gatornationals.
Source: eMail press releas
Kon Rodz Wrapping Up
2012 Season at Maple Grove
This weekend’s Auto-Plus Nationals at Maple
Grove Raceway will be the final stop on the Kon
Rodz Racing 2012 tour. The Maple, Ontario,
Canada-based Top Alcohol Funny Car team experienced
a breakout season with driver Cassie Simonton
behind the wheel.
Simonton’s season started at the
Gatornationals in March, where the team struggled
in qualifying and eliminations, despite strong
results in preseason testing. They bounced back at
the next race in Charlotte, qualifying #3 with
career-best numbers in E.T. and speed. The next
national event on tour, the Route 66 Nationals in
Chicago, saw Simonton qualify #7 in a field full of
heavy hitters. There she drove past three Top 10
cars before falling in her first final round to
class legend Frank Manzo. The Kon Rodz team proved
themselves to be contenders the following weekend
in Norwalk, qualifying #3 and reaching the finals
yet again. Cassie earned the #5 spot a couple
months later at the U.S. Nationals, but didn’t
make it past first round. Most recently, Simonton
qualified the KonRodzRacing.com Monte Carlo #2 at
the O’Reilly Nationals in Charlotte.
Cassie Simonton, crew chief Randy Anderson and
the team impressed on the new regional circuit, as
well. Qualifying proved to be their strong point,
earning their first pole position in Chicago and
taking #3 in Norwalk and Columbus.
Team owner Spiro Kontos and Cassie are proud to
have the support of many quality companies,
including Lucas Oil, NGK Spark Plugs, Goodson, BAE,
and Goodyear Tire. Thanks also go to the dedicated,
hard-working crew members who worked early
mornings, hot days, and late nights during the
season. The team is also extremely thankful for the
support from the fans that have followed along
online and trackside.
The whole 2012 season has been leading up to
this final race. Providing the precipitation stays
away, the conditions should make for some of the
quickest runs all season. Times in the low 5.5s and
even high 5.4s can be expected from the orange and
purple Kon Rodz hot rod. If they can string
together a few of those in eliminations, they just
might be heading back to Canada with a
season-ending Wally.
Cassie and the rest of the Top Alcohol Funny Car
field will have two shots to qualify; 11:30 am and
3 pm on Friday. First round of eliminations will
begin at 1 pm Saturday.
Source: Press
release
Kon Rodz Looking for
Redemption at zMax
Cassie Simonton and the Kon Rodz Racing team return
to the site of their career-best run this weekend
when they enter the O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA
Nationals at zMax Dragway. Simonton drove the Randy
Anderson-tuned Top Alcohol Funny Car to a 5.53 at
261 mph run in qualifying at this track during the
4-Wide Nationals last spring. Similar performances
are in order for this weekend.
“We’re all looking forward to racing
at zMax again. Our career-best run at the 4-Wide
will definitely be on our minds this weekend. The
car has been qualifying in the top five
consistently. We want to continue that trend and
qualify as well as possible, but we also want to
make up for the first-round loss from the spring
race here,” said Simonton, referring to a
bizarre instance where a fuel pump issue prevented
the Minnesota driver from taking advantage of a
first round bye.
The Spiro Kontos-owned Kon Rodz Racing team is
going into the third race of three straight race
weekends, the U.S. Nationals being the other two.
The car showed promise in qualifying but struggled
in eliminations.
“Unfortunately we didn’t do as well as
we hoped to at Indy. Our 5.64 in qualifying during
the first week held up for fifth once the field was
set the following weekend. The car went into tire
shake on the one qualifying shot last Saturday, and
did the same during first round. Randy knows what
caused the shake, so I’m confident that
we’ll be able to have a smooth weekend,”
Cassie claimed.
Cassie and the rest of the Top Alcohol Funny Car
field will have three shots to qualify; 10:00 am
and 12:30 pm on Friday and 11:30 am Saturday. First
round of eliminations will begin at 5 pm
Saturday.
Kon Rodz Racing is a NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car
team owned by Spiro Kontos, competing in the Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series. 25-year old Cassie Simonton
drives the team’s 3,000 horsepower Chevy Monte
Carlo funny car.
Source: Press
release
Simonton Eager for First Win
at Indy
Top Alcohol Funny Car standout Cassie Simonton is
entering the sport’s most prestigious event,
the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, with great confidence
in her car and crew. Those two factors combined
with the driving abilities of the former junior
dragster racer put Spiro Kontos’ Kon Rodz
Racing entry into the final round at the
team’s last two national events. Crew chief
Randy Anderson won his first race ever at Indy. Now
twenty years later, “Sassy” Cassie and
her team are looking to do the same this
weekend.
“This is the biggest race of the season;
we’d love to get our first win here. It would
be big for the team and for Spiro. We’re
considering this as coming off of two finals in a
row, even though we had a regional in between. We
still have that confidence from back-to-back
finals, and we’re hoping to keep that
going,” said Simonton, who celebrated her 26th
birthday with the team on Wednesday.
The entry list for the weekend is packed with
strong cars from all over the country. The best of
the best flock to central Indiana for a chance to
put their name on the long list of legends who have
won at Indy. Encountering some of these great
drivers in the recent races is another confidence
booster for Cassie.
“We’ve been able to run with the big
boys at the last couple races. We’ve been
competitive and I’ve been able to do my job to
get it down to the end of the race track. We have a
great car and a great team, so we should be able to
run with the best of them.”
Both the people and the parts got a refreshing
time off the track after the last event. Now
it’s back to work for the Canadian team.
“We had a big break after Columbus,”
Cassie said. “Everyone went back home so we
could recuperate. This past week we got everything
put back together and ready to go. We should be on
our game, ready to run fast in Indy this
weekend.”
Kon Rodz Racing is a NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car
team owned by Spiro Kontos, competing in the Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series. 25-year old Cassie Simonton
drives the team’s 3,000 horsepower Chevy Monte
Carlo funny car.
Source: Perss
release
Simonton Looks to Keep
Momentum Going in Columbus
Following their most successful three-race stretch
to date, Cassie Simonton and the Kon Rodz Racing
Top Alcohol Funny Car team plan on keeping the
momentum rolling at this weekend’s Buckeye
Fuel Wars at National Trail Raceway. The fourth
race on the team’s NHRA Lucas Oil Series
regional tour will be another opportunity for the
team to flex their muscles in conditions that they
love; heat and humidity.
“Randy (Anderson) knows how to get the car
down a hot track. The data from Chicago and Norwalk
will help with the hot and humid weather that is
predicted. The track isn’t a national event
track like the previous two races, so the track
surface will be a bit different, but we’re not
worried about it,” Cassie said.
The hard-working crew members got a
much-deserved break after Norwalk, allowing them to
recuperate after two consecutive four-round
Sundays. That break is over, and they’re ready
to get back to winning rounds.
“It was nice for the team to get a few days
off after Norwalk. Now we’re back at it in
Columbus, servicing everything so we’re ready
for the weekend,” said the driver who not only
wheels the 3,000 horsepower Funny Car, but works on
it, too.
Back-to-back national event final rounds must
add to the pressure of competing in the competitive
Top Alcohol Funny Car class, right?
“It does add some pressure,” Simonton
says. “We have a great car and the team is
working really hard, so I want to keep that
momentum going for them. We all want to continue
winning rounds so we can get our first event win. I
do better under pressure, so I think that added
pressure will help me.”
Cassie and the Spiro Kontos-owned Kon Rodz team
will get their first qualifying shot at 4 pm
Friday. TAFC gets two more sessions on Saturday,
with first round of eliminations scheduled for noon
on Sunday.
Source: Press
release
Simonton Becomes Official
Member of DRAW
The Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW)
welcomed their newest official member this week
following the NHRA Mac Tools U.S. National event in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
Cassie Simonton, the 25 year-old Top Alcohol
Funny Car driver for Canadian-based Kon Rodz
Racing, made the decision to get involved with the
DRAW program after hearing about the
organization’s success since their launch in
1985.
This is Simonton’s second year racing the
Kon Rodz Racing Top Alcohol Funny Car, owned and
operated by Spiro and Fay Kontos. The team competed
in their first national event of 2011 at the
Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., where she
recorded a career best ET of 5.56 at 260 mph.
Most recently, Simonton and the Kon Rodz Racing
team competed in the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at
Lucas Oil Raceway Park where Cassie had a quarter
finals finish.
The Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW) is a
non-profit organization that provides financial and
emotional support to drivers and crew members
involved in drag racing accidents while at the
track. DRAW came into play in 1985 following a
successful 1984 fundraiser for injured racer,
Shirley Muldowney. Members of the drag racing
community who were involved in the relief endeavor
were blown away by the support of fellow racers and
fans. In turn, many were inspired to create an
organization that would financially assist
individuals involved in drag racing accidents
“It’s a huge honor to be associated
with The Drag Racing Association of Woman. Not only
has it been around for over 26 years, but it is
extremely successful in that it has helped so many
people in the racing community. We all know racing
is dangerous and NHRA definitely takes all the
right precautions to keep the series as safe as
possible, but it is nice to know that there is a
large group of people ready to step in and help out
if an accident does happen,” said Simonton,
driver of the Kon Rodz Top Alcohol Funny Car.
The organization operates by the slogan,
“Fast Help for Fast Friends” and has been
victorious in each effort to provide support. From
1985-2010, DRAW raised over $3,754,442 to aid more
than 732 families. Last year, 45 families alone
were supported, with funds raised exceeding $220,
125.
“As a team, we are proud of Cassie
(Simonton, driver) for taking an interest in this
particular project and we are very happy to display
the DRAW logo on our car and trailer at each event
we attend. DRAW is a big deal, but is the type of
organization that needs to be bigger. Kon Rodz
Racing is prepared to do their part in building
awareness to make it bigger. We’re hoping
we’ll rub off on others who aren’t yet
involved,” said Spiro Kontos, team owner of
Kon Rodz Racing.
Source: www.konrodzracing.com/Media-Press.html
Cassie Simonton Reaches
First TAFC Final!
As a rehab therapist I have to set goals for the
course of treatment with my patients. There are two
types of goals: short term and long term. For
example one of my 5-year old speech therapy
patients diagnosed with Autism who currently only
uses single word to communicate may have a long
term goal of using sentences to communicate. I
expect this to happen in about 9 months from the
start of therapy. In the meantime I'll work on
having them use 2-3 word phrases. Or with a feeding
patient transitioning off of a bottle to table
foods I'll have them eat pureed foods like
applesauce first. There are very few things you can
just dive into the deep end with. And drag racing
is one of them.
My long term goal of the season is to win a
round at a national. My short term goals are to
qualify and then to qualify well.
Gainesville couldn't have possibly gone better
for us!! Sure it would have been awesome to win
first round but when you're up against someone like
Lombardo you do have to be realistic. I was just
super psyched to have qualified in the first place
after what happened at our national event
appearances last season. It was amazing to go down
the track four times, straight as an arrow!!
Regional events are going to be very tough for
our team; they’re basically just small
national events with so many cars registered for
each event. And Maple Grove was a perfect example
of how much my Dad needs to retire so he can work
on our race car full time ;-) When you’re up
until midnight putting the transmission together
after getting up at 4am… well let’s just
say I’m not sure how he does it. I used to
pull nights like that when I was finishing my
master’s degree and I spent the following day
doing nothing but dozing between Sex and the City
reruns.
It’s really hard to watch you own father
have to go through something like that…
I’d like to thank everyone on the team who
were always prepared to tear something apart and
put it back together. Also, thanks to all of the
guys at the track who came by to offer suggestions
– just further proof our class is a family :-)
But another good, clean, straight pass went into
our books.
So now we’re off to Norwalk. Have you SEEN
the entry list?!?! Yikes....Lots of heavy hitters
on that list. It’ll be a fun weekend, but to
continue with accomplishing my goals of the season
I would really like to qualify, and better than
where we did at Gainesville. Odds? I’m not a
betting woman. (I’d rather chance my money at
the outlet mall.) We’re super prepared –
all of the guys have been down to help my Dad get
everything set with the race car and my Mom has the
menu prepared!! My bags are almost packed, but
since I constantly change my mind about what to
wear I’m sure they’ll be unpacked and
repacked twice before I leave on Thursday morning
haha!! Wish us luck or see you there!
Source: www.topalcoholnews.blogspot.com
TAN Driver Blog-Cassie
Simonton-TAFC
We started our season as we always do at the
pre-Gator test session at South Georgia Motorsports
Park. It was so nice to be back at the track with
my team. We made two passes on our first day of
testing. Since I had been out of the car for almost
7 months, the first hit was all about getting us
back to our routine so we just did a half-track
pass. Everything went smoothly and all data looked
good on the computer, so I was told that if it felt
good, to make a full pass on the second run. So she
launched hard and went straight down the track to
run a 5.56 at 258 mph. When Adam came on the radio
to tell me what I ran, I am pretty sure I asked him
three times to repeat what he said because none of
us were expecting to run that fact on our first
pass out. Needless to say, we were all very happy
with that run and excited to get to Gainesville and
compete. We also tested Tuesday but just made two
half-track passes to break in some clutch discs for
the race.
Wednesday morning we loaded up and made the
short two hour drive over to Gainesville. Wednesday
night I was given the opportunity to be part of a
"jersey swap" with the Harlem Globetrotters. That
was the first time I have seen the Globetrotters
and I have to say they put on a good show. I was
also able to hang out with some of the top drivers
of the NHRA, including Matt Hagan, Bob Tasca, Jack
Beckman, Bob Vandergriff, Hillary Will, and Leah
Pruett.
On Friday morning, we had our first qualifying
session at 10 am and ran a 5.70, which put us #5 in
the field. Our second pass was Friday night after
all the pro sessions and had great conditions to
run fast times. The car launched hard and I knew
she was on a good pass, but when I went to shift
into second gear, it didn't shift and I had to
lift. We could tell by the early numbers that it
was on a great run and probably would have run a
low fifty. We were up late that night working on
the transmissions and had to change my brake master
cylinder, bleed the brakes and of course all the
regular maintenance between rounds.
Saturday morning we were scheduled to run again
at 10 am. We were not able to improve on our last
qualifying run because we smoked the tires and had
to shut it down early. We were not going to let
that get us down, though. We stayed qualified in
the #10 spot and had Todd Veney first round later
that night. I kept myself busy in-between rounds by
using my practice tree to keep me on top of the
game for first round. Unfortunately, our luck
didn't change first round and we smoked the tires
again.
I really want to thank my guys for all the late
nights and hard work they put in the last few
weeks. I couldn't do it without them and I can't
wait to get back out there with them in a few weeks
at the Four-Wide Nationals in Charlotte.
Source: topalcoholnews.blogspot.com/2012/03/tan-driver-blog-cassie-simonton-tafc.html
Simonton and Kon Rodz
Racing Prepared for 4-Wide Nationals
Canadian Top Alcohol Funny Car team Kon Rodz Racing
is packing up and heading south for the weekend.
While many people might be spending time on the
beach during spring break week, driver "Sassy"
Cassie Simonton and the crew will be working hard
at zMax Dragway, sending their car down the quarter
mile at over 260 mph. The group is ready to rebound
after going over the car and fixing the issues.
"I can say that we are very positive heading
into the race this weekend. We learned a lot from
some of the issues we had in Gainesville and we
feel confident that we're ready for Charlotte,"
said Simonton.
The car's first full pass in testing was a 5.56
at 260 mph on the hot South Georgia Motorsports
Park track surface. A few bugs in the systems
prevented the team from doing well at the
Gatornationals, but those gremlins have been worked
out. Team owner Spiro Kontos is confident in the
team heading into the 4-Wide Nationals.
"Cassie's driving has become very consistent now
that she's in her third full season in the car.
This will be our first time at zMax with Randy
Anderson tuning, so I expect positive results.
We're eager to get our first Wally and we would
love for that to happen this weekend," said
Kontos.
Spiro's son, Stefan, will be launching his new
venture, SK Designs. The Kon Rodz Racing car will
sport SK Designs logos, along with a couple other
logos that were designed for clients. SK Designs is
up and running, ready to design a professional logo
for your race team or business.
"Sassy" Cassie Simonton and the Kon Rodz Racing
Top Alcohol Funny Car team will first hit the track
on Friday morning for the first round of qualifying
at the 4-Wide Nationals, April 13-15, at zMax
Dragway. The team will get three rounds of
qualifying before first round of eliminations on
Saturday evening.
Kon Rodz Racing is a NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car
team owned by Spiro Kontos, competing in the Lucas
Oil Drag Racing Series. 25-year old Cassie Simonton
drives the team's 3,000 horsepower Chevy Monte
Carlo funny car. Spiro, Cassie, and the whole Kon
Rodz Racing team would like to thank the following
sponsors for their continued support: Lucas Oil,
NGK Spark Plugs, Goodson, BAE, Goodyear Tire,
Clevite, Mac Tools, Dino's Pizza and Pasta, Artist
ButchM, and ithreesixty Music Infused Apparel.
Source: topalcoholnews.blogspot.com/2012/04/simonton-and-kon-rodz-racing-prepared.html
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