Hows This For Performance

June 10, 2003

Ioannou Sets Records at NHRA Sport Compact Event in Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, N.J. (May 5, 2003) - New Jersey native George Ioannou had a dominant weekend at his home track in winning the Pro RWD class at the Nitto Extreme Performance NHRA Sport Compact Nationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J.

Ioannou set new national elapsed time and speed records when he won the first round of eliminations with a pass of 6.786 seconds at 205.47 mph in the Street Glow Toyota Solara. He was the top qualifier in the Pro RWD class with run of 6.941 seconds on Saturday. In the final round of eliminations, Ioannou ran 6.810 seconds at 204.60 mph to win for the second time in a row at Englishtown. Ioannou broke the existing national elapsed time and speed records he had set in October 2002 in Englishtown.

"The second win in a row here at Englishtown, and running the times and speeds that we did, is really awesome," Ioannou said. "I wanted a 6.79 run really bad, and when the guys told me on the radio that I ran a 6.78 at 205, I had no words left."

Matt Scranton, the first sport compact/import drag racer to ever break the 200-mph barrier when he went 202.55 mph last May in Englishtown, clocked the quickest quarter-mile pass in NHRA sport compact history when he drove his Turbonetics Toyota Celica to a run of 6.745 mph at 203.46 mph in winning his first round match in the Pro RWD class. Unfortunately for Scranton, he could not back up his record run with a pass within 10 percent when he could not make the start of his semi-final match. It also ended Scranton's record run of 11-straight event victories dating back to last year, which included a win in the opening race at Moroso Park in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Toyota-powered drag racer Jimmy O'Connor was also victorious at Englishtown when took the Modified class win in his Venom Performance Toyota Supra. It was O'Connor's second career event win when he ran 8.553 seconds at 136.70 mph in the final round. He had qualified third on Saturday with a 7.935-second pass at 167.12 mph.

The Nitto Extreme Performance NHRA Sport Compact Nationals will be broadcast tape delay on Saturday, May 10 at 8 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. The next event on the NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing schedule is the Auto Trader Southeast NHRA Sport Compact Nationals, May 16-17, at legendary Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Fla.

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