TNT Series Updates — Second Half Season Kickoff

St. Thomas Raceway Park will host two TNT Super Series  races this coming weekend……Series racer and sponsor Kevin Orr in the spotlight…

 The Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series brings highly competitive sportsman drag racing back to St Thomas Raceway Park this weekend August 4-5 for events eight and nine on the 2012 schedule.

Kevin Orr Mechanical presents the weekend which will be run in 1/8th mile format and marks the return of the TNTSS to the southwestern Ontario facility.  Making this year even more exciting is that the TNTSS has not paid less than $700 to win all year.

Last year’s event winners, Andrew Stirk and Marc Vezina will be defending their titles while the championship points chase continues to heat up.  Chris VanBaalen leads Jon Jablonski by a mere 17 points.  Tom Coonly sits in third followed closely by Larry Pulver while David Surmatchewski rounds out the top five.  The tightest battle is from 4th to 8th with only 28 points separating those five drivers.

The weekend will be highlighted by a barbeque for the TNTSS racers on Saturday night put together by Laurie Orr…including fresh burgers, sausages, hot dogs and corn on the cob.  “Kevin and Laurie Orr are strong supporters of the TNTSS,” said Ted Barnes, Series Director.  “It’s awesome to have folks like them involved in what we do.”

Joining the TNTSS this weekend is the Can Am Stock/Super Stock series making this a terrific weekend for the sportsman drag racing enthusiast.

Gates open at 5:00pm on Friday for weekend camping with qualifying starting Saturday morning at 10:00am.   Sunday’s qualifying starts at noon.  Visit www.stthomasracewaypark.com for more information.

Kevin Orr Enters St. Thomas Event after career-best finish 

Kevin Orr has been drag racing for almost three decades and has never been to a final round at a national event…until now. 

Kevin and his wife Laurie finished in the runner-up spot in Hot Rod at the recent 2012 IHRA MOPAR Nitro Jam Nationals at Grand Bend Motorplex.  Falling to eventual triple class winner Jacob Elrod, Kevin put some very impressive numbers on the board.

His average reaction time in eliminations was .017 and he ran on the good side of the 10.90 index in every round, with the exception of the final.

Kevin & Laurie Orr

After defeating Rudy Matthews in round one by a tight .004 margin of victory, Kevin drilled the tree in round two with a stout .006 which wasn’t good for Ron Cannatti.  In round three, he repeated his near perfect light with another .006 against Drew Buchner who put up a good fight running a 10.907 to Kevin’s 10.919.

The semi-finals had three TNTSS regulars in the lanes with Kevin, Sam LoVetro Jr and Tom Coonly.  Kevin prevailed over Sam with an .004 to an .012 and 10.911 to 11.006 while Tom was almost perfect on the tree at .001 but went too fast at 10.890 to Jacob Elrod’s 10.947.

In the final, Kevin posted a very respectable .021 but Jacob was better at .011.  And even though Kevin took the stripe, he went too fast doing it running 10.872 to a better 10.891.

“Thanks to Chris at Lawrence Classic Transmission for keeping the drivetrain working,” said Kevin.  “Special thanks to Laurie for all of her support over the years.”

Kevin says the highlight of his racing career is the two final round appearances in the same weekend last year in the Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series.  “But I’m absolutely thrilled with my driving last weekend.  Now to apply it to the TNT series,” added Kevin.

“A special thanks to Ted Barnes, Joe Boniferro and Russ & Arlene Parker for creating an incredibly competitive series.   And all of the other TNTSS racers for teaching me how to drive through the school of hard knocks!”

Kevin’s car is an original 1967 Corvette Roadster 427/435hp machine.  He and Laurie purchased in 1982.  “Laurie used to drive it to work!” added Kevin.  They started racing the Corvette in Street class in 1986 running mid 11’s.  Then a Liberty clutchless four speed was installed in 1988 and the back-half was done in 1990 to go Super Street racing.  “We crashed the car in September of 2000 at Cayuga and then spent the next five years putting a front clip on it.” 

Next was a Powerglide and they tried Joe’s Transmission TNT Super Series in late 2009.  “We’ve only been running the TNT series ever since, with the exception of the Grand Bend national event every year.”

Visit www.tntsuperseries.com for full details.

Posted by:  Lewis Robinson