Series Baton Rouge spotlight- Top Fuel

Battle of Top Fuel Titans to take place at State Capitol Raceway
Massey returns to take on Lagana, Litton and Cox

NORWALK, Ohio (February 25, 2010) -- At the season opening Palm Beach Nitro Jam at Palm Beach International Raceway last month underdog Bobby Lagana Jr. bested the last three IHRA World Champions to stun the field and take home the Top Fuel crown both nights.

In a little over a week Lagana and his team of "giant killers" will get an opportunity to repeat that feat at the Mardi Gras Nitro Jam March 6-7 at State Capitol Raceway in Baton Rouge.

"We took these guys down once already, it will be interesting to see if we can keep that momentum going in Baton Rouge," said Lagana. "All I know is right now this car is an absolute animal and we should be a contender next week and hopefully the rest of the year."

Bruce Litton produced the fastest pass so far this year at Palm Beach International Raceway.

But it won't be easy.

For the second time this season 2008 IHRA World Champion and 2009 NHRA Rookie of the Year Spencer Massey will return to the cockpit of the brand new Mitch King-owned Top Fuel dragster alongside defending World Champion Del Cox Jr. and 2007 champ and winner of this race one year ago Bruce Litton to set up an identical battle of Top Fuel royalty.

Lagana, the proverbial David against a team of Goliaths, will have to be on top of his game to best the last three IHRA Top Fuel World Champions who will all be gunning to knock him from the top.

"I am really looking forward to Baton Rouge. We had a lot of fun down there last year and we finished runner-up to Bruce in a great race," said Lagana. "It is fun to be the underdog, especially when you are able to beat so many incredible competitors like we did in Florida. I greatly respect every one of these guys and I enjoy racing against them.

"But when you really think about, my little team going up against all these world champions and to be able to be competitive, that is a pretty cool deal."

Spencer Massey returns to the cockpit of the Mitch King Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at Baton Rouge.

While Lagana produced solid runs both nights in Florida, both Cox and Massey had trouble battling the quarter-mile earlier this year as did Litton who was halted by mechanical issues Saturday night.

"We broke the front end Saturday night and had an issue with one of our other runs, but we showed what this car is capable of on Friday with the quickest and fastest pass of the weekend," said Litton. "Now we just need to put that all together into four solid runs and we should be able to have a big weekend.

"We won this race last year so we know what it takes to get down this track, we just have to make sure all the pieces come together."

Litton and Cox filled the final round positions Friday and Saturday night respectively alongside Lagana, but neither could get around the POW/MIA dragster of Lagana.

"We had all kinds of problems at Palm Beach which is not like this team at all. Spencer and I both ran into some issues, but we will get those problems fixed and be ready for Baton Rouge," said Cox.

Bobby Lagana proved nearly unbeatable at Palm Beach Nitro Jam earlier this year.

The only person who didn't have a round win at Palm Beach was Massey who returned to IHRA competition for the first time in a little over a year after running his way to a sixth place finish with the NHRA in 2009.

"It was frustrating not being able to get down the track like we wanted to, but we will get that worked out. Del and I have a great crew working on these cars so I am not really worried about it," said Massey. "I just have to thank Mitch and IHRA for everything. I enjoy running over here and I look forward to running a few more races with Mitch and the team this year."

Can Lagana keep his win streak alive? Will Massey return to championship form? Can Litton and Cox return to their dominating ways?

Find out March 6-7 at State Capitol Raceway's Mardi Gras Nitro Jam.

-source: ihra