Indy ORP: Zizzo Racing final report

Round One Win at U.S. Nationals has Zizzo Racing Riding High as They Prepare for Charlotte

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (September 9, 2010) -- With the sun shinning and the energy high, Zizzo racing entered the Mac Tools U.S Nationals hosted at O'Reilly Raceway Park with high hopes. "We had a lot of time to prepare for this race and felt that all the hard work the team put in was going to pay off," TJ Zizzo said.

He was right. It was one of the best weekends in Zizzo Racing's Top Fuel career. After a career best 3.86 off of the trailer on Friday night, Zizzo and the team never looked back. With one of the most consistent top fuel cars on the premises, TJ ran another career best, a 3.85, on his third run, which was good enough for the tenth qualifying position.

"Everyone comes out for the "Big Go," Zizzo said. "When a 3.85 gets you the tenth position in eliminations, you know that every run is going to be competitive."

Round one brought a match up between Doug Kalitta and Zizzo. Zizzo was on his game and after a hole shot victory he went on to run another career best with a speed of 314 MPH. It was one of the biggest round wins in TJ's career. Round one brought a match up between Doug Kalitta and Zizzo. Zizzo was on his game and after a hole shot victory he went on to run another career best with a speed of 314 MPH. It was one of the biggest round wins in TJ's career.

The second round brought a pumped Zizzo Racing Team to the staging lanes, where they were positioned fourth out. All three prior runs to them in the right lane smoked the tires. With a last minute change to the dragster from Mike Kern and Tony Smith, Zizzo was the only one to make it down the track with a 3.90, but it wasn't quite enough to beat out Cory McClenathan.

"The team prepared a great car for me all weekend long, which allows for easy driving. A last minute decision to make the race car go down the track shows a lot of maturity from a young team because we chose to race the lane, rather than the driver. If Cory made a mistake, we would have advanced," Zizzo said.

Adding to the pressure of the U.S Nationals was the fact that two of Zizzo Racing's marketing partners were on site for the weekend. PEAK Performance Products entertained 20 guests, including 14 O'Reilly Team Members and guests with pit side hospitality, pit tours, one on one time with the team, and a dinner with driver TJ Zizzo.

Expo Dry Erase Markers was also on site to fulfill their promotion which allowed kids to sign a portion of TJ Zizzo's PEAK Dragster and with each winning pass, donate a 1,000 feet of markers to Teachers Treasures, a Kid's in Need affiliate. "This was a huge hit with the fans and a very successful promotion. We were able to donate 6,000 feet of Expo Dry Erase Markers and we talked to thousands of people over the weekend," Zizzo said.

Zizzo Racing and the PEAK Dragster will be getting ready for their next outing which will be in Charlotte in eight days.

-source: zizzo racing