National: Kon Rodz Racing moves to one car

KON RODZ RESTRUCTURES TAFC TEAM FOR REMAINER OF 2010

Barrie, ONT - Spiro Kontos' Kon Rodz Racing Ontario, Canada based Top Alcohol Funny Car team will race the remainder of their 2010 NHRA schedule focusing on the development their rookie driver Cassie Simonton and are returning to a one-car team for the remainder of this season.

Following the recently completed Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals contested in Norwalk, Ohio, Kontos' met with his team to announce a restructuring in order to focus on building a winning one-car operation and provide Simonton with a good training vehicle in which to learn. Team driver Jason McKnight and Kontos mutually agreed to part ways, allowing McKnight a chance to explore future employment opportunities.

"We'd like to thank Jason for the time and effort he put into helping us build this team to where we are at today," noted Kontos. "This was a very difficult decision for us to make and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. I am committed to providing our marketing partners, our fans and our friends with a competitive car and quite frankly we're not at that level yet. I believe by returning to the single car, we'll be able to focus 100 percent of our efforts on building one solid baseline tune-up and thus giving Cassie some full quarter-mile laps in which to learn."

Simonton qualified in Norwalk while competing in her first NHRA National Event and lost a first round race against Alexis Dejoria. However, the 23-year old driver from Brownsburg, Ind. impressed her team and fellow competitors with her driving skills. "Ever since I licensed in Georgia, I have had a chance to experience pretty much every possible driving scenario from shaking the tires, to missing shifts, to having staging issues," noted Simonton. "I believe we've started to turn a corner on the tune-up of Spiro's car and I'm very blessed to have this driving opportunity. We are also very fortunate to have Dale and Laurie Cannister providing their leadership and knowledge to our team."

The Kon Rodz Racing team will be restructuring their race schedule as well.

-source: kon rodz racing