Spring and summer are the prime seasons for Scion owners to enjoy time behind the wheel, and it's no different for the team members of Scion Racing. Since April, Scion Racing has been busy racking up victories, setting records, and making history on tracks across the country.
And thanks to its efforts, Scion's participation in motorsports - activities that include the newer disciplines of sport compact drag racing, time attack, and drifting, as well as traditional road racing - is broader than ever.
Scion's racing season got off to a big start in April thanks to groundbreaking and record-setting debuts by team members Ken Gushi and Chris Rado, respectively.
Gushi, at 21 years of age, is the youngest and newest member of Scion Racing. That doesn't mean he's a rookie by any means; Gushi has been drifting since the age of 13. Gushi competes in the Formula DRIFT Professional Championship, arguably the most competitive drifting series in the world, and is behind the wheel of the specially modified RS*R Scion tC. At the 2008 Formula D season opener, Gushi and the RS*R Scion tC had a successful and historic debut as the first rear-wheel drive converted car to qualify for Top 16 competition in the history of the series.
Not to be outdone, sport compact drag racing veteran Chris Rado also inserted Scion into the history books at the NOPI Drag Series season opener in Florida. In his revamped World Motorsports Scion tC, which pumps out an amazing 1,800 horsepower from its turbocharged four-cylinder engine, Rado recorded the quickest 60-foot time for a front-wheel drive vehicle in drag racing competition.
As the weather started to heat up in May, so did Scion Racing's Kenny Tran. Competing at the NOPI Spring Nationals event in Englishtown, New Jersey, Tran and his Jotech Motorsports Scion tC notched two victories and one class record. Tran picked up his first victory by defeating competitor Bryan Jimenez in a pairing scheduled as a make-up for a rain-postponed final from the season opener. Tran then made it two-for-two by again defeating Jimenez in the Englishtown event final and set a class record elapsed time of 8.012 seconds in the process.
June saw Scion Racing's Leslie Armendariz join Rado in the victory circle of the Battle of the Imports event in Atco, New Jersey. Armendariz and her Horizon Motorsports Scion tC bested all other comers in the naturally-aspirated Pro Stock category, while Rado boosted his tC to the first victory of his season in the Pro FWD category. Armendariz defeated competitor Scott Kelley's Toyota Corolla, while Rado bested Gary Gardella and his Chevy Cobalt for the top honors.
Later in June, Dan Gardner and his Jackson-Dawson Scion tC became the first Scion tC to lead in a professional road racing event. Gardner's supercharged Scion tC competes in the highly competitive Street Tuner class of the Grand-Am KONI Challenge series. Gardner and the tC's progress have continued to impress since the car was introduced earlier this year. In fact, Gardner and the tC finished first in Time Trial C competition twice at a NASA event in April.
Before June ended, both Armendariz and Tran visited the winner's circle one more time at the Battle of the Imports event in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Having qualified first at the event, Armendariz went into her final as the favorite against Pro-Stock heavyweight Norris Prayoonto. There was no lack of excitement as the lights turned green though; Prayoonto left first, but Armendariz drove her tC to a thrilling come-from-behind victory. As exciting as the Pro Stock final was, Tran topped it with a stunning nine-thousandths of a second victory over Mike Crawford in the Pro Import category. Tran used an almost perfect .001 reaction time to beat Crawford's Cobalt to the finish line despite a slower elapsed time (8.32 vs. 8.17).
With half the year remaining on the calendar, there are plenty of opportunities for more on-track success for Scion Racing. For more information on Scion Racing and its motorsports activities, please visit
www.ScionRacing.com.