[Scott Daloisio]

For Further Information Contact Scott Daloisio: mailto:: sdaloisiosports@aol.com or (909) 226-7768

For Immediate Release

DAMION GARDNER TALKS ABOUT BONNEVILLE AND THE WORLD’S FASTEST SPRINT CAR!

(Concord, CA, August 4, 2014) Last August, Damion Gardner and his crew journeyed to the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah for the first time. For the veteran Concord, California driver, who wanted to become the “World’s Fastest Sprint Car Driver,”
it was basically a journey into the unknown. Beginning this weekend, Gardner will be back at Bonneville for his second shot at the salt. He recently took some time from working on his “Green Demon” sprint car to answer some questions on what it was like the first time and what changes he has made heading into this year’s efforts. Here is what he had so say.

Q: You went to Bonneville last year to become the “World’s Fastest Sprint Car” and in hopes of going 200-MPH. You got the title, but you missed the speed by a little more than 5-MPH. How frustrating was not to not get 200-MPH?

Gardner: Not real frustrating. We knew we would be doing this for at least a couple years. Our goal was to be the World’s Fastest Sprint Car. We did that. We got that almost immediately and then we wanted to go 200. It was so close. The big focus became going 200. I was pretty happy leaving there as the “World’s Fastest Sprint Car.” I told Big Mike (Mike Grosswendt from Surf N’ Sprint) it gave us something to do next year and something to work for trying to go 200.

Q: Actually, you did get the car up to 200-MPH, but both times you spun before the runs became official, correct?

Gardner: Right, they don’t get counted (when you spin). By the time we got there last year the salt was really bad. We did not get there until it was like day five of the event. A lot of cars had already raced by then and that is why the salt had deteriorated so much. We were trying, but right about that point, about the 200 mark, the car would get pretty unsettled. I would try to drive through it, but it ended up spinning. After three spins, they tell you to take it home and go figure something out (laughing).

Q: You are usually racing on quarter to half mile dirt tracks and if you spin, it is not a crazy long deal.
What is a 200-MPH spin at Bonneville like?

Gardner: When you first do it, obviously you are a little concerned. After that it is just big long spins and you can see the horizon and mountains as you are spinning around. It is kind of quiet as you turn off the motor. It is not really as scary as people might think. You just hope nothing happens and fortunately it didn’t.

Q: The salt changes quite a bit over the length of the event doesn’t it?

Gardner: Oh yeah! Last year we were racing (in the USAC/CRA Series) at Santa Maria and Watsonville so we did not get there until Monday. Then I had to do my licensing. So, it was like Tuesday before I could try to go fast. Cars had already been on it since Saturday by then. The salt is just like a dirt track. It gets ruts and it kind of breaks up. Depending on the year, it can be worse than other years. I guess last year was kind of bad. When it cools at night, the salt kind of sets, but by the afternoon, the water kind of comes up to the surface and kind of breaks up the salt.

Q: I remember talking with you guys last year and you guys told me that the salt gets extremely slick.

Gardner: Yeah, it is not even what you can imagine. It is way slicker in the day. I did not realize when I was going there that was going to be such a big challenge. I did not know at all. I went to El Mirage (to test) and it was slick, but nothing like Bonneville.

Q: So it is hard to get a grip on that surface. Big Mike says you rebuilt the car three-times. How is the car different from last year?

Gardner: We did a bunch of different suspension parts. We took a lot of drag out of it. The more drag you have in it, the more you have to push. We had a big nose on the front that we had to push through the air. Now we have like a bullet looking nose. We added a bunch of down force to the back of the car. Basically, we tried to see how the air pushes on the car and we added the down force to the back of the car and robbed it from the front. Also, different axles, different wheels and different tires. A lot of little stuff like that.

Q: It is a sprint car, but with your car on a dirt track you are trying to go get everything light. Your USAC/CRA car weighs 1,200 pounds. How much does your Bonneville car weigh and how much does that extra weight account for keeping the car gripped to the surface?

Gardner: It accounts for a lot. It will probably weigh just over a couple thousand pounds when we are done. I don’t know exactly as we are still adding stuff here and there getting the balance of the car right. You have to get the balance front to rear right and so forth. It is going to weigh over 2,000 pounds and it is hard to add that much weight to a sprint car. When you are adding that weight, you have to think of the safety part of it all, because you are adding that weight to a car that was not designed to be that heavy.

Q: Some people see Bonneville and they think 300 or 400-MPH streamliners. They hear 200-MPH and they say, “big deal.” The streamliners are designed to go that fast. Sprint cars are not and thus it becomes a real handful doesn’t it?

Gardner: When it gets up to 175-MPH, it starts moving around quite a bit and you have to dive the car. That is something I don’t think the guys who are typically at Bonneville have to do. You don’t want to have to be driving it, you want to guide it. I definitely had to drive it a lot. Hopefully we can control some of that this year. You see the streamliners at Bonneville going 400-MPH and it is like Daytona in a stock car. My buddy says it is “kind of like a Sunday drive,” you know? Versus driving a small, over powered sprint car on a slick track, which is definitely a handful. The first thing all of the guys out there tell you is to make the car longer, make it bigger and you will go faster. But, we are trying to keep it in the sprint car dimensions and keep it true to what a sprint car is. That is the challenging part. It could go a lot faster and a lot easier if I did what those guys do to a Bonneville car, but that is not what we want to do.

Q: One thing that is going to be different for sure is hospitality. You are inviting your fans to come up and you will have a special place set up for the. Tell us about it.

Gardner: Big Mike is having some of his guys come out and they are having a big tent put up for the fans. That is good because it is going to be super-hot up there. Fans will be able to come and get a close up look at us working on the car, hang out and have a cold drink. Hopefully it is not as hot this year as it was last, but I imagine it will be. It would be great it if all the fans showed up there. Everybody should experience it at least once. Just the scenery, the sunrises and the sunsets are pretty amazing. Like I said, if you have never been, everybody should go at least once.

Q: Big Mike told me that if you go 200-MPH this year, you guys are not going back unless somebody goes faster. True?


Gardner: Yeah, I would imagine. We do not have a lot of sponsorship stuff for it. We talked to a lot of people, but to my surprise, nobody jumped on board. They kind of hem hawed around and wanted to pay a penny for a dollar’s worth of value. For that, I would rather just do it myself. That is pretty much what we are doing. Big Mike has helped me out a ton, my dad, Steve Watt and Milano’s. All of those guys really helped in putting it together along with a bunch of others (complete list of sponsors is listed below). So, I don’t know if we will go back at this point as it costs a lot of money. Me and my dad worked really hard getting it done. It takes me back to the old days when you are not racing for a living and you are doing it after work. It has been fun and it has been a lot of work, I don’t want to say we will never go back. I hope we set the standard pretty high and let them chase us from there.

Q: After nearly a month and half off from the USAC/CRA Series you are back at Perris Auto Speedway on August 16th and I heard you are bringing the Bonneville car out to display that night for the fans.

Gardner: Yeah, it is going to be great to have the car there on site at Perris so the fans can see it. It has a lot of cool stuff on it. It is true to a sprint car and it is still a sprint car. The body work on it is really nice and the chassis is still a sprint car chassis. Anybody who does not make it to Bonneville can see it up close at Perris that night. I can’t wait to get back to Perris. I have been working so hard on the Bonneville car it does not seem that long.

Everything is being shot for an exciting documentary titled, “The World’s Fastest Sprint Car.” The made for TV production is being written, directed and produced by Surf N’ Sprint and will be shot by the award winning racing specialists from LoudPedal Productions. You can take a sneak peek at the documentary at the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp1Jv...ature=youtu.be

Damion Gardner would like to thank the following for making this enormous task possible: Surf N’ Sprint, Frankland Rearends, J. Milano Co., Shaver Engines, Lucas Oil, ARP, FK Rod Ends, Weld Wheels, Yak Graphics, Schoenfeld, Waterman, Simpson, Willwood, Kinsler Fuel Injection, Advanced Racing Suspension, Maxwell Industries, Victory Race Cars, Beast Chassis, Maas Powdercoat, Kenny’s Components, Santamauro Racing, Lee Power Steering, Butler Built Seats, Schroeder, Brown & Miller, Champion Spark Plugs, System 1, Barne’s Systems, Eibach, TSR, Indy Race Parts, MPD, Beaver Stripes, K&N, Jessel, Comp Cams, Donovan, Seals It, LoudPedal Productions, KMD Racing.

Watch for more follow ups on this noble effort and for all of the fun and excitement getting ready for 2014. You can also check out what it going on in Utah on the Damion Gardner Fan Page on Facebook. The pages of pages of Steve Watt and Loudpedal Productions will also offer their takes on all the high speed happenings.

To hear Damion Gardner’s 2013 interview about driving the “World’s Fastest Sprint Car” with Shawn Wood on the Dirt Track Channel, please click on the following link: http://thedirttrackchannel.com/Webcast/tscsAug1313.mp3

For more information on Speedweek at Bonneville or to listen in live to all of the action, click on the following link: http://www.scta-bni.org/

Media, to contact any of the principals in this endeavor, please contact Scott Daloisio at sdaloisiosports@aol.com or call 909 226-7768.