A PARADE, 2 AUTOGRAPH SESSIONS AND A 200 LAP NASCAR K&N PRO SERIES RACE MADE FOR A BUSY NASCAR DEBUT FOR THE VISION AIR DRIVERS!

Irwindale CA, July 2nd-3rd – The weekend for the Vision Airlines Racing team began with a tour of the K&N Factory and an autograph session and included a historic first ever – NASCAR hauler parade from Santa Anita to the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

In conjunction with the annual NASCAR K & N Pro Series West “King Taco 200” at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, this years event included the first race car hauler parade in the track’s 12 year history and it was well received and is certain to be back on the agenda for 2011! The Vision Airlines Racing Team hauler took its place in the parade, which originated from the parking lot of world famous Santa Anita Park and ended as the team took their spot in the Irwindale pit area.  The Vision Airlines Team and Drivers also toured the K&N Factory in Riverside and were one of 3 teams to display their cars and rig on the K&N Factory grounds.  All of this pre-race promotion must have added to the interest in the race as the Irwindale Speedway was near capacity. The crowd was estimated at 6,800 which would have made it the largest of the year and even topped the 5,800 in the stands for the January 30 Toyota All-Star Showdown.

For the Saturday race, the VAR Teams returned to the track shortly after 8:00 am Saturday for a busy NASCAR schedule of race day activities.  Qualifying went well for Justin Johnson in the 97 VAR Impala putting him 4th in his first NASCAR K&N Pro Series Race.  Dusty had a slip on his first lap of qualifying that put him a little deeper in the field starting 20th.  Once the race got underway both drivers looked comfortable and made progress but Justin eventually slipped back a few spots, while Davis picked his way through the field getting to eighth and closing on his VAR teamate before the break.  With only a few laps to the break, Johnson spun and had to go to the back for the restart, but again started picking off cars.  When they finally stopped for the 100 lap break, Dusty was holding on to eighth and Justin had worked his way back into the top half of the field.  After the adjustments in the pits, the field restarted and for a short time Dusty and Justin looked like they were both headed for a top ten finish.  But Dusty’s 94 Impala was pushing and needed a long green to get the balance he needed.  Justin’s car was headed back to the front and he worked around teamate Davis, but his second half run was short lived as he passed the 17 and while moving high to set up for turn 1 slipped across the nose of the 17 car.  Justin spun and collected the 10 car behind the door ending his debut.  Dusty continued to pick off spots even with a pushing Impala and now running down on power as contact when he worked through the field crushed a noise deflector onto the headers.  Even down on power and fighting an ill handling car, Davis carefully raced his way back to eighth, giving a him a top ten in his debut against a very competitive West Series field!  All things considered the VAR team looked strong for their first outing in this new series, but later at the hotel the team had to end the weekend thinking about what might have been…  As they say – “That’s racing.”