Kenny Youngblood to Focus on Texas Racers on Zizzo Racing Dragster in Houston |
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Topics: TJ ZizzoKenny Youngblood Team: Owner: Tony Zizzo Crew Chief: Mike Kern Clutch Specialist: Tony Smith Utilities/Tires: Mike Adams Public Relations: Cathie Gallo Cylinder Heads: Rick Dale Car Chief: Rick Messmore Bottom End/Motor Assembly: Ryan Ramos Clutch/Car Assembly: Chris Schneider Cylinder Head (right): Joe Cluts Utility: Doug Wikell Public/Media Relations: Brandon W. Mudd
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Brandon W. Mudd
Zizzo Racing
April 27, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Brandon W. Mudd
BWMudd@ZizzoRacing.com
636-219-9676
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. – TJ Zizzo is racing the PEAK Motor Oil/Herculiner rail this weekend in the 23rd Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals at Royal Purple Raceway with the new Kenny Youngblood paint scheme that was unveiled in Pomona, but with some new highlights.
“We thought it would be cool to showcase different Youngblood creations on the car, and change those vignettes to align with the different geographic areas were we’ll be racing in 2011,” Zizzo said. “When we unveiled the car at Pomona, the wrap featured four of his paintings that represented West Coast drag racing (Gas Rhonda, Dave Condit, Bakersfield Drags, and the Speed Sport Roadster).”
At this weekend’s NHRA Full Throttle Series event at Royal Purple Raceway, the dragster will again feature four more of Youngblood’s contributions to racing, but this time they will have a Texas flavor. “Over the years, we did graphic designs and paintings for the best Texas had to offer,” said Youngblood, who is celebrating his 45th year in drag racing this season, “namely Raymond Beadle, Eddie Hill and Lori Johns. We did a lot of work for Raymond, so two of the four featured images are photos of the Blue Max that we created the graphics for; in the case of the Mustang, we also did the actual hand lettering and airbrush work on the car itself.”
Youngblood went on to discuss the inspiration for the other new prints on Zizzo’s car this weekend. “I was a big fan of Lori Johns and one of my best paintings ever was the portrait I did of her and her Top Fuel car, which the late Tom Stratton and I also painted,” Youngblood said.
Last but not least, is Youngblood’s painting of Eddie Hill’s cataclysmic engine explosion, which coincidentally occurred while Eddie was competing at the Houston event, in 1999. “What can you say about Eddie? He was the consummate drag racer; a great driver, a graduate engineer and innovator who certainly wasn’t afraid to push the envelope.”
Fans of TJ Zizzo and Zizzo Racing can find updates and photos of the PEAK/Herculiner Top Fuel team by checking out ZizzoRacing.com, Twitter.com/ZizzoRacing, and Facebook.com/ZizzoRacing. Videos of TJ and Zizzo Racing can be found at YouTube.com/TJZizzo.
Zizzo will race his PEAK/Herculiner rail in the NHRA Full Throttle Series event at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas at the 23rd Annual O’Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Spring Nationals. The first round of qualifying is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. local time Friday with the second round expected to start at 6 p.m. The final two rounds of qualifying for the Nitro classes are scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. local time Saturday. Finals kick off Sunday at 11 a.m. immediately following pre-race ceremonies. Spectator gates for all three days of racing open at 7:30 a.m. For information about the event or to purchase tickets, visit RoyalPurpleRaceway.com or call 281-383-7223.