'Notorious,' Keith Haney will race in ADRL event in St. Louis this weekend

ST. LOUIS (Nov. 2) - "Notorious" isn't done yet in 2016.

 

Keith Haney Racing and driver Keith Haney will take their Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Pro Nitrous Chevrolet - nicknamed Notorious - to the American Drag Racing League Dragstock XI race this weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park.

 

"This is the last race of the year," Haney said. "I'm going to miss my son's playoff (football) game, but dad's got to have fun, too. I missed the last PDRA race, and I've only been to the Throw Down in the last three months. I've just not had enough."

 

Plus, Haney is supporting good friend Larry Jeffers, whose Larry Jeffers Race Cars shop is in nearby House Springs, Mo.

 

"Larry has been a good friend and a great business partner for a long time," Haney said. "Anything Keith Haney Racing has ever needed, Larry has helped out. If I can support him by racing in St. Louis, I'm happy to do it."

 

Haney plans to use this weekend's race as a test session for next year, hoping to continue some late-season momentum.

 

"It'll be a good test session, a good place to get some data for our 2017 race season," Haney said. "We've got a lot of things happening with our race team, and we're building a new race shop. And I've made some changes with the crew, revamping for next year, and this is a great test session for us to find out if the changes we've made are the right ones."

 

Haney started off this season strong, but while attempting to keep getting better, his car slowed a tick in the middle of the season. Haney and tuners Brandon Switzer and Brandon Pesz returned to the tuneup from the beginning of the year, and Notorious responded by qualifying No. 1 and going to the final round of the Throw Down in T-Town at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park two weeks ago.

 

"We made some great changes to the car at the Throw Down," Haney said. "We made all these changes to Notorious all throughout the year to try to make it faster, but we were consistently slower. We still were fast in a lot of people's eyes, but not fast enough in our eyes.

 

"We made seven consecutive passes down the track in the low 3.80s, and we never really leaned on it because we didn't feel like we needed to. We're going to go St. Louis, and what better way to test than on a prepped track with some race cars going down."

 

Haney's son, Logan, played on a youth football team that went undefeated, and the team's first playoff game is this weekend.

 

"I'm racing for Keith Haney Racing and all my sponsors," Haney said. "It's not about points, it's about racing, and that's what I'm going to do: I'm going to race. I'm not done. My son's football team went 
9-0 for the year, and they start the playoffs Saturday. Well, if they win, I'll watch them the next week. Daddy's got to have his fun, too."

 

In addition to Notorious, Haney will have his Keith Haney Racing merchandise trailer at the track to serve his fan's souvenir needs.

 

Sponsors Lucas Oil, RacingJunk.com, Switzer Dynamics, Pesz Performance & Tuning, Reher Morrison, M&M Transmission and Adam Lambert from Precision Racing Suspension help make Haney's PDRA team possible, and he continues to appreciate the support from wife Dee and his children Timber, Alex, Madison and Logan.

 

Haney's family of car dealerships includes Suburban Chevrolet in Claremore; Classic Chevrolet in Owasso, Okla.; Miami Auto Supercenter in Miami, Okla.; Regional Hyundai in Broken Arrow, Okla.; Nissan of Muskogee, Okla.; and Bartlesville (Okla.) Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

 

 

 

Keith Haney, Keith Haney Racing to skip final PDRA race of 2016

 

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 18) - Keith Haney and his Keith Haney Racing team are likely done for the 2016 season after Haney decided not to race "Notorious" in the PDRA World Finals this weekend at Virginia Motorsports Park.

Haney has driven the Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Chevrolet -- nicknamed "Notorious" -- in the Pro Nitrous class this season, but he and his team are taking the weekend off.

"It saddens me a little bit because it's a Brian Olson memorial, and he was such a great friend to me," Haney said. "But to drive 22 hours the week after racing in the Throw Down (in T-Town) was going to be tough. It doesn't matter where I'm at in the points, and I can finish in the top 10.

"But it's never been about points for me. I've never been one to chase points. I'm doing this for fun and enjoyment and because I love the sport so much. It's more about that for me than winning a championship."

Haney currently sits ninth in the PDRA Pro Nitrous standings, though he was without a victory this season. Winning a PDRA race is what matters to Haney, and he has bigger goals in mind, too.

"I'd like to win one, and when I decide to, I'll go NHRA Pro Mod racing," Haney said. "It's probably a few years away. You never know what'll come in this sport. It's been exciting to see what's going on.

"We're going to work on our program a little bit. We may hit one more race. We haven't made that final decision."

Whether they race in that undisclosed event or not, Haney and his team will be busy preparing for 2017. A new state-of-the-art race shop is in the process of being built as Haney aims to step up his program for next year.

"We'll look at next year and step back now," Haney said. "If we make that last race, great; if not, we'll see everybody in March."

Sponsors Lucas Oil, RacingJunk.com, Switzer Dynamics, Pesz Performance & Tuning, Reher Morrison, M&M Transmission and Adam Lambert from Precision Racing Suspension help make Haney's PDRA team possible, and he continues to appreciate the support from wife Dee and his children Timber, Alex, Madison and Logan.

Haney's family of car dealerships includes Suburban Chevrolet in Claremore; Classic Chevrolet in Owasso, Okla.; Miami Auto Supercenter in Miami, Okla.; Regional Hyundai in Broken Arrow, Okla.; Nissan of Muskogee, Okla.; and Bartlesville (Okla.) Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

 

 

Tulsa Raceway Park stands out with successful Throw Down in T-Town

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 17) - Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park hosted one of the most successful races in its history when the track held the Osage Casino Throw Down in T-Town last weekend.

A large contingent of race cars across several classes populated the track, and a huge crowd was in attendance.

"This ended up being our biggest Throw Down race in the history of the race track in car count," said Keith Haney, who co-owns the track with Todd Martin. "We had 178 race cars, not counting the 13 cars that broke. It was a huge, success."

Drag Illustrated magazine came to cover the event, which featured 18 Pro Extreme cars and 19 Pro Boost/Pro Nitrous cars.

"It was an honor for (Drag Illustrated) to come see what a Throw Down really is," Martin said. "The early count is a little over 30,000 fans for the weekend. That's an NHRA-event type race. And we're talking Pro Mods and (Drag) Radial (cars) and Junior (Dragsters) and other kinds of cars. We're talking about a race that's twice a year."

What has made the Throw Down such a success? Haney and Martin are racers themselves, and they cater their track and their race to the competitors.

"Some of the professional organizations need to take notice," Haney said. "Everybody needs to take notice that it's not all about the money. It's about how you treat your racers, it's about having spectators in the stands, it's about the opportunity to get sponsorship."

As an example of the popularity of the event, Haney cites sponsor NAPA's presence at the track. NAPA had a large display and gave away numerous souvenirs to fans.

"They were totally shocked with the Throw Down," Haney said. "The way we do it is just different. It's racer-friendly."

A racer who crashed during the event was pleased with Tulsa's safety equipment and personnel, as well as the response from Haney and Martin.

"He said that was really happy with the safety equipment that we have at the race track," Martin said. "He was happy with the shutdown area and the owners coming out and checking on him. You don't get that at most race tracks."

Another indication of the race's popularity is shown by a surprise delivery of pizzas from an NHRA team.

"We cannot thank Leah Pritchett and Don Schumacher Racing enough," Haney said. "They sent 50 Papa Johns pizzas to Tulsa for the staff and everybody here this weekend. That's how much notice this race has gotten."

Tulsa Raceway Park is far from done in 2016. A No Prep race is slated for the weekend after Thanksgiving. Plus, upgrades to the race surface make it perfect for testing.

"Tulsa has been known as Pro Stock testing grounds," Haney said. "If you're going to test Pro Stock, you go to Tulsa. We're letting teams now - nitro, Pro Mod, whatever - we now have a longer shutdown than 90 percent of the tracks I this country. It's almost a mile long, and it goes uphill.

"And we just laser-leveled brand-new asphalt from the eighth-mile to 200 feet past the quarter-mile. We had some bouncing out there, but we fixed that. It's all brand new. Pro Stock teams will be even happier, and other teams will love it too."

 

 

Keith Haney powers 'Notorious'
to Throw Down final round

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 16) - Keith Haney took "Notorious" to the final round of the Osage Casino Throw Down in T-Town.

 

Trying to win at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park, the track he co-owns with Todd Martin, Haney took the Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Chevrolet nicknamed "Notorious" to the final round of the Pro Boost/Pro Nitrous class.

 

There, Haney made a rare mistake behind the wheel, and he drew a red light against Ron Muenks.

 

"I had the car to win the whole race," Haney said. "I just didn't execute as a driver. I'll call myself out, just I like I would anyone else on the team, and we end up with a runner-up finish."

 

Haney went red by .121 seconds after a mistake with the transbrake button, but he was happy with the quicker pass: 3.824 seconds at 199.35 mph to Muenks' 3.832-second pass at 196.87 mph.

 

"It seems like every Throw Down, we have an oildown, and I have to sit in my car an extra15 minutes, and I get really calm," Haney said. "When I get calm, I get fast. We do our burnout, backup and pull forward. I set my transbrake, and when I do the car rocks. I think when it rocked, my finger came off the transbrake."

 

Still, Haney was thrilled with the performance of Notorious, which raced with an entirely new tuneup after Haney and his Keith Haney Racing team decided to make some major changes. Tuners Brandon Switzer and Brandon Pesz and the entire KHR went back to a setup the team used earlier in the year, changing shock absorbers, four-link settings, ride-height settings, weight distribution, among other things.

 

"It was awesome," Haney said. "We had a team meeting, and we decided it was time to make a change in the program because the last three races, we'd not been competitive in our opinion. We made a collective decision to change the car back to the way it was at the beginning of the year when we were good."

 

Haney made three test runs with the car before speeding to the No. 1 spot in the second qualifying session with a pass of 3.800 seconds at 201.61 mph.

"I make a decision before Q3 to sit it out," Haney said. "I left the race track to go help coach my fourth-grade football team. I was worried about someone taking the No. 1 spot away from me, but my family and my kids are part of my life, and I felt like I needed to go."

 

While he was gone, Haney's crew continued to text him with updates of Q3.

 

"I'm on edge the whole time," Haney said. "But I end up holding everybody off and keeping the No. 1 spot for Pro Nitrous/Pro Boost."

 

In the first round of eliminations, he faced Ken Singleton - who happened to be driving a car owned by Martin.

 

"I ended up having to run my partner at the race track's car," Haney said. "The fastest they'd been all weekend was a .92, and we put an .85 tuneup in it. We knew what he had."

 

As Singleton slowed with a problem, Haney made a pass of 3.857 at 198.64 mph to get the win. Haney then knocked off buddy Tim Savell in the semifinals with a pass of 3.825 seconds at 199.73 mph.

 

Then came the fateful final round.

 

Sponsors Lucas Oil, RacingJunk.com, Switzer Dynamics, Pesz Performance & Tuning, Reher Morrison, M&M Transmission and Adam Lambert from Precision Racing Suspension help make Haney's PDRA team possible, and he continues to appreciate the support from wife Dee and his children Timber, Alex, Madison and Logan.

 

Haney's family of car dealerships includes Suburban Chevrolet in Claremore; Classic Chevrolet in Owasso, Okla.; Miami Auto Supercenter in Miami, Okla.; Regional Hyundai in Broken Arrow, Okla.; Nissan of Muskogee, Okla.; and Bartlesville (Okla.) Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram

 

Semi-annual Throw Down in T-Town has become a go-to event in drag racing

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 13) - The twice-annual Osage Casino Throw Down in T-Town has become one of the top events in drag racing, as local racers and track operators Keith Haney and Todd Martin have worked to build the race to serve the fans and competitors alike.

 

The Throw Down in T-Town returns this weekend at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park, with more than 150 race cars expected to compete across several classes. Haney and Martin have put more than $84,000 up for grabs.

 

"We're excited about the Osage Casino Throw-Down in T Town," Haney said. "This will be our 16th Throw Down, and it's getting bigger and bigger every time.

 

"We listen to our racers. We listen to the fans. We take what people say to heart and do all we can to make their experience better each time they come here."

 

The Throw Down will feature two Pro Mod classes -- Outlaw Pro Mod and Legal Pro-Nitrous/ Pro Boost -- with $6,000 to win each class. And should a driver not make the eight-car field in either class, they can still race in the $2,500-to-win Outlaw Doorslammers tilt.

 

And in addition to at least 18 Drag Radial vs. the World cars on the entry list, there are 19 Pro Extreme cars entered in the Throw Down.

 

"That's a ton of heavy hitters," Haney said. "And Pro Nitrous has a full field, too. We've got an unbelievable lineup. Every class is great. We've got the live feed. Our entire staff has worked their butts off to put this race on and to put it at the forefront of drag racing. It's clearly become a go-to event."

 

Drag Illustrated intends to cover the race, a sign of the Throw Down's importance.

 

"That's pretty big news for our race," Haney said. "Over the years, it's become a huge race. Wes Buck is making Drag Racing Great Again and believes in how Tulsa Raceway Park does it. We love the guy."

 

The Throw Down will have a live feed at http://www.tulsaracewaypark.com/trp-live-tv-channel, with Bangshift's Chad Reynolds hosting all the action.

 

The track has a total of $54,000 available for class winners and another $30,000 in contingency money up for grabs. In addition to track sponsors Osage Casino, Lucas Oil, Mickey Thompson, Pro-Line, Fuel Tech and RacingJunk.com, several other companies have joined the track as contingency sponsors.

 

Larry Jeffers Race Cars and Trick Titanium will present the Outlaw Pro Mod class, with Aeromotive and Dave's RV sponsoring the Pro Nitrous/Pro Boost category for the fourth consecutive season.

 

In addition, the track will host the Pro Line Racing/Pure Tech/M&M Transmission Outlaw Doorslammers race, the Trick Titanium Pro Extreme class, the Wiseco/Induction Solution X275 category, the Mickey Thompson MX235 class and the Mickey Thompson/Pro Line Racing Outlaw 10.5 Radial vs. the World class.

 

The track expects full fields in nearly every class.

 

Other sponsors backing the event are: Suburban Chevrolet, Miami Auto Supercenter, Reher Morrison Racing Engines, Grand Prix Auto Parts, A-1 Auto Body, Jeff Pierce Race Tuning, STK Performance and Jerry Bickel Race Cars.

 

The Throw Down will feature live music throughout the weekend, prize giveaways for fans and Super Play rides for kids. Plus, fans can see a flame-throwing, wheel-standing nitro-altered fuel dragster.

 

"It's just a real good atmosphere," Haney said. "All the people who work with me at the dealerships get to come and be a part of it. It's a great event, and for Keith Haney Racing, it's even better."

 

 

Keith Haney wants to take 'Notorious' back 
to Throw Down in T-Town victory circle

TULSA, Okla. (Oct. 13) - Keith Haney returns to the cockpit of his "Notorious" race car for this weekend's Osage Casino Throw Down in T-Town, and he hopes to take his bad-to-the-bone hot rod back to victory lane at Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park, a track he co-owns with Todd Martin.

Haney won the Throw Down in T-Town, a semi-annual race, in October 2013, and was runner-up at another Throw Down this past May. He'll try to repeat those performances once again when he races the powerful Pro Nitrous Chevrolet, which is sponsored by Lucas Oil and RacingJunk.com, at his home track.

"This one's mine," Haney said. "It's my turn to get it back. We haven't won in a while, but I'm bringing a big gun to the knife fight this time."

Haney was supposed to race in the No Mercy Drag Radial vs. the World event last weekend, but a crash in testing damaged his "Enigma" race car and they weren't able to get it back together in time to compete.

"We had the wreck with Enigma a couple weeks ago, which kept me from racing in front of my fans," Haney said. "We built a merchandise trailer, and we did well selling our stuff down at the No Mercy race, but I didn't get to compete. So I'm really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of Notorious."

Haney and co-tuners Brandon Pesz and Brandon Switzer hope a new tune-up will propel Notorious to victory in the Pro Nitrous/Pro Boost class.

"We're working out a few new setups I think will shock everybody this weekend," Haney said. "We've got a lot of great Pro Nitrous cars this weekend, and when those teams come they bring their A-games. So we have to be our game, too."

Lucas Oil, RacingJunk.com, Switzer Dynamics, Pesz Performance & Tuning, Reher Morrison, M&M Transmission and Adam Lambert from Precision Racing Suspension help make Haney's PDRA team click, and he continues to appreciate the support from wife Dee and his children Timber, Alex, Madison and Logan.

Haney's family of car dealerships also lends plenty of support, including all of the employees at Suburban Chevrolet in Claremore; Classic Chevrolet in Owasso, Okla.; Miami Auto Supercenter in Miami, Okla.; Regional Hyundai in Broken Arrow, Okla.; Nissan of Muskogee, Okla.; and Bartlesville (Okla.) Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

"I still like to win for everyone to get them pumped up," Haney said. "It's time to get me another win here in Tulsa."