Keith Haney Racing in the mix for first 3.6-second Pro Nitrous pass

MARTIN, Mich. (June 26) -- When the pundits consider Pro Nitrous drivers capable of dipping into the 3.6-second range in the Professional Drag Racers Association ranks, they often think of several capable contenders, but they better not forget about Keith Haney and his Keith Haney Racing team at this weekend's PDRA Summer Drags at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park.

"They're looking for Jay Cox, Travis Harvey, Jason Harris, Tommy Franklin, and all them boys," Haney said. "They're expecting all those guys to run the 3.69 because they've been a little bit closer. Well, all of a sudden, here comes a Midwest boy."

That's Tulsa, Okla.'s Haney, of course. With a new Reher-Morrison Racing Engines powerplant in his new Larry Jeffers Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro, Haney opened some eyes at the most PDRA recent race in St. Louis.

Haney's pass of 3.765 seconds at 201.10 mph in his Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Camaro proved he deserves to be in the mix to take the $5,000 bonus to be paid by Pro Nitrous team owner Bryant Marriner to the first driver in the 3.6-second range.

"You may not expect the Keith Haney Racing entry to go 3.6-something, but you better watch out," Haney said. "You better look in your rearview mirror because we're coming right up the back door. We're looking to get it before everyone else. We want that money and that record."

With Brandon Switzer of Switzer Dynamics tuning the engine and Brandon Pesz tuning the chassis, Haney has some of the best in drag racing working on his race car. Plus, his KHR team has come a long way this year since struggling at the first three PDRA races of the season.

"This team is pretty stout," Haney said. "My guys have come along well this year. We got through the first three races, and as soon as I got the new motor, things have been great."

And after the run in St. Louis, the new engine still looks spectacular.

"We ran the 3.76 and went and tore the motor down and there was no issue," Haney said. "It's like it was brand new, which gives us something great to build on."

Weather conditions for Martin look terrific this weekend with temperatures in the 70s all three days -- prime weather for a record run.

"The highs are in the 70s during the day, so that night session on Friday is liable to produce a 3.6," Haney said. "The barometer may not be as good there, but that doesn't matter. After seeing the Reher-Morrison power that Bob Rahaim has, and we have a little bigger engine, we've got a lot to look forward to."

Rahaim, also tuned by Switzer, has a similar package as Haney and has been lightning fast in the last month.

"If that's any indication of how our car's going to run this weekend, we've got great things to look forward to," Haney said. "Or, that 3.69 will be ours before anybody else."

Haney has some additional help in a new Lucas Oil product that is pulsing through his Reher-Morrison engine.

"We've got the new Lucas Oil racing oil in the engine this weekend," Haney said. "Everyone needs to be on the lookout for the new Lucas Oil 5W30 and 10W40 oil coming to the market soon, and we hope we run the 3.69 pass with the new oil."

Keith Haney and his Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Camaro deserve to be in the mix to take the $5,000 bonus to be paid by Pro Nitrous team owner Bryant Marriner to the first driver in the 3.6-second zone.

Keith Haney records personal-best

numbers at Mid-America Open

 TULSA, Okla. (June 10) -- The next time the Professional Drag Racers Association stages anevent, Keith Haney and the Keith Haney Racing Pro Nitrous team are sure to be one of thefavorites. Haney is coming off a spectacular showing at the Mid-America Open at Gateway
Motorsports Park, where he set his personal-best elapsed time and speed.

"I've got a lot more coming for all of them," Haney said. "They just got to see a little bit of us in St. Louis. They're fixing to get the whole ball of wax.

 "Now, instead of people taking me for granted, I've made a statement. You've got to know when you go to the line next to me that you better be ready."

Haney's terrific pass of 3.765 seconds at 201.10 mph came in the first round of eliminations in St. Louis, and while it wasn't enough to hold off No. 1 qualifier Travis Harvey, it was the only run in the 201-mph range in the round and capped a stellar weekend.

Plus, it puts Haney and his RacingJunk.com/Lucas Oil Chevrolet squarely in the mix for a $5,000 bonus to be paid by Pro Nitrous team owner Bryant Marriner for the first driver in the 3.6-second range.

"We've got so much more left in the Reher-Morrison powerplant that these boys are all going to know it when I come to the next race (in Martin, Mich.)," Haney said. "Now, it's going to be a little hotter there, so nobody's going to run as fast. But when the weather permits us to run in the 3.60s, we're going to do it. We're going to be the team to do it."

Haney is able to back up the big talk because of the weekend in St. Louis. He took delivery of a new Reher-Morrison Racing Engines powerplant before that race, with Brandon Switzer leading the installation at Larry Jeffers' shop.

The Camaro from Larry Jeffers Race Cars is still new, too, and getting the new engine puts Haney among the Pro Nitrous elite. The third full hit with the new combination helped Haney reach 200 mph for the first time (200.23 mph) during testing before the race.

"About half-track, I could feel the power of the new motor that's in the car," Haney said. "The G forces, everything, you could feel it all."

Haney caught an unlucky break in qualifying because his best pass came in hot, muggy conditionson Friday. Rain came and after the track was dried, temperatures had dropped and other cars had better conditions and understandably went fast.

Haney then chattered the tires in the second qualifying session and nearly turned the car around in Q3.

"You could read my name from the starting line," Haney said. "It was up on two wheels, heading to the wall, but I got the car lined up and going straight. I thought, 'What the heck just happened?' "

Haney then got his brain trust together, bringing Switzer, chassis tuner Brandon Pesz, and chassis builder Jeffers in for a meeting. They decided to make some more changes for the first round of eliminations, where Haney, the No. 16 qualifier, lined up against Harvey in the last pair of cars to race.

"I'm back there thinking, 'I hope I can go down the racetrack,' " Haney said.

Haney was sharp on the Christmas Tree, busting a .009-second reaction time to get a .049 jump on Harvey.

"I let go of the button, I look over, and I'm ahead of him," Haney said. "I'm thinking, 'I got this.' "

But Harvey's car was steaming and caught Haney with a 3.707-second run.

"We didn't have an aggressive tune-up, thinking we've got to go A to B," Haney said. "Well, we went 2.53 to the 330, which is the fastest I've ever been, and then we ran 1.22 in the back half.

"I set my e.t. record and my speed record all in the same run, against the No. 1 qualifier. What's weird is he set the e.t. record in the same pass. It was a hell of a drag race and a lot of people weren't expecting that -- I wasn't."

Haney, though, was hardly frowning.

"I said at the top end, 'I'm the happiest loser you've ever met,' because I didn't lose," Haney said. "I ran my career-best e.t. and career-best speed. In no way, shape, or form was that a bad drag race. It was a great drag race; I just came up on the other end of the stick."

But Haney now knows he's a threat to win in Martin and to get into the 3.6s at some point this season.

"These guys have busted their butt all year," Haney said. "I want to thank the three hardest-working guys -- Andrew Arnold, Randy Hancock, and Dale Hancock -- for spending all their spare time helping me. We've had a tough year so far. The first three races were not good to us, but now after St. Louis we have a great feeling. The powerplant is there, the chassis is there, the people are there. Everything is going in the right direction, and we're excited about the future. We can't wait for Martin."

For video highlights of St. Louis, click here.

For pictures from St. Louis, click here.

Keith Haney ready
to bounce
back at Rockingham

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (April 9) -- Keith Haney and his Keith Haney
Racing team areready to bounce back during this weekend's
PDRA Spring Nationals at Rockingham Dragway.

At last month's season opener, the Texas Nationals at Texas
Motorplex, various mechanical gremlins kept Haney from showing
the potential of his Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com Pro Nitrous Chevrolet,
but he's eager to get to Rockingham and go fast.

"We're ready to roll into Rockingham with guns blazing,
" Haney said. "We figured we couldn't have had much worse of a
weekend in Texas. Hopefully, we've got all our gremlins out of the
way.

"The Larry Jeffers car is absolutely amazing. There's no problem
with the car, and the powerplant we have in it, there's no issues
there either."

A new Reher-Morrison engine is due for the next PDRA race, but
in the meantime Haney and his 872-cubic-inch engine will battle
some of their bigger-engine foes,
and with Brandon Switzer tuning the engine and Brandon Pesz
tuning the chassis, Haney knows he has what it takes to win.

"We're trying to fight with these 1,000-cid boys," Haney said.
"I don't think any of them have that much more power than we do.
We've just got to make sure all the gremlins are out of the way so
we can show them what we've got."

Haney and his team were pumped for the season opener in Texas
on March 19-22,
but mysterious parts failures cropped up almost from the time the
team arrived at Texas Motorplex.

"Texas was an unusual race for us," Haney said. "We had some parts
failures that normally don't happen, but two small parts issues cost us
from doing well."

Haney's team also battled with the fuel pump and the water pump
and dodged wet weather all weekend.

"We had to stay up all night to redo the fuel-pump system," Haney said.
"We had to replace pistons while we were there. It was a rat race
and kind of a screwed-up weekend.

"We had some issues that couldn't be overcome. It was nothing anyone
did wrong, but we've made those corrections. We got revamped, restocked,
and we took the motor to Reher-Morrison and they fixed it all up."

Haney is ready to show the potential of his Lucas Oil/RacingJunk.com
Pro Nitrous Chevrolet during this weekend's PDRA Spring Nationals at
Rockingham Dragway.