Team Toyo drivers Gary Forkner and Thomas Bayer have each won Division 7 championships in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series while competing on Proxes Drag Slicks.
Forkner claimed the Pacific Division Top Sportsman Championship while driving his Steve Schmidt/Toyo/Jerry Bickel Chassis 2006 Pontiac GTO.
The 33.5X17.0-16 Toyos ran 118 passes throughout the season.
Bayer netted his second Super Comp divisional title on 33X16.0-15 Proxes Drag Slicks with his Lucas Oil/Toyo/K&N dragster, besting a field of 189 other racers. He also won the 2006 Pacific Division Super Gas title on Toyo tires.
Forkner had two wins out of eight races in 2009.
He capped off his championship season by finishing as runner-up in the Nov. 5 Top Qualifier Shootout in Las Vegas. Forkner won the final in Pacific Division Top Sportsman, posting a 7.459-second elapsed time at 182.26 mph during the Nov. 8 Short Line Express Gambler Showdown.
“Winning both the championship and the race was special because racers from nearly all of the divisions were in attendance,” says Forkner. “It was a like an all-star event.”
He goes to note that “my Toyo Proxes Drag Slicks have been a secret weapon. Even on my high-horsepower car, with varying track conditions throughout the year, my 60-foot times were within three to four thousandths. My increment times have been really impressive, only varying a couple of thousandths. Being so repeatable, this allows me to concentrate on cutting a good light.”
Bayer competed in both the Super Comp and Super Gas classes during the 2009 season. In Super Gas, he scored one runner-up finish in the national races. In Division 7 of Super Comp, he garnered one win out of eight races.
For the National Super Comp points, Bayer won three out of 14 races, leading in championship points until the very last contest. He finished second out of a field of 1,325 competitors in the class.
“I am proud to lock down another NHRA Division 7 championship,” says Bayer. “My Toyo Proxes Drag Slicks helped give me an unfair advantage over competitors that don’t run them. My equipment has been great all year, my tires delivering consistency, allowing me to put them on and forget about them. With my runner-up finish in the national championship points, I am even more focused on winning the national championship in 2010.”
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