Thornton Racing Welcomes Lucas Oil for 2011

 

 

1-29-2011 Chino, CA - The Thornton Racing team is proud to announce their association with Lucas Oil Products for the 2011 Pacific Street Car Association championship season. The team race a 1963 Corvette with twin Comp Turbo turbochargers in the Pro Street category and are looking to win an unprecedented 5th PSCA Pro Street Championship in 2011. The team formerly were champions in 2003 - 2005 and again in 2007 and have made the decision to try again this season after a successful outing last November at the Street Car Super Nationals in Las Vegas where they finished in the top four.

Lucas Oil Company was founded in 1989 by President and CEO Forrest Lucas. Lucas began his career as a trucker in Indiana, expanding his operation over the next 20 years. Seeing the need for a better lubricant for his trucks he began his search eventually leading to the creation of his own special formula for the trucking industry and the results speak for themselves. Lucas Oil Products are engineered to be the best in the business. They are used in nearly every form of motorsports as well as clocking millions of miles annually on our nations highways via the trucking industry.
One of the most generous companies involved in motorsports, Lucas has grown into a worldwide leader in lubrication technology as well as car care, fuel treatments and additional products that just make life easier whether you own an 8000 HP Top Fuel Dragster a 3000 HP Twin Turbo Corvette or just a daily driver. The company has a major manufacturing facility and headquarters in  Corydon, Indiana and corporate headquarters in Corona, California.

" I am very proud to be part of the Lucas Oil family knowing I am using the best lubricants available,"said Thornton Racing driver Ed Thornton. "I have high hopes for this 2011 season and I am excited to have the opportunity to use Lucas' products inside the race car while showcasing their brand on the outside."

 

The team plans to compete in all 10 regularly scheduled PSCA events this season, beginning with the opening round of competition February 18-20 at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

 

 You can learn more about Lucas Oil and all the products they have to offer on their user friendly website. Lucasoil.com as well as the Thornton Racing website www.turbovette.com

Thornton Racing announces 2011 support from Wingnuts Restaurants

The Thornton Racing Team is proud to announce our association with Wingnuts Restaurants for the 2011 PSCA Championship season. Wingnuts is an airplane themed restaurant specializing in Chicken Wings and other casual fare and has two locations in Southern California, Ontario and Costa Mesa. The Ontario location is just 13 miles from the Autoclub Dragway at California Speedway and is conveniently located just off the 10 freeway at 1520 North Mountain Ave. making it the perfect destination for hungry racers and crews at the end of a day's racing. 

A Thornton team favorite for years, Wingnuts is famous for their melt in your mouth wings with over 30 flavor choices and they are served with their fresh homemade propeller chips, and a side of their traditional coleslaw. They feature a very wide variety of menu options like their delicious burgers, mouth watering ribs, and chicken sandwiches or wraps, fresh made to order of course. If you like eating more on the light side, their salads really hit the spot but don't forget to try "Far East Nachos" another Team Thornton favorite, while you are waiting for your food to be prepared. To chase it all down they offer a full service bar that serves ice cold beer - 25 flavors, or a delicious glass of strawberry lemonade or iced tea and a wonderful friendly staff to serve you in a very casual and comfortable atmosphere.

"Who would have ever thought that one of our favorite places to eat would be part of our race team, this is pretty cool," said Thornton Racing team driver Ed Thornton. "We look forward to working with Wingnuts this year to hopefully introduce their style of food to a new audience. We also plan on having some sort of social event during the PSCA races in Fontana at the Ontario location so stay tuned for further announcements."

More information about the Wingnuts restaurants can be found on the Thornton team websitehttp://www.turbovette.com/ under the Associates link or you can log on to http://www.wingnuts.biz/ for further information. 

Thornton Racing poised for Triumphant return in 2011

20-1-2010 Chino, CA - Four Time Pacific Street Car Association Pro Street Champion Ed Thornton is excited about his 2011 campaign. That is because he sat out most of 2010 to concentrate on his business S U Sand Cars. Near the end of 2010 he was getting restless after watching at all but one of the PSCA regular season races from the grandstands. His crew chief Doug Stewart and car chief Tom Esbri had gone on to assist the Hairston Motorsports team and tuner Shane Tecklenburg was with Scott Oksas' Payless Water Heaters team. Then in October, Thornton had a chat with his friend and mentor Derrol Hubbard regarding his desire to compete again at the Street Car Super Nationals. With Hubbard's assistance and with help from a few other friends, Thornton was able to piece his twin turbo '63 Corvette back together and make the necessary upgrades to compete. Tecklenburg joined the fray after Oksas car was destroyed in a testing mishap and Esbri and Stewart fresh from tuning Hairston to the PSCA Championship announced they were prepared to run with Thornton at SCSN. Suddenly, the "Band" was back together again.

Photo credit Jason Sharp

 

At the SCSN event Team Thornton had some early struggles with their new combination but managed to qualify albeit in the 26th slot. But come Sunday the team pulled together and looked as though they had returned to their Championship form with a first round upset win. Second round saw the team lay down top speed of the event for the shortened 1/8 mile event and another win in round 3 setup a semi final round appearance with eventual winner Rod Burbage. Burbage was there for the taking but the miscues with the new clutch system on Thornton's car from earlier in the weekend finally took its toll and all Thornton could do against Burbage was watch the win light slip away in clutch dust. All things considered, Thornton and company were very proud of their showing.

 

"I am really stoked at what we accomplished this weekend," explained Thornton from the press room at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Hopefully we can get some help for 2011 and make a hard run at the championship."

 

With their new found enthusiasm the team went on a sponsor hunting campaign looking for partners for a 2011 run at the PSCA Pro Street Championship. The team created a website www.turbovette.com and started both Facebook pages, Youtube pages and Twitter Accounts under the Thornton Racing heading. Finally the team began a blog at www.turbovette.blogspot.com to keep sponsors and fans alike up to speed with their team's progress. Early on in the process the team was able to secure associate sponsorship from both Accufab Racing and Brandt Racing Enterprises. Injector Dynamics returned as an associate sponsor and East West Engineering came aboard as well. Doug's Headers agreed to be a part of the 2011 campaign and soon a deal came up with a company named Comp Turbo Technology of San Dimas, California.

 

Comp Turbo, as the name implies, is a manufacturer of turbochargers for all forms of motor sport. They have been in business since 2007 in their 8000 square foot facility which features an assembly room, quality control room, high speed balancing machine and the CNC equipment required to manufacture turbochargers on site. Comp Turbo is the only company in the industry to offer the "Oil Less" turbocharger technology and they offer turbochargers for applications ranging from 80 Horsepower to over 3500 horsepower. With everything being made in house and engineers working directly with the Thornton Racing team their 2011 partnership couldn't be better.

 

"I was really happy after I had a meeting with Joe over at their facility in San Dimas," said Thornton. "We are getting first class treatment from these guys and they want to use our program as a basis to further develop their product. If all goes to plan, we will be able to give them some exposure into this market and they can give us the power we need to reach our goals of running in the 5 second zone at 250 miles per hour and winning another title." referring to the PSCA Pro Street Championship.

 

The beginning of the 2011 season looms on the horizon with the first race set to take place in mid February at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The team continues to search for new and innovative ways to showcase their associates using their race car and team and although they have acquired some additional help they are still seeking opportunities to represent additional partners. With new technology, added support and a renewed sense of focus, the Thornton Racing team appears to be on track to achieve their goal of an unprecedented 5th Pro Street Championship.

 

"I don't want to go just to run," mused Thornton. "I want to look back at 2011 and have no regrets. I want to win."