A First Place Finish and a Number One Qualifying Time For WORLD Racing

Over the weekend, Chris Rado and WORLD Racing traveled to Willow Springs International Raceway for Super Lap Battle. Chris and the WORLD Racing Scion tC always compete in the Unlimited FWD class, but Chris likes to think that they are actually competing with all the classes for the best time of the weekend. “Competing with RWD and AWD cars with extremely talented drivers is very challenging,” says Chris, “and that’s exactly what we are in the business for.”

The WORLD Racing team came to the event very confident, as they had just tested the time attack Scion tC the previous weekend at Willow Springs. The team had to be on the track at 8:25 AM Sunday morning after leaving Las Vegas at 11 PM the night prior for Battle of the Imports, so saying the crew was a little tired would be an understatement.

During the first driving session, which was practice, Chris was only able to run one lap due to a bust in the intercooler piping.

The WORLD Racing team was prepared to go out for the second race session, which according to Chris, was the best session of the day because the track has only a little bit of heat and most likely no one has dropped any fluids on the tack yet. Unfortunately for Chris and the team, they popped a boost hose again and it cut their second session short as well.

During the third session, Chris took taking Melissa of NOS Energy Drink for a ride-along, which Chris has never done before in the time attack tC. Adding a passenger to the vehicle always changes the dynamics of the vehicle no matter their size. During the session, the car started misfiring a bit, so Chris brought it in early to check it out. But he had managed a 1.29 which was extremely respectable because no other FWD car had performed a time like that all day, and Chris did it with a passenger.

Once the team got the car back to the pit, they realized that they had a blown fuel pressure regulator and actually had gone lean three times. After this was fixed, Chris went out for the final session, again with Melissa in the car. By this session, the track was completely cooked. You could definitely say it was the worst time for a car to be on the track.

Chris went out for four final laps and managed to pull a 1.27.55, which was two-tenths off Chris’s track record of the best Unlimited FWD lap time. Chris came in 1st place in the Unlimited FWD class and in 3rd place overall..

“It was a great weekend,” says Chris. “We were very pleased to have gotten where we were even with having a passenger in the car. Next time we’re out at Willow Springs, people better watch out because we will definitely be running faster than a one-point-two-seven.”

During the two days prior to Super Lap Battle, Chris and the WORLD Racing team were at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the fifth Battle of the Imports event of the season. Coming to this event in Las Vegas two weeks after the BOTI event at humid Budd’s Creek, Maryland, the WORLD Racing team had to accommodate for the climate changes in the PRO FWD Scion tC before sending it out for it’s first qualifying pass on Friday night.

On the first run, the car bogged a little and Chris put down an 8.13 at about 188 MPH. Not a typical pass from the WORLD Racing crew, but at least the tC came out of the pass unscathed.

For the final round of qualifying on Saturday, the car shook the tires hard off the line. Chris still managed to put down a 7.64 at 188 MPH. This time would award him the 1st place qualifying spot.

For the first round of eliminations, Chris went up against Ed Bergenholtz. The lights came down the tree and the tires shook the car worse than ever. When Chris clicked into second gear, the passenger side steering knuckle broke and Chris headed hard left straight towards the wall. Once the steering knuckle had broken, the passenger side wheel was pointing in and steering the car itself, which was not good for Chris one bit. “I just kept steering and managed to keep the car off the wall somehow.”

Bergenholtz was having some problems of his own at the line, but after seeing Chris’s dilemma, he hit the gas a little more and passed Chris 100 feet before the finish line.

Chris and WORLD Racing were pleased to have placed 2nd and to have been the number one qualifier of the weekend at Battle of the Imports. Chris would like to thank his sponsors, fans, friends, and family for their support.

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