NASA CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY TOYO TIRES HEADED FOR ROAD ATLANTA

August 3, 2014 by NASA (National Auto Sport Association)

• Eastern and Western Championships for 2014

SONOMA, Calif., (July 30, 2014) -The National Auto Sport Association's (NASA) ninth annual NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires is preparing for the first of two nationwide events. The first of the twin bill will be the Eastern States Championships to run at Road Atlanta, Aug. 29-31. Going from a single national championship event to a double, the NASA Western States Championships will take the green flag at Sonoma Raceway, Nov. 7-9.

Entries for the NASA Eastern States Championships are flowing into registration. The 2.54-mile, 12-turn undulating Road Atlanta circuit is drawing top competitors from the east, as well as from across the country. So far nearly 300 entries have been received with the larger classes being Spec Miata (SM), Honda Challenge (HC), Spec E30 and American Iron (AI).

Brian Fassler is returning to the NASA Championships in his new American Iron Extreme (AIX) Class Ford Mustang. Fassler will be a driver to to watch in what will be one of the weekend's fastest events.

'I've only been to Road Atlanta three times,' Fassler said. 'Once in 2010, in my first year of racing, and twice this year. I enjoy the track and I can't wait to see how the Championships go in a month. My goal for the weekend is to represent my sponsors as well as I can. I wouldn't be able to go to the Championships without them. Secondly, I'm going to try my hardest to win my first Championship next month. I see Chris Griswold being my main competition. He and I battled it out last year at Miller Motorsports Park and I know we've both stepped our games up since last year. It's going to be a hard race with some strategy put into it. This will be my fourth attempt at the NASA Championships with some success. I started on pole in 2012 at Mid-Ohio in STR2 and led the first half of the race. I started on pole in AIX last year at Miller (first time there) and reset the track record by over a second. I've finished fourth in AI in 2012 and third in STR1 last year at Miller. I'm driving my 2014 Ford Mustang with help from Paul's Automotive Engineering, Precision Turbo, Hoosier, Technitron Rotary Table Interfaces, Wiseco Pistons, Ford Racing, JRi Shocks, Cometic Gasket and Hawk Performance.'

Florida's Alex Bolanos has been in contention in Spec Miata (SM) the last two years and is looking for the overall win at Road Atlanta next month.

'I qualified for the Championships at Sebring by getting the pole, setting fast lap and winning in all four races,' Bolanos said. 'I am driving my No. 57 Spec Miata sponsored by Momo, Autotechnik, and Apex Alignment. I've raced at Road Atlanta twice a year for the past few seasons. I have over seven podiums and a win in this year's SCCA Major there. My goal is to win. I was in the hunt in 2011 at Mid-Ohio and had a hub failure and finished a close second in 2012 to Yannis (Tsiounis). I see Yannis and Steyn (Danny) being strong next month and I am sure there will be locals in the hunt as they were at Mid-Ohio. I was second in TTE in 2008 at the Championships. In 2011 I won one of the qualifying races and had a failure during the race in SM and in 2012 I finished second in SM.'

Will Faules, NASA Championships event manager, is happy with the level of enthusiasm for the new format with a month to go before racing begins.

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'We have a strong contingent of drivers from the east as we expected,' Faules said. 'We also have groups coming to Road Atlanta from as far as Colorado, California and Arizona. The list of competitors is drawing other racers in from across the country. Road Atlanta is a great facility with a lot of paddock room. The track is second-to-none and we are looking forward to some great racing all weekend come August.'

Road Atlanta is a 2.54-mile, 12-turn undulating road course located in Braselton, Ga., just 50-miles north of Atlanta. Road Atlanta is known as one of the most exciting places to drive a race car. The ultra-fast circuit has only one slow corner, Turn Seven, which leads onto the long back straight. The approach to the fast downhill Turn 12 is blind challenging drivers to carry a lot of speed down the hill that leads to the front straightaway and in to Turn One. The stretch out of Turn One to Turn Five consists of set of esses and lefts and rights that will reward a good handling car.

Complete information on the NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires can be viewed at nasachampionships.com.

For additional information, please contact NASA Championships Media Director, Kyle Chura at kyle@kcapr.com or (248) 821-0468. More detail can be found at nasaproracing.com or nasachampionships.com.

To qualify for the NASA National Championships presented by Toyo Tires, NASA competitors must compete in and score points in four regional races around the country, five for the Western States Championships. The 2014 National Championship presented by Toyo Tires Eastern weekend will feature over 300 competitors racing for the NASA National Champion trophy in 36 racing classes and nine Time Trial divisions around the famed Road Atlanta circuit home to Petit Le Mans.

About NASA

The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) was formed in 1991 with the premise of delivering high-quality motorsports events to enthusiasts at major racing venues throughout the nation. NASA has created programs that allow owners of both racecars and high-performance street-driven vehicles to enjoy the full performance capabilities of their cars in a controlled professionally managed environment. NASA offers many different programs that will allow you to enjoy motorsports on a number of different levels, including our High Performance Driving Events (HPDE), Rally Sport, Time Trial, NASA-X and Competition Racing programs.

NASA Membership

NASA members are entitled to enter and participate in any NASA event across the country, and membership includes an array of benefits, including vendor discounts and a subscription to the organizations online newsletter the NASA Speed News. Members will also receive a colorful membership hard card that will identify them as part of the organization and a welcome packet that includes more information on the many benefits and programs available to NASA members. While participating at events, all NASA members are covered by an extensive insurance policy, which includes General Liability, Accidental Death and Dismemberment, and Excess Medical coverage. Best of all, membership is only $45. Refer to www.nasaproracing.com for member information.

NASA Thanks Our Partners NASA would like to thank its National sponsors for their continued support: Toyo Tires, Royal Purple, Hawk Performance, OG Racing, Ford Racing School, and GoPro. We also want to thank MAZDASPEED, Honda Performance Development (HPD), Nissan, and Ford Motor Company for supporting our members. We greatly appreciate those companies that offer our racers contingency support, including Toyo Tires, AST Suspension, BFGoodrich, Ford Racing, Goodyear, Hawk Performance, Honda Performance Development (HPD), Hoosier Racing Tire, MAZDASPEED, Nissan, Sampson Racing Communications and Yokohama. NASA competitors can also get discounts from Fuel Safe, Vehiport, APR Performance, the Ford Racing School, Avis, Cruise America, Eibach Springs, Exedy, Fastbrakes, Konig, The Mid-Ohio School, Hobie Polarized, Konig, Molecule, Motel 6, OG Racing, Torco, TPIS, Porterfield, Jongbloed Wheels, Yavay, and Monster Clutch.

NASA at a Glance

* NASA was founded in 1991 on the premise of providing motorsport competition programs that allow owners of both racecars and high-performance street-driven vehicles to enjoy the full-performance capabilities of their cars in a safe and controlled environment.

* NASA has over 14,000 members in 16 regions.

* Key events include the NASA Championships at Road Atlanta Aug. 29-31 and the Western Championships at Sonoma Raceway Nov. 7-9 and the season culminating NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill, December 6-7.

* The NASA National Championships will run 36 race classes and nine Time-Trial classes during the event.

* NASA runs over 150 events each year encompassing over 250 races, including the association's Rally Sport and Time-Trial program.

* Manufacturer partners include MAZDASPEED, Honda Performance Development (HPD), Nissan and Ford Racing.

* NASA Management: Jerry Kunzman, Executive Director; Ryan Flaherty, National Chairman; Jeremy Croiset, Director of Sponsorship; Dave Ho, Business Operations Manager, Will Faules, National Event Manager.