TORC: John Frana Chicagoland summary

Frana's Never Give Up Attitude Reaps Rewards @ Chicagoland

Loves Park, IL (August 30, 2010) - After another impressive performance during the TORC Chicagoland event, John Frana might convince a few other competitors that his unique driveline setup is definitely the next step in Super Buggy performance. The non-points Super Buggy exhibition saw eleven competitors take to the track as the opening race of the midweek TORC Chicagoland Speedway event.

The Wednesday afternoon practice session wasn't too kind to the #907 Frana Vehicles BrandName Sway-A-Way FK Rods BFGoodrich Super Buggy. During his first lap of the practice session, John caught the concrete K-rail on the infield turn breaking off the left rear upright and wiping out the outboard CV joint. Needless to say, with only two hours until race time, the team had to really hustle to get the buggy ready for competition.

Wednesday Evening

Just as the Super Buggy group was filing onto the .8 mile stadium style track, the #907 Frana Vehicle Super Buggy came roaring onto the track lining up in the final position of the starting grid.

The rolling start saw John take a cautious approach on the first lap ensuring all the work performed on the buggy in the last two hours was ready for the next fourteen laps of competition. John radioed in that everything felt good and immediately began moving through the field.

The AWD BrandName Super Buggy really put on a show. Moving through the field and getting into fifth place just past the halfway point of the race. Then with two laps to go the AWD Super Buggy made the pass for the final spot on the podium. At the checkered flag, John Frana crossed the finish line in third place.

"I can't thank my crew enough tonight," noted John Frana. "I tore up the buggy in practice, and somehow they all got it put back together."

Thursday Evening

The next day, the crew performed the usual between race maintenance and sent John out to practice. Unfortunately, before the session was over, the #907 Buggy pulled off to the side of the track with driveline issues: the left rear axle was lying on the track and the front right CV was blown out. The crew went back to work replacing the broken components and 45 minutes later had John in starting lineup with just minutes to spare.

As the starting grid came out to begin the evening's festivities, the Super Buggy field found themselves racing a very wet and slippery track. It looked like the track crew had put too much water on the track. This meant the first few laps could be a disaster for most competitors, but for John Frana and his AWD Super Buggy the sloppy track would give him an advantage.

As the Super Buggy field headed into the infield portion of the track for the first time, the Frana AWD machine got held up due to other sliding and spinning buggies. Once he motored past the bottleneck, he was in first place and pulling away to a monster lead. He kept pulling away until the fourth lap when a broken throttle cable ended his evening. His first lap time was just over 58 seconds, a time that was not bettered until well near the end of the race.

"I really thought we could give CJ (Greaves) a run for the money tonight," remarked John Frana. "The hit into the wall yesterday probably caused tonight's issue, but once again are proving that this all-wheel drive system can be the next technological progression in our sport. I can't thank my crew enough, both nights I break the buggy in practice and somehow they get back together by race time. They are just incredible."

The final race in the Traxxas TORC Series presented by AMSOIL is September 4-5 in Crandon, WI.

-source: www.franavehicles.com