My name is Jonathan Donner; please allow me to introduce myself and our team Ikon - APD Motorsports program.
Our story is about teamwork in campaigning two Honda drag cars this season under various sanctioning bodies, as well as an Acura circuit car in the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championships. We are also introducing the Honda Racing Line to Honda and Acura drag and “time attack” racers across the United States.
Our team this season is comprised of Jerrold Rhodes, in an H22-powered PRO FWD Honda Accord; Lisa Kubo in a D Series-powered Honda Civic; and myself, Brian Smith and Jon Krolewicz in a K24-powered Acura TSX. Our first event this season with the drag racing program was the popular Honda Day event held at Atco Raceway in April, which drew a crowd of over 15,000 dedicated Honda and Acura enthusiasts and racers. We had a great event running the Honda Civic with Lisa Kubo behind the wheel.
For those of you not familiar with Lisa, she was the first Pro FWD driver to break into the seven-second range (7.963 at Moroso Motorsports Park, April, 2004) and has been a pioneer and cornerstone of the Honda drag racing community for over 12 years!
Lisa, who had taken a two-year hiatus from drag racing, did very well at the event in the 10.5-index class, with a D Series-powered Civic that was making a little over 500 wheel hp for this event. She made it to the finals in class, but unfortunately, she and the other driver both "red lit" the tree, and as she had tripped the light first, Lisa ended up losing the round. Off-track, we as a team introduced the Honda Racing Line parts and support program to the racers, and displayed a new 2012 Honda Civic Si sedan and a CR-Z Coupe to the spectators.
It was a great weekend overall. The racers we spoke with were all quite excited to learn about HPD expanding its Honda Racing Line program to support Honda and Acura drag racers, and the crowd really took quite an interest in the Civic Si and the CR-Z. We are looking forward to going back to the next Honda Day event at Englishtown Raceway in August!
Our first event for the circuit team also went quite well. We had just finished our Acura TSX build in time to participate in Round 3 of Redline Track Event's MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Championships, held at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. For those of you not familiar with MotoIQ competition, it is based on a horsepower-to-weight-ratio formula, and except for some minimal restrictions in aero design and tire size, the rule set is fairly wide-open. This provides a great platform to showcase the Honda Racing Line parts and support program from HPD.
At Auto Club Speedway, team driver Brian Smith was able to qualify the Acura in P3, and on race day took the lead at the start and finished on the podium in third place after a hard-fought battle with Formula Drift star Dai Yoshihara. Not a bad start for the season and a new built car fresh out of the box, especially considering we were about 480 pounds heavier and 35 horsepower down to Dai and his teammate, Mike Kojima!
We are currently in the proces
s of bringing our horsepower up to the class limit for the next MotoIQ event with the help a few new parts sourced through the Honda Racing Line. Look for us at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah at the end of August. We have plans to put the HPD-sponsored car on the podium again! And if you’re a racer in a Honda or with Honda power, don’t forget to register for the Honda Racing Line program, at www.hondaracingline.com. The Honda Racing Line is proud to offer original equipment replacement parts, performance parts and crate engines to Honda and Acura grassroots racers in the entry-level through professional ranks.
