Arslanian Clinches 3rd Consecutive NDRA Championship with Moroso Victory

By Kevin Macvaugh

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (September 28, 2005) - Bullish Motor Racing's Ara Arslanian drove the team's StreetGlow-sponsored Solara to his fifth win of the year at the NOPI South Florida race this past Sept 24-26. The victory at the event, a makeup for an earlier rain-out, also guaranteed that Arslanian will earn an unprecedented third straight NDRA Pro Compact Championship.

The Bullish Racing team owner and driver has amassed almost 900 points on the strength of 4 NDRA event victories this year, with two more events remaining in the season. Competitor Manny Cruz is the next closest competitor with 468 points. Arslanian and team continue resurgence in their StreetGlow Solara program following a challenging mid-season slump.

"Naturally, clinching the NDRA Championship for a third straight time is truly gratifying - not only for me, but for everybody on this team. This was truly one of the most challenging seasons for us to date - and that makes this Championship all the more special. We have associated ourselves with a lot of top notch people and companies to make this happen, and we thank them for their support.

Also, a lot of people know this, but it's significant enough to bear repeating; to this date, there is still no other team out there that has run full NDRA and NHRA schedules like we have for the past three years - that's over 22 races for us in 2005. And that's why I give all the credit in the world to my team - Kevin Macvaugh, Bert Gaertner, Loui Aspras, Scotty Draper, Mike Kim, and Fred Bauer - who bust butt day-in and day-out to get it done."

Arslanian qualified first with a 6.780 -sec/201.07 mph performance at Moroso to earn a first round bye in the odd-car field. Facing Len Monserrat's Mitsubishi Eclipse in the final round, Arslanian used a conservative 7.061/204.87 pass to outdistance the Floridian's 9.965/134.20 jaunt. The win, an incredible eighteenth career victory in the team's Solara program, also guarantees Arslanian a third straight season with five or more trips to the winner's circle. And despite a victory slump in the summer months, Arslanian - with four more NDRA and NHRA events this year - still has an opportunity to tie last year's six victory win total.

The weekend trip to Moroso caps off a three-week cross-country blitz for the team that began with the NHRA Las Vegas Sport Compact Nationals and stopped off for an appearance at the NOPI Nationals in Atlanta before continuing to Florida for the NDRA race.

While his weekend at the NHRA event in Las Vegas came up short of reaching the winners circle, Arslanian was able to make a few more passes in the Bullish AEM Import Dragster to get close to the ground-breaking dragster's best official performance of 7.45/175 (NDRA Rockingham). Arslanian then further lowered the boom at Moroso, where a Saturday exhibition pass recorded a low six-second pass but was not officially timed because the dragster left before the tree was activated. While the mark is still short of the team's goal of breaking the 5-second barrier, Arslanian is pleased with the progress of the twin-Turbonetics turbocharged, 3.0 L 2JZ Inline-6 powered dragster - the first entry into the NDRA's Pro Extreme Compact category. The car low 6-second

"Considering we are only 7 full passes into the program, we're really ecstatic about where the Dragster is going. The pass at Moroso was by the far the most amazing yet. We hit more than 3 g's off the line and it was still pulling hard when I had to let off at the top. Tranny issues prevented us from doing another pass, but I'm sure this dragster has a lot more in it.

This is an all-new, one of a kind program. There's nothing off-the-shelf about our setup, so we're just going through the teething that's expected of this kind of endeavor - and keeping our fulfillments in our Solara program at the same time. I know a lot of our fans are anxious for us to break the five second barrier; believe me, I am too."

Also while at the Las Vegas event, Arslanian was interviewed for the Speed Scene motorsports-themed radio talk show. Arslanian spoke to Speed Scene's Scott Hudson at length about the Bullish AEM dragster - which is already considered the quickest import dragster of its type in the world. The full interview can be found in Speed Scene's website archive at http://www.speedsceneracing.com/images/playvideo.gif.

Arslanian next suits up for the NHRA Sport Compact Fall Nationals at home track Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Arslanian sits in fifth place in the ultra competitive Pro RWD category; but as the defending event champion, Arslanian is definitely counting on a home track edge.

"This is my favorite race of the year. It's where our Solaras debuted in 2002, it's the event where I broke the six-second barrier in 2002 and most of all - it's a home crowd."

Fans not able to attend the race, but interested in following the event can follow up to the minute results on www.nhrasportcompact.com. The race will be tape delay cable broadcast on ESPN2, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2 p.m. (Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 a.m., repeat). For more event information about the NHRA Sport Compact Fall Nationals please visit www.nhrasportcompact.com.