Toyo Tires announced it will continue its support of amateur road racing with VIP track services and an on-site hospitality area at the 25-Hours of Thunderhill, the longest endurance road race in North America. This year’s race will take place December 3-4 at Thunderhill Raceway Park in the rolling Northern California foothills. Competitors using Toyo Proxes tires will enjoy access to the Toyo Tires hospitality area including lunch and dinner on Friday, breakfast, lunch, dinner and a midnight snack Saturday and Sunday breakfast and lunch.
Registered participants will also receive free mounting and balancing services from Thunderhill AIM Tire on all preorders and via trackside service at Thunderhill Raceway Park from December 2-4. The program applies to racers using the Toyo Proxes RS1 full-slick, the Proxes RR DOT competition, the Proxes R888 and the new Proxes R888R tires in dry conditions; while the Proxes R1R and Proxes RA1 are approved for wet use.
“Toyo Tires continues to demonstrate the importance they place on the road racing community,” said Jeremy Croiset, NASA Director of Business Development. “This VIP program has quickly become a staple at the biggest pro-am endurance race in North America, drawing interest from nearly every team in the paddock and we’re thrilled Toyo Tires is hosting it again this year.”
This is the 14th year Toyo Tires has been the Official Tire of NASA and the fifth year the company has provided VIP track services to support racers in the 25-Hours of Thunderhill.
“We continue to be ‘all in’ with our unrivaled support of the 25-Hours,” said Marc Sanzenbacher, senior manager, motorsports, Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. “Amateur road racing represents the heart and soul of our Proxes competition line of tires. We are proud to support our loyal race teams in their quest to ‘Survive the 25.’”
Space for this special program is limited. Racers must register for the VIP hospitality at toyotires.com/races-and-places/racer-direct-program and tire purchases must be made through one of the following dealers by November 21.
NASA Selects RaceHero as Exclusive Live Timing & Results Service
The National Auto Sport Association has selected RaceHero as the exclusive provider for live timing and race results for all 15 NASA regions and NASA Championship races moving into next season. RaceHero provides a “weekend in your pocket” experience featuring real-time entry lists, schedules, live timing and race results. Racers can now track over 150 annual NASA events using RaceHero on phones, tablets and desktop computers making their NASA experience easier to manage during the weekend activities.
It’s not a race without results and there are no results without timing and scoring. What once was tracked with a stopwatch is today completely orchestrated by computers. RaceHero allows NASA to provide an automated live stream from our existing timing systems to anyone in the world on any device, enabling us to grow our reach with no additional effort. It also simplifies the process of posting results and getting information out to competitors and fans alike.
“NASA Timing and scoring operators are typically volunteers working under tight schedules” said Roman Vaisman, NASA Chief Technology Officer. “Just like the racecars on track, speed and accuracy are critical for our Timing and Scoring staff. RaceHero automatically publishes accurate provisional results and lets us easily distribute official results with penalties and corrections without adding more work for our staff.”
“While we can’t do everything in-house, we look for partnerships where we aren’t just directing our members to a third-party,” said NASA Director of Business Development Jeremy Croiset. “We embed RaceHero’s live timing and results in our websites where we can drive traffic, promote our sponsors and provide value to our members through the latest and greatest technology. Software entrepreneur and racer Brian Ghidinelli created RaceHero based on his passion for endurance sports car racing which is a core event offering from NASA and we’re thrilled to be working with him on this new program.”
Ask National
Q: Why are there two national championships instead of just one?
A: We divided the Championships into two events to better serve our membership base. Less travel and different tracks each year make it less expensive in terms of money and time. It also makes it more interesting.
Q: Why are the tech inspections so much more in depth at Championships events?
A: The Championship is a showcase event with a great deal of prize money and contingency on the line. It plays host to drivers from all over the country and want to make sure the vehicles are compliant with the class rules. When so much is at stake, it is important for us to make sure everyone is on an even playing field. We are fortunate to have a bigger staff than a regional event along with special tools which it allows us focus on tech and compliance.
