LAS VEGAS (April 16) -- Like many people, multi-time champion drag racer Jay Payne loves Las Vegas. Sure he has fun along the world famous strip, enjoying the many attractions the city has to offer. But what really gets Jay Payne and his FireIce/BME race team excited in competing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the site of this weekend's 11th annual SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals.
A native of Claremont, Calif., Payne has been winning at The Strip since it opened. His first Vegas trophy came 10 years ago in 2001 and he's gone on to claim victories in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. Payne's first four Vegas wins came in Top Alcohol Funny Car and the last in Pro Mod. He seems to be real lucky in a city built on good fortune.
"This is my favorite racetrack," Payne said. "Chris Blair and his staff couldn't be nicer people. It's just a great racetrack. There's nothing about it that anyone could ever complain about. I'd race here every weekend if they'd let me."
Local oddsmakers will likely make Payne the favorite for this weekend's Top Alcohol Funny Car title. Aside from his impressive win streak at this facility, he's coming off a big victory in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, having driven his FireIce/BME Ford Mustang to a recent win in Atlanta.
"It's been a few weeks since we've run but the car was in great shape in Atlanta and we're excited," Payne said. "We've had time to go through everything from front to back and pulled everything apart and put it back together again. It's all as good as it gets, we think.
"The big mission is to make our car go down the track every run. That's how you win these things. The guys running this class are too good. You can't give them an inch."
Joining Payne and crew at this weekend's race is Michael Cordani, the CEO of GelTech Solutions Inc., FirceIce's parent company. Aside from supporting Payne's racing efforts, GelTech, a publically traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC), is a corporate partner to the Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which helps firefighters in need.
"It's important to let Jay Payne and (crew chief) Brad Anderson know we're here for them because they've been such incredible marketing partners for us," Cordani said. "We couldn't have picked a better group to represent our products and salute our nation's 1.1 million firefighters. These guys are first rate."
FireIce is an environmentally friendly fire suppression gel firefighters add to water in pumper trucks, helicopters, fire planes, and handheld extinguishers to help extinguish fires much quicker than with water alone.
