Race Updates

Garrett Awards Las Vegas Winners

July 13-14

Las Vegas (NV) - The Sport FWD category was the class to race at the recent NHRA Sport Compact Nationals held at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Drivers from all over the country gathered to take part in more prizes than the class has ever seen at a single event.

The premier payout came from Garrett Turbochargers with $500 going to the winner of the Sport FWD event, $250 to the runner-up and a brand-spankin' new Garrett GT4294R turbocharger with their choice of specs going to the driver with the best reaction time (R/T). The only requirement was that the racer have an 18" Turbo By Garrett sticker on each side of their car throughout the event.

The response was phenomenal with nearly all of the Sport FWD cars wearing either black or white Turbo By Garrett decals and vying particularly hard for the brand new GT4294R turbocharger.

Cortney Green set the pace for the event by qualifying first as the only car in the 9's while the rest of the competition rattled off low 10-second times. Close on Green's heels were Kevin Van Natten (10.017), Arturbo Ortiz (10.084), Tyler Hara (10.204) and Jonathan Reynolds (10.265).

In the end, it would be the numbers one and two qualifiers who would face each other in the desert heat with all eyes on them and big money on the line. Green's Civic lined up against Van Natten's SRT4 and waited for the Christmas tree to go green. Both drivers rattled off 0.1x second reaction times, but it would be Green's Civic that would cross the traps at 152.14 mph at 9.619 seconds first, outrunning Van Natten's true sleeper of an SRT4. With full interior, the Dodge still ran an amazingly quick 10.058 seconds at 143.83 mph. Cortney Green would take home the $500 to Utah and Kevin Van Natten would drive back to the east coast with and extra $250 in contingency prize from Garrett Turbochargers.

Contrary to many fears, the promise of a free Garrett GT4294R for the best R/T did not cause a red-light frenzy. In fact, only one driver would jump the gun and break the beams early during eliminations. As per the rules posted, a driver needed to bring his or her time slip to the Garrett representative after the final round of professional eliminations. Though there were many impressively quick feet on the track, it would be Tyler Hara's 0.086 second reaction that would earn him the brand new Garrett GT4294R. He chose to go with Garrett's new NHRA Honda K-series specific GT4294R with a 1.44 A/R.

Congratulations to Cortney Green, Kevin Van Natten and Tyler Hara on winning the Garrett Las Vegas Jackpot!