Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Connolly team stays together under new ownership

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Dave Connolly will continue his bid for the 2005 NHRA Pro Stock championship now that a Michigan businessman has purchased the assets of the Bullet Motorsports team.

Bullet Motorsports owner Mike Dzurilla, who folded the team two weeks ago due to lack of sponsorship, this week sold the team to Evan Knoll, president and owner of Torco Race Fuels and Torco Gear. The new Knoll Gas Motorsports team will include all crew members from the Bullet Motorsports team, including crew chief Terry Adams, engine supplier Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins and crew members Brad Hall and John Utt.

"From what I hear, our new team owner is a great guy who has helped out a lot of people in the past and he has a solid program," Connolly said of Knoll. "He saw how important it was to keep the whole team intact. We have good team chemistry that has been beneficial to us. With his experience and backing, I think it's a win-win situation for us."

Connolly is a two-time winner this season and is third in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series points standings. When Dzurilla shut down operations, Carrier Boyz Racing owners Mark and Andy Carrier stepped up and financially backed Connolly's effort at Heartland Park Topeka on Memorial Day Weekend.

Connolly's runner-up finish in Topeka allowed him to remain third in the Pro Stock standings, 77 points behind class leader Warren Johnson, going into this weekend's CarQuest NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill.

"We didn't know where we were going to be after our last race at Topeka, but we wanted to stay together," Connolly said. "That shows how strong our team is. We were in that position, but we still got things done. We are proud that Evan Knoll saw what a great team we had. We would like to give him a championship."

The Carrier brothers helped broker the deal between Dzurilla and Knoll and have formed a marketing partnership with the Knoll Gas Motorsports team.

"I want to thank Mark and Andy Carrier for recommending this team to me," Knoll said. "I want to thank them personally for keeping this team a championship contender. Without them, it would not have happened. I thought to myself, there's no way on this God's green earth I could let this team sit out with Dave Connolly challenging for the title.

"Nothing is changing; I've learned that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We are following a great format begun by Mike Dzurilla and the team. This is a first-class operation and with Brian Olson overseeing the Pro Stock operation, we are a team that has every intention of challenging for the world championship."

SAD NEWS: Larry Carrier, who built Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol Dragway and founded the International Hot Rod Association, died Tuesday in Bluff City, Tenn., following a lengthy illness. He was 82.

Two of Carrier's sons, Andy and Mark, field the NHRA Top Fuel dragster driven by Cory McClenathan under the Carrier Boyz Racing banner. Larry Carrier is survived by his wife, Shirley, four children and three grandchildren. Funeral services were to be held today in Blountville, Tenn.

AT THE STRIP: Carl Cannavo won the Super Pro finale during Jerry's Nugget Championship Drag Racing Series competition Saturday night at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dan Reaume (Pro), Ron Winters (Street), Rick Newport (Motorcycle) and Bill Dudley (Sport Compact) also won their respective classes.

In NHRA Junior Dragster Series competition, Vanessa Hodges of Las Vegas won the Thunder division and Las Vegan Shyann Desa won the Lightning Division.