NHRA News: CMKXtreme Racing announces '05 plans (11/5/2004)

CMKXtreme Racing announces '05 plans

11/5/2004

Urban Casavant, founder and current Chairman of the Board of CMKM Diamonds, has announced the support of three racers in 2005 – Jeff Arend, Connie Cohen, and Tony Bartone.

Arend will be behind the wheel of the CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car, driving for Paul Smith Racing. Cohen will ride the CMKXtreme Suzuki. And Tony Bartone will pilot the Got CMKX?/Lucas Oil Funny Car for Jim Dunn Racing.

"We are thrilled to be entering the 2005 NHRA POWERade Drag Racing season with such a great group of race teams under the CMKXtreme Racing banner," Casavant said. "I know that Jeff, Tony, and Connie will do an outstanding job representing CMKXtreme Racing for all of our shareholders around the world. We will do everything we can to support all three teams as they fight for a POWERade championship in 2005."

Jeff Arend's CMKXtreme Machine Funny Car.

Arend, a former NHRA Funny Car national event champion, will be entering his first full season of competition. The 41-year-old driver burst back onto the Funny Car scene by qualifying third at the O'Reilly NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston in April. Arend has qualified for 16 races in 18 starts this season, which includes qualifying for 14 NHRA national events in a row. Despite the late start to the season, the Canadian native will finish the year just outside the top 15 in the final point standings.

With a new Murf McKinney chassis and Chevy Monte Carlo body on order for the CMKXtreme Machine team, Arend is extremely enthusiastic over the prospects of the 2005 season.

"We're really excited about next year," Arend said from his home in San Dimas, Calif. "Having a new chassis and body style will enable us to be a lot more competitive in 2005 than we were this year. I felt like we did a good job this season, especially when you consider we qualified for most of the races running an older chassis and body style. With a new chassis and the Monte Carlo body we should instantly be more competitive.

"We'll go testing before the beginning of the season and our goal is a solid top 10 finish. We have two months to prepare for next season instead of throwing things together in two weeks like we did this year. You can be sure we'll begin the new season with our guns loaded."

Tony Bartone's Got CMKX?/Lucas Oil Funny Car.

Bartone's California-based team, which ran with associate sponsor support from CMKX for the last half of the 2004 season, will once again be led by drag racing icon Jim Dunn. For more than 50 years Dunn has been a part of drag racing and was recently named to the NHRA's list of its Top 50 drivers of all-time. He has been a fixture in the Funny Car class for decades, as a driver, crew chief, and team owner. Always a fan favorite, Dunn will be looking to add to his long list of accomplishments in 2005.

A Top Alcohol Funny Car standout with 29 career NHRA national event titles, Bartone's best season came in 1996 when he won eight races and set a single-season record with 37 consecutive round wins in national and divisional events. Bartone went on to win the Winston Select, the TRW Funny Car All-Star championship, four divisional events, and the 1996 NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car title.

After finishing second in the national point standings in both 1997 and 1999, Bartone made the move to Funny Car. The New York native will finish the 2004 NHRA season in the Top 15 in the Funny Car points battle.

Connie Cohen's CMKXtreme Suzuki.

Cohen will be riding the CMKXtreme Suzuki for the second consecutive year. "It's really awesome to be able to prepare for the new season knowing that we have such a great sponsor like CMKXtreme on board," Cohen said. "My husband Marc will be building a new bike during the off-season and we plan on testing before the Gatornationals in March."

Cohen will be riding a new state-of-the-art Suzuki GSXR 1000. "Thanks to Urban and Ron Casavant and the support of CMKXtreme Racing we've had a chance to get a taste of what it takes to run the full tour this season," Cohen said. "We were able to gain data from some of the tracks we've never competed on before and I'm sure that will help us when we return next season. We're going to do everything we can to try and put the CMKXtreme Suzuki in the winner's circle next year."

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