Huff takes umbrellas to Phoenix

Seattle WA, March 25^th 2003

As every racer and race fan knows, things in the racing world change fast. Only weeks ago the Huff Motorsports Top Fuel Harley Race Team announced that they would not be competing due to a lack of sponsorship. Well, that has changed and it happened fast. Steve Huff and his team will head out to the Rivera-Primo Arizona Bike Week Nationals next week and they will be taking some umbrellas with them. No, they do not expect rain and the forecast calls for sun and a perfect weekend of racing. The umbrellas they are taking will be held by the lovely talent of Umbrella Girls USA. When Ann Asiano, founder of Umbrella Girls USA and long time friend of Huff’s, heard the team needed some help, she called and said we could expect some support from the Umbrella Girls. Umbrella Girls USA was started in early 2002 with an eye toward raising the bar of professionalism for women as ambassadors of motor sports. What sets these beautiful, sexy young women apart is their enthusiasm for racing. Ann had this to say about becoming a partner with Huff, “Umbrella Girls is ecstatic to be involved with such a high class team as Huff Motorsports and we look forward to being integrated into Steve’s team and organization and sharing in the victories. This is the first time Umbrella Girls will appear at an All Harley Drag Racing event and we are very exited to be part of this and meet the dedicated fans of the Harley racers.” added Ann.

“This all came so fast” said Huff. “It started with a phone call from Gabe Larkins of Hot Rod City Customs in Phoenix. He read our last press release and told me to get out another one saying we WILL be in Arizona racing our bike. Then a phone call came from Saskia Mazza, a mutual friend of Ann and mine, and she said she would be sure Ann had all of the info. From there we just got to work and put this deal together.” Gabe understands the costs associated with racing and told Huff he was going to do “whatever it takes” to get the team there. Larkins, winner of the 2002 AHDRA Pro Rookie of the Year Award will be competing with his Pro Dragster at the event and has a lot of activities scheduled for his customers and visitors to Arizona Bike Week. Hot Rod City Customs will be sponsoring a ride on Saturday the 5^th from The Hideaway in Cave Creek to the Firebird racetrack and giving out shirts to the first 100 riders so get there early. Then the Hot Rod City crew is hosting Rhett Rotten and the “Wall of Death” stunt show for the entire week at Cyclefest during AZ Bike Week. Check out www.hotrodcitycustoms.com for the complete event schedule. Hot Rod City Customs is located in Phoenix AZ and builds and sells custom American V-Twin bikes as well as maintaining a full service retail and service store.

“Larkins told me to get ready and be there so that’s what we’re doing. We will be out testing next week to prepare and get some new parts figured out then we’re off to the races. I just can’t believe all of the support our friends and associate sponsors have given us. The last thing we want is to start the season behind in points, now we will be there and be able to do our job” added Huff.

After Larkins had made his commitments Huff received the call from Ann Asiano of Umbrella Girls who is also very familiar with the costs associated with racing. “We were about 80% committed to going when Ann called. She made the commitment needed to make our decision. I always see these road racers with these great looking umbrella girls helping keep them cool while waiting for the race to start and now it’s our turn. I told Ann that we would love to help promote Umbrella Girls USA, who wouldn’t?  This is a kind of sponsor and product that teams dream of having, I just hope it doesn’t rain”. Huff added, “I have to admit, I have been registered at umbrellagirls.com for a long time now, these girls are great, I’m just glad I don’t have to go road racing to enjoy them”. For schedule and booking information, or just good viewing, check out www.umbrellagirlsusa.com .

Huff Motorsports is sponsored by; Hot Rod City Customs, Umbrella Girls USA, Redline Oil, S&S Cycle, NGK Spark Plugs, Vanson Leathers, Sprint PCS, Custom Classics, DeepCryo.com, Mighty Auto Parts, Performance Coatings, Heavy Metal Polish, Anderson's Welding and Jim Beam. Contact information can be found at www.huffmotorsports.com

Huff Motorsports faces tough choices

Seattle WA, March 5^th 2003

As the off season came and went faster than the bikes seem to go, the one goal for 2003 at the Huff Motorsports offices in Seattle has not yet been achieved. The AHDRA season has started but Steve Huff is still not ready. There were many unexpected changes to the team’s plans this year, not the least of which was where to race. With five years in the AHDRA the team had planned to join the best of the Nitro Harley racers at the IHRA sometime in 2003 until the cancellation of the Nitro Harley class in the IHRA. Now those teams who have long been considered the best of the best will be competing at the All Harley Drag Racing Association events. The good news in all of this is that Harley Davidson has brought their sponsorship to the AHDRA and opened up doors for the top 14 riders to compete at three NHRA national events this year. “2003 will bring the highest level of exposure ever to our sport. The NHRA deal, a television deal with ESPN 2 and the world class tracks and markets the AHDRA has signed for our series is a dream come true, it’s just too bad we still haven’t landed a sponsor to share it with.”, said Huff.

            That one goal Huff hasn’t achieved yet is securing a sponsor for the team. The Huff Motorsports team is not alone. This year has been tough on a lot of professional teams and motor sports in general. The tentative plans for Huff this year are to keep looking for that marketing partner and get back on the track. “It is very disappointing to not be able to share all of this exposure with a primary sponsor this year. We have had all of our past associate sponsors not only stay on with this team but many of them have stepped up with even more support for 03.” Huff continued to say “We have gotten to a point with our program that I simply cannot continue to compete at this level without financial support. The last thing my team would ever do is show up to just try to qualify. We go to races to qualify, win and set records, that is what we have done in the past and that is what I will do in the future. With the level of competition being so high this year we will need a lot of track time to stay on top of our game and that takes a lot of money. These great associate sponsors we have, like Sprint PCS, NGK, S&S, Red Line Oil, and all of the others, want to see us do our job right, not just try to do our job right. We have always been in the top 10 nationally every year I’ve raced because of their support, I do not want that jeopardized.”

            With the first AHDRA race of the year getting rained out in Daytona FL this week, the Huff Motorsports team just got a little breathing room. “It is really unfortunate for all of those teams that went all of the way out there but now we have some time to get going by Phoenix and we won’t be trying to climb out of a hole chasing points”, said Huff. The team will continue to work on finding some more sponsorship and try to make the AZ Bike Week event April 4-6^th in Phoenix but Huff isn’t making any promises. Steve was sure to add that his team is “by no way done” and “ This isn’t the end, we have too much talent on this team and a desire to win. With those qualities and all of our great fans and associate sponsors, I will assure you we are not done, just delayed a bit”

Huff Motorsports is sponsored by; Hot Rod City Customs, Redline Oil, S&S Cycle, NGK Spark Plugs, Vanson Leathers, Sprint PCS, Custom Classics, DeepCryo.com, Mighty Auto Parts, Performance Coatings, Heavy Metal Polish, Anderson's Welding and Jim Beam. Contact information can be found at www.huffmotorsports.com

The Strip in Las Vegas NV., Oct 19^th-20^th 2002 AHDRA

Returning to Las Vegas Nevada for the 2002 Jim’s Las Vegas Nationals, Steve Huff had another tough weekend. Arriving early in Las Vegas for a bit of fun and pre-race promoting that included seeing the guys at KOMP FM for their morning show, a party at Las Vegas Harley Davidson and the Jim’s Rolling Bones party on the Strip at the Harley Davidson Café, the team got to see and meet a lot of their fans and make some new ones. The team had plans for a day of testing at the Strip on Friday to prepare for a weekend of battle and try and improve their National points standing. When they learned Friday’s testing had been cancelled a new game plan was needed. To top it off the usual three rounds of qualifying on Saturday was reduced to two rounds, really putting the pressure on. There were 32 Top Fuel bikes, the largest field of Top Fuel in AHDRA history, trying to make the 16 bike field for Sunday. 

During the first round of qualifying Huff ran a 7.2 at 197 MPH to get in the number 9 spot but that number was not going to stand through the second round, they needed to improve. In round two Huff did not improve and was bumped all the way back to the number 14 spot. It was going to be another tough Sunday. “I’ve never run my Top Fuel bike here in Vegas.” said Huff, “Last year we only ran the Pro Dragster since we had the National Championship within our reach.”  Huff gambled on the round two tune up and lost the bet, not unlike Vegas, odds are always in the houses favor.

“This year has been really frustrating and now I know what they mean when they say ‘The more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know.’ It has been a tough year but we have tried some new things and those efforts have given us data, something as important as that can’t be overlooked, and our lessons, although tough ones, will be important for a 2003 Championship campaign.”

Going into Sundays eliminations Huff would face the 2002 National Champion, Ron Houniet. Ron got the win light after Huff’s bike dropped a cylinder at 5.4 seconds down the track. “We were still close enough to him at the eighth to reel him in with this big McClure horsepower, I just didn’t have the big end tune up right.”,  said a disappointed Huff.

With a first round loss on Sunday the Huff Motorsports Top Fuel Harley team was still able to maintain the number 10 National standing and finish number 4 in the Western Division. “ It was great news when we heard we were still in the top ten, I didn’t realize that until the banquet on Monday night when they announced it, and the fact that we finished in the top ten this year says great things about our team. We ran a limited schedule without any primary sponsorship this year and it is great to give our associate sponsors a top ten finish.” Another highlight of the awards banquet on Monday night was watching Huff’s teammate, Gabe Larkins, receive the “Pro Rookie of the Year” Award and seeing that his teams efforts paid off.

As the team prepares for winter and 2003 Huff had this to add. “I just really have to thank my team for their dedication and work and all of our fans who still follow us even when things aren’t going perfect. A lot of teams would be pleased with a year like we have had; I’m just tough on myself and want to improve. With continued help from all of our great sponsors and support from our fans I know we will give it our all next year and be National Championship contenders.

Special thanks to all of our sponsors: Hot Rod City Customs, Redline Oil, S&S Cycle, NGK Spark Plugs, Vanson Leathers, Sprint PCS, Custom Classics, DeepCryo.com, Mighty Auto Parts, Performance Coatings, Heavy Metal Polish, Anderson's Welding and Jim Beam.

Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham N.C., Oct 5th-6th 2002 AHDRA

Returning to Rockingham North Carolina for the 2002 Screamin' Eagle Performance Parts Nationals presented by the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers, Steve Huff had one of his toughest weekends ever.  After qualifying in 2001 for the AHDRA East Coast Finals and going on to take the Runner-up position last year the team was looking forward to another great race at a track that treated Huff very well in 2001. With 27 entries in the Jim’s Top Fuel class Huff knew it would be a tough field again this year and was prepared to do battle and try and improve on last years performance. It did not go as planned. 

During the first round of qualifying Huff’s bike experienced catastrophic failure. The bike was set up to run great and the less than perfect track conditions were going to work in the teams benefit until the clutch basket blew apart at the first hit of the throttle causing the bike to shut down. For the remainder of the day Huff and the team looked hard for a replacement part but one was not available. For the first time in his five year career Huff was not able to make the field.

“After last year we knew it would be hard to improve but we were ready to give it our best efforts. Jim McClure was there with advice and we were listening but we broke something nobody had ever seen break, that’s why we didn’t have an extra one.” said Huff

“Last year we qualified the Top Fuel bike and qualified the Pro Dragster #1, set a new Pro Dragster 1/8^th mile MPH record, won the Pro Dragster class on Sunday and took Runner-up in the Top Fuel class, it was an awesome weekend, one I will never forget. Unfortunately I will never forget this weekend either, it is the first time I haven’t been racing on Sunday.” added Huff.

Huff was able to spend his time tuning his old Pro Dragster for his teammate Gabe Larkins who qualified #1 on Saturday and went on to take the runner-up position on Sunday. Huff said he got a little greedy for the finals with Gabe’s clutch set up and spun the tire causing the only loss of the weekend for Larkins.

Steve Huff and the Huff Motorsports Team will take this next weekend off and prepare for the AHDRA finals in Las Vegas Nevada Oct. 18^th -20^th. The team will go to Sin City looking for redemption and a win. Check www.ahdra.com for the pre race events taking place next week.

Special thanks to all of our sponsors: Hot Rod City Customs, S&S Cycle, NGK Spark Plugs, Redline Oil, Sprint PCS, Custom Classics, DeepCryo.com, Vanson Leathers, Mighty Auto Parts, Performance Coatings, Heavy Metal Polish, Best Western, & Anderson's Welding.

Mission Raceway Park, Abbotsford, B.C., Sunday, July 14th, 2002                                CMDRA 

Returning to Mission, British Columbia, Canada, for the second time this season, Steve Huff had one of his best showings.  After qualifying 4th at an ET of 7.1 seconds, Steve Huff  became the only American rider to qualify for the coveted race.  Huff was also able to eclipse Ron Houniet’s Canadian National Record with a speed of 202.88 mph.  Steve then backed this up later with another record run of 202.56 mph. 
This weekend,  riders from all over Canada, and several from the United States made the trip up to certainly one of the most picturesque cities in the entire NW.  Mission Raceway Park is beautifully designed and maintained, and also one of the quickest tracks in the world.
The roar of the Top Fuel Nitro Harley’s had the audience pinned to their seats as both Huff and Houniet were set to do battle in the Semi-finals.  Both had impressive burnouts and it looked like it would be a very close drag race to the finish.  Unfortunately, Huff was just not able to get by the 6 time Canadian National Champion.  With a new Canadian National Record in his pocket Huff was very pleased with the results.
“The team is back being more focused and it really showed this weekend. We are heading back in the right direction and are looking forward to a few more important testing sessions to work on a couple of things, before we head out east to Bristol, TN.  This is always a fun race up here in Canada and the people have been wonderful to us.” said Huff
“It was great to be able to get another record. Now we have 3 of them, and it was especially satisfying to get Ron’s mph record.  Now we need to work on getting his ET record.” Added a smiling Huff.
The team again stayed at the Best Western Mission City Lodge in Mission, B.C.  Huff Motorsports has been developing an ongoing relationship with Best Western Hotels since the beginning of the 2002 season.

TRACK CONDITIONS IN ROSWELL CONCERN RIDERS

Roswell Dragway, Roswell, NM., Sunday, April 14th, 2002

                   AHDRA Race #2                              
  Top Fuel drag cycle teams were faced with some difficult decisions this weekend in Roswell, NM.  Steve Huff decided to play it safe, along with several other of the best Top Fuel teams in the nation.  After reviewing the Roswell Dragway track conditions on Friday, Huff and several other riders decided to either pull out of the event all together for safety concerns, or to use more caution in their runs.  Because of the debate, officials decided to change the race to a 1/8th mile track instead of the usual ¼ mile format.
"I came here to win, no doubt about it, but honestly after reviewing the track conditions and talking to several of my competitors, I decided to run a Pro Drag cycle at this race instead of my Top Fuel.  The Top Fuel Harley is just to fast for these conditions, and I have always placed the safety of myself and my fellow competitors as priority1.  I don't fault anyone here, because they are trying to put on a good show, however your starting talking about bikes that will top 220 mph, we need safer conditions." Said Huff
"I want to thank Gabe Larkins of Hot Rod City Custom, in Phoenix AZ., for letting me use his beautiful Pro Drag cycle so I could at least stay in connection  for the Top Fuel National High Points.  Without his generosity and total understanding about the situation here, I simply would not have been able to run. I really felt comfortable and safe on his bike, unfortunately it is not as powerful as the Top Fuel class, but at least we were able to run and run safe."  Added Huff  
  After making the all important qualification cut-off, , Huff was awarded the number 11 qualifying spot and set up for the elimination rounds.  In the first main elimination heat, Huff took a fast elapsed time, 5.13 seconds, and also a faster speed at over 141.03 mph, however his reaction time on the smaller Pro Drag bike was just a split second off and he lost the round., by .035 seconds.
 "I don't have that many opportunities to watch the competition, because 99% of the time I am running, so when I was eliminated early, I took the rest of the day to study the racers, and observe how they were handling the race conditions.  My Top Fuel bike would have been much faster, however I just did not want to compromise my safety or my teams for the sake of proving something". Said Huff
  Steve Huff and his race team will now head to the Laughland River Run, just outside Las Vegas, April 23rd through the 28th.    The week long motorcycle rally entices racers and fans from all across the country.  Favorable weather should bring record attendance at this years event.

        Special thanks to all of our sponsors:  S&S Cycle,  NGK Spark Plugs, Redline Oil, Custom Classics, DeepCryo.com, Vanson Leathers, Mighty Auto Parts, Performance Coatings, & Heavy Metal Polish.

Top American Rider Steve Huff Qualifies in Top 3!

Mission Raceway Park, Abbotsford, B.C., Sunday, April 12th, 2002   

  CMDRA / AHDRA / IHRA                             

Mission, British Columbia, Canada, presents one of the world's finest race tracks, and this weekend hundreds of riders from all over Canada, and several from the United States made the trip up to one of the most picturesque cities in the entire NW.  Mission Raceway Park, beautifully designed and maintained opened its gates to the public with warm weather and a festival type atmosphere.
Steve Huff, arriving Friday afternoon was expected to be one of the Top 4 finalists for this weekend's race.  After struggling all day Saturday with an intermittent clutch problem, Huff's crew was confident that they had the problem solved, and late Saturday, in round 3 of qualifying Steve Huff let loose with the weekends 3rd fastest elapsed time, setting him up for an excellent run at the championship on Sunday.
As sometimes occurs in racing, the gremlins struck on Sunday morning, during Huff's 1st elimination round, against the fast Ken Kent, from Canada.  Problems occurred as Huff was in the staging process, leaving Huff at the line, which handed Kent the win.
"This was not one of our best weekends, to  be honest, but we were the fastest American rider up here, and qualifying  3rd set us up for the day.  Unfortunately, we didn't see the problem with the secondary drive  system and it cost us today.  My team did a great job, we were just faced with a problem that we have never seen before. Now that we fixed the problem, we are looking forward to the race in Denver, and expect to do very well there." said Huff.
The team was provided rooms by the Best Western Mission City Lodge in Mission, B.C.  Huff Motorsports has been developing an ongoing relationship with Best Western Hotels since the beginning of the 2002 season.  The team has also provided on-site hotel displays of their powerful Top Fuel Drag bike, tied in some promotional benefits for the hotel staff, and featured Best Western logo ID on the bike and helmet for added advertising value.  The team will head off to Denver, CO, in 3 weeks to Bandimere Speedway.

Woodburn, Oregon, Monday, April 9th, 2002 AHDRA

Saturday, after qualifying a strong 3rd at an ET of 7.11 seconds, Steve Huff and his bright green Top Fuel Harley were in great position for the weekend. On Sunday, in the 1st Preliminary Round, Huff took a wire to wire finish at a time of 7.13 seconds and won the heat handily. In the 2nd Preliminary Round, Huff left the line ahead of Jim Gauthier and had a reaction time of .490, compared to Gauthier’s .493. Steve Huff held on to the lead until about the halfway point and was just overtaken by Gauthier. Huff finished so close at the finish line that it was nearly too tough to call. Huff’s ET was 7.08 and his speed was clocked at 201.8 mph, which was faster than Gauthier, however Gauthier’s total ET time was just under Huff’s at 7.05 seconds. Although Steve Huff and his dedicated team were eliminated after the 2nd Preliminary Round, his speed held up as one of the fastest for the entire weekend. Huff had the faster reaction time against Jim Gauthier, and ran faster as he crossed the finish line. Where he lost the heat was at the midway point, as the bike suddenly suffered severe tire shake.

"We had the bike well set up and other than a small clutch adjustment we should have won the 2nd round and made the Final. We are improving every time we go out and I know that one of these times we will have everything working the way we need to be back in the winner’s circle. We are looking forward to improving last year’s performance in Rockingham, where we took the runner-up position. That means we have to win." said smiling Huff.

Huff and his team are still ranked in the Top 10 nationally and should move up a few more positions after the next race in early October. The team will head off to Rockingham, NC., in 3 weeks for the race at the prestigious Rockingham Dragway. This is one of the biggest races in the world for the Top Fuel Harley riders.

Firebird International Raceway, Phoenix, AZ., Sunday, April 7^th, 2002  AHDRA / Arizona Bike Week                              

Clear skies, searing temperatures and a large, eager crowd greeted the AHDRA racers on Sunday morning. Seattle’s  Steve Huff, deciding to concentrate on his Top Fuel drag cycle program in 2002, came to Phoenix to win, and that he did, winning two straight preliminary rounds before facing off with veteran Dave O’Hara in the semi-final.  It was the weekends closest race.  Huff lead O’Hara from the start and the two were separated by less than a foot or .006 seconds at the finish line. O’Hara thought Huff had won, however Huff’s bike went flat, losing a cylinder approximately 75% of the way down the ¼ mile and O’Hara just nipped him at the finish.  Huff’s crew also thought he had won.  It was just too close to call by the human eye.

Huff qualified a respectable 7^th out of the fast 24 bike field and the team did some pre-race adjustments on Sunday morning in preparation for the all important elimination rounds.  Only 16 bikes qualify for the race, so to be in the top 10 qualifying sets the team up for the entire day.

“We decided to set the bike up for high altitude due to the air density and warm temperatures.  I think it worked very well for us, especially for our first race of the long 2002 season.  To run with these guys right now, in my rookie season, is pretty remarkable. We were just shy of making the championship final after only losing by .006 seconds  in the semi final round to O’Hara. I have to thank my team, sponsors, Best Western,  and all the fans who kept pulling for us.” said Huff

 “Starting the season like this, out front, makes a big difference and also makes it a lot easier down the stretch, because of the long points chase.  I feel confident that this team is going to do some great things this year.” he added.

The two prelim wins and the strong semi-final finish put Huff in the top 5 of the National High Point standings going into next weekends championship series in Roswell, NM.  On a humorous note, a bunny shot across the track at the end of Huff’s 3^rd qualifying round, just missing him at the run-off, and Steve Huff had this to say about the incident. “I wish we would catch that bunny because I think it will bring us luck all season. She must have had her little after-burners on to get by me like that.” Said a smiling Huff