This weekend's Auto Club NHRA Finals might be the last race of the season, but it doesn’t mean that Jay Payne, driver of the FireIce Ford Mustang Top Alcohol Funny Car, is out of goals.
"We've not won a National event this year," said Payne, who has collected more than 100 national and divisional victories in his career. "We'd definitely like to close out the season with one."
In preparation to meet that goal Payne said he and his team took the car completely apart following his semifinal loss at last week's divisional race in Las Vegas.
"At both Texas and Las Vegas, the car didn't run up to its potential," Payne said. "We took it completely down to the bare frame. We changed the crank and we changed motors. We put it all back together and went through everything. It's all fresh and hopefully the FireIce car will come out running strong."
The end of the season is a bittersweet time for Payne and his family, who help work on the car and attend every race.
"Everyone enjoys going to the races, but once we get to this part of the season, everyone is kind of tired of traveling," Payne said. "You get wore out and ready for a break. There's a sigh of relief when the end comes.
"Of course that only lasts about two weeks before you are ready to get back out there and start racing again."
Payne, of nearby Ontario, Calif., said the 2012 season will start soon enough.
"Thanksgiving and Christmas fly by then suddenly you are getting ready to go testing," Payne said. "We really don’t have that much time off.
FireIce is using this race to salute Korean War veteran Keril Keiser on his 80th birthday. Keiser serves as a Wildland Fire Coordinator near his native Pinon Hills, Calif., and works closely with FireIce to help local and state authorities contain the wildfires that routinely occur throughout the state.
"Keril is an amazing guy," Payne said. "We're lucky to have him as a part of the FireIce family which include more than 1.1 million firefighters across the country."
Aside from supporting Payne's racing efforts and the Angel Faces charity (www.angelfacesretreat.org), FireIce is a corporate partner to the Leary Firefighters Foundation (www.learyfirefighters.org) and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (www.firehero.org).
Recently added to the United States Forest Service's Qualified Products List, FireIce is an environmentally friendly fire suppression gel firefighters add to water to help extinguish fires much quicker than with water alone. FireIce was created by GelTech Solutions, a publicly traded corporation (OTCBB: GLTC).
