{"id":505,"date":"2013-01-29T16:16:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T16:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=505"},"modified":"2013-01-29T16:44:36","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T16:44:36","slug":"canadian-drag-racing-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/?p=505","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Fan Tribute Coming!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian Fan Tribute Coming!\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a very long time since Canada\u2019s drag racing fans have had something like this to cheer for.\u00a0 Not since the days of living legends Gordie Bonin and Terry Capp has there been a Canadian-themed race car entered in competition within NHRA\u2019s Professional racing ranks.\u00a0 That void will come to an end on Feb. 14th<\/sup> when qualifying begins for the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series\u2019 season-opening NHRA O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Edmonton\u2019s Todd Lesenko, who completed his first full season on the NHRA tour last year as driver for Jim Dunn Racing, will in conjunction with California-based Worsham Racing debut a bona fide \u201cCanadiana\u201d Dodge Charger Funny Car.\u00a0\u00a0 That will be both a stepping stone and a beginning for Lesenko\u2019s next career racing chapter.<\/p>\n

\"Lesenko<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up I always took inspiration from what guys like Gordie Bonin and Terry Capp accomplished for Canadians in drag racing,\u201d Todd admitted.\u00a0 \u201cLast season I was so amazed at how many times Canadian fans came up to me when I was signing autographs and told me how proud they were to have a Canadian involved in the fastest Motorsport on earth.\u00a0 All of that has made me very determined to give Canada\u2019s drag racing fan base something very real and special to cheer for and support again.\u00a0 Canadian drag racing fans are as dedicated as they come out there.\u00a0 So simply put — they deserve this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Todd Lesenko, who is a successful businessman within his own right, is busy aligning himself with a number of Canadian-based company partnerships to be part of his team\u2019s racing equation going forward.\u00a0 Lesenko, who also previously raced within NHRA\u2019s Hot Rod Heritage Series driving a Nostalgia Funny Car, is excited about the possibilities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Todd-inCar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThere is a perception out there that Canadian teams may be at a disadvantage because of geography or the border or whatever,\u201d he continued.\u00a0 \u201cBut we\u2019ve come to realize that there are many Canadian companies that do a lot of business in the U.S. Market and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

To start, Todd Lesenko and Chuck Worsham plan to run a condensed NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour in 2013 beginning with back-to-back event entries at Pomona and Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rest of our 2013 season is a bit undecided at this point,\u201d Todd clarified.\u00a0 \u201cSponsorship will have a lot to do with that schedule but in the end I expect we will probably run 10-12 events.\u00a0 My objective for 2013 is instead to focus on quality outings versus quantity of events.\u201d<\/p>\n

*NHRA drag racing fans can also safely speculate about an expanded team presence at some point later this season involving a second \u201cCanadiana\u201d themed race car in another NHRA Professional category<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted by:\u00a0 Bruce Biegler<\/i><\/p>\n

Graphic design by:\u00a0 GOS Motorsports Graphics & MG Digital\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canadian Fan Tribute Coming!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nitrofccanada.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}