Lewis looking to stay consistent in Houston

BAYTOWN, Texas - After a strong semifinal showing at the recent ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster driver Brandon 'The Kid' Lewis and his family's Morrison Construction/TigerFlow Systems backed team are looking to continue that success during this weekend's O'Reilly Spring Nationals at Houston Raceway Park. After a roller-coaster year last season that saw the team reach two national event final rounds coupled with several 'down' weekends, the focus this year has been to increase their consistency. More specifically, to be consistently consistent.

Lewis, 22, who is a surgical tech when not racing in Broken Arrow, Okla., cites the team's goal this season is a top ten national finish or better. Piloting the car and combination that won the 2005 World Championship with it's last owner Tom Conway, Lewis knows he has a car that has the potential to win any given round, it's just a matter of learning how to apply the car to each new round. After learning under the tutelage of Conway last season, Lewis' father Dave and Top Alcohol Dragster veteran Tony Voluturo have taken over the tuning duties this season.

"We're just hoping to keep the momentum from a good outing in Gainesville," said Lewis. "We're just going to go with what we know and try to keep learning. You still have to push the envelope at times, but our main goal is to be consistent and get the car point A to B. It's hard to win rounds when you're smoking the tires or shaking hard. We pushed a little and played safe a little in Gainesville, and it worked out pretty good. Hopefully we can do more of the same this weekend."

Lewis also attributes some of his team's success to racing in favorable conditions in which the team has data for. Near 'mineshaft' conditions threw the team a curve ball at the Division 4 event in Belle Rose, La., but the team returned to form in Gainesville. Current forecasts call for high 70's all weekend, which has the team excited about the outlook.

"When the weather is normal, we have made runs in those conditions, so we know pretty much what to do with the car," explained Lewis. "When we went down to Belle Rose, the air was so good, it was making more power than we knew what to do with combined with a track that had a narrow window. As the year progresses, it will get warmer, and that brings it's own challenges when it comes to getting one of these cars down the track. We did quite a bit of testing in Tulsa last year when it was hot, so hopefully we're prepared for that when we cross that bridge. Houston being near sea level helps make the air good even when it's a little warmer, so it should be a fast weekend. There will be a lot of tough cars, and we're looking forward to the challenge."

This weekend's event is not just another race on the schedule, however. TigerFlow Systems, a major associate sponsor to the team, has offices in Houston and will have several representatives and guests of the company on hand this weekend.

"This is a big race for us," Lewis cited. "This is a major market for TigerFlow, and a couple of the main guys, including the Monroe Guest, the owner of the company will be out at the track this weekend. We'd love to be able to put them in the winner's circle with us, along with Morrison Construction, Lucas Oil, ATTA Tank, Unifirst and A-1 Auto Body."

Qualifying begins on Friday for the alcohol cars with two sessions, followed by one final session Saturday morning. Eliminations begin with round one Saturday afternoon and final eliminations will conclude the event on Sunday.

TIGERFLOW Systems, Inc., was founded to provide aggressive solutions to difficult problems facing the construction industry. TIGERFLOW will seek solutions through design expertise, technical know-how and sales support to meet the needs of the next generation of commercial building. Today, TIGERFLOW has an international depth with major commercial, military, process, fire protection, municipal, and industrial site installations world-wide.

For more information on Brandon "the Kid" Lewis, log on the team's site at Brandon The Kid - Intro

For more information on the team's marketing partner's fine products and services, visit the websites below:

Tigerflow - Aggressive solutions to difficult problems facing the construction industry.

Aluminum Tank & Truck Accessories LLC. - Fuel Tanks & Fuel Systems - For all of your auxiliary aluminum tank needs!

Lucas Oil - Keep that engine alive with Lucas Oil Products!

UniFirst Corporation - Uniforms That Enhance Your Business Image - Uniforms that enhance your business image!

Photo courtesy of Roger Richards, CompetitionPlus.com