I spent some time talking with John Urist today about his new car and the dedication his team has made to the sport. Urist is one of the most committed racers here, and he has done arguably more to support the NMRA series and Super Street Outlaw class than anyone else since the inception of the class.
I might point out that I believe that Urist has raced and supported the NMRA at every single Super Street Outlaw event ever held going all of the way back through the ill-fated 1999 Phoenix, Arizona NMRA event. In addition to running Hellion full time, his commitment to the sport has resulted in him and Dwayne James putting together a 3-car team which basically has put thousands of hours and by my guess no less than a million dollars into their operation, despite the challenges of the economy.
I think the most impressive thing about John is that not only has he accomplished a great deal on the race track, but he has gone out of his way to support (and even sponsor) other drivers in his own class like Jarrett Halfacre to help preserve the health of the class and to share knowledge for both safety and performance reasons. As one noted Ford racing expert told me yesterday, "Urist should be ambassador of the year - every year".
The Hellion Decal on Halfacre's car isn't there by accident: 
Urist also admitted he has a full plate in getting his brand new Coupe sorted out for 2008 competition and to back up his championship, and to become the first 4X NMRA champion in NMRA history.
New car bugs prevented the team from making a qualifying pass in the first round, but our cameras will be focused on him, as always, for Round 2 and beyond.
