Steve's Drag Racing Views: With the Rookie of the Year nearly locked up, is a championship next for Vincent Nobile?

With the way Vincent Nobile drives and conducts himself, you would think he is a seasoned veteran. In reality, he is in his rookie season and is just 19 years old. Through 10 races in 2011, Vincent has appeared in half of the final rounds and has walked away with two pewter Wallys. He is the youngest driver to ever win in NHRA Pro Stock. Besides these already impressive statistics, he leads the Pro Stock class in average reaction time, which has caused a lot of his competitors to cringe when they have to face him. These are impressive accomplishments for someone who had had never driven a clutch operated vehicle prior to getting in the seat of his pro stock car.

Vincent drives a Hemi powered pro stock Dodge Avenger with primary backing from Mountain View Tire, which is a 30-store chain of Goodyear Tire & Auto Service Centers, based in California. The engines and tuning experience are provided by Roy and Allen Johnson. At the start of this season, the plan was to only run a limited set of races. After just 2 races, team owner Nick Mitsos saw something special with this team and decided to run the full season and so far, it has paid off. With his current statistics, Vincent is the leading candidate for the Automobile Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award, which recognizes the NHRA rookie of the year. In fact, it is widely believed he has already locked up this award.

At 20 years and 11 months old, LE Tonglet was the youngest person to ever win an NHRA championship in any category. That record could be short lived if Vincent and team keep up their winning ways. With Vincent’s driving skills, a great car and his ability to remain calm, cool and collected, the sky is the limit for this team. Look for Vincent Nobile and the Mountain View Racing team to be a championship contender for years to come.

For more information on the race team, visit http://www.mountainviewracing.com
For more information on Mountain View Tire, visit http://www.mountainviewtire.com

Here is a picture of Vincent in the final round against Allen Johnson at the Super Nationals in Englishtown, NJ on June 5, 2011. Vincent lost to Allen when he left the starting line .006 too soon.