Fontana, CA – After a promising start to the 2016 season Alex Rogeo’s Liquid Glow MAHLE race car ran into gremlins in late spring and summer. With lots of help from her current racing partners like Magnuson Superchargers and from a new partner, American Racing Solutions, Alex and her team were finally able to concentrate on racing rather than repairs.

From the first lap of practice on Friday afternoon, the team knew that the new high-performance belt tensioner from American Racing Solutions (ARS) was not contributing to keeping the supercharger belt intact; it was producing higher manifold pressure.

“[My crew chief] Richard and the folks at Magnuson spend days working on the car before this race,” said Alex. “Magnuson engineered adaptors to convert our single serpentine belt drive into a two-belt drive system. This reduced the strain on the main belt. And then the ARS tensioner not only tamed any belt misbehavior, it increased the belt’s grip and that increased boost.”

The NMCA West Street Car Nationals were held in very hot conditions. On race day Sunday, it was 104F degrees with track temps nearing 150F. But with no need to worry about belts or electrical gremlins the team quickly found the setup for the conditions.

“The car is actually making more power now than it was earlier in the year,” said Richard Kratz. “Hedman Hedders used our car to make 2” long tube headers designed for a big, power adder late model HEMI like our blown 426ci Arrington Performance engine. And the new ARS tensioner produced 1.4 pounds more boost than we’d ever made before. So more air in and out and this car ran strong in this heat. We were running 9.8s to 9.9s with a DA of 4,000 feet and this car weighs over 4,000 pounds. That’s getting it done.”

Alex competed in three races over the weekend, separate bracket races on Saturday and Sunday and the Quick Street class point’s race on Sunday. Alex lost the Saturday bracket race by .0019 seconds, which indicates how close the racing is in this class. On Sunday, Alex was again on the wrong side of a super close race, this time losing out by a mere .0013 seconds. In round one of the Quick Street race, Alex paired up with defending class champion, Jeff Interlicchia. Alex cut a .001 light and ran 9.953 on her 9.95 dial to win the round with a .004 package.

“That first round against Jeff was the highlight of the weekend for me,” said Alex. “He’s such a good racer; you have to bring your best game when you face off with him. Just to have a car again that can do that, and to be able to drive it like that again is a great feeling.”

Alex’s race came to an end in round three with a .006 red light. She is now in sixth place with one race left. While not mathematically eliminated, the odds are very long. But the team is feeling good, they’re happy to have a well running car and be able to mix it up with great racers again.

Alex thanked all of her marketing partners, “We have so many great performance industry leaders as our partners that I feel very lucky to have. Companies like MAHLE Aftermarket and MAHLE Motorsports, Arrington Performance, Westminster Performance Transmission, Manley Performance, Diablosport, LAT Oil, Champion Spark Plugs, shopHEMI.com, Mickey Thompson Tires, Hedman Hedders, Driveshaft Shop, Bell Racing, Mountain View Performance, Weld Racing, AEM Electronics, American Racing Solutions and Big John’s Performance.”