GASTONIA, N.C. — WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, will be the primary sponsor of Tony Pedregon Racing and its Nitro Funny Car for the 2011 NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., April 14-17. 
“WIX represents a high level of performance, expertise and commitment to winning that parallels our values at Tony Pedregon Racing,” said team owner and driver Tony Pedregon. “We are very excited to unveil the WIX Filters Nitro Funny Car for the first time at the Four-Wide Nationals. The WIX car will stand out from the competition with its bold paint scheme and performance on the track.”
Pedregon, who won the NHRA World Championship in 2003 and 2007, is in the 18th year of his pro career. He is second on the all-time win list with 43 career Funny Car wins and currently stands in 10th place in the Funny Car standings after the year’s first three events.
“WIX people take racing very seriously, from designing performance filtration products to conducting R&D for non-racing vehicles – even when we’re just cheering on our favorite teams at the track,” said Jeff Blocher, vice president of sales at WIX Filters, the number one filter in motorsports. “zMAX Dragway, the self-proclaimed ‘Bellagio of dragstrips,’ is a very short drive from WIX’s headquarters in Gastonia, N.C., and we look forward to providing a strong base of support for Tony as he competes in unique four-wide racing this weekend.”
The WIX Filters Nitro Fuel Funny Car was unveiled yesterday at WIX headquarters during a special event for WIX employees.
WIX also supports Cruz Pedregon in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series as an associate sponsor. These two NHRA team sponsorships are in addition to WIX’s team sponsorships of Stewart-Hass Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Joe Gibbs Racing which all compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the Izod IndyCar Series.
