Lisa Kubo earned front cover exposure when she made history at Moroso Motorsports Park. After toying with the 7-second barrier for the final quarter of 2003 and the first event in 2004, Lisa closed the deal at the NHRA event in Florida, running a 7.96 in a qualification pass. It was a good thing; her arch nemesis, Nelson Hoyos, blasted a 7.99 in the following round of qualifications. The race to back-up a 7-second record was on and Lisa again came through on top, running an 8.00 in the finals.
Lisa is no stranger to the cover of Turbo magazine. Her first appearance was in 1996, riding shotgun with Gary in his green Civic hatchback that was the quickest Honda at one time, running 11.71. Lisa and Gary can be seen in the inset photo of the July 1996 edition. That car was later transformed into the orange Quick Class/Hot Rod Class race car that Lisa earned her stripes in. The Civic, backed by Nitto Tires and ExtrudeHone, was featured a number of times as it went faster and faster. It was on the March 2000 cover and the February 2001 cover (now as the main image); the latter when Lisa won Turbo magazine's Quick Class Racer of the Year award. She's back and in the history books for good as the first racer to pilot a front-wheel-drive car into the 7s, and as our feature on page 28 illustrates, the 7s have become a common destination for her Saturn Motorsports/APC-sponsored Ion.
I'd like to congratulate Lisa on her accomplishments and take this opportunity to salute all the sport compact racers on the campaign trail in 2004.
I'm really into my family these days. Being away from my wife Katherine, daughter Clarise and son EJ is tough, but the sport compact competitors have taken racing to the next level and made each trip out of town really worth it. There have been some jaw-dropping performances and I'm glad I was there in person to see it all. The shocking thing is, we're not even halfway through the season!
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