Pro Stock racer Matt Hartford, who has been sponsored by Total Seal Piston Rings for years and was a vice president of the company, has just purchased the company. He moves up to the title of president and CEO.

Total Seal was founded in 1967 by Joe Moriarty, who passed away in 2016, when his son, Joe Jr., took over the business. Hartford joined the company in 1998. After competing in the sportsman classes, he moved to Pro Stock in 2006.

Hartford joined with investment group partners Promus Equity Partners and Jon S. Vesely to purchase the company.

He intends to keep on driving in NHRA Pro Stock competition, where he currently is in sixth place in the point standings.  [06/14/19]

The numbers are in for the last two NHRA national events. The June 2 airing of the Joliet finals on FS1 had 679,000 viewers with a 0.44 rating. The Topeka event saw 702,000 viewers and a 0.43 rating.

And just to do a little bragging for the DRO hometown, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, NBC’s broadcast of the St. Louis Blues’ 4-1 win over the Bruins on Wednesday, June 12, averaged a whopping 8.7 million linear TV viewers and a 4.9 household rating, making it the most-watched NHL game of the modern Nielsen era, and the fourth most-watched in the history of television. Gloria!   [06/14/19]

Here’s an odd item the Agent came across this week. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s ongoing initiative to preserve and share historic IMS Radio Network broadcasts has produced its second and third projects: the full 1959 Indianapolis 500 Mile-Race broadcast, plus wrap-up shows of the four days of 1959 Indianapolis 500 Qualifying.

Race fans and history enthusiasts alike can download the 1959 “500” race coverage – a full 4 hours, 30 minutes, for just $9.99. The IMS Radio Network recap of qualifications, featuring the legendary “Voice of the 500” the late Sid Collins and interviews with drivers, is one hour and 58 minutes, and is just $7.99 per download.

The IMS Museum previously released the 1958 race broadcast; all are available here. The IMS Radio Network also has for sale the Indianapolis 500 broadcasts covering 1955, 1960-64 and 1966-present, all in MP3-format digital download (sorry, no compact discs).

A little bit strange … but the Agent must confess to owning vinyl records of Craig Breedlove’s 500-mph run at Bonneville and the 1964 NHRA Winternationals.    [06/14/19]

Strange Engineering introduces the Ultra Fab housing to its line of rear end components. A 0.375” thick face plate and triangulated design improves rigidity and superior tube support, which increases overall housing stiffness. The housing tubes are fully welded to the center and further reinforced with radial gusset plates on the inside of the housing, resulting in less deflection and straighter launches. The Ultra Fab housing is available in a variety of configurations to accommodate any racing applications from bolt-in street applications to purpose-built race cars.   [06/13/19]