Dismore and Olds on Texas Pole

Contact: Rick Voegelin
rickvoegelin@compuserve.com
GM Racing Communications
(831) 761-2201


Kelley Racing Teammates Dismore and Sharp Take Front Row in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas, June 7, 2001 -- Fresh from a pole-winning performance
at the Indianapolis 500, Kelley Racing swept the front row tonight in
qualifying for Saturday's Casino Magic 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. This
time it was Mark Dismore who put Kelley's Oldsmobile Dallara on the pole
with a 215.508 mph lap around the high-banked 1.5-mile oval. His teammate
Scott Sharp ran 215.065 mph to claim the outside front row starting spot.

    Dismore will start on the pole for the fourth time in his IRL career
and the second time at Texas Motor Speedway. An Oldsmobile IRL Aurora V8 is
on the pole for the 43rd consecutive IRL event.

    The two Delphi Automotive Systems drivers drew consecutive spots in
the qualifying order. Sharp sat on the pole for just minutes before he was
bumped by Dismore -- who promptly credited his teammate for providing a
vital piece of information after rain had shortened practice to a single
30-minute session.

    "I learned something on the gear ratio from Scott's run," said
Dismore. "He was able to pull one of the gears in our selection, so I knew
what gear I could go to. Before qualifying we changed gears, we changed an
engine, we changed the shock absorbers. We were guessing, and we made the
best guess."

    Sharp was also surprised by his qualifying speed. "We made some
major changes to the chassis before we went out," he said. "We didn't
really know what it would be like after we lost the second practice
session. I went to the next higher gear and I wasn't sure if that was the
right thing to do, but I just tickled the rev limiter going into the first
turn."

    Twenty-one of the 23 qualifiers for the Casino Magic 500 are
using Oldsmobile engines. Points leader Sam Hornish Jr. was fourth fastest
in Panther Racing's Oldsmobile Dallara at 213.255 mph and Shigeaki Hattori
was fifth fastest at 213.119 mph in Vertex-Cunningham Racing's Oldsmobile
Dallara.
 
    "Our problem was that we weren't close enough to the rev limiter,"
said Hornish. "We were down a little on rpm. Everything will even out in
the race."

    Donnie Beechler is sixth on the grid in his second outing with A.J.
Foyt's Oldsmobile Dallara. "The car felt better in qualifying than it did
in practice," Beechler reported. "A.J. has his own formula for making a car
go around the track, and it works for me. We were trying to adjust the
gears, and it really got wound up on the second lap. We were fortunate that
(teammate Eliseo) Salazar was the first driver out in qualifying; he was
the guinea pig and we learned that he was on the limiter in fourth gear. I
ran fifth gear, and that made the difference."

    Last year's Casino Magic 500 is regarded by many as one of the best
races in open-wheel history. Less than a second separates the 22 fastest
qualifiers for this event, setting the stage for another classic race.

    "Tomorrow we've got to put some downforce in the car and make sure we
can run in the high groove," said Dismore. "The track is bumpy and
challenging, especially if you have guys up in front of you breaking up the
air. Then it gets tricky."

Top Six Qualifiers

Pos./Driver/Engine/Speed
1. Mark Dismore, Oldsmobile, 215.508 mph
2. Scott Sharp, Oldsmobile, 215.065
3. Eddie Cheever Jr., Infiniti, 214.926
4. Sam Hornish Jr., Oldsmobile, 213.255
5. Shigeaki Hattori, Oldsmobile, 213.119
6. Donnie Beechler, Oldsmobile, 213.003

Schedule

    The Casino Magic 500 is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. CDT on
Saturday, June 9. The 200-lap, 300-mile race will be televised live on ESPN
at 8:00 p.m. EDT and broadcast live on the Indy Racing Radio Network.

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  E-mail from: Rick Voegelin, 07-Jun-2001