SHANE SHOTS- ATLANTA NOTES AND QUOTES FOR SHANE LEWIS

Shane Shots – Shane Lewis Notes
Pork The Other White Meat 400 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
#13 Capital City Motorsports Ford Taurus

taking stock
Shane Lewis has only competed in two stock car events in his career.
However, the Jupiter, Florida resident is hitting 1,000 in stock cars. Held
on November 3 and 4, 2001 at Daytona International Speedway, he won both
races in convincing fashion. In his first Historic Stock Car Racing
Association (HSCRA) event, driven in a 1993 Chevrolet Lumina once piloted by
Joe Nemechek, the stock car rookie charged from 11th on the grid to the win.
The following day, after an electronics glitch cost him in qualifying, he
raced from 20th to the lead. Lewis dove to the inside of the leader at the
famous “Bus-Stop Chicane” in Daytona’s infield on the last lap to take his
second win for car owner Edgar Otto and the #41 team. He proceeded that with
a test of the #38 Greg Sarf-owned Capital City Motorsports Ford at Atlanta
Motor Speedway (AMS) on October 30. Lewis, running his first oval test in a
stock car, turned the 11th-quick lap of the test with a time of 32.01
seconds despite missing most of the afternoon session with engine problems.
Sarf then signed Lewis to race the #13 2001 Ford Taurus in the Pork The
Other White Meat 400 at AMS.



rodeo man
Shane Lewis came to racing in a unique fashion. A longtime car enthusiast he
bought his first junkyard car in high school to build a racecar. He worked
on the car daily until a lack of funding kept him from finishing his first
racer. His school’s rodeo team then recruited him when no one else had the
courage to represent the team in bull riding. His natural competitive desire
made him a champion. Eager to return to his desired career as a race driver
Lewis decided to end his career at a charity rodeo. He drew the toughest
bull in the arena but had a perfect eight-second ride. He dismounted and, in
true bull rider/race driver fashion he had a perfect dismount and turned to
tip his hat to the crowd. However, the bull made an unusual turn and Lewis
would wake in a hospital bed with his jaw wired shut and multiple skin
graphs to his face among other injuries. The personable driver-to-be was
kicked squarely in the jaw by the massive beast. That event would forever
change his life…for the better. While in the hospital his dad asked what he
could do to get Shane to stop riding bulls. The reply was to help him finish
the racecar. Father and son finished the car and the rest is history.



high-tech suspension
Shortly after the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) Superflo 12 Hours of
Sebring in March, Shane Lewis went in for minor surgery on his right leg
just below the knee. He was told he would be back on his feet and in the car
testing for the June 24-Hours of Le Mans within three weeks. Three weeks
came and went after the surgery and the pain from the surgery was not
subsiding. A minimum number of laps at Le Mans pre-qualifying assured Lewis
that something was indeed wrong. When back in Florida, the pain and the
swelling at the incision on his leg grew and he was rushed into emergency
surgery. It was determined that a staphylococcal (staph) infection had
settled in his right leg and was making its way into the tibia bone. To stop
the spreading infection, doctors broke the tibia and fibula bones and
drilled a path from his knee to his ankle in the tibia. A titanium rod was
hammered and then screwed into place to substitute for the lost bone. The
rod remains in his leg and will for life. The fibula remains broken to this
day and will not be repaired.

The dramatic surgery was not enough to stop the infection. The only
alternative was to begin an intensive campaign of highly toxic antibiotics.
However, the infection was so severe that typical methods of dispensing them
would not suffice. A tube was placed in Lewis' chest that ran directly to
his heart so that the drugs could have the most impact. Two times a day for
two weeks Lewis had antibiotics injected into his body through the tube. Had
this treatment not been successful, he would have lost his right leg. He
underwent an intensive rehabilitation program that included the development
of a special weight machine that mimicked the activities in the cockpit of
his ALMS entry. He had the tube removed just weeks before returning to the
cockpit at Sears Point in Sonoma, California where he raced to a
fourth-place in-class finish with a new team in a car he had never driven.
At that time he still had the infection! The following race, at Portland
International Raceway, he took second. He would go on to five top-five
finishes in the final six events.



Shane Shots – Shane Lewis Quotes
Pork The Other White Meat 400 – Atlanta Motor Speedway
#13 Capital City Motorsports Ford Taurus


Shane Lewis, driver
(about the Pork The Other White Meat 400)
“This is a good opportunity to do something that I have always wanted to
try. We know it will be a challenge just to make the show. Greg (Sarf,
owner) puts together a good, safe car but the competition may have a leg-up
on us when it comes to equipment. I will be out there giving 110%. We will
go out and do the very best we can.”

(about making the move to stock car racing for this event)
“There comes a time in everyone’s life that you want to break the routine
and try something different. I have always wanted the opportunity to try
driving a stock car on an oval and when I got the call to try this I knew it
was time to see what it was all about. I have driven nearly every kind of
car on a road course and won a lot of races but this is a new challenge and
life is about facing and overcoming new challenges. There are a lot of
differences between this and what I am use to but some things are always the
same. The people, the thrill and the desire to beat the competition never
changes anywhere you go. But, I am under no delusions that this will be easy
because it won’t be. This will be tough, very tough. ARCA has a tremendous
history and there are an awful lot of guys in the Cup garage that raced
here. I appreciate Greg giving me this shot and ARCA for inviting me to race
here in Atlanta.”

(about testing the ARCA car at Atlanta Motor Speedway in October)
“I learned a lot in a very few laps that day. We know we still need to work
on the seat and a few things to make me physically more comfortable in the
car and I think that those changes would help the lap times. Overall, I was
just trying to get to know how the car would feel with different inputs and
changes. It really takes some getting use to but by the end of the day I
felt pretty comfortable. A racecar is a racecar and you have to respect them
all.”

(about debuting in a stock at Atlanta Motor Speedway)
“I can’t think of a better place to make my start than here. AMS is such a
great track. It is fast and smooth and I am really looking forward to racing
[at AMS]. When I came through the gate out front I was just bowled over by
this place. I have raced at some of the greatest racecourses in the world
and AMS really fits the bill as one of those. It is a real honor to be
racing at the site of so many great races.”


Greg Sarf, car owner
(about having Shane Lewis in his #13 Ford Taurus)
“We brought Shane in to test our car a few weeks ago. I was immediately
impressed with his driving and, even more so, with his ability to tell us
what the car was doing. We know this particular car may not be the best or
fastest car in the field. However, we are working towards something greater
for next year with Shane and we wanted to get race-one under our belt.”


For more on Shane Lewis, please visit www.ShaneLewis.com .


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Digital images and bio available upon request.
Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites.
Thank you.
Contact: Tom Moore, Shane Lewis Public Relations
770-466-5442 (phone), 770-466-5443 (fax), 404-229-3703 (cell)
Tom@DarkhorseCom.com (email)